A tipster alerted us to the Optus website already showing a product page for the HTC Dream, along with corresponding price plans, though actual availability is yet unknown. Unfortunately though, Singaporeans are out of luck, as the only reference to the Dream we could find at this point was the press release. On the other hand though, our sources say that SingTel price plans for the HTC Dream should be made available within the next couple of weeks, probably before the end of February.

As for the other Singapore telcos (M1 and StarHub), much like what happened with the iPhone 3G, it’s probably a long shot that the HTC Dream will be made available to either one. Then again, if you really can’t wait, enterprising individuals are already selling the HTC Dream, albeit badged as the T-Mobile G1. Online retailer Expansys Singapore for example, lists the T-Mobile G1 as being available for a cool S$1349.

Alternatively, you can always pick up an Android developer unlocked device, the Android Dev Phone 1. Dev Phones are fully unlocked, letting you use any SIM card in the device, as well as being able to flash custom Andriod builds that work with the unlocked bootloader, which doesn’t enforce signed system images. The device goes for US$399, with free shipping in the United States, but is also available in 18 other countries including Singapore, though shipping charges apply. Also, you’ll need to sign up as an Android developer for a small fee before you can buy a Dev Phone.

Took HTC long enough, but the HTC Dream (made famous as the T-Mobile G1 in the United States) is now finally available in Singapore, thanks to the chaps at SingTel. Now, not only does the biggest telco in Singapore have the Apple iPhone 3G, but now they’re also the first operator in Asia to bring their customers an Android-powered handset. While parallel imported units of the HTC Dream have already been floating around thaks to enterprising individuals looking to make a quick buck, here’s your chance to pick one up for less money, along with a contract. Not only that, Optus Australia (also owned by SingTel), will be also be carrying the HTC Dream.

As for how much the HTC Dream will cost you in this part of the world, we’re still waiting on an official announcement from SingTel.

Check out the full press release after the break.

SingTel and HTC Introduce the HTC Dream™ —
the First Android-Powered phone released in Singapore

The HTC Dream™ Boasts an Intuitive Touch Screen and QWERTY Keyboard,
Plus Popular Google Products and Fresh, New Applications

Singapore – 05 February, 2009 – Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) and HTC Corporation, a global leader in mobile phone innovation and design, today unveiled the first Android™ powered mobile phone released in Asia – the HTC Dream™. Customers of SingTel and its wholly-owned subsidiary in Australia, Optus, will soon be the first in Asia to enjoy this highly anticipated device.

The HTC Dream combines full touch-screen functionality and a QWERTY keyboard with a mobile Web experience that includes popular Google applications and products that millions have enjoyed on the desktop. With a fun and intuitive user interface and one-touch access to Google Search, the HTC Dream provides access to Android Market, so customers can find and download unique applications to expand and personalise their phone to fit their lifestyle.

“We are delighted to work with Google and HTC to be the first operator in Asia to bring the HTC Dream to our customers.  This demonstrates our commitment to deliver a unique experience to our customers and meeting their demand for quality communications and multimedia products and services,” said Yuen Kuan Moon, SingTel’s Chief of Consumer and CEO of SingTel Mobile. “This Android-powered mobile device and its range of popular Google applications and other multimedia-rich software will redefine our customers’ mobile phone experience. Coupled with SingTel’s unrivalled 3G mobile network, our customers can enjoy the full potential of the Internet with just a Dream phone in their hands.”

“The HTC Dream introduces an unprecedented mobile Internet experience that offers a variety of services, applications and content that people can use and enjoy,” said Jack Tong, VP of HTC Asia. “We are honoured to be joining SingTel today for this historic unveiling of the HTC Dream.”

Delivering the Familiarity of Google and SingTel services for a Unique Mobile Internet Experience:

The HTC Dream with Google delivers a premium, easy-to-use mobile Web and communications experience in one device. Both Android and SingTel services have been integrated seamlessly into the phone’s form and function. The HTC Dream’s large vibrant display slides open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard, great for communicating with friends online or using the phone’s e-mail, Instant Messaging (IM) and mobile messaging capabilities. As another option for accessing the device, The HTC Dream comes equipped with a convenient trackball for an alternative, one-handed navigation.

With one-click search, HTC Dream users can search for relevant information with the touch of a finger. A full HTML Web browser allows users to see any Web page the way it was designed to be seen, and then easily zoom in to expand any section. With built-in support for SingTel’s 3.5G network as well as Wi-Fi, the HTC Dream can connect to the best available high-speed data connection for surfing the Web and downloading information quickly and effortlessly.

“We’re thrilled to see the mobile ecosystem in the Asia Pacific region embracing the Android platform.  The openness that has shaped the Internet and driven innovation is now coming to mobile devices,” said Daniel Alegre, Vice President, Sales and Operations – Asia Pacific, at Google. “The HTC Dream offered through SingTel will transform users’ mobile web experiences and provide an open platform for the next wave of exciting applications.”

Communication on the Go:

The HTC Dream features a rich HTML e-mail client, which seamlessly syncs your e-mail, calendar and contacts from Gmail as well as most other POP3 or IMAP e-mail services. The HTC Dream multi-tasks, so you can read a Web page while downloading your e-mail in the background and also combines Instant Messaging support for Google Talk™. With access to high-speed Web browsing and a 3.2 megapixel camera with photo-sharing capabilities, the HTC Dream is ideal for balancing a busy lifestyle, whether sharing pictures, checking the latest sports scores or accessing social networking sites and most importantly, multi-language reading in English, Chinese and Japanese.

Android Market:

The HTC Dream offers access to Android Market, which hosts many popular and unique applications from developers around the world. With just a couple of clicks, users can find, download and rate a wide range of innovative software applications — from games to location-based services and on-the-go shopping — to personalise their phone and enhance their mobile lifestyle.

Pricing and availability details will be announced at a later date.

# # #

About HTC

Founded in 1997, HTC Corporation (HTC) is a global leader in mobile phone innovation and design.  Since its establishment, HTC has developed strong R&D capabilities, pioneered many new designs and product innovations and launched state-of-the-art mobile phones for mobile operators and distributors in Europe, the US, Asia and around the world.   HTC is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile device market. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.

# # #

About SingTel

SingTel is Asia’s leading communications group with operations and investments around the world. Serving both the corporate and consumer markets, it is committed to bringing the best global communications solutions to customers in the Asia Pacific and beyond.

With significant operations in Singapore and Australia (through wholly-owned subsidiary SingTel Optus), the Group provides a comprehensive portfolio of services that includes voice and data over fixed, wireless, Internet and satellite platforms as well as pay TV.

To serve the needs of multi-national corporations, SingTel has a network of 37 offices in 19 countries and territories throughout Asia Pacific, Europe and the United States. These offices enable SingTel to deliver reliable and quality network solutions to its customers, either on its own or jointly with local partners.

The Group also has major investments in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand. Together with its regional partners, SingTel is Asia’s largest multi-market mobile operator, serving more than 216 million customers in eight markets.

SingTel employs more than 20,000 people worldwide and had a turnover of S$14.84 billion (US$10.05 billion) and net profit after tax of S$3.96 billion (US$2.68 billion) for the year ended 31 March 2008.  More information can be found @ www.singtel.com and www.optus.com.au.

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit http://www.google.com.

Awhile back, the internet was all abuzz over an Apple launch event, with pre-launch rumors swirling around that Apple would be introducing their refreshed lineup of laptop computers, a vague reference to a US$899 item listed in a US store’s inventory, as well as something called the ‘brick’.

As it turned out, the bulk of the pre-launch rumors proved correct. Apple had introduced new MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops, as well as an LED-backlit 24-inch Apple Cinema display (priced at US$899 over the United States), while the ‘brick’ proved to be a reference to Apple’s new way of manufacturing their laptop chassis, being milled out of entire blocks of aluminum.

Earlier today, journalists in Singapore had the opportunity to check out the new releases (for the most part) for ourselves, despite the fact that official specifications, images and whatnot were already available online since the launch in other parts of the world a couple of days ago. Nevertheless, this was a hands-on opportunity too good to pass up.

Unfortunately for us though, while the new and refreshed MacBook and MacBook Pro were both available for us to paw over, the new Cinema Display and MacBook Air weren’t.

Physically, the new MacBooks feel very similar to the older MacBook Pro (the first generation Powerbook G4 Titanium comes to mind as well). Lots of brushed aluminum everywhere. What’s immediately obvious though is the industrial design elements on the MacBook; curved corners, smooth metal almost everywhere; the chiclet-like keys on the keyboard reminiscent of the original MacBook Air. I’d safely say that Jonathan Ive and team have outdone themselves this time, as the MacBook looks nothing like what Apple intended to be their mainstream entry in their laptop lineup, but instead looks like a top-of-the-line model with a hardware spec somewhat lower on the food chain as compared to the MacBook Pro.

The kicker about the new Macbook (and Macbook Pro as well as MacBook Air) is what Apple call the Unibody Enclosure. Basically, Apple decided to make the chassis of their laptops from a single block of aluminum, with the necessary holes, gaps and spaces all milled out using CNC (computer numeric control) machinery. Long story short, this basically enabled them to build the chassis with absolute precision. This also meant that the laptop had less parts to fit together inside, therefore leading to less weight and a slimmer design overall. What’s more, since the whole process of milling the laptop chassises were computer controlled, you could literally repeat the same process over and over, and be guaranteed of a perfect fit each and every time.

Apple also did away with the singular large button found below their trackpads, and at the same time ditched the old trackpad for one made out of glass, while also making that entire piece clickable, much like, yes, one huge button. While the act of pressing on the touchpad like a button certainly will take some getting used to, the trackpad is smooth and silky to the touch. Even pressing it resulted in just the right amount of give. Apple certainly gave a lot of thought to making this work well, and i have to say, they did a damn good job of it too. Multi-touch also makes an appearance on the MacBook, up to four fingers worth.

Someone remarked that the keys on the MacBook were a little too much like the MacBook Air for comfort, but I personally think that it looks great. A nice touch is the inclusion of keyboard backlighting on the MacBook, though this will only be made available on the models running a 2.4GHz processor. The cheaper S$2,088 unit running the 2.0GHz CPU comes with a keyboard just like that, but minus the backlighting.

Briefly on the available specifications of the MacBook today; they come with Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0/2.4GHz processors, 2GB of DDR3 memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics, an LED-backlit 13.3-inch display, slot-loading SuperDrive (basically a DVD writer) and 160/250GB HDD. Only two SKUs are available; at S$2088 and S$2588; with the differences being the processor speed, the hard disk capacity and the backlit keyboard.

Keen-eyed Mac users will probably notice the lack of FIreWire connectivity on the new MacBook. While this decision is bound not to go down well with the legions of Mac users who still own and use peripheral devices that use FireWire, the Apple rep cited the increasingly widespread use of the USB standard, as well as pointing out that the MacBook Pro does come with FIreWire 800 connectivity as standard.

One other interesting point to note about the MacBook is the use of a glass-covered LED backlit display. Just like on other LED backlit laptops i’ve seen and used before (i.e. the Dell XPS M1330), the colors just pop out at you. The power efficiency benefits of the LED backlighting are obvious as well, though the glossy screen on the MacBook does prove a bit of a distraction. I’m not particularly a fan of glossy screens, but I do have to admit they’re great for multimedia; just not too great when in brightly lit places with lots of reflections.

I’d only managed to get some serious time with the MacBook, as the MacBook Pros on display were swarmed by journos, photographers and reporters. And no, we weren’t allowed to actually bring any back for some proper reviewing, so we only really spent maybe 20-30 minutes of quality time with the MacBook in our corner of the launch event. The updated MacBook Air and new Cinema Display were MIA as well, for some vague reason mumbled by the Apple reps on hand.

That said, the new MacBook is certainly so much more of an improvement over the older black and while MacBooks, and not just in terms of the hardware specifications, but also in terms of industrial design and aesthetics. If there ever were a product line that exemplified Apple (and Steve Jobs’) dedication to bringing to market devices that looked and felt simple while being absolutely cutting edge, the laptop lineup introduced today would certainly be it. Given that the MacBook line is apparently one of Apple’s best-selling product lines, I’d be really surprised if these babies don’t manage to outdo the previous generation in terms of units sold.

The MacBooks (and MacBook Pros) should be available to purchase at Apple resellers in SIngapore starting from tomorrow (22nd October 2008), according to the Apple rep at the launch.

Would I buy one for myself? The gadget geek in me is simply dying to buy one, that’s for sure. But the realist in me says to stick with my (still quite new) Dell XPS M1330. Plus the fact that the wife would kick me out of the house if I ever came back with a MacBook under my arm and a freshly swiped credit card in my back pocket. One can still dream, I suppose.