SMART Gold, the postpaid brand of leading wireless services provider Smart Communications Inc. (Smart), is exclusively bringing to the Philippines the HTC Magic, the first "Android"-powered device to be made available in the country.

"We continuously innovate and introduce products and services in response to the increasingly sophisticated needs of our subscribers. Part of this is providing them the latest, most advanced handset models that suit their lifestyles at very affordable rates," said Annie Naval, marketing group head of Smart.

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The HTC Magic has been one of the year's most highly anticipated handset models, since the Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer unveiled it at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain in February 2009. The device runs using the Android operating system, a platform specifically designed to allow innovative and relevant applications to be developed, installed on mobile devices, and made accessible to mobile subscribers.

What an Android device offers to mobile subscribers is access to Internet, like software and applications without being tethered to a computer or a laptop but instead through the use of a device they already have in their pockets all day.

With more and more Filipinos taking up the use of the mobile phone as a tool to conveniently access the Internet, "offering the HTC Magic through Smart Gold is a natural fit," said Naval.

"To be truly useful, advanced, all-in-one devices such as the HTC Magic need to be powered by a wireless network that provides nationwide, high-speed mobile broadband coverage -- such as Smart's," said Mark Sergio, HTC country manager for the Philippines. Smart's mobile broadband coverage -- or High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), the faster "sibling" of 3G -- is the widest in the country.

"The HTC Magic, powered by Smart's superior network coverage, will enable mobile users to go online anytime, from wherever they are, and have the 'real' Internet experience -- posting photos and videos, updating their blogs, chatting or sending e-mails, and browsing through their favorite social networking sites -- right through their cell phone," said Naval.

The HTC Magic will be available under any Smart Gold plan, with cash-out as low as P3,000. Smart Gold offers a wide variety of monthly plans, all offering free or subsidized handsets, free airtime, and SMS.

Smart Gold subscribers enjoy access to high-speed, mobile Internet and other value-added services powered by Smart's nationwide mobile broadband coverage.

"Offering the HTC Magic to our subscribers through Smart Gold helps advance our 'Internet for All' agenda -- or to bring the benefits of the Internet more quickly to more people in more places," said Naval. (Press release)