HTC ChaCha Touch-and-type Smartphone

Like any new SKU, all it takes is one manufacturer to launch a successful product and then everyone piles on. Apple’s iPad is one such example that comes to mind, since before its existence no one really cared much about tablets. In the mobile space, touchscreen devices seem to be the future as there’s no going back now. However, many would still argue that the feel of a physical keypad can never be replaced by even the best of touchscreens. So, in order to keep both parties happy, a new SKU had to be created which is where touch-and-type was born. This new segment includes phones with touchscreens and full QWERTY keypads or even traditional ones.

HTC Chacha Video Review

Compact and well built

The phone sports a 2.6-inch capacitive touchscreen with a 480x320 pixel resolution which makes everything appear really sharp and clear. Slight colour banding is noticeable on certain wallpapers due to the resolution as well as the lower color gamut (only 256K colours). The screen is much better than Samsung’s Pro as the resolution is higher inspite of the Pro having a larger 2.8-inch screen. Nokia’s E6 still has the best screen though for a touch-and-type handset so far. We have a similar set of shortcut buttons placed below the screen for Home, Properties, Back and Search, just like the rest of their Android handsets.

HTC has made good use of the available space for the keypad which is simply a joy to use. The fit and finish of the keys are near perfect with good spacing between them. The backlighting is even across all the keys and automatically kicks in thanks to the ambient light sensor. The dedicated Facebook button is placed at the bottom which lights up every time you browse, click a picture, watch a video or visit a link in the browser. Hitting this button takes you to a screen where you can add a caption or even tag people in the image and then upload it. Pressing the button home screen lets you quickly update your status message.

Even backlight across the keypad

The headphone and the power button are placed on the top while the volume rocker and the micro-USB port are placed on the side. The ChaCha comes with a 5MP auto-focus camera and a single LED flash. The speaker is placed just beside the camera and is clearly audible even when placed on a table.

Features
Interface
The ChaCha runs Google’s latest version of Android, Gingerbread 2.3.3 with Sense 2.1. The lock screen is similar to the one seen on the Sensation but the home screen lacks the 3D menus. You can add a total of seven home screens and fill them with plenty of pre-installed widgets. The phone is pretty quick to navigate around and the animations and transitions are smooth without much stutter. The 800MHz processor is plenty to handle this resolution but not strong enough for HD videos. The phone comes bundled with a 2GB micro-SD card that's expandable to 32GB.

Sense UI never fails to impress

The menu system has gone through a bit of shuffling to suit the landscape mode of the ChaCha. The section that sorts the apps as per frequently used or downloaded is now placed on the side. You scroll through the apps in a vertical fashion. Everything works very smoothly and the capacitive screen is very sensitive to touch picking up even the slightest gestures.

Updating your FB status has never been easier

The one thing I missed was the customized notification bar which the Flyer had. It gave you quick access to Wi-Fi, brightness, Bluetooth, etc. which you could access from any app without having to go to the home screen. Instead, the ChaCha comes with the default bar which has nothing.