HTC HD2 Review ~ Cell Phone Reviews

HTC HD2 Review

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Written on 11/06/2009 08:35:00 AM by poison_ivy


HTC has just announced the availability of the HTC HD2 here in Europe as well as in Asia. You know what that means? You'll see a lot of unboxing and video reviews of HTC's latest gem around the net. Luckily for me, because of friends in high places, I was able to get a hands-on on the HTC HD2. Read on to see what I think.

Design

Honestly, with 4.3 inches screen, the HTC HD2 is the BIGGEST smartphone I've handled. The screen is just HUGE but then the mobile phone itself is thin. For females, the HTC HD2 would seem daunting specially since you can't exactly slip it on your jeans pocket.

The screen colors are remarkably brilliant indoors, but still can't compare with Samsung's AMOLED screens. I wasn't able to test how the screen sunlight legibility is since I got hands-on on this baby indoors in the evening.

User Interface

I love HTC's TouchFlo 3D on my Diamond2 but I've always wondered how the HTC Sense is on the Android. Now, thanks to the HTC HD2, I'm able to see what all the hubbub is on the HTC Sense. First off, I love the weather tab on Touchflo 3D and I've always wished that whenever I open my mobile phone, it would go straight to the weather tab. The new UI on the HTC HD2 has the weather application on the homescreen together with clock. The graphics are really amazing and I love how the clouds rolls around the whole screen.



HTC also updated the icons on the tabs and decided to put in more colors instead of the usual black and white. HTC Diamond2 users (those still on WinMo 6.1) can also change their touchflo 3D tab icons and I actually did that a few days back so that's one less thing Diamond2 users can be envious about the HD2. I'll try to write a blog post on how to do that these coming days. Anyways, going back to the Sense UI on the HTC HD2, you can also call up the menu screen right from the homescreen by flicking your finger upwards.

I actually don't like the new People or contacts tab. In my HTC Diamond2, the contacts are arrange in a sort of Album Art fashion, in the HTC HD2, all your contacts are arrange in big thumbnails. Sure, it's easier to search for contacts especially if you have tons of favorite contacts but it's less of an eye-candy.

The HTC HD2 has a capacitive screen so you don't have to press as hard. Screen responsiveness is fast and if you've own a Diamond2 or the first Touch HD, you'll notice that the interface is a bit snappier. Usually, when I try to browse the tabs after my Diamond2 has been idle for a few hours, there's a noticeable lag but that seems to have disappeared on the HTC HD2 and it may be thanks to the 1GHz processor.

And the best thing I love about the HTC HD2: multi-touch! Yes, I know! I thought WinMo can't do multitouch?! Well, HTC made that possible. You can now use that pinch and zoom thingy like on the iPhone on the image gallery. HTC did a pretty great job and the pinch and zoom motion is smooth and responsive, very comparable with the iPhone.

Camera, Multimedia, Browser



The HTC HD2's camera is still 5 megapixels but now has LED flash. Now I love how HTC just covered WinMo and made it user-friendly and cool but really, cameras are not HTC's thing. Trust me, I've had HTC handsets before and even though a lot of winmo users say that HTC Diamond2's camera is an improvement, it's nothing compared with Samsung's mobile phone cameras.

The audio player also changed on the Sense UI. On the TouchFlo 3D, you can have a glimpse of the Album Art covers or the next song because the Album Art are kinda stacked. On the Sense UI, you only see the Album Art of the currently playing song. The good news is that the accelerometer now works on the music player. When you turn the HTC HD2 in landscape mode, you get an iPhone-like coverflow interface.

Multitouch also works on the browser and the new internet explorer on WinMo 6.5 renders pages quickly. Now this is where HTC HD2 would definitely be a must-have—for YouTube addicts. Since Internet Explorer supports flash, you can now view YouTube videos on the browser. With the large screen, it's no longer awkward viewing YouTube Videos.

Conclusion

My first impressions? One word: AWESOME. But of course, since I didn't have the phone for a long time, I'm still having reservations. My Diamond2 is known for having a few memory leaks when a lot of applications have been opened and when I haven't done a soft reset on the phone for a week, there's some memory leak issues. And of course, theres' the battery life issue. For sure, the HTC HD2 will be a power hog. But for what it's worth, HTC has definitely matured over the past years and I'm okay with my Diamond2 so I'm not too worried about the HTC HD2. But I'll let you in on a full review once I'm able to get my hands on the HTC HD2 for a full week.

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7 Comments

  1. Anonymous |

    i loved it but it still need arabic software!!!

     
  2. Mog |

    Loving mine! Who needs the iPhone? This is the best smartphone this year!

     
  3. Anonymous |

    Can't wait until Windows Mobile 7 is put on this device. Then we'll really have an iPhone killer

     
  4. Ted |

    How come I heard that Vodafone is pulling this out? Is this true?

     
  5. Anonymous |

    Deat All,
    This device is not what I really expected.
    I am Going back to my unlocked iphone on T-mobile with the Idea of switching to AT&T

    - I Have 19 Yeasr of IT Experience
    - I have been an Iphone useer on "T-Mobile" network for two years
    - I followed this device since its introduction in Europe on October 2009.

    In theory The phone has a lot of features but in the practice is far from the iphone , how good is a phone with so many problems:
    1- A 1ghz CPU if still have software bugs.
    2- You have to remove the baterry every morning because is "FROZEN"
    3- A video camara that does not work "right" most of the time.
    4- Have to remove and reinstall your e-mail accounts because it get "FROZEN" and you can not see any of them

    To add insult to injury T-Mobile tech support seems not having a clue about how toaddres neither of this issues.

    Sorry, it should be put out of its missery and remove from the market.

     
  6. Anonymous |

    the htc hd2 is one of the best unlocked phones i've ever had. got this cell phone from gsmauthority.com last month. i love the huge touch screen. my kids love to steal it from me and play with all my apps too. it was a treat for all of us!

     
  7. unlockthatphone.com |

    wow i actually like this phone. my new hd2 is really nice. i mean it's not perfect but it has it's good with it's bads. i like my new unlocked world phones. screen is nice and responsive. i don't like the buttons on the bottom and it's kind of big but i'll keep it. processor is faster, email is great for my business, the web browser is great for navigating and keeping up on my facebook and fantasy football. much better than my old unlocked sprint phones. my wife loves hers for the games and camera to catch all the kids and their moments. she loves her new unlocked t-mobile phones. my daughter takes great pictures with hers and my partner likes his for the gps and business apps. and the games are fun too. got my last couple unlocked gsm phones at gsmauthority.com and 2 thumbs way up

     

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