HTC Bringing a QWERTY-Equipped High-End World Handset to Verizon?
Remember when we ran wild with some speculation regarding unused model numbers by HTC and Verizon? While this may not be the same device, it appears there was something on the blueprint for Big Red after all. AndroidSwag (through our good friend The Droid Guy’s outlet) caught wind of a QWERTY-enabled HTC handset that looks to be headed straight to Verizon. We’re not sure how the phone made its way into the wild, but that’s not important. What is important are the specs:
This will be a world phone for those of you missing dual technology support from the old Blackberry days. The device is equipped with CDMA radios for use with Verizon in the US and GSM radios for those occasions where you’ll need to leave the country. The device will sport a 4-inch display (no word on what type yet, but we’d venture to guess Super LCD), a spring-loaded slide-out QWERTY (somewhat of an homage to the G1) with buttons sitting on a read surface, and at least a 1.2GHz processor (no word on if this would be the dual-core Snapdragon we’ve been hearing about, though).
I know many of you are already about to burst with excitement. Many have cried out for a high-end device with a QWERTY keyboard that can match the layout and quality that many enjoyed on the first Android handset ever. While this isn’t the same five-row layout we loved on the G1, it’s very close and it has that same spacious look to it.
The device will come pre-installed with Android 2.2, as one might assume, and is scheduled to arrive Q1 of 2011. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this will be equipped with LTE radios to take advantage of Verizon’s new high-speed mobile data network that they’ll be bringing out later this year. What say you on this one, guys?