Tuesday, October 3, 2006
HTC & Cingular's "Smart Meets Sexy": HTC America Does Press Events!
Posted by Janak Parekh in "EVENT" @ 08:00 AM
Last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to stop by a particularly unusual event: HTC and Cingular's "Smart Meets Sexy" press event, featuring the Cingular 3125. Now, details on the Cingular 3125, known otherwise as the HTC Star Trek -- the thinnest clamshell Smartphone on the market so far -- is primarily the purview of our sister site, Smartphone Thoughts, so I'm not going to go into it in much detail. Nevertheless, the fact that HTC America is visible and active is noteworthy. Read on for a quick look at what I saw.
Figure 1: Tenjune entrance.
The event was held at Tenjune, a relatively new lounge/bar in the meatpacking district. (For those of you who aren't New Yorkers, the "meatpacking" district, like many other old districts in New York, are no longer accurately characterized by their name, thanks to gentrification. It's a fairly trendy part of New York nowadays.) I have to admit, it felt a little weird getting on line with a velvet rope and bouncer for a press event.
Figure 2: Going downstairs. Ooh, nifty projection to hide the wall's stains. ;)
Figure 3: The lounge. Okay, it's a bit dark, but that's kind of the point, right? Man, I need a PowerShot 800IS...
Before arriving, I presumed the press event would be like any other -- an open space where products are displayed and people talk to vendors about the product. The products were displayed, HTC's logo was emblazoned about, it was an open space, but that's where the comparisons ended. This was much more of a "party" than a PR event. It was loud. It was packed. The music was blaring. People were screaming into each others' ear. Some people were in fact talking about the 3125, but it certainly didn't look like the majority.
Figure 4: A projection screen "showing off" the 3125.
The music was your typical bar/party mix. While it was truly sad to see a few stereotypical geek-types trying to boogie down, the vast majority of people there were well-dressed for an evening out.
Figure 5: The DJ's booth, with the PR event's theme emblazoned.
There were in fact some "booth babes" that seemed to be HTC reps, but since I knew of the 3125 already, and because they were surrounded, I didn't bother; I grabbed a seat and played with the 3125 for 10 minutes.
My thoughts on the 3125? Very nice -- one of the first Smartphones that doesn't feel like a Smartphone -- and I'm sure that was the reason the PR event was designed this way. The Cingular version of the HTC Star Trek comes with an extended battery, which has a nominal "hump", but that's a misnomer. The hump is 1mm thick, and you don't notice it even when holding the device to its side. The screen is very clear, the buttons are good, the device looks like a killer Smartphone. I wouldn't mind having one. I'll leave it to the SPT folks to put the device through its paces. Jason already reviewed the generic Star Trek on SPT some time ago.
Figure 6: The 3125 "display".
And that was it! As I didn't know anyone at the event, and didn't feel like looking like a lame geek trying to dance, I hightailed it out of there. I'd have loved to see other upcoming HTC devices (Hermes, anyone), but alas, there were no such sightings. Perhaps next time. :) I'm very happy to see HTC America starting to build visibility -- and here's to hoping that it means more HTC devices for us, too.
Janak Parekh is completing his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science at Columbia University in New York. When he's not working on his thesis or playing with PDAs, you're more likely to find him asleep than anything else.
Figure 1: Tenjune entrance.
The event was held at Tenjune, a relatively new lounge/bar in the meatpacking district. (For those of you who aren't New Yorkers, the "meatpacking" district, like many other old districts in New York, are no longer accurately characterized by their name, thanks to gentrification. It's a fairly trendy part of New York nowadays.) I have to admit, it felt a little weird getting on line with a velvet rope and bouncer for a press event.
Figure 2: Going downstairs. Ooh, nifty projection to hide the wall's stains. ;)
Figure 3: The lounge. Okay, it's a bit dark, but that's kind of the point, right? Man, I need a PowerShot 800IS...
Before arriving, I presumed the press event would be like any other -- an open space where products are displayed and people talk to vendors about the product. The products were displayed, HTC's logo was emblazoned about, it was an open space, but that's where the comparisons ended. This was much more of a "party" than a PR event. It was loud. It was packed. The music was blaring. People were screaming into each others' ear. Some people were in fact talking about the 3125, but it certainly didn't look like the majority.
Figure 4: A projection screen "showing off" the 3125.
The music was your typical bar/party mix. While it was truly sad to see a few stereotypical geek-types trying to boogie down, the vast majority of people there were well-dressed for an evening out.
Figure 5: The DJ's booth, with the PR event's theme emblazoned.
There were in fact some "booth babes" that seemed to be HTC reps, but since I knew of the 3125 already, and because they were surrounded, I didn't bother; I grabbed a seat and played with the 3125 for 10 minutes.
My thoughts on the 3125? Very nice -- one of the first Smartphones that doesn't feel like a Smartphone -- and I'm sure that was the reason the PR event was designed this way. The Cingular version of the HTC Star Trek comes with an extended battery, which has a nominal "hump", but that's a misnomer. The hump is 1mm thick, and you don't notice it even when holding the device to its side. The screen is very clear, the buttons are good, the device looks like a killer Smartphone. I wouldn't mind having one. I'll leave it to the SPT folks to put the device through its paces. Jason already reviewed the generic Star Trek on SPT some time ago.
Figure 6: The 3125 "display".
And that was it! As I didn't know anyone at the event, and didn't feel like looking like a lame geek trying to dance, I hightailed it out of there. I'd have loved to see other upcoming HTC devices (Hermes, anyone), but alas, there were no such sightings. Perhaps next time. :) I'm very happy to see HTC America starting to build visibility -- and here's to hoping that it means more HTC devices for us, too.
Janak Parekh is completing his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science at Columbia University in New York. When he's not working on his thesis or playing with PDAs, you're more likely to find him asleep than anything else.
