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We put hands on the HTC HD2 and its massive 4.3-inch touchscreen!

By: , IntoMobile
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 8:09 PM

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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 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!

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About The Author

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

  • Sucra

    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.