+ Usual smartphone apps all present and correct, either preinstalled or free from the Market (Web/Maps/GPS Tracks/Weather/Mail/Contacts/Facebook/Flickr/Twitter/Drop7/YouTube/etc).
+ Nice, compact size; fits in your pocket.
+ Android 1.6 OS gives great power & flexibility.
+ HTC Sense user interface looks great and is easy to use.
+ Sensible connectors (3.5mm headphone + Mini USB). Actually it’s an HTC “enhanced” variant of USB so it looks different but a standard USB cable works fine.
+ Great value at the discounted price – under £200 for a fully featured, SIM-free smartphone!
+ Surprisingly good signal and call/audio quality.
- Poor battery life if you use it a lot (1-2 days).
- Camera is rubbish (blurry in low light and lacks autofocus so useless for reading barcodes)
- Occasional quirks/crashes; seems no worse than many smartphones.
- Not all Android apps are available in the Market (due to the smaller screen size).
- Very limited Bluetooth capability (audio only, no file transfer). Will be fixed if/when HTC upgrade the OS to 2.x
- No voice dialling. Should be fixed if/when HTC upgrade the OS to 2.x
- Small, resistive touchscreen makes text entry cumbersome in portrait mode; it is fine in landscape.
Rating: 4 / 5
Firstly I would like to point out that I have only had this device for 2 days, but WOW! what a lovely bit of kit this is. Extremely easy to use once you get your head around the android OS, and fully customisable to your personal requirements. I mainly used to use my mobile for texting so when deciding which phone to buy this time I was a little worried how I would find a touch screen phone, especially after trying a few of my collegues mobiles with capacative screens as they seemed rather flighty and random as regards text imput. With this in mind I chose to go down the resistive screen route and chose this lovely HTC Tattoo, and how pleased am I, texting is a dream, the contacts list is intuitive, calling is simple, and connecting to the internet and wi-fi and absolute doddle. Email set up was just as easy as long as you have your POP settings from your provider and notifications come through instantly.
This device also supports A GPRS which means it can also be used as a Sat Nav, I was a little concerned at first that the screen would not be large enough but no worries there it’s fine. Loads of useful apps are included with the device, but plenty more are available from Google android market, to download, most of which are free. The 7 home screens hold your shortcuts and apps so that everything you use frequently is right at your fingertips e.g. My main screen has the time and weather app and shortcuts to messages, contacts, browser and camera, and subsequent screens have an app for bookmarks which are shown as thumbprints, another has a photoviewer and calender etc,. If I had one niggle it’s the camera, it’s not wonderful, but as I don’t use phone cameras much – preferring my canon, which goes everywhere with me – this is not an issue for me.
Summing up this is a brilliant device which brings a whole new dimention to the mobile phone and a whole lot of fun – HTC not just giving the user a fully customisable user interface but also provide a service to customise the outside too, as you can buy covers that have been pre-designed or get this! Design your own – how cool is that! It’s a fab little device that will change your whole perception of mobile phones forever….
I have to admit that I chose the HTC Tattoo for two main reasons: firstly, it was nice looking and smaller than most touch screen smart phones, and secondly, it was one of the best value or cheapest. However there are many, many more plus points to the phone than I anticipated.
The phone is simple to set up and you can customise your home screen so that it contains the icons you use most often (mine has text messages, alarms, contacts list and settings). You can then scroll to four other home pages which you can also set up to your liking (mine have links to all my favourite websites so that I can access them instantly, such as hotmail, youtube and of course amazon!)
Internet browsing is excellent on this phone – the screen is large and bright, I can pick up a signal almost anywhere and the internet speed is really impressive. The phone quickly loads up even large files such as youtube videos (and the quality of watching these is excellent as well).
Texting takes a while to get used to if you’ve not had a touch screen before, but it’s not impossible. You can choose between having the screen portrait or landscape and you can also have either a normal phone keypad or a QWERTY keypad on the screen.
The connectivity with social networking sites is great as well. You can link your contacts in your phone book to your facebook friends, so that their status and facebook profile pic appear next to them. The phone gets constant updates from facebook too, which you can access via a small bar at the top of the home screen.
A few things could however be improved upon:
-The battery life is quite poor if you are surfing the net, and you will need to charge it every night, if not more often, if you’re doing a lot of internet activity.
-The camera is not great, but if you’re looking for an excellent camera you won’t be looking at this phone anyway.
-Most annoyingly, the alarm is MUCH too quiet. Even on its loudest setting and with vibrate, it’s not loud enough to wake me, and you also can’t put your own music on to wake up to. This is why the phone has lost a star.
Aside from the alarm though, this is a fab little phone which I highly recommend.
Rating: 4 / 5
The attraction of an Android phone was too much for me and I went for the HTC Tattoo due to price.
It’s great at home and most of the time on walk-about. There are both fun and serious applications available free or cheaply. I have Facebook, Twitter, a Skymap that knows which way I’m facing, etc.
Unfortunately, while it has Android, it falls short … it’s not as good as it’s supposed to be.
Bluetooth is crippled (like the iPhone) to only talking to a headset. Have I ever used a headset? No. Have I ever used Bluetooth to talk to printer, laptop, or other phones. Yes. But I can’t with the Tattoo.
Screen size is smaller than any other Android phone, so many applications are not available. You also spend forever scrolling sideways when browsing.
Camera is weak and only fixed-focus. This mean the clever app that reads a barcode on a shop product and tells you the prices in stores nearby won’t work. It can’t focus on the bar-code
GPS is only ‘A-GPS’ meaning it only knows roughly where you are.
Cannot be used on a corporate wireless network. This is the worst of all for me. There’s nowhere to tell the wifi that you’re working behind an authenticating proxy. I don’t know how anyone organisation can provide wifi access and stay legal without requiring this.
Finally, battery life is appalling. Has to go on charge every night – and I DON’T leave Wifi, bluetooth or GPS on all the time.
Rating: 2 / 5
I originally had a Nokia 5800 Xpress music on contract with Vodafone but it was absolutely useless. After the 9th replacement handset in 4 months I was offered the HTC Tattoo. I’ve never had an HTC before but the reviews were all pretty good so I gave it a go and I’m glad I did.
I’ve had it a week now and only charged it twice after the initial charge so the battery is pretty good. I listen to a lot of music and do a bit of web surfing which is all fairly demanding on the battery but so far I get a good couple of days use out of it.
The software is very different to your usual Nokia or Sony Ericson so it did take a while to get used to and I’ve still got a few teething problems to work out. Messaging isn’t very straight forward at first and there aren’t many options for changing certain settings.
The screen it self is an ok size for a touch phone although my massive fingers do sometimes hit the wrong letter when I type. The screen can sometimes be a bit over sensitive when scrolling through web pages. It’s also pretty tough and I haven’t managed to scratch it yet. The camera isn’t very good however, 3.2mp and the quality of the pictures is a bit grainy and there’s no flash. Video isn’t much better either. My phone was supplied with a 2GB memory card which seems sufficient for music although I haven’t tried putting any films on yet.
The phone connects to to my PC very easily and you don’t need to use any special software like you would with a Nokia or Sony, I always found the software a pain any way so just being able to drag and drop or copy and paste files over is very quick and easy. The phone also has a very easy to use WiFi connection icon that is very quick to connect. WAP/mobile internet is also fairly speedy depending on the area. BlueTooth connects very quickly with my car and I’ve had no issues with connecting to other phones.
As I said earlier I’ve had problems with some of the settings and learning how to do general navigation but after a couple of hours playing I seem to be working through most of them. A bit of a let down is that you can’t (or I haven’t figured out how to do it yet) use mp3 as ringtones.
All in all a very good little phone and I will deffintely consider getting another HTC when my next upgrade comes round. Hopefully in a years time there will be something like the HTC HD2 which is in my price range. Only a few little things like the camera and the settings stopping it from getting a full 5 stars.
Rating: 4 / 5
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
+ Packed with features (GPS/WiFi/3G/Bluetooth).
+ Usual smartphone apps all present and correct, either preinstalled or free from the Market (Web/Maps/GPS Tracks/Weather/Mail/Contacts/Facebook/Flickr/Twitter/Drop7/YouTube/etc).
+ Nice, compact size; fits in your pocket.
+ Android 1.6 OS gives great power & flexibility.
+ HTC Sense user interface looks great and is easy to use.
+ Sensible connectors (3.5mm headphone + Mini USB). Actually it’s an HTC “enhanced” variant of USB so it looks different but a standard USB cable works fine.
+ Great value at the discounted price – under £200 for a fully featured, SIM-free smartphone!
+ Surprisingly good signal and call/audio quality.
- Poor battery life if you use it a lot (1-2 days).
- Camera is rubbish (blurry in low light and lacks autofocus so useless for reading barcodes)
- Occasional quirks/crashes; seems no worse than many smartphones.
- Not all Android apps are available in the Market (due to the smaller screen size).
- Very limited Bluetooth capability (audio only, no file transfer). Will be fixed if/when HTC upgrade the OS to 2.x
- No voice dialling. Should be fixed if/when HTC upgrade the OS to 2.x
- Small, resistive touchscreen makes text entry cumbersome in portrait mode; it is fine in landscape.
Rating: 4 / 5
Firstly I would like to point out that I have only had this device for 2 days, but WOW! what a lovely bit of kit this is. Extremely easy to use once you get your head around the android OS, and fully customisable to your personal requirements. I mainly used to use my mobile for texting so when deciding which phone to buy this time I was a little worried how I would find a touch screen phone, especially after trying a few of my collegues mobiles with capacative screens as they seemed rather flighty and random as regards text imput. With this in mind I chose to go down the resistive screen route and chose this lovely HTC Tattoo, and how pleased am I, texting is a dream, the contacts list is intuitive, calling is simple, and connecting to the internet and wi-fi and absolute doddle. Email set up was just as easy as long as you have your POP settings from your provider and notifications come through instantly.
This device also supports A GPRS which means it can also be used as a Sat Nav, I was a little concerned at first that the screen would not be large enough but no worries there it’s fine. Loads of useful apps are included with the device, but plenty more are available from Google android market, to download, most of which are free. The 7 home screens hold your shortcuts and apps so that everything you use frequently is right at your fingertips e.g. My main screen has the time and weather app and shortcuts to messages, contacts, browser and camera, and subsequent screens have an app for bookmarks which are shown as thumbprints, another has a photoviewer and calender etc,. If I had one niggle it’s the camera, it’s not wonderful, but as I don’t use phone cameras much – preferring my canon, which goes everywhere with me – this is not an issue for me.
Summing up this is a brilliant device which brings a whole new dimention to the mobile phone and a whole lot of fun – HTC not just giving the user a fully customisable user interface but also provide a service to customise the outside too, as you can buy covers that have been pre-designed or get this! Design your own – how cool is that! It’s a fab little device that will change your whole perception of mobile phones forever….
Rating: 5 / 5
I have to admit that I chose the HTC Tattoo for two main reasons: firstly, it was nice looking and smaller than most touch screen smart phones, and secondly, it was one of the best value or cheapest. However there are many, many more plus points to the phone than I anticipated.
The phone is simple to set up and you can customise your home screen so that it contains the icons you use most often (mine has text messages, alarms, contacts list and settings). You can then scroll to four other home pages which you can also set up to your liking (mine have links to all my favourite websites so that I can access them instantly, such as hotmail, youtube and of course amazon!)
Internet browsing is excellent on this phone – the screen is large and bright, I can pick up a signal almost anywhere and the internet speed is really impressive. The phone quickly loads up even large files such as youtube videos (and the quality of watching these is excellent as well).
Texting takes a while to get used to if you’ve not had a touch screen before, but it’s not impossible. You can choose between having the screen portrait or landscape and you can also have either a normal phone keypad or a QWERTY keypad on the screen.
The connectivity with social networking sites is great as well. You can link your contacts in your phone book to your facebook friends, so that their status and facebook profile pic appear next to them. The phone gets constant updates from facebook too, which you can access via a small bar at the top of the home screen.
A few things could however be improved upon:
-The battery life is quite poor if you are surfing the net, and you will need to charge it every night, if not more often, if you’re doing a lot of internet activity.
-The camera is not great, but if you’re looking for an excellent camera you won’t be looking at this phone anyway.
-Most annoyingly, the alarm is MUCH too quiet. Even on its loudest setting and with vibrate, it’s not loud enough to wake me, and you also can’t put your own music on to wake up to. This is why the phone has lost a star.
Aside from the alarm though, this is a fab little phone which I highly recommend.
Rating: 4 / 5
The attraction of an Android phone was too much for me and I went for the HTC Tattoo due to price.
It’s great at home and most of the time on walk-about. There are both fun and serious applications available free or cheaply. I have Facebook, Twitter, a Skymap that knows which way I’m facing, etc.
Unfortunately, while it has Android, it falls short … it’s not as good as it’s supposed to be.
Bluetooth is crippled (like the iPhone) to only talking to a headset. Have I ever used a headset? No. Have I ever used Bluetooth to talk to printer, laptop, or other phones. Yes. But I can’t with the Tattoo.
Screen size is smaller than any other Android phone, so many applications are not available. You also spend forever scrolling sideways when browsing.
Camera is weak and only fixed-focus. This mean the clever app that reads a barcode on a shop product and tells you the prices in stores nearby won’t work. It can’t focus on the bar-code
GPS is only ‘A-GPS’ meaning it only knows roughly where you are.
Cannot be used on a corporate wireless network. This is the worst of all for me. There’s nowhere to tell the wifi that you’re working behind an authenticating proxy. I don’t know how anyone organisation can provide wifi access and stay legal without requiring this.
Finally, battery life is appalling. Has to go on charge every night – and I DON’T leave Wifi, bluetooth or GPS on all the time.
Rating: 2 / 5
I originally had a Nokia 5800 Xpress music on contract with Vodafone but it was absolutely useless. After the 9th replacement handset in 4 months I was offered the HTC Tattoo. I’ve never had an HTC before but the reviews were all pretty good so I gave it a go and I’m glad I did.
I’ve had it a week now and only charged it twice after the initial charge so the battery is pretty good. I listen to a lot of music and do a bit of web surfing which is all fairly demanding on the battery but so far I get a good couple of days use out of it.
The software is very different to your usual Nokia or Sony Ericson so it did take a while to get used to and I’ve still got a few teething problems to work out. Messaging isn’t very straight forward at first and there aren’t many options for changing certain settings.
The screen it self is an ok size for a touch phone although my massive fingers do sometimes hit the wrong letter when I type. The screen can sometimes be a bit over sensitive when scrolling through web pages. It’s also pretty tough and I haven’t managed to scratch it yet. The camera isn’t very good however, 3.2mp and the quality of the pictures is a bit grainy and there’s no flash. Video isn’t much better either. My phone was supplied with a 2GB memory card which seems sufficient for music although I haven’t tried putting any films on yet.
The phone connects to to my PC very easily and you don’t need to use any special software like you would with a Nokia or Sony, I always found the software a pain any way so just being able to drag and drop or copy and paste files over is very quick and easy. The phone also has a very easy to use WiFi connection icon that is very quick to connect. WAP/mobile internet is also fairly speedy depending on the area. BlueTooth connects very quickly with my car and I’ve had no issues with connecting to other phones.
As I said earlier I’ve had problems with some of the settings and learning how to do general navigation but after a couple of hours playing I seem to be working through most of them. A bit of a let down is that you can’t (or I haven’t figured out how to do it yet) use mp3 as ringtones.
All in all a very good little phone and I will deffintely consider getting another HTC when my next upgrade comes round. Hopefully in a years time there will be something like the HTC HD2 which is in my price range. Only a few little things like the camera and the settings stopping it from getting a full 5 stars.
Rating: 4 / 5