Today I took delivery of a brand new HTC Magic from Vodafone, currently the exclusive supplier of this handset in the UK.

This is my first Android handset, although I am no stranger to the OS as my eldest lad has the G1 from T-Mobile. That particular handset never appealed to me because of its odd [for me] mechanical keyboard.

I have waited out for a completely touchscreen Android handset which the HTC Magic certainly is. And my initial response is one of being pleased at the mature design that HTC are now putting out. I well remember some of their earlier howlers in the Windows Mobile camp. The HTC Magic is none of those.

In physical appearance the Magic looks slightly smaller than an iPhone 3G, although possibly deeper (thicker). The viewable screen is slightly smaller too, but this does not detract from its usability as a touchscreen device. The screen itself has a superb resolution, with crisp sharp colours.

The touchscreen is responsive, but I would say that it is not quite as "snappy" as the iPhone 3G. It is accurate, and the virtual keyboards (horizontal and vertical) are easy to use.

The Magic has only six physical buttons on its facia - these are Home, Menu, Back, Search, Off Hook and Hang Up. All bar the Search are fairly self explanatory. But Search is a bit neat - it is context sensitive. At the desktop pressing the Search button brings up a Google search window, enter your enquiry, hit return and it launches the browser to find your answer. Do the same within an App and it will invoke that App's search (i.e. finding Contacts).

The remaining control is a scroll-button which operates a bit like that on an Apple Mighty Mouse if you're familiar with those. Within an app like a browser it provides a 360 degree scroll function. Press the button and it will select whatever the mouse pointer is over. In use it is very simple to use and highly functional.

In almost every other respect, the HTC Magic is like the iPhone. What you can do on one you can do on the other as easily. The only thing missing on the Magic are the finger gestures such as pinch and squeeze. Otherwise it is hard to tell the difference.

The HTC Magic is a significant hardware upgrade on the G1 - with higher resolution screen and uprated CPU that flies along in comparison. Side by side with the G1 the HTC Magic outperforms.

Music and Video media storage and administration is a breeze. The HTC Magic simply plugs into any USB port and all you need do is drag and drop the media files into a directory on the Android handset. It appears to the PC/Mac as a USB memory stick. There are no nasty applications to install on the host computer - handset manufacturers [with the exception of Apple] generally have not a clue how to write a computer application to handle music and media.

Playlists are created on the handset itself - and it is a simple matter to add the media item to the playlist. I like this a lot.

Android Market is like some street bazar compared to the Apple App Store. It has a wonderful selection of some really quite interesting apps to make use of. A lot of them have been updated already to work with the recent Android "Cupcake" version of the OS. I found a lot of very functional apps to play with - Android, being an open system, allows the developers a high degree of control of the device. Something that only now is Apple allowing with their device come the 3.0 version of their OS.

The HTC Magic is a simple device to use - and that is only because of its extraordinary complexity in the OS and the hardware itself. Like the iPhone it really does not need a manual, although a tiny Quick Start is included in the box - and that makes reference to a PDF full manual on the Internet.

I would recommend the HTC Magic to anyone who cannot bring themselves to come into physical contact with anything made by Apple. It is an outstanding handset and ranks right up there with the best.