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Vodafone has announced that it will be launching the HTC Tattoo in October next month and exclusively in black! The HTC Tattoo was designed to be a lower-end Android powered mobile phone and thus becoming more affordable for everyone to use. That said, it is still pretty full featured, containing a 3.2 auto-focus megapixel camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, Quadband support, MicroSD support and a 2.8 Capacitive Touch screen.

Below is the official press release.

VODAFONE UK ANNOUNCES EXCLUSIVE HTC TATTOO

Following last week’s announcement of the Nokia E72, LG GM750 and Sony Ericsson XPERIA™ X2, Vodafone UK will be ranging another innovative smartphone exclusive. The new Android-powered HTC Tattoo is a smartphone which will keep you entertained and up to date wherever you are.

The HTC Tattoo, available exclusively in black on Vodafone UK, lets you customise your own mobile experience using the latest HTC Sense technology. It delivers lots of the features of the enormously successful HTC Magic at an affordable price, for example, you can create shortcuts to your favourite internet sites, social networks, games, widgets and applications – and there’s an amazing opportunity to personalise your phone further with thousands more applications and widgets available for download in the simple to use Android Market. Android also gives you quick and easy access to popular Google services such as Google Maps, Google Mail and Google Search as well as favourites like YouTube.

Take your favourite snaps with the 3.2 megapixel camera with sharp focus, and view them on the HTC Tattoo’s high resolution screen or upload them to your social network via the handset’s superfast internet connection. And you are able to alter the look of your phone further with the unique covers that you can design yourself and purchase, or simply choose one from popular cover designs available.

Key features of the exclusive black HTC Tattoo include:

• 3.2MP Camera
• Android technology
• FM Radio and MP3 player
• 2.8″ Touchscreen
• Unique personalised covers

Available in October, customers can pre-register for the Vodafone exclusive HTC Tattoo here: http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/mobile-phone/htc-tattoo

No word on prices and the price plans available for a free handset but HTC are throwing their weight behind the dynamic and impressive Android platform and with the HTC Tattoo, it should reach a wider audience beyond the currently released HTC G1, Magic, MyTouch and Hero devices.

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A leaked video showcasing the HTC Windows Mobile powered device can be found online, showcasing an upgraded TouchFLO interface and the illustrious SnapDragon processor. The video itself showcases the multitouch features on the capacitive touch screen and one thing you notice is that how smooth the transitions are. There is also a neat touch where you can also zoom into a video playing too.  The leaked specifications for the device are fairly impressive:

• 121 x 67 x 11mm
• WCDMA/HSPA: 900/2100 MHz; GSM/EDGE; 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• Speed: Upload = 2Mbps; Download=7.2 Mbps
• Windows Mobile 6.5
• 4.3″ WVGA capacitive touch screen
• 5 megapixel camera with auto focus
• 2x LED flashlight
• 512MB Internal Flash
• 320MB RAM
• MicroSD slot
• Qualcomm MSM 8250, 1GHz “Snapdragon”
• 1230 mAh battery
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR, GPS/AGPS
• G-Sensor, Ambient Light Sensor and Proximity Sensor
• 3.5mm Audio jack

The sooner Snapdragon becomes available for the masses, the better!

Popularity: 4% [?]

HTC has announced that an official firmware release for their HTC Hero device is now available to download! To grab the latest version head over to their website (link found at the bottom of the post) to select your country and to see if you are eligible for the free download and upgrade.

Here at iLuvAndroid we sadly do not have a HTC Hero device so would like your opinions on the new firmware upgrade and if it has improved the usability or not. There has been reports though that is has really increased the speed of the device but we would like to hear your opinions!

There doesn’t seem to be a concrete changelog as well but this is what I have managed to find so far:

• Touch focus to Camera
• Standard clock animation culled (possibly to save RAM and to increase speed)
• Updated Radio firmware
• New Bootloader – Increases difficulty of rooting
• Possibly optimised APKs?

For the official firmware version, follow the link below to select your country and to download the firmware and software to your computer. Be warned that the update process can take up to 10 minutes to complete so give it time!

HTC Website – http://www.htc.com/us/selectcountry.aspx

Popularity: 5% [?]