HTC Unveils S743 Smartphone for the U.S.

HTC has just announced plans to release a new Windows Mobile smartphone in the United States. The S743 will offer both a numberpad and a separate sliding keyboard, but it won't have a touchscreen.

As its name suggests, this will be a N. American version of the S740, which debuted in Europe several months ago. Naturally, the N. American version will support the frequencies used by 3G in this area (850/1900 MHz).

An Overview of the HTC S743

The designers of the S740 must have used the idea "If one keypad is good, then two is better." At first glance, this model looks like a standard candybar phone, with a 2.4-inch, QVGA display and numberpad. But a closer examination reveals that this will be a slider, with a full, landscape-oriented QWERTY keyboard hidden behind the screen.

This will be a quad-band GSM phone so it can be used to make phone calls around the world, and will also include Wi-Fi b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR.

It will run Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard on a 528 MHz processor, and have a generous 256 MB of RAM, 256 MB of Flash ROM, and a microSD card slot.

This HTC model will also include a 3.2 MPx camera and a GPS receiver.

Overall, it will be 4.6 inches tall, 1.7 inches wide, and 0.65 inches thick (116.3 mm by 43.4 mm by 16.3 mm), and weigh 4.9 ounces (140 g) with its battery installed.

According to HTC, the 1000 mAh rechargeable battery in this device will be good for 320 mins. of talk time on a 3G connection or 400 hours of stand-by time.  On a regular GSM connection, talk time will be 380 mins. and stand-by time will be 280 hours.

Availability

The HTC S743 will debut some time during the first quarter of this year, but the price has not yet been disclosed.

It be sold directly to consumers unlocked, which means it will be usable with any GSM carrier, such as AT&T or Rogers. It will also be usable with T-Mobile USA, but won't offer the this carrier's version of 3G.

This smartphone will available at a number of online retail outlets, including dell.com and cdw.com.