HTC Tattoo review – with customizable covers

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

Good budget smartphone offering 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. Runs on

Thumbs Down:

Screen is small and has a low resolution, no support for US 3G bands

Inside the Trunk:

Technology: WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM

Band: WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900

Phone design: Candy bar

Caller ID: Yes

Other features: Camera, Google Android OS, GPS, etc.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

HTC Tattoo has a 2.8 inch display which gives a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. The handset is 2.2 inches wide, 0.6 inches deep, 4.2 inches high, and weighs 4 oz. It runs on Android OS. Messaging and Data Services include GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA and internet browser.

Supported audio formats are AAC+, MIDI, WMA, WAV, MP3, AMR, and AAC. Supported video formats are WMV, H.263 video and AMR audio, MPEG-4, H.264. The phone has a 3.2 megapixel camera. The 1,110 mAh lithium ion battery has rated talk time of 390 minutes and standby time is 520 hours.

Razzle Dazzle:

HTC Tattoo is 4.17 inches tall, 2.17 inches wide and 0.55 inches thick which makes it a petite phone. The looks are quite similar to HTC Touch but this phone is a bit heavier and thicker. This is not exactly the sexiest phone ever but when it comes to design, you will love the fact that the manufacturer lets you customize the appearance of the phone. (and hence the name ‘Tattoo’) But it doesn’t come for free; you have to pay $11.99 Euros or around $16 for each custom cover.

Inside Dope:

There are a lot of smartphones coming up in the Asian and European markets and some of these have made way to the American shores as well. Reviewing such unlocked phones is a tough ask since we don’t get much of it in our labs. However, this time we got lucky with HTC Tattoo. This is an entry level smartphone with HTC Sense and Android 1.6 and it has a cool personalization option where in you can design the cover and make it one of a kind. This phone is aimed at budget users who yearn for a smartphones at the cheapest possible price. For some carriers, you get this device for free but it also comes with a few sacrifices like lack of high resolution screen. The discount too is provided only in Europe or Asia. Here in the US, this handset costs $300 and it is not heavily recommended due to the big price tag.

The display of the HTC Tattoo is 2.8 inches big (diagonally) and has a tiny resolution of 240×320 pixels. This is very low as compared to what other smartphones are offering at the moment. Text looks minute and images look dull with a lot of pixelations. The onscreen virtual keyboard too is difficult to use due to the low resolution. But all this is forgivable considering this is a budget smartphone.

Beneath the display, there are the standard buttons like search, back, menu, home, D-pad and Talk/End keys. On the left, there is volume rocker. On the top, there is a 3.5 mm headphone jack and on the bottom you have the mini-USB port. HTC Tattoo comes with reference material, 2 GB microSD card, wired headset, USB cord and wall adapter. The device is available only in Asia and Europe right now so you will have to buy an international plug if you intend to use it in America.

HTC Tattoo runs on Android 1.6 just like HTC Hero. We have already written about that OS before so we won’t go into the details here. We tested the HTC Tattoo for call quality and it was quite good. Our friends sounded clear on our end and though there was a slight background hiss, we could still talk on the phone comfortably. Our friends too reported positive results, but one guys said that the voice sounded robotic. Speaker phone calls had a bit of hollow sound but this is not unexpected in a cell phone. For Bluetooth calls we paired up this device with Motorola S9 Bluetooth Active Headphones and Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset and phone calls were smooth with no hiccups.

At the back, there is a 3.2 megapixel camera which gives good photos quality. Objects in our stills were clear but there was a bit of softness on the edges. Video quality is not that good but still OK if you just want to share it with your friends.

HTC Tattoo is powered by a 528 MHz processor which was surprisingly fast in handling what ever we threw at it. Occasionally, there was a bit of lag but overall, the phone was quite fast. The 1,100 mAh lithium ion battery of the phone has a rated talk time of 6.5 hours and standby time is 14 days. We haven’t tested the battery life yet but we will do it soon and update this section.

Nitty Gritty:

This entry level smartphone might be good in the Asian and European markets but we won’t recommend this to an American customer because of the high price tag.