AT&T HTC Aria Review

A tiny Android smartphone with surprising power

The HTC Aria. The tiny phone with big potential is the second Android device on AT&T, and arguably the first worth really considering on the U.S. carrier. (Sorry, Moto Backflip.) It has the slick HTC Sense on top of Android 2.1. And while this guy is small, it is mighty.

You've watched our hands-on and unboxing. You've seen our benchmark results. Now it's time to review the Aria. After the break, people. After the break.

The hardware

No doubt about it, the HTC Aria is small. It's just about the smaller Android phone we've used. It's roughly the same size as the HTC Legend (read our review), though a tad shorter and without the chin. The phone itself measures in at 4.1 inches tall by 2.3 inches wide and 0.46 inches thick. Suffice it to say where phones like the Evo 4G, Motorola Droid X and Samsung Galaxy S push the limits of traditional phone size, the Aria returns to a kinder, more pocketable place.

On the front of the phone you'll find the 3.2-inch capacitive TFT LCD touchscreen. (Remember the days when that size would have been big?) You've also got the four traditional Android buttons -- home, menu, back and search -- and the same optical trackpad and button as on the Verizon Droid Incredible.

The volume rocker is on the left bezel, the power button and 3.5mm headset jack are up top, and the microUSB port, microphone hole and lanyard loop are on the bottom. Pretty standard stuff.

The rear of the phone is made up entirely of the battery cover, which is coated in the soft-touch paint we've come to love. The 5-megapixel camera is tucked away in here, and four tri-wing screws are exposed -- a nice piece of design that gives a bit of an industrial feel to an otherwise small and cute phone. Note that there is no flash for the camera, with the space instead used for the speaker.

Open the battery cover (pro tip: hold the cover and then press in on the speakerphone grill) and you're nearly blinded by the Ferrari-yellow paint scheme, which includes the battery. The bottom half of the inside is topped by clear yellow plastic, which let's you see into the cuts a bit.  Fun fact: There are two metal contacts on the bottom left that are used to turn the back cover of the phone into an antenna.

By now, those of you familiar with Windows Mobile should be screaming "This is the HD Minithat you guys saw at Mobile World Congress!" And you're right. It is. Save for the buttons on the front and radio frequencies, the specs are identical, inside and out, all the way down to the yellow paint.

What's under the hood

The bottom line -- for basic tasks, the Aria flies. Tooling around the operating system and Sense UI -- scrolling through the application launcher, e-mails, etc. -- is so fast, you'll think it has one of those newfangled 1GHz Snapdragon processors all the kids are raving about. But the Aria's processor is a "mere" 600MHz. It's just another example of how megahertz aren't everything. Helping things along are 512MB of ROM and 384MB of RAM (both before the OS is counted).
The Aria sports a 1200mAh battery. The good news is that because it's not powering a huge screen, it should last you a little longer than, say, the battery on the Evo 4G. The bad news is that something is still chewing through the battery faster than we'd like. You likely won't be playing games all day on the smaller screen, so you'll probably get through a full day. Best tip we can give you is to decide what services you want updated -- e-mail, Facebook, etc. -- and then shut off everything else.

The software

The Aria runs Android 2.1 with HTC Sense on top of it. It's the fourth Sense UI phone that we've reviewed this year, and there are no real differences between Sense on the Aria and Sense on the HTC Legend, Droid Incredible or Evo 4G. For more on Sense, read any of those reviews, or read our Sense UI preview. You can NOT turn off the Sense launcher like you can on the Evo 4G.
Let's move on to the elephant in the room. A lot has been made about AT&T locking down its other Android phone -- the Motorola Backflip -- so that it can only download and install applications from the Android Market. Same goes with the HTC Aria. For a good number of people, that's not going to be a big deal, and you're never going to want to sideload an app. But here's where it hits home: You know that Swype keyboard that's all the rage these days? Forget about it on the Aria. Only way you can sideload apps is to install them through the SDK. If you know how to do that, chances are you'll be just fine. For everybody else, you're stuck in the Market.
And that's not a totally bad thing. You still have access to tens of thousands of apps. It's just an annoyance, and an unnecessary one. No other carrier blocks apps from outside the Market, and it's another back eye for AT&T. It's not a big enough deal for us to tell you not to buy the Aria, but it's something you need to be aware of.
As is usually the case, AT&T has loaded up the Aria with its own apps that may or may not ever use. They include:

• AT&T FamilyMap: "Conveniently locate a family member's wireless phone on a map from your mobile phone or PC."
• AT&T Hot Spots: Find AT&T Wifi hotspots.
• AT&T Maps: An alternative to Google Maps, powered by Telenav.
• AT&T Navigation: Turn-by-turn navigation and directions, powered by Telenav.
• AT&T Radio: Internet radio powered by mSpot.
• Mobile video (based off the old Cingular Video).

Other pre-loaded apps worth mentioning include:

• FM Radio
• Facebook
• IM
• Mobile Banking
• MobiTV
• Quickoffice
• Where
• YPmobile

One thing that's missing that you'll find other new (and larger) Android phones are live wallpapers. We'd expected them to be hacked on anytime now. But they're missing from the stock device.

The HTC Aria camera

The Aria is a competent little shooter, with a 5-megapixel camera strapped to its back. The autofocus is as snappy as usual on a smartphone. You'll do better in good light (naturally), and you're pretty much dead in the water in the dark, as the Aria does not have a flash.

Video also is on par for a smartphone camera. It shoots in VGA resolution (640x480), and colors are a bit washed out. The microphone is pretty hot, as you can hear in the example below.

Other items of note

• Phone calls: Yep, the Aria's a phone, too. The speaker is plenty loud, and the phone works without hesitation.
• GPS: Seamless. Connects without a hitch, and isn't locked down, meaning you can use any GPS-enabled app with it.
• Bluetooth and Wifi: Nary a problem connecting, or keeping a connection.
• Speakerphone: It's louder than the Nexus One, and not as loud as the Evo 4G, which seems to resonate through its giant body.
• E-mail: POP3, IMAP, Exchange, gmail -- it's all available to you.
• Keyboard: The Aria uses HTC's custom keyboard, which we like a lot. It's a little cramped on the smaller screen, though.

Conclusion

All in all, the Aria's a solid little phone, and it's probably the best Android device on AT&T, at least until the Samsung Captivate is released. But that's a high-end phone. For the money -- we're seeing the Aria sold for as little as, well, free on contract -- it's a decent beginner Android phone. The issue with only being able to load apps from the Android Market is pretty embarrassing, but it's not a knock against the phone itself. HTC has done its usual stellar job with the hardware, its Sense interface is as fast as we've ever seen it, and there's no reason this phone shouldn't get the Android 2.2 update.
Size may be an issue. If you have large hands, you're likely going to want to look elsewhere. For our money, we'd just buy this feller off-contract, as AT&T has it listed for $380. That way you're not tied into a two-year contract on a phone that's nice, but not exactly high-end. But if you're looking for a pocketable phone with all the bells and whistles Android has to offer, the Aria's a nice, economical bet.

At&t HTC Aria review

Android is now live on At&t with the new HTC Aria! OK, that may not be completely true since Motorola launched the Backflip on At&t’s network a few months ago, but if any of you have actually played with that phone, you know that’s it’s likely the worst Android phone ever released in the U.S. market. Yes, you can get the Nexus One from Google that works with At&t’s 3G bands, but since you can’t actually get the phone from At&t, we’re not going to count that one. The HTC Aria is the smallest Android phone from HTC to launch on this side of the pond, but that doesn’t mean this phone is a slouch in any way.

Hardware

At first glance, the HTC Aria may look to be a unique design from HTC. The sleek black panel on the front with capacitive buttons under the screen and the soft-touch back cover give it the looks of a miniature version of the DROID Incredible on Verizon. But if you’re familiar with HTC’s Windows Mobile lineup, you’ll definitely recognize that the body of the HTC Aria is nearly an exact replica of the HTC HD Mini. In fact, the only physical differences between the HTC Aria and HD Mini are the capacitive buttons and the addition of the optical joystick on the Aria. The top of the HTC Aria features the power button and 3.5mm headphone jack. The left side of the Aria has the volume toggle and the bottom of the phone has the Micro USB slot and microphone. Flipping the phone over reveals the speakerphone speaker, 5 megapixel camera, HTC logo, and the same exposed screws as HTC Mini in the four corners of the phone.

Once the unibody cover of the HTC Aria is removed, it reveals the bright yellow, exposed interior of the phone. HTC has even equipped the lower portion of the phone’s interior with a semi-transparent yellow plastic so that users can get a glimpse at some of the internal circuitry that powers that Aria. Deeper within, HTC has equipped the phone with a 600 MHz Qualcomm processor, 512 MB ROM, 384 MB of RAM, AGPS, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi, and a 1200 mAh lithium-ion battery.

The 3.2 inch 320 X 480 HVGA capacitive screen on the HTC Aria is the same size and resolution as what many are used to from the Dream, Magic, and Hero, but the smaller body of the phone makes the screen look and feel deceptively smaller. The phone itself measures in at 11.7 x 57.7 x 103.8mm and weighs only 115 grams. While numbers don’t seem too impressive, the Aria’s length is nearly 10mm less than the HTC Magic.

For over a year now, HTC has been releasing all of their Android handsets with HTC Sense. If you have played around with the DROID Incredible, Desire, EVO, or the Hero, you probably already know what to expect. HTC Sense adds a plethora of widget options in addition to the standard Android selection and customizes the user interface of the operating system. Some may thing that Sense simply gives Android a new paint treatment, making it look better, but in reality it adds functionality that is not readily available in Android 2.1. One good example of HTC Sense customization is HTC’s contact application which allows you to manage all your communications between various contacts from within the one application rather than having to check your sms, email, Facebook, or call phone application to see when or how you were in contact with someone last. Other smaller examples like the integration of weather forecast into the agenda view of the calendar or the addition of a stopwatch and timer to the clock application give phones with HTC Sense a more refined user experience on the Android platform.

Like most other carriers, At&t has chosen to get their hands dirty on the software side as well. At&t has loaded up the HTC Aria with At&t family Map (useful for tracking down family members as long as they are on At&t), At&t Hot Spots, At&t Navigator (a rebranded version of TeleNav’s GPS service), At&t Radio, Mobile Banking, Where, and Ypmobile. While we’re sure that At&t is simply trying to add some useful features into the Aria, most of the apps can be downloaded from the Android Market and the others simply try to tie you into At&t’s services. Advanced Android users might find it a little disappointing that At&t has crippled the HTC Aria in the same way they did with the Motorola Backflip. Users do not have the option side load applications on the phone since At&t has limited application installations only to the Android Market. For most, the omission of this typically standard option will not mean much since over 99% of all Android applications are in the official Android Market. However, there’s that rare occurrence when a user will come across an application or beta version that it only available through a developer’s website. At&t claims that the installation restriction is in place for the user’s safety, but we are pretty sure that At&t is simply trying to protect their network, not their customers.

Taking pictures with mobile phones has always been a tricky subject for us. We love the idea of having one device that can handle all our digital media needs, but the reality is that image sensors and the lenses used for most on more handsets are simply not up to par with even your cheapest digital camera from Canon or Nikon. The HTC Aria is no acceptation. The 5MP sensor does a descent job at capturing pictures when you have no other option, but the slow shutter speed makes pictures form the Aria prone to blurriness.

Unlike most of HTC’s newer handsets, the Aria does not come equipped with an LED flash. Some might think the omission of a flash these days is a severe mistake, however we might simply disagree. Having used the majority of HTC’s newest devices, we can safely say that use of the LED flash for pictures does not significantly increase image quality in low light situations. If all you’re using your pictures for is a quick Facebook or Twitter update, we’re sure they will turn out just fine. Just don’t expect to get any descent 4×6 prints out of any of them.

Probably one of the most impressive things about the HTC Aria is the phone’s battery life. The 1200 mAh lithium-ion battery that comes with the phone is able to easily last through an entire day of heavy handset use. While testing out the Aria I would typically unplug the phone at around 6:30 in the morning and not plug it back in until going to bed between 10 or 11 p.m. Throughout the day I would use the phone for email, Twitter, Facebook, web browsing, a handful of games, and a good 15-20 minutes of browsing the Android Market. If you are not a power user or don’t use Google Sync, the HTC Aria might even make it through two days before needing a recharge.

Conclusion

While Android and iOS are in an intense battle for the consumer segment of the smartphone market, the HTC Aria is in no way in direct competition with the iPhone 4. Features and specs just don’t match up. However, there are plenty of At&t customers looking to upgrade from a feature phone to a smartphone and have no interest whatsoever in getting an iPhone. The HTC Aria is definitely an entry-level Android handset, but it’s a few steps ahead of the HTC Hero on Sprint or the DROID Eris (which Verizon is phasing out). At&t customers who have been waiting for a decent Android phone to come their way will definitely be pleased with what the HTC Aria has to offer.