Review of the HTC HD2
The HTC HD2 is, on paper at least, one of the most advanced mobile phones ever released with a list of features that ticks every box. A smartphone that pushes the limits of how big a phone can be without being too big, the HD2 is a powerful device that aims to take on the big names in the market. With the biggest display ever found on a touchscreen mobile phone and a powerful built in processor, HTC's latest pocket pc is more than well equipped for the job. But performing on paper is one thing, but how does the HD2 perform in the flesh? Read our full HTC HD2 review to find out.
Just as a bit of background information, I actually owned the original Touch HD myself. The phone itself was good looking, impressively so even and on-paper specifications looked like the phone was going to be a winner. HTC had included a 5.0 megapixel camera, a 3.8 inch TFT resistive touchscreen and HSDPA connectivity to name but a few specs. Unfortunately, as good as the hardware is, the software just wasn't up top scratch. HTC's TouchFLO 3D user interface was in its infancy whilst Sense UI hadn't even been dreamt up so what was left was the over bearing OS that was Windows Mobile 6.1. The large display and TouchFLO did try and compensate the underlying problem was that once you got past the home screen you were left with a fiddly, awkward and uncomfortable operating system. Well, HTC have decided to have another go; tried to create a handset which is everything the original Touch HD should have been. HTC have decided to remain faithful to Windows Mobile, albeit the latest incarnation, Windows Mobile 6.5 (Windows Phone) which should hopefully eradicate the main problems that were holding its predecessor back.
HTC has stayed true to its usual handset form factor. Opting for a large screen, and we mean large, the HD2 screen measures an incredible 4.3 inches which dominates the front of an otherwise minimalistic, sleek design. In addition, the minimalist design makes room for a camera located centrally at the top of the back cover, curved corners and only hardware buttons that are absolutely essential; flushed with the chassis so as not to spoil what are otherwise completely unblemished, smooth lines. On the front on the handset you’ll find five of the aforementioned hardware keys, Call, Home, Menu (Start), Back and End Call (also doubles as standby/power) The keys are arranged in a linear fashion, with all keys being separated except the Start and Back keys which are built as one longer key. The keys do look slightly out of place given the minimalist design but they are nice and tactile with a good level of feedback and above all have a pleasing feel thanks to the high quality materials that they are made of. Turn the handset over, and again, the design is very minimalistic giving the handset a very cool and clean look. The brushed black aluminium (the same material as used in the hardware keys) battery cover is complimented perfectly by the matt black above and below. The only additions breaking the otherwise smooth back are the speaker, camera and dual LED flash which sit neatly in line at the top of the handset. The only flaw with this that we can see, is the lack of a camera lens cover, resulting in the lens being in contact with any surface the handset is laying on. With a phone of this size, it's understandable HTC would have to make some sacrifices to keep the thickness down so the lack of a lens cover is a result of this.
Turn the handset on and the huge display loads up revealing what will be a familiar sight, the TouchFlo user interface with the proprietary HTC clock dominating the screen with an area below; fully customisable with any program, widget, contact or bookmark and the usual row of options at the foot of the screen including Home, People, Messages, Mail, Internet, Calendar, Stocks, Photos and Videos, Music, Weather, Footprints and Settings, at the foot of the screen. The various options are easily navigated between thanks to the heat responsive capacitive screen which recognises even the lightest of touches without being overly sensitive and becoming a hindrance. The screen itself has a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels which displays pictures in awesome quality with very little to no colour banding what-so-ever. The handset feels incredibly bulky when first grasped thanks to the 120.5 x 67 x 11 mm dimensions although, considering the bulk of the handset, weight is kept surprisingly minimal at 157 grams which is only very slightly heavier than its older brother. One handed use is somewhat uncomfortable when trying to reach for the extremities of the phone; especially anything that appears along the top edge of the screen i.e. the Start button and the "x" to close programs.
When looking at the home screen, it is still quite obvious that this is a Windows phone although the TouchFlo interface provides a good looking, easy to use face to Windows Mobile 6.5. The only real tell is the small windows logo and familiar “Start” option found in the top left hand corner of the huge display, which as mentioned above, with one-handed use is not easily accessible, making it a much more favourable option to use the menu hardware key situated below the screen. Using either of these inputs opens up what is the first WinMo 6.5 showing, the re-worked program list. Microsoft have opted to use a much more finger friendly honeycomb design, meaning that unlike HTC’s of old, even those with large digits can happily tap their way through the menus. All icons are large and easy to hit, with the only exception being the "x" in the top right hand corner, which, in-keeping with HTC/Windows Mobile tradition is near-on impossible to hit first time despite the size of the screen.
The TouchFlo home screen can be customised, unlike many of its predecessors, with programs, contacts, bookmarks or widgets. This is a welcome addition by HTC and finally moves away from what was originally an outdated interface which made hard work of even the most simple of tasks; in favour of what could now be considered usable and actually on par with many of the competition at the very least. This is, in part, thanks to the inclusion of Sense UI. First featured on the Hero, Sense UI is geared towards making general tasks that little bit easier. Click on a contact and the HD2 will show you the various ways to get in touch with them; not just SM and email but also Facebook and Twitter. The phone also gains its name from its ability to sense its surroundings. The ringer will decrease in volume when the phone senses that it's been picked up, adjust screen brightness to match the environment and turns off during a call to prevent false screen touches. Whilst hardly indispensible, these extra touches improve the over all user experience of the phone. There is the option to use the Windows Mobile interface if the TouchFlo really becomes an annoyance, although, we would recommend sticking with the HTC interface.
As with the Touch HD, the HD2 retains the 5.0 megapixel camera with autofocus and also gains a dual LED flash, something that was noted as a feature the Touch HD lacked. On-screen image quality is very good and the camera focuses on subjects very quickly compared with other touch to focus handsets. The camera lacks niceties such as face detection or smile detection found on Samsung handsets, but does a decent enough job of focussing, even when there are multiple subjects in view. The dual LED flash does a satisfactory job of lighting up otherwise dimly lit shots although, it still isn't effective enough to warrant being a replacement for a stand alone point and shoot camera. Video playback is again, very good quality, video clips load very quickly; even YouTube clips load and buffer within seconds.
The HD2’s ability to load everything quickly is primarily the result of one hardware inclusion, the Qualcomm processor hidden within. The processor is clocked at a speed of 1 GHz, meaning real PC like performance in a (somewhat larger than average) handheld device. This paired with the 448 MB of RAM give this handset the ability to run multiple applications at once, with ease. We had Windows Media, Google Maps, Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger and various other applications running in the background and still the handset showed no sign of lag; managing to perform tasks just as quickly as having none open at all. It would be understandable to expect battery life to suffer somewhat as a result but we managed to get over 2 days before the phone needed a charge even with some fairly intensive use. The aforementioned processor and RAM also make web browsing a quick and easy experience, with any pages rendering quickly and accurately. Navigating around said pages is simple thanks to the large capacitive screen and kinetic scrolling – like that found on the iPhone. The browser of choice for the HD2 is the latest version of Internet Explorer Mobile, which as with every other version prior, should be avoided at all costs.
Yes, Microsoft has included accelerometer support for horizontal viewing, yes kinetic scrolling is also included and yes Microsoft seemed to have fixed the rendering issues found on versions of old. But, there is still a distinct lack of the ability to operate “Tabs” and multi-touch pinch zooming and, in addition, the general browsing experience with IE Mobile just lacks the intuitive and natural feel offered by rivals such as Opera; that said, Opera is not installed as standard, which is unlike HTC. Therefore it is a good idea to get onto the Opera Mobile website and download the application. The Opera browser manages to run everything IE Mobile can but just seems to do it with such little effort in comparison. For example a whole page will render completely meaning no lag while navigating around the page. Also, one touch zooming is much better implemented on Opera. The biggest benefit being the fact that Opera Mobile supports tabs, meaning that you can have up to three pages opens at once with little noticeable reduction in performance.
The internet itself is lightning fast thanks to the 7.2 Mbps HSDPA connectivity, which provides more than adequate browsing speed for social networking, internet browsing or using the YouTube application to watch videos and means that applications, games, videos and other media can be downloaded at near broadband speed. As mentioned previously, the HD2 has Windows Media included, which unlike the majority of the Microsoft proprietary programs, we actually like. Those familiar with Window Media for PC will instantly feel at home using this on your mobile, the skin appears exactly as it does on the PC with new media easily added using the “Update Library” function to automatically search and add new media.
The HD2 comes pre-loaded with Google Maps which is another program which we really like on the HD2. The processor/RAM combination mean the handset can load the maps almost instantly, even zooming takes but a few seconds to render. The use of A-GPS also means the program will locate your position faster. The phone will find your location within 10 metres and we have to say, it seems to be incredibly accurate and fast; even updating quickly while used on the move. The obvious benefit to using Google Maps is that not only will it also provide free directions to any destination almost instantly but the view can be switched to the Google Street view Satellite images. The directions themselves can be switched between Driving, Public Transport and Walking, each giving specific directions and instructions for each mode of transport. The public transport option can even tell you what number bus to get on, where the stop is and even what time the bus will arrive. Of course, the HD2 is also supported by Windows Marketplace providing your one stop shop for all sorts of apps. The catalogue is growing at an impressive rate and offers a good selection of both paid and free apps to really make the HD2 your own.
In terms of its competitors, it would be unfair to pitch this handset as competition to the iPhone because the two phones serve two very different markets. Whilst the iPhone is perfect for the average consumer, Windows Mobile 6.5 can offer so much more for the more technically minded. If it's a choice between the HD2 and an iPhone for a business user, the HD2 simply blows apples device out of the water. It offers a lot of the practicality that the iPhone does, instant email, downloadable applications and HSDPA web browsing to name but a few and actually there is one feature found on the HD2 that is not present on the iPhone, the ability to truly multi-task and run multiple applications. The HD2 is also arguably a better looking handset than the iPhone. But the point of this review was not to compare it to others but to judge it on its own merits. The hardware is exceptional; the huge screen looks fantastic and because HTC have chosen to use a capacitive display, finally the screen feels as good as it looks. Combining this impressive screen with the powerful processor the HD2 runs on was a master stroke as the phone can keep up with all your demands. These features would all be for nothing if the operating system wasn't up to scratch so perhaps the biggest accolade we can give to the HD2 is that Windows Mobile is finally at a point where it can be described as user friendly and, when working in conjunction with TouchFLO and Sense UI, delivers a platform that users will want to explore.
Mark, Mobiles.co.uk
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