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Earlier this month, smartphone maker HTC locally released its new Radar device, which uses Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.5 platform.

Microsoft’s upgraded platform, known as Mango, has more than 500 updates from version 7, and HTC’s new device allows users to tap into these improvements.

One of the new features, called People Hub, provides users with one-touch access to Facebook, Twitter and Linkedln.

Agus Sugiharto, HTC’s country manager for Indonesia, is confident the Radar has what it takes to become a new icon in the smartphone market, presently dominated by Apple’s iPhone and many models that use the Google Android platform.

“HTC Radar successfully creates new boundaries with its capabilities in photography, multimedia and social networks,” Agus said. “With this smartphone, you can enjoy the maximum advantages from the latest Windows Phone 7.5.”

Launched this year, Windows Phone 7.5 is the latest Microsoft mobile operating system, intended to compete against Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. Although many are still unfamiliar with HTC, the company has made a name for itself in recent years with its cellphones. In October, the Taiwanese cellphone producer launched Evo 3D, a smartphone that runs on Google’s latest operating system, Android Gingerbread.

In today’s social media era, people use smartphones to stay constantly connected to family, friends and colleagues. In order to facilitate this 24/7 communication paradigm, Radar enables users to view text messages, e-mails, Windows Live Messenger and Facebook chats on a single display that HTC calls Live Tiles. Users can also have face-to-face live chats with other people on its 9.7-centimeter screen.

Supported by its auto-focus five megapixel camera and a dedicated button on the side, HTC Radar promises to take sharp pictures, even in low-light situations. With the smartphone’s Photo Enhancer, users can easily edit photos and videos and directly upload them to Facebook. Its wide-angle, 28-millimeter lens enables users to capture more, but the camera isn’t limited to just picture-taking. The Radar also allows users to record high-definition videos.

For those who work on Microsoft Office-based documents and want to share them easily with colleagues, the HTC Radar might be the right solution.

“Using the Windows Phone 7.5, HTC Radar lets you upload, share and access photos, videos and Office documents wherever and whenever,” said Hermawan Sutanto, central marketing director of Microsoft Indonesia. “This creates a complete mobility experience.”

HTC Radar has a 1 GHz processor and 512 megabytes of RAM — fairly average among today’s smartphones. It is equipped with eight gigabytes of storage capacity, which is standard for all Windows Phone handsets. Although it never hurts to have extra hard drive space, eight gigabytes is still plenty.

But no matter how good a smartphone is, a device cannot be considered complete without fun features. HTC insists that the Radar excels in this category. With a feature called HTC Watch, users can view the latest movie trailers or TV shows and recommend them to others. If you like a movie, you can purchase or rent it .

Although short on big changes, Mango makes the Windows Phone better. If social media is your concern, the Radar could be a smart upgrade because of its integration with all the major social networking Web sites and its seamless ability to switch among them. But its par-for-the-course camera may disappoint users who rely on their phones to shoot pictures. Its processor might be too slow for some, but for those seeking to upgrade to the Mango platform, the HTC Radar is a safe bet.