New HTC Android Phones Bound for China

Android is for everyone. High Tech Computer, otherwise popularly known as HTC, will launch several new phones using Google’s Android operating system this year. But the phones will first be bound for China. This is definitely a surprise as HTC is one of the largest maker of Windows Mobile handsets.

The first announced handset is the low-end Dopod Click. It will launch in China in the fourth quarter and would cost around 3,400 yuan ($500). It will be available with two detachable front covers that let users change the color of their handset. The Click’s main features include support for WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) 3G, China’s very own 3G standard via mobile operator China Unicom.

The second phone is the Dopod Hero, which could be available in China late this month. The Hero will cost around 5,600 yuan, two times that of the Click. Also, it uses China’s 3G standard for China Unicom’s network and will have wireless LAN security protocol that China developed and is requiring in phones that support Wi-Fi. The HTC Hero offered outside China does not support that protocol.

Lastly, HTC’s second Android phone in the U.S. and Europe, called Magic, will launch in China with the China Mobile operating system instead of Android. Dopod does not plan to launch the Dream, HTC’s Android phone sold by T-Mobile as the G1, partly because keyboard-based handsets are not popular with Chinese users.