I just learned from Migs Mobile and ABS-CBN News that Smart  is bringing HTC Magic, a Google Android-powered smart phone, to the Philippines.

HTC Philippines country manager Mark Sergio reportedly said that Smart will start shipping units of the HTC Magic to the local market by the end of June.

Update from YugaTech: Globe was able to sell HTC Magic starting last week, and will be able to do so until Smart’s exclusive contract with HTC takes effect.

HTC Magic runs on Android, a Google-initiated, Linux-based software platform for mobile devices.

The smart phone gives its users instant access to Gmail, Google Search, YouTube and Maps. It also has Microsoft Outlook synchronization, Smart Dialer, and an onscreen keyboard with predictive text.Its biggest competitor, Apple’s iPhone, is exclusively available in the Philippines to Globe subscribers. Apple recently announced feature upgrades on its new version, the iPhone 3G S.

On the other hand, the Palm Pre, Palm’s newest smart phone and touted as a challenger to the iPhone, was launched in the US last week.

Asked in April if their company will be Palm Pre’s carrier here, a Smart insider replied: “I think Palm is talking to all the carriers. So is Blackberry. No exclusivity required with those brands.”

(Image from www.htc.com)

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Under the promo, prepaid users who enroll in the Daily Surf plan pay only P100 to stay online on their cellphone for 12 hours.

Users may also opt for the 50-peso Budget Surf plan, which gives five hours of Internet time.

To register, subscriber must log on to the portal, m.smart.com.ph/dataplan.

Check out the details on this promo page.

I intend to try the P100-plan this weekend. The P8.33/hr rate sounds reasonable when compared to current mobile data charges.

But since I’m an Internet geek who wants to be online 24/7, I hope Smart — and its rivals Globe and Sun — will eventually offer unlimited Internet for a much lower price.

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For the longest time, we had been trying to communicate using my Smart prepaid and her BWL, to no avail. She texted this morning that she can now exchange SMS messages with Smart users, but not with Globe subscribers.

I wondered, however, why her name didn’t appear on the message I got on my Treo. It turned out that one of the digits I saved on my contacts was wrong. Now, I’m not sure if there was indeed interconnection problems between BWL’s CDMA system and Smart’s GSM. I will ask her if she also had problems contacting other Smart people before.

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It automatically adds an ugly signature to your outgoing e-mails. Such a signature is justified only if the e-mail service is free, like in the case of Gmail and Yahoo. TextMail is a paid service–subscribers pay P2.50 for each message sent. Ads in the form of e-mail signature must be removed.

Textmail cannot retrieve or reset lost passwords. You cannot delete your account and just register again because you need the current password. And Smart won’t delete your account. Their CSR said that they do not have the capability to do that. Ano kaya ‘yun?

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