Posts Tagged ‘HTC’
Based on the Android operating platform and a processor that provides the operating speed of no less than 528 MHz, the new smartphone from Taiwanese manufacturer HTC is equipped with a large LCD touch control, as well as integrated GPS antenna and Bluetooth technology. Weighs only slightly above average category.
HTC Magic main features: network, display and power
The flat screen LCD HTC Magic has integrated a large proportion. Its 3-inch diagonal measure it. Filter, active matrix TFT, this display is touch sensitive (ie it can be controlled through the so-called touch screen). The screen resolution is HVGA, which displays 320×480 pixels in total. As for available connections, it lacks support HSDPA for navigation at very high speeds, to be precise up to 7.2 Mbps There are also GPRS and EDGE protocols, as well as quad band GSM operability, the frequencies of 850 , 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz. Uses wireless Bluetooth technology and are guaranteed by the Wi-Fi 802.11b / g. Power entrusted to the lithium rechargeable 1340 mAh, with autonomy up to 660 hours standby and up to 500 minutes talk time.
HTC Magic design
The new HTC smartphone Magic has a very refined and pleasing design standards. The lines are very soft, rounded corners and the presence of the now popular screen with touch-screen control enables the containment of space, because that is absent the alphanumeric keypad on the front of the device. The model gives almost all the space in front of the display, in fact, except the area below where they hold the keys to start and stop calling. The main body color is white and also because this contributes to the aesthetics of elegant and original HTC Magic, however, characterized by a standard form or monocoque design. The weight of 118.5 grams including battery, together with dimensions of 113 mm in height, 55 mm in width and 13.65 mm in depth, make it an instrument of medium intensity.
HTC Magic multimedia messaging and main functions
It’s the processor Qualcomm MSM 7,201th to adjust all the core functionality of your smartphone called HTC Magic. The device then uses the platform or operating system Android.
Incorporates a ROM memory of 512 MB RAM and 192 MB total. Among the resources are particularly highlights the integrated GPS antenna, which provides the function of satellite navigation, compatibility with the Google Maps service. Do not miss the media player can encode audio files in standard MP3, AAC, AMR, WMA, WAV, MIDI and OGG among others. Even major video formats are compatible, particularly MP4 and 3GP. Not the presence of radio signals instead. The model has one slot can accommodate memory cards format microSD or SD 2.0. G-Sensor and bush between the special features HTC’s Magic, which handles e-mail in addition to traditional SMS and MMS.
HTC Magic the integrated camera
The view of integrated resources in a technically advanced smartphone certainly is finally completed by the presence of a camera. This is a camera of average quality, when compared with other devices in use on mobile phones (considering that the cameras have provided less than VGA resolution, and that those better equipped with integrated sensors that can amount to 8 megapixels). The total resolution proposed by the image sensor of this camera is 3.2 megapixels and the color filter is there. There is also the autofocus function automatically adjusts as the focus before shooting. Is not specified by the manufacturer the ability to record video clips, although the video message and video call capabilities should be supported by reason of advanced connectivity.
HTC Magic final verdict
Controlled by a processor operating speed of 528 MHz and operating on the platform called Android, the new model of smartphone HTC Magic is characterized by fast connectivity, among which the 7.2 Mbps HSDPA has a screen TFT with size of 3 inches diagonally, which reaches the value of resolution 320×480 pixels. Included also includes a color camera, 3.2 Megapixel sensor resolution, and a media player compatible with a good amount of standard audio and video. Another important resource to consider is constituted by the antenna built-in GPS with support for Google Maps. White, the model contains the weight 118.5 grams, including batteries also. The thickness of the device measures only 13.65 mm.
HTC Magic user review
Based on the appearance, I saw this phone as a collaboration of the BlackBerry and the iPhone due to it’s rollerball navigation as well as the touchscreen technology.
I’ve never bought an Android phone before and I’ve got to tell you, they definitely won’t let you down!
The interface is surprisingly quick and simple to use, there’s the centre screen and a screen to the left and right when dragged in that direction. In which, shortcuts to applications, widgets, customised themes can be placed.
There’s literally 1000’s of free apps and games too just like the iPhone.
A real intriguing app for me was the metal detector, it’s definitely one to show off to your mates!
As it’s a Google phone, it comes with Google Maps, which is excellent. It runs just as well as it does on your laptop/computer. It’s even compatible with the street view.
Another Google feature which can be downloaded in the App Market is Google Sky Map in which it uses the in built GPS and you simply aim your phone around the sky whilst looking at your screen and it’ll accurately provide you with where all the stars/constellations/planets are!
The only thing I could say could possibly do with improving is the camera, it really could do with a xenon or LED flash, however on a good note, when taking a photo in daylight, upload it to your laptop/pc and you’ll see how surprisingly good the quality is for a 3.2 megapixel camera.
The battery life is pretty good. With average use, the phone should last you around 3 days before having to charge up again. Charging time is unbelievably fast, it only needs to be on the mains for about an hour before it’s fully charged and ready to go.
I hope this review has been of some help to you, as I say, the HTC Magic will definitely not let you down!
HTC Magic video review
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The smartphone Diamond2, belonging to the production of devices, “Touch” of Taiwanese manufacturer HTC, and direct descendant of the Diamond model, comes with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, GPS satellite system, 5 Megapixel digital camera, Qualcomm processor to 528 MHz, Touch screen 3.2-inch diagonal.
HTC Touch Diamond2 Main features: network, display and power
Connections that Diamond2 HTC Touch smartphone provides users are undoubtedly of very advanced. For example, this form of connection known as 3.5G, HSDPA that is even more effective than UMTS and can reach speeds of data transmission of 7.2 Mbps EDGE modules are then added and GPRS, the four frequencies GSM network for receiving and WCDMA system. The screen installed on the HTC Touch is a touch screen with a diagonal Diamond2 quite extensive, reaching 3.2 inches. The screen resolution, filter active matrix TFT is 800×480 pixels (WVGA). The smartphone is powered by a rechargeable Lithium-Ion 1100 mAh battery with life up to 340 minutes in call and 500 hours standby.
HTC Touch Diamond2 design
The design of the HTC Touch Diamond2 is usually characterized by the appearance of all smartphones, including the same Taiwanese manufacturer, and more recently mobile phones equipped with newly designed screen with touch control. The classification model places it within the category of models with standard or monocoque design, innovation is the fact that because of the touchscreen control monitor is not an external keyboard. The selections are made and then type directly on the display. HTC Touch Diamond2 weighs more smartphones from cellular, 117.5 grams. Black and silver, has a depth of 13.7 mm, a width amounting to 53.1 mm and a height that arrives instead at 107.85 mm, reaching as far more massive model.
HTC Touch Diamond2 Main functions, and multimedia messaging
Two technical elements contribute to classify Diamond2 HTC Touch smartphone in real instead phones: the presence of an operating system itself, known as Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional version, and the embedded processor, a Qualcomm model MSM7200A, reaching the operating speed of 528 Mhz.
Among the resources available on this smartphone takes a leading role without doubt the navigation system with GPS antenna inside the device. Do not miss the potential of wireless connectivity with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 802.11b / g. There is also an FM radio tuner and a media player compatible with many standard audio (MP3, AAC, AMR, WMA, WAV, Midi and others) and video (WMV, ASF, MP4, 3GP). Mail, SMS and MMS are supported by HTC Touch Diamond2.
HTC Touch Diamond2 The integrated camera
In the resource endowment of the new HTC Touch smartphone Diamond2, very rich and full, is also featured built-in digital camera. In reality it is a dual device camera. A main unit combines fact a secondary camera CMOS VGA color filter and a maximum resolution of 640×480 pixels. The latter is used almost exclusively as a camera support with advanced features, video calling and video messaging in the first place. The main built-in camera instead enjoys the presence of a CMOS sensor that provides a maximum resolution of less than 5 megapixels. The autofocus and color filter this device also features high technical quality. A control bar to adjust as needed to snap the zoom range built.
HTC Touch Diamond2 final verdict
Complete with audio and video media player, digital camera 5 mega pixel, FM radio and even integrated GPS antenna, the new smartphone called the Touch Diamond2 (evolution of the Diamond) was presented in 2009 by Taiwan’s HTC brand . The model uses an advanced operating system (Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional) and a Qualcomm processor integrated brand with opportunities beyond the operating speed of 500 Mhz. The aircraft weight is really remarkable, exceeding 117 grams, including its dimensions are not included. But you must consider the presence of a touch screen (hence the name of the smartphone) with a diagonal of 3.2 inches. Finally, developed good connections with the presence of HSDPA at speeds up to 7.2 Mbps transmission
HTC Touch Diamond2 user review
A wonderful experience, an excellent unit as a whole, really top of the line HTC. It looks simple but professional. The hardware is combined with an excellent software that can exploit the full potential of such a handheld.
I would say that the Touch is comparable to that of the iPhone (if not more accurate). The web browsing is also great, only regret the lack of Flash support … As for the camera, I think that a handheld like this should not be bought to use 8-megapixel camera but comunuqe are useful for snapshots on the fly when not to hand his camera. The audio is good. The rotation of the display but does not yet reach the levels of Apple is slower and only works counterclockwise, a sin … But the use of the content does not lose too much. With regard to e-mail, still no one beats Nokia, it is to say, D
If you continue to mount HTC Windows Mobile handheld in its belief that dominate the market: a great combination. Excellent work!
HTC Touch Diamond2 video review
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The HTC hero is a full touchscreen smartphone, in fact, it is born to remain always under UMTS or WiFi connection, to function as a powerful vehicle that can take the user beyond the simple use of a cell phone. After other models, HTC produces a full touchscreen devices with Android, confirming the intention to focus on the operating system in this period. Will be repeated the goodness of Magic? Let’s see togheter.
Package
We have a USB data cable, headset jack, 3.5 mm and controls on the wire, the 2GB memory card, the travel charger, battery.
Features and Materials
The new HTC Hero is a full touchscreen candy bar device which operates in the dual system UMTS – GSM Quadband. Connectivity is very complete: there is the HSDPA at 7.2 Mbps, the HSUPA with 2.0 Mbps, but the wi-fi and bluetooth (unfortunately only audio, but there are additional programs that expand the functionality), which added to the data cable, return to “talk” telephone and home computer.
Aesthetically, Hero offers a nice change from the usual: the body is not in fact flat, but rounded on the bottom, in a curve that gives harmony to the whole body and personality.
The white color gives extra luster to the entire structure, but it should be noted that, compared to the images you see here, the model on sale will have a more grayish color.
Remains, skiing, the back cover with a covering of Teflon, which finally takes off from a HTC those annoying fingerprints with which we were accustomed. The terminal, in addition to being compact, it is very solid, but not heavy. On the front, sits on a 3.2-inch display, resolution 320×480 pixels, TFT 16 million colors.
The shades are returned with excellent sharpness, and also touschcreen capacitive allows the combined operation of more than one finger, quite agile. Although UMTS, Hero does not have a second camera on the front (not video calls). At your disposal there is only one, the one on the back cover. Si tratta di una cam a risoluzione massima 5.0 megapixel, munita di autofocus ma non di flash. This is a cam-resolution 5.0 megapixel camera, equipped with autofocus but no flash.
The photographs are quite good, especially those caught with lots of light and macros. Meno buoni i filmati girati a 352 x 288 pixel. Less good movies shot at 352 x 288 pixels. Integrated into the shell must not forget the chip GPS, digital compass, and even the accelerometer. Tutti funzionano alla perfezione. Everything runs smoothly.
Dimensions and Touchscreen
HTC Hero is one of the most ergonomic terminals that we have ever used.
Is it because of its compact size, it will be for the solidity of the chassis, or more likely will be for the form factor with that curve on the bottom, but all these things, together, contribute to a great handling and a simple alloggiabilità the terminal.
That is in every pocket, from jackets to skinny jeans to tight (suits curves back …). Hero has a height of 112 mm, a width of 56.2, and 14:35 mm thick, with a weight of 135 grams. As we have already noted more than once in this review, Hero is a terminal full touchscreen, no physical keyboard.
The center control arranged below the display, however, there are a total of six buttons: start and end call, homescreen, menu, and just below the search function and the back, near the excellent BlackBerry trackball style. On the backs, however, have the volume buttons on the left, while right-back is completely clean and seamless.
In the top of the chassis, we have the jack and 3.5 mm, while below you can engage the charging cable / sync the device. The touch screen, capacitive, it works very well: the sensitivity is above average, but perhaps slightly less than the iPhone.
Great it’s the possibility to act on screen with two fingers, for example, when we decide to enlarge or shrink your content.
Our test
As soon as a car produced and marketed, this Hero is completely new.
Not only the interface Sense, but in general the whole user experience is one step further usability of the manufacturer to simple and concrete.
Obviously, this product is a no brand, and will be marketed at a price of 499 euros.
To which you add the digits necessary to equip yourself for a flat subscription data with which to use all round the new model created by HTC. Hero is powered by a 528 MHz processor from Qualcomm, has 288 MB of internal memory and an optimized resolution to determine a simple user interface.
The only flaws of this system to cycle from light delay that in some cases affecting the software: we do not stop dead, but not exactly lightning-quick responses, as we had to wait, if we use fully all the features and widgets that HTC provides. In general, however, be said that the phone has never crashed during our tests, has suffered delays so strong.
The interface is completely customizable, ripetta standard Android, here we have 7 pages Home with the 3 classic., With up to a page indicator in use over the crescent on the phone and dedicated to the menu. In addition, HTC has decided to increase its customization of Android. How? By placing many widgets that you can insert and remove at will on each of the 7 faces. Widgets time, clock, shares of stock, Twitter etc … are all very nice and functional, some of whom need access to data but to stay up to date.
Almost all widgets are present in two versions, small and explosive, depending on how many blocks we want to occupy in the page that are customized. Obviously these shortcuts to contacts and favorite programs. Widgets do not replace the widget HTC Android, which remain available for those who wish to use them.
The screen, a command may be removed, cleaned, changed, to have a phone again and always suitable for every situation.
This enables us to create shortcuts functional, and the merits of virtual keys is that we always have on the bottom of the device.
Very interesting is the possibility of creating custom profiles, or create different homescreen to suit many different situations, switchable with a quick command.
Comfortable touch buttons placed in the bottom of the phone. Among these is also included in the button “telephone”, which we will allow a rapid typing contact numbers (with a quick search of contacts). Navigating between the different sides is almost a game, especially because we will never have fear of missing a notification through the top bar that will keep us updated of any event and that you can open each page by simply sliding your finger from top to low.
The trackball, in this sense, comes to our rescue flashing, and also to display a notice on the front further notice, and even preview (even with the phone locked), for instance for text entry. The icons in the menu, organized in a grid, we access via dedicated keys, the virtual and the physical.
Each item is easily accessible, every feature is accessible with just a few steps of the fingers on the display, from the point of view of the touchscreen there never creates obstacles. The party machine was equipped with a powerful speakerphone, with the reception that is abundant in the media and always sound very good. Maybe a little cold, but clean.
Messaging, in addition to displaying HTML email input, we devise ways to enable the mere writing of the text available, we reduced the QWERTY keyboard, and extended wider, and even the alphanumeric. The user will only have to choose. With Gmail, you have the push email and a virtually equal to that site, folders are included.
Our advice is to always use the T9, the system quickly enter the text may be too intrusive when using the qwerty, but very often effective. Be noted that, whenever we decide to orient in a different terminal, Hero all’accelerometro we will follow through with the positioning in the vertical and horizontal.
Early in our review, but we are left with an important premise: if you want to use Hero the best, forget to go offline with the data connection. The reason is the many points of agreement with social networking, and browsing online, that make Hero the ideal vehicle to reach friends, workplaces and even “virtual”.
Especially with Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, Hero proves capable of a great synergy. Facebook account with no canon, viewable to the special section, but real shortcuts designed for this application.
The contacts in our address book, for example, have a bar on the bottom which not only give us the history of phone calls, messages, e-mail, we can establish a direct dialogue with the Facebook application, as well as Flickr.
Let me explain: we can see, entering a contact, such as text messages I exchanged with that contact, such as mail, its status on facebook and his album uploaded on Flickr, in addition to the historic calls.
All of them, in a single screen. Brilliant indeed!
The additions, however, does not stop there. Even looking at the gallery of images, for example, besides our shared’ll have those of our contacts, Facebook and those of Flicker. A real treat, especially because the speed of loading of the albums online is really good. Web browsing, then, confirms truly remarkable: the scrolling of pages is straightforward and fast, rendering even the size of the disply more than enough to determine an easily readable font even smaller. Full support to flash then allows browsing experience closer to that PC.
And then, we can always zoom in with the movement of the fingers: two on the screen simultaneously to broaden or tighten the magnification. Among other features, you can not forget the multimedia course, with good audio part (no FM radio) and a 5.0 megapixel camera with autofocus but no zoom. The pictures taken are of good quality, especially those made with such light. In the dark, of course, you will have problems. HTC also deeply customize the menus on the camera, which are very similar to the corresponding versions of windows mobile.
Less well, however, the video, shot in a simple resolution of 352×288 pixels. The excitement for this final end there, though, came from the use of GPS. Of course there are the maps of Google, but not all. The fix to the satellites is quite fast, the system functional.
To cheer us, if anything, is the Street View built (as seen on magic). In practice, we can see directly, as on the pc, reproduced not only by our location map on the display terminal, which rotates the rotation of the phone, thanks to the digital compass (you first see him explain that). Hero is proving an all in one device, with a general speed of the processor more than sufficient, and a host of features that will delight owners. A device to promote, a success that can reach significant numbers, thanks to the battery that allows us to use multimedia for a whole day.
SPECIFICATION
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Processor Qualcomm® MSM7200A™, 528 MHz
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Operating System Android™
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Memory ROM: 512 MB
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RAM: 288 MB
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Dimensions (LxWxT) 112 x 56.2 x 14.35 mm ( 4.41 x 2.21 x 0.57 inches)
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Weight 135 grams ( 4.76 ounces) with battery
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Display 3.2-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with 320×480 HVGA resolution
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Network HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz
Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds -
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
(Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent.) -
Device Control Trackball with Enter button
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GPS Internal GPS antenna
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Connectivity Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets
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Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g
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HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
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3.5 mm audio jack
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Camera 5.0 megapixel color camera with auto focus
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Audio supported formats MP3, AAC(AAC, AAC+, AAC-LC), AMR-NB, WAV, MIDI and Windows Media® Audio 9
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Video supported formats MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 and Windows Media® Video 9
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Battery Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
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Capacity: 1350 mAh
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Talk time: Up to 420 minutes for WCDMA
Up to 470 minutes for GSM -
Standby time:
Up to 750 hours for WCDMA
Up to 440 hours for GSM
(The above are subject to network and phone usage.) -
Expansion Slot microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
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AC Adapter Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz
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DC output: 5V and 1A
CONCLUSION
Value for money
Terminal without keyboard born to remain connected, with lots of technology and multiple ways to get to talk with friends and acquaintances, even in unconventional ways. Qualities are there, then. Price? 499 euros. In line with the top of the range.
Packaging and envelope
Good. There is a 2GB memory card, the stereo controls bell’auricolare thread, travel charger, battery, USB data cable. Niente male, dunque. Not bad, then
Ergonomics
We really enjoyed the chance to have a phone with a sharp corner on the bottom. Truly ergonomic, this Hero, and easy to use even with one hand. Cover with Teflon and display scratch complete the facilities.
Usability
User friendly and easy to use. With a rapid and only a few small delay to be addressed. The many great shortcuts that are available. Obviously it is not like having a physical QWERTY, but the keypad is defended well.
Multimedia
Lacks the FM radio, but instead the well 5.0 mpx digital camera available to us gives excellent performance (not video). Well even the music player. Incredible synergy with the world of web and social networking.
GENERAL RATING
A terminal that ultimately we liked it very much. Capacitive touch screen performance, and generally lots of opportunities to complete a huge variety of operations. A device created to stay under cover data.To be taken into account. Success.
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The HTC HD2 is the greatest Windows Mobile phone in the world. That may not necessarily be saying much, but HTC has effectively covered up Windows Mobile’s flaws with a customised user interface so beautiful that just looking up the weather brings tears to our eyes. Also, the HD2’s huge, 109mm (4.3-inch) screen makes the tiny icons in Microsoft’s mobile OS worth tapping on.
Hardware
The HD2 is a magnificent monster. It is a hulking, intimidating, massive slab of a gadget. If you think the device looks big in photos, it’s nothing compared to how it seems up close. Yes, the HD2 is large — some might say too large — almost less a phone and more a tablet. We don’t happen to fall into the camp that has complaints about a device of this size (the whole thing measures 4.74-inches up and down by 2.64-inches across), in fact, we love the bulk and surface area of the HD2. Of course, not everyone will feel as affectionate about the size as we do, and even though the phone is a svelte 11mm (0.43-inches) thick, the sheer vastness of the handset might be a turnoff to some; to be fair, small-handed folks might have trouble getting comfortable with their grip. The industrial design of the device itself is perfectly at home with its contemporaries in the smartphone space, and the metal and glass unit comes off feeling like a kind of large, first-gen iPhone (minus the gaudy bezel). It strikes just the right middle ground between sophisticated and ostentatious — and we think it’s a winning mix.
The basic layout of the HD2 is uncluttered and uncomplicated, providing only a few hardware buttons, and leaving the rest of the navigation up to that beautiful screen. On the front of the device are a set of standard hard keys: phone, home, a Windows key, back, and end. Around the left side is a thin volume rocker, along the bottom is the micro-USB port and 3.5mm headphone jack, and the backside reveals an oddly protruding camera — it really stands off the rest of the phone. In all it’s a handsome and useful mix, but given all this real estate, a ringer on / off switch and dedicated camera button would have been welcome inclusions.
Internals
Much fuss has been made about the guts of the HD2 — mostly due to the inclusion of the heavily hyped 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, a first for HTC. We won’t lie; this thing blazes. For a WinMo device (or any device, for that matter), the HD2 is one of the most fluid and snappy that we’ve tested. Applications open up like whip cracks, scrolling through menus in the graphically intense Sense UI is buttery smooth, and the overall speed of the phone feels accelerated compared to its competitors — especially in the Windows Mobile space (including HTC’s other offerings). Aside from the ‘dragon, the device sports 512MB of ROM, 448MB of RAM, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, an auto-focusing 5-megapixel camera with dual LED flash, a microSD slot (supporting up to 32GB cards), a 3.5mm headphone jack, plus an accelerometer, proximity sensor, and light sensor on-board. To say it’s stacked is an understatement; hardware-wise, the HD2 joins the ranks of devices like the Droid, N900, and Liquid in the new class of high-end smartphone.
Display
Forget miniaturisation. We want bigger, flashier screens on our mobiles, and that’s what the HD2 delivers. It sports an epic screen — the biggest of any mobile currently out there, in fact. Despite this, unlike the Toshiba TG01, it doesn’t feel that huge, since the bezel around the screen is so small. At 67 by 121 by 11mm, it’s possible to pop the HD2 into a pocket, although you’ll need a big one.
We love the large touchscreen for all the usual reasons — it makes it simple to surf the Web and watch videos, for example — but one of its biggest strengths is that it makes using Windows Mobile easy. Despite improvements in the latest version of the OS, Windows Mobile 6.5, there’s no hiding the fact that this operating system was originally designed to have tiny icons that the user poked with a stylus. Now that we’re used to poking with a fingertip, we need big, finger-friendly icons. The HD2’s huge touchscreen makes everything easy to tap.
Emails on the home screen look great, but, to read the whole message, you have to use the ugly Windows Mobile email viewer
What really made us drench the HD2 in tears of joy, however, is the fact that the touchscreen is of the capacitive variety, so you don’t have to apply pressure to make it work. The touchscreen is responsive and a pleasure to use, especially in the parts of the user interface customised by HTC. The home screen, for example, has a fun, sliding menu bar along the bottom, for navigating to key areas of the phone, like contacts and messages. HTC’s great design and the huge screen make this part of the phone simply gorgeous. We usually consider weather apps a waste of space, but we could watch the smooth, beautiful animation of clouds rolling in on the HD2 for days.
Camera
The HD2’s 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and dual LED flash is only part of the cameraphone experience; software factors in heavily, too, and HTC has loaded up the device with its own special blend of camera / photo management apps. At the outset, we felt that the device was capable of really solid picture-taking, offering more than adequate standard shots and decent macro with excellent focal lengths for the small lens. We ended up with a handful of nice images — the focus time was The experience was a quick and painful reminder that no matter how pretty the window dressing is here, HTC has staged its fashion show in a building that should be scheduled for demolition.
sufficient, and while the color balance seemed a bit mismatched to our subjects, it wasn’t a show stopper by any means. In general, the camera performed dutifully, and seemed on par with many of the HD2’s contemporaries. We can’t say that’s a consistent feeling we have about this camera, however, due to the incredibly buggy experience the software provided when trying to capture video. Switching to video mode caused the device to stutter into the secondary functionality with a not-so assuring hiccup and jump. Once we were able to actually shoot, what we saw on-screen was a laggy, jerky mess. The refresh rate was abysmal — perhaps 5 FPS. We experienced similar problems when going from dark to light settings with the still mode, but nothing like what we saw when shooting video. The real insult happened once we completed shooting; when trying to play back the video, not only did it never load, but it crashed out the app and forced us into a nice Windows Mobile error screen. The experience was a quick and painful reminder that no matter how pretty the window dressing is here, HTC has staged its fashion show in a building that should be scheduled for demolition.
Coincidentally, some HD2s in the field are afflicted with a strange issue causing images to come out with strong pink casts, and admittedly, our unit did have an odd hue in some shots; HTC has yet to determine whether this’ll require a hardware or software fix, but for the sake of current owners, we’re hoping it’s the latter.
Social-networking
HTC has brought the same social-networking mojo that we loved on the HTC Hero to the HD2. This includes an address book that grabs your friends’ info from Facebook, a photo gallery that grabs their online photos, and a dedicated Twitter app as one of the home-screen tabs. It all works fairly well, although we had to merge many of our contacts manually if they weren’t using the same email address everywhere. Also, Twitter didn’t update reliably enough.
Walking the Web
You have a choice of two built-in Web browsers. HTC has gone with the speedy Opera Mobile as its default choice, but Internet Explorer is also on-board, and, although slower, it supports Flash so you can see more Web sites as their designers intended.
You can also track down other choices, like Fennec (from the crazy kids who brought you Firefox) and Skyfire. With a big screen like the HD2’s, it might be worth trying them all out to find your favourite.
Multitude of touches
HTC has put some welcome effort into making the HD2 support multi-touch gestures, letting you, for example, zoom into Web pages by pinching the screen with two fingers. But be warned that, in terms of browsers, multi-touch gestures only work with the default Opera Mobile. Multi-touch functionality also makes an appearance, however, in the Google Maps and photo-gallery apps. It makes using the phone so much more fun that HTC should get a hug every time someone takes advantage of it.
Speaker / earpiece
The sound on the HD2 was certainly more than passable. We wouldn’t say it was Droid-level clarity, but HTC has done an admirable job of equipping the phone with a solid, loud speaker, and a decently clear earpiece. We mainly tested the unlocked device on T-Mobile, which handled calls well, and there was little-to-no distortion or noise for both sending and receiving. The speaker had no trouble handling our conference calls (of which there have many lately… hello redesign), and all callers reported clear signals from our end. Generally there was little to report of note, suffice to say that the HD2 held up well in tests, and certainly can’t be knocked on sound quality.
Software
Ultimately — as most avid readers of the site are probably thinking — the HD2 questions aren’t really about the hardware (impressive though it may be). No, the questions you likely have about the HD2 concern the software side… more specifically, HTC’s Sense Experience UI and its marriage to the newly (kinda) minted Windows Mobile 6.5. This is where the phone ultimately shows its true colors, and where we think the meat of this review lies.
If you don’t know (and honestly, you don’t?), HTC has moved on from its TouchFLO interfaces into decidedly more mature and sophisticated territory with Sense. Instead of simply skinning some of the elements of Windows Mobile, the company has eradicated major parts of the OS, created a handful of really dense and useful applications and utilities, and added functionality like multitouch pretty much throughout the OS. The Sense Experience is based on a simple use paradigm; the lower part of the display is lined with small icons — shortcuts to applications and widgets — on a potentially endless, scrollable list, while the majority of your view up top is used to display the application or widget itself. The widgets are either self-contained programs, or hook into more in-depth apps, usually activated by a single tap on the main content of that particular view. Because the Sense UI is shared by both Windows Mobile and Android now, not all of these applications will seem completely fresh. For instance, the company has bundled its Twitter client, Peep, with the HD2 (as on the Hero / Eris), as well as the geotagging photo program Footprints, and has skinned the mail, message, and homescreen views with Sense’s polished style and functionality. The home view is of particular note; HTC has created a combo clock, weather report, calendar notification, and application launcher which is not only really useful, but incredibly attractive. One of the really jaw-dropping points of the phone is its animated weather displays in this view, which take over the entire display with rainstorms, lens flares, and banks of clouds moving in from the screen edges. It’s a delightful — if totally useless — example of just what this platform can do.
Windows Mobile is a great platform for app developers, but we found the HD2’s on-board apps to be a mixed bag. For instance, the YouTube app is fast and easy to use, while the Facebook app doesn’t have all the features we need — we ended up going to the Web site to check our inbox.
There are heaps more excellent apps out there for this platform, but they’re not always easy to find or install. Microsoft has launched Windows Marketplace for Mobile to help, but the shelves are still almost bare. We missed the simplicity of Apple’s App Store, but at least the big screen makes browsing the Web for good apps a pleasure.
The HD2 also includes the Microsoft My Phone service, which makes it wonderfully easy to back up your files and manage them from anywhere over the Web. It beats ActiveSync and a USB cable any day, and, unlike Apple’s MobileMe offering, it’s free.
Battery life
As with most smartphones we test these days, the HD2’s battery life was sufficient, though not by any means breathtaking. On an average day of use, we could power through till evening without need a recharge, though if we were on the phone a lot, we found the drain to be fairly noticeable. We got the overwhelming impression that WM 6.5 isn’t perfectly optimized for data-heavy devices like the HD2 — phones getting constant emails, IMs, Twitter updates, and pulling down robust webpages. Still, the device held up decently in our tests (it didn’t strike us as terribly distinct from something like the iPhone 3GSs battery performance), and given the gigantic screen and 1GHz CPU, that’s pretty heartening.
We like:
Huge capacitive touchscreen; speedy and responsive; good-looking home screen; great virtual keyboard; built-in social-networking links; speedy Wi-Fi and HSDPA connectivity; 3.5mm headphone jack means you can use your own cans; useful My Phone back-up service; good apps available; support for multi-touch gestures in many apps; 5-megapixel camera with two LED photo lights
We don’t like:
HTC’s user-interface tweaks feel skin-deep in places; apps are hard to find and install; confusing overlap between features; rubbish app store; some features are rough around the edges
You might also need:
A microSD card will pump up the memory
Conclusion
The HTC HD2 applies a substantial boot to the backside of every other Windows Mobile phone currently available. In fact, it accomplishes the near impossible — it makes Windows Mobile crave-worthy. We love its huge capacitive touchscreen, and, thanks to HTC, it’s got a lovely home screen and some excellent apps. We only wish that the user-interface tweaks were less skin-deep in places, and that Windows Marketplace for Mobile did a better job of helping us find the best apps out there.
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