We put hands on the HTC HD2 and its massive 4.3-inch touchscreen!
By Will Park on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 8:09 PM PST In Devices, HTC, Hottest Hardware, New Hardware, Reviews, Videos, Windows Mobile
Sometimes size doesn’t matter. Most other times, though, size really counts. Take smartphones, for example. We’re always looking for a thin waistline (we’re a superficial bunch), big helpings of processor power, and a huge touchscreen. It’s all about size. We would have never thought a Windows Mobile device would be the first smartphone to completely meet all those criteria. The HTC HD2 Windows Phone packs in a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor and a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen into a package about as thick as a No. 2 yellow pencil. It’s about as good as it gets for Windows Mobile. Heck, the HD2 massive touchscreen, powerful processor and impressive 5-megapixel camera make the handset one of the best phones of the year.
What? A Windows Mobile phone that’s actually worthy of competing at the same level as the iPhone and Android phones like the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid? You bet your ass. Here’s the thing: HTC does a great job of covering up the Windows Mobile interface with its own TouchFLO 3D UI (infused with HTC’s “Sense” design philosophy, of course). So, the HD2 might be a Windows Phone, but with the TF3D interface in place, it’s easy to forgive the HD2’s WinMo roots.
Add in a dash of 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen goodness, sprinkle on a 5-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, and add a pinch of GPS, 3G data, WiFi and digital compass, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSD card slot, and the HD2’s recipe is sure to please even the staunchest Windows Mobile haters. The barely-there bezel surrounding the touchscreen really highlights the ginormous display – it dominates the handset.
Some say the display is too big, which makes the handset too big, but we have to disagree. The HD2 is just thin enough to pull off the bigscreen look without feeling bloated or unwieldy. It feels a little wide in the hand, but nothing we couldn’t get used to. And, when you’re watching a music video or browsing the web, any complaints about the HD2’s size immediately vaporize into the ether.
We’ll leave the Windows Mobile commentary for a full review, but for now, enjoy the HTC HD2 hands-on video and photo gallery!
I’m concerned about reports of defective cameras on these phones. A problem they call the HTC HD2 Pink Aura. I think it would be worth Googling and finding out more about this problem before purchasing the phone.
once I saw the review of the HTC HD2 I was hooked. Finally a phone with the screen size to match my PSP. Plus all the other bells and whistles. I am an avid Windows Mobile user so I was a little disappointed that once in the states, the HD2 will not be running WM on the Verizon version (Passion). However, that’s just my own lack of experience or change. After reading a bunch of reviews, it sounds like not having WM OS will be a plus. If you own a HTC HD2, you discuss the phone at http://www.HTCHD2Forum.com I will be there often to share tricks.