HTC Plans Android CDMA Worldphone

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 2/25/2011

Bellevue, Wash. - HTC announced that its long-awaited Merge Android smartphone will be its first Android CDMA worldphone.

The Android 2.2-based Merge phone will operate in U.S. 850/1900MHz 3G CDMA Rev. A networks, in overseas 2.1GHz 3G HSPA networks, and in U.S. and overseas GSM/EDGE networks. It will be available through multiple North America carriers in the spring, presumably including Verizon, which offers multiple 3G worldphones.

The device features slide-from-the-side QWERTY keyboard, 3.8-inch capacitive touchscreen with haptic feedback and pinch-to-zoom capability, 720p video capture, GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, 5-megapixel camera with flash and autofocus, Exchange ActiveSync, HTC's Sense user interface, and HTC's FriendStream social-media aggregation service, which delivers Facebook, Twitter and Flickr updates in a consolidated view.

The phone also features 800MHz Qualcom processor, 2GB embedded memory, included 8GB MicroSD card, stereo Bluetooth 2.1, 3.5mm audio jack, seven-panel home screen with widgets, digital compass, gravity sensor, proximity sensor and light sensor.