PhoneArena's Retro-Rewind: HTC Apache/Wizard

As HTC looks toward the future, their prosperity continually grows as they embrace the radiance of being garnered as one of the mobile industry's premier smartphone makers. There's never a dull moment with the Taiwan based company – even when there are leaks regarding some of their handsets; it brings forth a sense of anticipation from the many that gaze at them. Even during the most recent events at MWC, HTC still was able to take center stage during the biggest event in the mobile community and keep the eyes of on lookers fixed aimlessly at their products. With handset designs that clearly differentiate from the competition, you can always expect a quality build from HTC's products. Finally, there is no denying that their brand name is instantly noticeable nowadays thanks partly to the baby steps they've taken in getting to where they're at now.



Back almost 5 years ago, HTC's name didn't have that brand recognition as it does now. Instead, they seemingly hid their name underneath the myriad of manufacturing partners that managed to take their design and expose it to the world. During the same period, it wasn't unlikely to see smartphones that catered to the business professional – but there were few handsets that really were classified as a Swiss Army Knife of mobile phones. Before the HTC Touch Pro2, there was the original Touch Pro, and then the eclectic variants of the Titan – but all those handsets pays homage to the original Windows Mobile smartphone that started it all for them; the HTC Wizard/Apache. That handset conjured up a revolution in the wireless industry that ignited the birth of HTC as a premier force in the market.



It was almost surreal when the HTC Wizard/Apache made landfall here in the US – very few smartphones offered a landscape sliding QWERTY keyboard that was spacious enough to type on. Throw in the fact that it was filled with some serious hardware under the hood, it presented the standard notion of what a top-of-the-line smartphone should consist out of. The HTC Apache, with its prevalent antennae jutting outwards, was made known through the CDMA wireless providers in the country – its name was uninspiring to say the least. Sprint had it named the PPC-6700 while Verizon followed a similar path with the XV6700. When you look at their GSM counterparts, the T-Mobile MDA and Cingular 8125, it retained a similar look without the pointy appendage sticking out. Yes, they may seem as bulky pieces of hardware that made your pockets look stuffed when compared to some of the more streamlined looking modern devices.



You've got to hand it to HTC because they offered a complete package with this handset – something that was rarely seen during its time. For example, not only was it an identical facsimile when it came to some of its strictly PDA brothers that offered the Pocket PC experience, but the HTC Apache/Wizard boasted the renamed branding of Windows Mobile 5.0 – which provided users that somewhat desktop experience on their hand-held. Under the hood though, the HTC Apache truly packed some impressive features for its time – such as a 2.88” QVGA resistive touchscreen, CDMA 1xRTT/EVDO, 64MB of RAM, 128MB of ROM, Bluetooth, 802.11b Wi-Fi, landscape sliding QWERTY keyboard, miniUSB connection, infrared port, and a miniSD/MMC card slot. The HTC Wizard also boasted similar specs on the GSM side, but both truly managed to get consumers to take notice of this unknown company that was behind its manufacturing.



When it came down to it, the two devices secured HTC's place in the mobile industry; although it was still proving itself as a top contender in the smartphone segment. As they were able to capitalize on the success of the Apache/Wizard, they began to evolve ever so slowly with each device they put out afterwards. Their success is most apparent today as we have witnessed during the latest events surrounding MWC – their handsets still garner the respect and anticipation of the mobile community. The HTC Apache/Wizard signaled the birth of the mass-market appeal of high-end smartphones – forever cementing its place among the halls of its successors.

T-Mobile MDA (Wizard) Specifications | Review
HTC Apache Specifications