HTC Tattoo / Android / Sim Free / Unlocked / Touch Screen Mobile Phone

Even though the Tattoo cannot truly compare with the likes of the Apple iPhone or it's own big brother, the HTC Hero, this little phone is in a class of it's own. Some people grumble about the fact that it has a single-touch-only resistive screen, but in my opinion it does not hold it back from what it does best, being a damn good phone with tons of features. The screen is good enough for extended eBook reading, the phone is intuitive to use, the sound via the supplied headphones is more than acceptable, the screen is more than responsive enough, etc. At home I can watch Youtube (via WiFi) and BBC's iPlayer. The supplied music player software, in addition to the normal MP3 and DRM-crippled formats, can also play my extensive FLAC and OGG music collection. Although it's supplied with a 2Gb micro-SD card, it can take up to 32Gb, which is terrific. You can download and install applications via the Android Market, or the third-party Android App Store. By using Fring, you can keep in contact with your friends via Skype, Jabber, MSN, Yahoo, etc. The 3.1MP camera is so-so, but combined with the built-in GPS you can geo-tag your holiday pictures for upload to sites like Flicr and Panoramio. There is almost nothing worth hating about this device, provided of course you don't try and pitch it against the smartphone heavyweights. The fact that it still runs Android Donut (1.6) also does not really bother at all, thanks to HTC's great user interface.

In the entry-level smartphone market I don't know of any other device that can compete successfully with this device. It's got all the right features, and adds a lot of value. There are only two reasons why I won't give this phone a 5-star rating:

* Camera could have been better quality, even at the same 3.1MP
* Small size makes texting a bit interesting, which can be largely remedied by using the phone in "landscape" mode.

Well done HTC!

I've had this phone for a few weeks now and so far am really pleased with it.

Yes the touchscreen is a bit smaller than most phones, but it costs quite a lot less, and as it is my first touchscreen phone it hasn't really bothered me. The main issue it creates is that it can be a bit fiddly to type on it, but that has got easier with some practice. It seems to work best if you turn it sideways and type with your thumbs onto the QWERTY keyboard, which is what it's designed for really. The predictive text is also aware that you may mash adjacent keys as you type and it accounts for this, so you don't have to worry about 100% accuracy.

The Android operating system is great and works really well. I'd say it's the main plus point for getting this phone. I love how customizable the phone is, and there are loads of apps you can download from the Market to modify it further. I also love having WiFi on it, and this seems to be one of the cheaper phones you can get with that built in.

Some people have complained about the battery life, but it seems fine to me. I don't have WiFi or mobile internet turned on all day, but I do use them quite a lot (you can add a widget to the homescreen to turn them on and off easily), and it only needs charging every other day, which I don't think is unreasonable.

The camera is OK, not great, which is a shame, but I only use that for the occasional snap anyway.

Mine came with a microSD card in the box with it, which didn't seem clear from the product description, so I'm glad I didn't buy one separately.

I would thoroughly recommend this phone as a first touchscreen/WiFi phone. You can't beat it for the price, considering you get all the advantages of an HTC for under two hundred pounds.

Love this phone, its fab. Yes, it is a little tricky to use at first if you've only ever had the usual SE's or Nokias in the past, but stick with it, as it will soon become your friend. You will probably read about poor battery life, and if you are a slack-jawed fool who can't be out of Facebook contact for more than 5 mins, the battery will suffer. Simple things like switching off mobile internet help enormously, and perhaps more outlandish, switch it off at night (crazy, I know, but try it). All in all, I would recommend this to all but those with sausage fingers (the screen is a little small).
update: I love this phone even more than before, so I've upped the rating to 5 stars.

Great phone. Little slow to switch on from scratch and sometimes to load videos. I like the way it looks and how it is set up. As with the iphone you have several screens you can flip through and customize with apps games or internet stuff like twitter and email and includes a browser and youtube for quick access.
No problems with touch screen even with the protector on. Nice sound especially with earphones in. Battery life not great so do not leave wi-fi, gprs or whatever on all the time. Can charge via usb or mains.
mp4s are the safest bet for videos as does not support avi. Camera is not very good. Lots of free apps and games that were easy to download via the phone such as an ebook reader and a talking parrot.
Photos and music were easy to add to my 8GB memory card via the usb cable. I had to create my own folders on the memory card and on the phone they lump the videos in the albums area with your photographs.
Had a problem with multimedia messages. I was sent 3 separate messages [straight after each other so maybe overloaded the phone?] with photos in them and I could not view them so will be trying that again later.
A few minor niggles but overall very happy.
EDIT: To receive MMS Messages on O2 network go into Settings - Mobile Networks and tick Enable always-on mobile. This has worked for me so far.

lots of features for money but too complicated to use for everyday. The touch screen is very frustrating in use i found myself swearing alot! After a week have decided to give up.