The HTC Aria Marks a Change in AT&T's Approach to Android

AT&T has long avoided Android's open shores, choosing instead to stick with their iPhone offering. Even as every other cellular company was embracing the platform, AT&T chose to keep the iPhone as its only true high-end cell phone. The cellular company has released two Android phones in the past, but both were underpowered low-end devices that ran out of date versions of the operating system. The HTC Aria is set to change AT&T's resistance to Android, with it being an up to date well-featured mid-range phone.

The Aria is no powerhouse; it has a 600 MHz processor, 384 MiB of RAM and a 320 x 480 resolution screen. That said, reviewers found that it felt quick for its processor speed. It is also one of the smallest slate style phones on the market right now, which reviewers liked. What reviewers were not too fond of was AT&T's meddling. Like the Motorola Backflip before it, the HTC Aria will not be able to install applications that are not downloaded from the Android Marketplace. This is something known as sideloading. But the HTC Aria is not as maimed as the Dell Aero was, however. It could neither install applications from the Android Marketplace nor install them from another source.

The disallowing of sideloading apps may not be the largest issue, but it is characteristic of AT&T's approach to the platform. The cellular company treats the platform's openness with hostility. With the iPhone, every aspect of the phone was under tight lock and key. You couldn't even (legally, without jailbreaking the device) change the background until the recent IOS4 release. All software was closely monitored and apps that Apple didn't like were removed from the ecosystem. Android isn't like that. There are far fewer restrictions as to what can go into the App Marketplace, and the source code for most of the operating system is open source. For a company used to selling features for dollar amounts per month, this openness is frightening. It would have been frightening to the other major cellular companies, too, but Android was the only viable competition to the iPhone, so they had to embrace.

The HTC Aria is not the world's best android phone, but it does show that AT&T is finally beginning to accept the Android platform a little—in its own, twisted way. Following the release of the Aria will be the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate, a true high-end device. The Aria may be remembered more as the phone that marked a turning point in AT&T’s approach to Android than as the device it was, but it will be remembered.

Comment on "The HTC Aria Marks a Change in AT&T's Approach to Android"