HTC Mogul Review

Performance:

The Mogul has a very slow UI even with a 400MHz processor. It would have been great to see a much better more powerful processor but then the battery life might have been worse or the size of the phone might have increased in size. When sliding the keyboard, there is a delay of a few seconds before the UI switches to landscape view. Opening menus or loading programs is sluggish as well. This is a serious disadvantage as other smartphones have a much faster UI giving them a major advantage in this area.

To rotate the display, the keyboard can be extended or there is an icon at the bottom of the home screen (which looks like a phone with a stylus pointing at it) that can be pressed. With this icon, the screen can be rotated to the left, right, or standard view.

The load time for it managed to take quite a while. From completely turned off to fully load, it took the Mogul about 30 seconds.

We are happy that the Mogul can use Skype application for VoIP calls. Even though there is no HTC P4000 in the download, we successfully installed the version for the HTC P4350. The system lags, despite a faster processor than the Wing, when you are during a call, but still you will be able to switch to different tabs and send a chat message for example, while you talk. The Voice is not lagging if you are using fast internet connection. For Skype calls, Mogul uses the loudspeakers and you will not be impressed by its quality, but it is still usable. The other party hears you clear, but some echo also appears. For the test, we used Wi-Fi connection.

We used Spb Benchmark to compare the Mogul system performance with other PocketPC Phones. The phone performed well in all the tests that were thrown at it.

As a phone, the Mogul works wonderfully. Reception is strong and voice clarity is near perfect. Even at times where there were one to two bars available, we were able to hear the other party without problems and this low reception did not hinder the quality for the other party as well. With a talk time rating of 3.33 hours, it was nice to see that we managed to get 4 hours and 40 minutes talk time out of one charge. Standby time is rated for 228 hours but once the 30% mark is reached, the battery seems to drain fairly quickly.


Conclusion:

The Mogul is a wonderful phone regardless of whether you are looking for a business phone or one to use everyday. With a great email client, messaging system, and long talk-time, it should be easy to stay connected and perform your daily actions no matter where you are. Judging by the look of the Mogul alone, it does seems that it is geared towards businesses but it is not limited to this one category. The slow UI response may push some users to look at a BlackBerry, but the Mogul is no worse of a phone.

	Carrier	Price Today	Price after rebate
		$349.99	$250.00