HTC Tattoo Review

Tattoo is visually decent and quite standard, it's not a heavy phone and feels good in the hand. What it boils down to is that HTC Tattoo is the cheaper smartphone version of the HTC Hero. The hardware it has is a little worse then it's bigger brother the Hero. The biggest difference here is the screen type and screen size, more on that later.

The Tattoo has a well made design, the design is basic but that just means that it's sporting a proven design that always works great for any smartphone. The device has all the buttons we always see from HTC, search, home, menu, back a call and end button. HTC did not opt for a trackball this time they choose to install a four way directional pad which works, but feels less fast than the HTC Hero/Dream and the HTC Magic. Although it is less smooth, it works fine, the interface is as smooth as the HTC Hero (and the sprint version) with their current software upgrade. The Tattoo features a new thing, removable covers, HTC is really trying to get to the 'general public' with this affordable and personal looking device.

Now we get to the real difference that makes this phone different from the other HTC Android devices released thus far. The LCD Screen is only 2,8 inches diagonal and has a resolution of 320×240 (QVGA) where all the other Android phones released thus far have a resolution of 480×320 (HVGA). A big decrease in resolution all together. And even more so if you know that in a few weeks Android devices with WVGA screen will start to be available.

The screen is also of the resistive type instead of capacitive, which means that the screen is pressure sensitive and it's not made of hard glass. The screen does seem quite responsive but not as responsive as the devices with capacitive touch screens. It's good enough though, considering the Tattoo is considered a budget phone.

The Smartphone is made with the same hardware as all their Android smartphones so far released (the Qualcomm MSM7225) and quite frankly does the job. We are waiting for the first HTC Android cell phone that sports a Snapdragon CPU (HTC Dragon is rumored). To get back on topic now, the CPU does its job, and considering the Tattoo has a smaller screen then its predecessors the UI should actually run faster then the Hero, though as said before it's smooth, and that is more then enough.

The camera is 3.2 mega pixels and it's a bit of a downgrade comparing it to the Hero but it makes decent pictures and it's fine for using it for facebook/twitter and other social networking from your mobile device. The battery life is about the as any other android phone we tested so far from HTC. When used heavily you get a day, with less usage you get 2 days and that's decent. There is not much more to say without basically just copying it from the other HTC Android cell phone reviews, a bit the same thus far.

The HTC Tattoo Smartphone is positioned as a low end Android device, and even though it has the same CPU speed as all its predecessors the device really is just that. The Tattoo is just a bit less powerful at all things then the other devices out there. Smaller resolution, slightly worse camera then the Hero, the other phone with HTC Sense UI. Capacitive screens are just more touch friendly, but other than that it's a great phone. Then again, why not spend a little bit more on a HTC Hero and enjoy a more polished device? It is certainly to be recommended if you don't have any issues paying a little bit more.