I got my grubby paws on a brand-new Verizon HTC Ozone at the local Alltel-turned-Verizon store on Friday, three days before the official brick-and-mortar store release date of tomorrow. It has been for sale online since the 29th, and we're not exactly talking about an Apple iPhone or Palm Pre here, so it just took a small amount of whining to get it. The Verizon store being swamped with folks taking advantage of the special deals to switch their Alltel accounts to Verizon (our situation) probably helped, too.

The Ozone is a down to business, Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone made for those who, like me, might have been considering something like a Blackberry Pearl for Verizon's 3G EVDO rev A network. However, it's known as a 'World Phone', which apparently means that it also works on GSM, GPRS and EDGE networks. Also radio-related; It is Wi-Fi enabled, so you can connect to a wireless computer network (802.11b/g) if, for example, the EVDO signal is not available (or if you happen not to have a data plan).

Hardware Features

I'm not sure how likely I am to use any of its 'world phone' capabilities, nor do I think I'll ever turn the Ozone's 802.11 radio on beyond testing for an open wireless network. What got my attention, however, were some of its more physical features.

First, like its cousin the HTC Snap, it has a respectable 1500 mAh capacity battery, compared to many similar phones which have batteries with capacities in the range of 850-1000 mAh. Since I tend to keep my phone online for e-mail and browsing, that was a definite plus. Of course, simply having a larger capacity battery does not guarantee it will last longer on a charge than a competing product, but it does mean it'll last longer than it would have otherwise.

The 2.4" screen on the Ozone has 320x240 resolution, which definitely helps for fitting more information on a small screen, or to make what is on the screen at a larger size easier to read. With the way messaging information is displayed on the 'sliders' home page styles, that is definitely appreciated.

The docs say the Ozone has 256Megs of ROM, and 192Megs of RAM. After installing just Google Maps, my Ozone reports that it has just over 70Megs of on-board storage space free, and seems to have around 60Megs of RAM available while running a couple typical apps, like e-mail, messaging and the calendar. It accepts microSD cards of up to 16Gigs capacity, so it can serve to carry and play a decent bit of your media library, though read on for more about the outer shell.

The last major thing I like about the Ozone is its weight and size. It weighs less than 2/3 as much as my Treo 700 (admitedly, a brick!), and is a little less than half as thick. The HTC Ozone page says that the phone weighs 3.7oz with the battery, but my postage scale says 4.1oz. But it's definitely light and thin enough to put in the pocket of a suit jacket.

Sleek Design; Good or Bad?

The body of the Ozone has only a single port on it. Of course, it has all the front buttons you see in the photo. The volume +/- buttons on the side are very subtle visually, and a little hard to find by touch if your fingers are not very soft. Beyond that, the only other openings in the case at all are for the 2.0MP camera, and the speakerphone/system sound speaker on the back. It gives the Ozone a very futuristic look, and a smooth feel. But it does present a couple questions for the new user, taking it out of the box for the first time. Those familiar with HTC phones may already know all this, but read on if not!

First, the SIM and microSD slots - as well as the battery, of course - are reached by removing the back panel of the phone. This seemed inconvenient to me at first, but then I think I've removed the SD card from my Treo perhaps one time, beyond those times when I was just fiddling with it. If you can imagine frequently swapping microSD cards, that's probably a negative; I don't believe the back panel would hold up very long being removed very frequently, as it snaps fairly tight, and is not made for frequent removal.

Power and PC sync are provided by the single, mini USB port on the bottom, and the Ozone seems to charge perfectly fine off USB power, to boot, unlike my Treo and a MotoQ previously used. Wired headset/headphones are also connected to that port, via an adapter the size of a small thumb drive, with about a 1" cord to the plug. The adapter is handy, though; it includes a pass-through port for the power/sync cable, plus another mini-USB for a mini-USB headset, and the 3.5 and 2.5mm jacks. The mini-USB jack seems to hold the adapter fairly snugly, so you could plug that into your Ozone to listen to tunes through your car stereo's auxilliary input, and toss the phone in your center console, and the connection should not wiggle loose.

For personal listening or conversations, though, the Ozone of course supports Bluetooth headsets, and it also supports stereo Bluetooth headphones for your music/videos.

Overall, I like the design. The surface of the back of the case seems to 'stick' to the fingers a little better than most. That and its weight lead me to guess I'll drop it less often than I did my Treo.

Randomosity

The Ozone does not have a touch screen, which suits me fine. I do miss the stylus from my Treo, though. But this device can be operated much more easily one-handed, while there were too many things that could not be done so on the Treo, nor most touch-screens.

The keys feel good, though the numeric keys seem a bit more offset than I'm used to. Not that I punch in numbers that often, anyway. Also, the location of the soft keys took some getting used to, because they are not immediately below the screen. The photo shows the area of the case with the Verizon logo on it below the screen, separating it from the soft keys (with the dashes). Not a biggie, once I get used to it.

As for the software, what is there to say? It's Windows Mobile 6.1, with the Verizon features available, such as VZ Navigator and VCast, and the like. I don't use those, but I do use the phone to sync with our Microsoft Exchange server (actually a Zimbra server), and I had no trouble setting that up. It was also a no-brainer to set the device up with the Windows Mobile Device Center in Vista, so that I can start putting some tunes and files there (it comes with Office Mobile, also).

Conclusion

So far, I like the Ozone a lot; and it only cost $49, with two-year agreement, minus the extra discounts we got for moving our accounts from Alltel. No, I don't like that $70 of that comes in the form of a debit card rebate, but... ehh! My main question at this point is whether the battery life will hold up to my hopes. If so, I'm sure I'll be happy with this bugger for a year, easily!