March 15, 2009

The Cheap Alternative
By Luis Anthony G. Oliveros
Published in the December 2008-January 2009 print edition of PC World Philippines

HTC P3400i
P16,400
www.htc.com

Sure the current high-end HTC Touch Pro smartphone does sound like a great decision with all its features busting at the seams, but if you’re part of the working class on a budget and fancy a Windows Mobile companion, the HTC P3400i is your low-cost alternative.

For its considerably cheap P16,400 tag, you get a touchscreen smartie carrying the bare essentials and then some. It has an intuitive interface and lets you get around the phone’s features, settings and access applications using swipe-and-tap finger motions. It functions on a Quad-band GSM network with GPRS and EDGE capabilities for connecting to the Web with Internet Explorer. Internal storage is at 64MB for all your basic e-mail and SMS messages and contacts, but if you still find it a little scant for your multimedia files and work documents, an SD/MMC slot is available up front for expansions up to 4GB.

Powered by Windows Mobile 6 Professional, it comes preloaded with the Microsoft Office Mobile suite, Outlook, Adobe Reader LE and Windows Live- essential applications to keep you productive but still keeps it light and upbeat with Windows Media Player10 for your multimedia playlists and a built-in two-megapixel cam for your photos and videos.