AT&T has officially announced its first HTC Android device in the Aria, which will launch on June 20th for $229.99 before an additional $100 mail-in rebate, bringing the total to $129.99.
The Aria features Android 2.1, HTC Sense, 5.0 megapixel camera with video recorder, 3.2-inch HVGA resolution capacitive touch display, Wi-Fi radio, 7.2Mbps HSPA, 600MHz Qualcomm MSM 7227 processor, proximity sensor, GPS support, compass, light sensor, 512MB ROM and 384MB RAM, microSD card slot with included 2GB card and Bluetooth with stereo audio support.
And yes, like all other phones running Android that are shipped from AT&T, it appears Aria will not allow off-Market applications. As such, we’re very likely to impose our rare Do Not Buy recommendation on this phone, similar to the Motorola Backflip.
This is crazy. It looks a lot like the incredible from verizon. Why couldn’t they just leave the 8mp camera and the 1ghz proccessor? ATT is always screwing things up.
I’m up for renewal and I am getting rid of my sero and I was really close to switching to att and getting the iphone but it looks like i’m getting the evo instead. ATT, you screwed it up again. I know it will probably be jailbroken soon but I don’t feel like going through all that.
JJ, never assume a phone will be rooted/jailbroken.
The Motorola Backflip has yet to be rooted, and as Android phone development refines itself, it may reach a point that, like BlackBerry, rooting simply is not a viable option.
Christopher, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from the hacking community it’s that with enough time and interest anything is possible. The key word here, though, is interest. If no one cares about the device, it’ll never get hacked. With that said, I believe the reason why the Backflip has yet to be rooted is likely because it’s not a very exciting phone. Compare that to the Evo, which was rooted days before it was even launched. In the end, I also doubt the Aria will be rooted any time soon, but only because I doubt people will be any more interested in it than the Backflip.
Jay555, anything is possible. That doesn’t mean it’s realistic or reasonable to do.
Anyone with a Backflip that was expecting it to be rooted, is shaking their head at what you just said. People expected the Backflip to be rooted because there was so much interest over AT&T taking the bold step to block off-Market code. Interest by hackers doesn’t translate into results. Hackers have said that Motorola well-hardened that device, and that future Motorola Android phones may be similarly difficult to root.
I’ve had to deal with hundreds of customers that were “expecting the hack”. Many times, I’ve had to write several emails to bring them down gently (sometimes hardly) to the harsh truth: the hack they want isn’t going to happen, and they need to move on.
So, yes, we will point out to anyone about to buy a device that propaganda shouldn’t be spread that a root will happen. Someone saying it’s “bound to happen” can unfortunately be translated quickly into “it will happen”.
EVO > Aria
Sprint 3G/4G > AT&T’s 3G
Sprint’s plans > AT&T’s tiered data plans