We had high hopes for the HTC Aria. And, HTC for a moment rewarded them. Alas, all good things must come to an end. Read more for the debrief.
HTC’s Aria is a compact Android phone. In fact, it’s one of the most compact on the market today. With a 3.2-inch screen, it harkens back to all those Windows Mobile advocates who insisted that 3.5-inch screens were somehow a bad thing.
Choice is good, we say. And having a 3.2-inch offering alongside Android phones all the way up to 5-inch screens makes for something for everyone. In a sea of around-2.8-inch phones, the good ones have trouble standing out.
The Aria is HTC’s first Android phone launched by AT&T. As you may know, we have a policy of issuing Do Not Buy ratings to any Android phone that prohibits “sideloading” of applications. If you haven’t heard of sideloading, we’ll explain.
Typically, Android devices are considered open, unlike iPhone which operates within a closed App Store. The Android Market is the primary place where people can obtain applications. But, in order to deter from the Android Market becoming anti-competitive, and downright evil, Android supports loading applications that are self-signed, or unsigned. Essentially, this means you can go to an application developer’s web site and download an application.
AT&T however, blocks sideloading of applications. This is legally permissible, but in our opinion, deplorable on the part of AT&T. It allows AT&T to force applications off of the Android Market, and stifles innovation. Developers on Android are supposed to be able to attempt bold, net-neutral ideas that create awesome new apps. Without this vital option to run unsigned applications, that cannot happen. Developers won’t be able to innovate without fear of rejection from AT&T.
However, we were pleasantly surprised when HTC updated their Sync application to work around this limitation. HTC Sync was updated to allow unsigned applications to be installed onto the Aria. So, we were all ready to post our review giving a very encouraging rating.
Those satisfactions were destroyed, when AT&T found out about the app, and appears to have demanded HTC update Sync once again, pulling the ability to load your own applications onto the device.
As such, our rating is simple, do not buy this phone. Send AT&T a message that you’re an informed consumer, and you care about being able to run software from any developer on your device. We countine to suggest that customers looking for an Android solution for AT&T, to go with the AT&T-banded variant of the Google Nexus One. While the phone is currently sold out from Google’s developer store, due to an AMOLED shortage, Google says they are ordering more units from the manufacturer (which also happens to be HTC).
Pros: Compact size, very affordable Android phone.
Cons: Orwellian Walled Garden comes standard.
Rating: Do Not Buy
Great article. This phone would be a great contender in the smartphone market if it wasn’t for att screwing things up. I’m glad I got rid of att a long time ago.
I know that ATT is not the greatest provider in the world, but I have been with them for over 15 years and honestly have not had as many issues as everyone else seems to have. I don’t agree with the fact that they deny users from sideloading apps but in todays day and age it is what is. I still enjoy the phone, and was a loyal Blackberry User for the last 6 years and I am glad that I have moved over to the HTC Aria.
Fred, AT&T is the only provider that is blocking app sideloading.
I’m not sure how “in today’s age” is relevant if AT&T is the only carrier being evil on this subject. In today’s age you have choice; from Nexus One to every other provider in the country. All we’re asking you to do is vote with your wallet.
And we sincerely apologize when the Next Big Thingâ„¢ happens, and your Aria will be blocked by AT&T from using it.
the phone itself is exactly what im looking for. too bad its only on att
i own the phone, and there are ways to side load apps through htc sync. also the phone itself works great and i absolutely love it. compared to the other android phones on at&T i would gladly pick the aria. i think whoever wrote this has a huge grudge with at&T and should probably chill out and let everyone know the real specs of the actual phone. penalize at&t…sure…but as for htc…this phone is a great smartphone for anyone.
Matt, while there are ways to sideload on the Aria via hacks and older versions of HTC Sync, we simply cannot factor those into our review.
HTC can easily patch those loopholes via firmware updates, as other Android phone makers like Motorola have done in the past.
At PhoneNews.com, our only bias is to the consumer. You can call that a grudge if you like, but we stand up for the consumer when others won’t. Quite simply, telling people to not buy these tainted Android phones, is the only way to force AT&T to realize that customers do indeed care about this… enough to go elsewhere with their purchases.
Our policy is to give a Do Not Buy rating to each and every tainted Android phone, and we will continue to do so until AT&T changes their policy.
I fully agree with Christopher. I am an at&t customer. Recently purchased Samsung Captivate. Which is just an att name for Samsung Galaxy S, of course. As soon as I got it, even before I transfered contacts or did ANYTHING – I totally wiped the phone and reflashed it with a regular Galaxy S operating system. Which erased all att unnecessary apps and “bloatware”. Also that allowed me to sideload apps. But in actuality, I shouldnt have to do all that in order to enjoy my phone. I shouldnt have to FIX IT right after I buy it. When I flashed it, the phone became even faster.
btw if anyone is interested – website with instructions is xda-developers.com Search for your android phone there. It is easy to flash.
My new unlocked phones is the best. Without it I would be lost. My HTC Aria is amazing. Being an unlocked at&t phones I can take it overseas and my kids absolutely love the touchscreen, apps, and games. I’m definitely surprising my wife with one for her birthday. I got my htc unlock codes from unlockthatphone.com, they are amazing and fast to get cell phone unlock codes. If you ever need any at&t unlock codes be sure to check them out. Even so the HTC Aria is sick and I would definitely recommend this to anyone who asks!
My Aria is a fabulous phone. Here in New Zealand I’m not constrained by what AT&T will or will not allow, all their software is irrelevant down here. Compared to my 3 month old HTC Touch2, the Aria is a revelation – small, light and very fast (for a 600ghz processor). Works perfectly on Telecoms XT network. If anyone in NZ wants to buy one, get it through Mobicity.co.nz, not cheap, but a genuinely brilliant phone. Camera (no flash) very good, whats with the comment re no dedicated camera shutter – use the track ball – works perfectly for me. Screen resolution is all you would need – unless you’re a geek. Who needs a bulky iPhone when you can have this instead. Damned fine piece of technology.
I think its completely ridiculous to give this a “Do Not Buy” rating ONLY because of the blocked sideloading. Hopefully at&t will change that policy soon, but ALL things considered, this is a great phone. I agree that at&t shouldn’t have blocked sideloading, and its a shame that its not on the phone, but get past that and don’t tell at&t customers to boycott all at&t phone options and to go out and spend $530 on a phone (which is currently sold out) just to get around a stupid at&t restriction. I bought this phone a month ago from my local at&t store for $1 after mail-in rebate, and I am very impressed with it. I like it better than the nexus one because of its compact size, and that its surprisingly fast for a battery-life saving 600mhz android phone. I’ve been nothing but satisfied with my purchase, DESPITE not having the ability to sideload. I honestly lost a lot of respect for you guys over this absurd review and am very disappointed that you would make such radical and illogical statement, which is not in the interest of at&t customers or your readers.
Ken, we might be willing to water down our stance if AT&T offered consumer some phone that supported sideloading on the Android platform.
But, they don’t… leaving PhoneNews.com the only member of the mobile media to take a stand on this issue. If you want to go try one out, there are thousands of stores in this country that will let you buy an Aria, try an Aria for yourself, and return it if you don’t like it.
We already don’t like it. We wouldn’t buy it. That’s why we gave it a Do Not Buy rating.
Chris, after I posted my comment, I reread it and realized that I didn’t specify my point as well as I intended to. I apologize for that.
What I was trying to state was that this was supposed to be a review of the Aria, not of at&t. You didn’t talk about the phone itself at all. You mentioned the obvious compact size of the phone, then got caught up in the sideload issue and never got back to reviewing the phone. You never described its specs, its performance, its price, its sensitivity, its responsiveness, its functionality, its features, its capabilities, or anything else related to the phone itself. It was simply a very poorly written review because you did not review what you were asked to review, and the reader did not obtain an accurate perception of the featured product. What the readers got from this review was actually a review of at&t. You could copy and paste this review for all at&t android phones that you review, and all you would need to change are the three sentences that describe the screen size. Three sentences is far from an accurate or professional product review, regardless of whether you would recommend this product or not. The rating is your opinion, and you can state your stance against at&t, but the core of the review should be a description of facts and observations of the product that you are reviewing.
Honestly, what was the point of me reading your review, or of you writing it, if your just going to suggest that I go to a store if I really want to learn about the phone. Thats what I came here for.
We consider reviews of phones to be an augmentation of the trial experience.
Phones aren’t like cars. It’s not a gut-wrenching experience to try one out for yourself. If you’re interested in a phone, chances are you’re going to test drive it before you buy it. And if you don’t, you should be anyways.
That is probably the main reason why PhoneNews.com runs so few reviews. We don’t want reviews to be the basis for your decision on a phone purchase… we want you to try them and decide for yourself!
Our goal with a review is to highlight the stuff that you might not catch in store, the stuff that might affect your decision. Our policy is that this issue is so great, it eclipses that process entirely. Sideloading is something that every AT&T Android phone buyer should be aware of before buying.
We think it’s simply reprehensible that AT&T does not notify buyers that an Android phone cannot do something outlined as part of the Android definition for devices. Android is supposed to be open, and this is a violation of GNU GPLv3. While Android itself is GNU GPLv2, it’s quite possible that GPLv3 code is being shipped in these phones through built-in apps and augmentations.
This is a crisis that compels us to tell you not to buy the phone. AT&T should, in our opinion, require customers to break a seal of some sorts (similar to an EULA) making them aware that this is not a true Android phone… it’s a neutered Android phone. This is no different, in our opinion, from AT&T neutering Bluetooth… ask Verizon how that went.
And yes, we would have treated every Verizon Neutered Bluetooth phone with the same Do Not Buy rating. Change agents like that forced Verizon to wise up, hopefully AT&T will on this issue as well.
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