This was a bit of a surprise I found the other day, and a nice one at that. The HTC Gratia is a low end Android device that was made available back in October 2010, but has mainly populated the European market. It’s main features were quite unimpressive, with a 600 MHz processor, and 384 Mb of Ram. It was though, one of the phones the heralded the start of new a design ethos that still is echoed in the HTC phones being released now. It had something funky and industrial, with it’s brightly coloured innards and some exposed hardware showing through the case.
While it may seem a little underpowered compared to a lot of the muscle phones being released at the moment, it still would be a handy mid range device, for a daily driver. While it is only running Eclair[Android 2.1], it still has a 5 Mp camera and expandable memory up to 32 Gb. Matt over at Unboxings.com recently got his hands on one and did a video look/unboxing.
We probably won’t see these outside of Europe now, but it’s one of those phones that historically was important, and aesthetically, a start to HTC’s alternate design ethos, quirky and colourful. HTC’s strength has always been delivering a device for everybody. Rather than Apple’s one phone for all.
I actually am using the HTC Aria, which is the AT&T version of this phone in the states! Absolutely love it, especially the design. Though I’m using EDGE on T-Mobile so it’s a bit slow…and it has a extremely small internal storage. But other than that, it’s such a great phone with awesome pocketable size!
Cheers Tom I’m glad you like it, the Aria really didn’t take off where I’m from, in fact they are very rare. Although you can still get them from major carriers. It hit at the time when a couple of other big HTC phones arrived, and got overlooked!
I know it’s sad how it didn’t take off well either here. I bought it online cuz I love its industrial design!
I think the design is what delineated it from the earlier HTC devices, it really was a step into the future for the company, with that little touch of steam punk thrown in. HTC have continued in thesame vein with a lot of odd touches to phones, My HD7 has a funky kickstand, with a bright yellow backing, and the camera sensor cover is chunky, lot’s of nice little touches. It’s those variations though that define the HTC design ethos, Surprises and beauty within beauty. While the phone as a whole is a thing to behold, individual features add further interest. Design within design.