Telcos line up for One S smartphone

Optus, Virgin Mobile and Telstra will all sell the HTC One S in Australia

Optus, Virgin Mobile and Telstra will all sell the HTC One S in Australia, the Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer announced today.

The HTC One S is constructed from a unibody aluminium frame that's just 7.6mm thick. The phone is a mid-range handset but boasts many of the same features as HTC's flagship One variants, the HTC One X and the HTC One XL.

HTC claims the One S has been toughened using a technique called plasma electrolytic oxidation. The coating aims to ensure it isn't scratched or marked during the rigours of daily use.

"The design is just beautiful, ultra-thin and strong," said Ben Hodgson Country Manager, HTC Australia and New Zealand. "The gradient metal unibody feels perfect in your hand and the screen has a large vibrant display."

The HTC One S will first be available through both Optus and Virgin Mobile from Monday 2 July. It will sell for $0 upfront on the $50 Optus plan over 24 months, and $0 upfront on Virgin Mobile's Big Plan $39 over 24 months.

The Optus plan includes $500 worth of calls and MMS messages, unlimited SMS messages and 1GB of data per month, while Virgin Mobile's plan offers $650 worth of credit for calls, text and MMS messages, unlimited calls and text from Virgin to Virgin and free voicemail.

The HTC One S will also be available through Telstra from Tuesday 17 July, though no pricing or plan details have been announced as yet.

The HTC One S has a 4.3in Super AMOLED display with a qHD resolution of 960x540, but the unibody design means the battery is not removable, there is no microSD card slot for extra storage and the phone uses a micro-SIM rather than a full-sized SIM card. The phone has 16GB of internal memory.

Other features include a 1.7GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and an 8-megapixel camera with backside-illuminated sensor. The camera has a dedicated imaging processor that HTC says results in less image noise, better colours and higher quality images.

Register now for the ARN Security Forum 2013 on June 4 at the Sydney Mint

More about: HTC, Optus, Telstra, Virgin Mobile
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