Taking a trip through time with the HTC Imagio

A little more than a month before the Motorola DROID was launched on Verizon, kicking off Androidmania, the carrier introduced the HTC Imagio. Powered by Windows Mobile Professional 6.5, the HTC Imagio featured a 3.6-inch screen with a resolution of 480 x 800. The Qualcomm chip under the hood carried a single-core 528MHz CPU and the Adreno 130 GPU. 288MB of RAM was inside along with 512MB of native storage. A 5MP camera was on back, and a 1500mAh battery kept the lights on.

The Imagio featured Verizon's optional VCast television service. Unlike streaming video, the user was watching live television powered by Qualcomm's FLO TV service for an additional monthly charge. The Touch3D UI was necessary to help users navigate Windows Mobile, and Opera Mobile 9.5 gave users an opportunity to use one of the better mobile browsers available at the time. You might remember the two tone back and the kickstand that doubled as an antenna for the television service.

This was an exciting time in the industry. Earlier in the year, the Palm Pre had been unveiled at CES, although it was already apparent that the Pre was under performing expectations. The Apple iPhone 3GS was launched in the summer; and on November 5th of 2009, Verizon released the Motorola DROID. Finally, Big Red subscribers had a phone that was just as capable as the Apple iPhone 3G. But that was still in the future when the Imagio was launched.

By the way, we gave the HTC Imagio 9.5 stars in our review, which you can read by clicking on this link.


HTC Imagio commercial courtesy of Cell Phone Teck