HTC HD2 Review

Introduction:

Let´s go back in time. Imagine, it´s 2008 and the undisputed leader on the Windows Mobile smartphone market, HTC, is preparing the launch of their most technologically advanced model to date, the HTC Touch HD. The cell phone manages to impress customers with its huge 3.8-inch resistive screen, but doomed to fail to deliver the necessary multimedia experience due to the lack of support for various formats and codecs...

It´s now a year later and HTC is about to make their newest attempt at changing our view of Windows Mobile with the upcoming release of the HTC HD2. The new cell phone titan once again relies on brute force, although this time carries everything to excess, being equipped with a gigantic 4.3-inch capacitive screen, 1GHz processor and 448MB RAM. As a backup for its muscles, however, the HD2 comes with an improved version of the TouchFLO 3D interface that borrowed the name of its Android sibling – Sense. Now, let´s take a closer look at the ambitious newcomer and see if it’s destined to emerge victorious from the sea of Windows phones we´ve been drowning in lately or will remain one of the many nice smartphones, just like its predecessor.

Design:

Appearance is definitely not one of the strengths of the HTC HD2. It´s rather rectangular, but quite thin and the only raised part is the 5-megapixel camera on its back. With its huge screen and slim profile, the HD2 reminds us of the 4.1-inch Toshiba TG01. Unlike with the latter however, HTC has fallen over backwards to slash on the unused, free space surrounding the display and the handset has a reasonable overall dimensions. Despite that, the 4.3-inch screen that´s by the way the largest on a cell phone ever, can´t be used with just one hand. We can live with that, especially when we take into account the good image quality, partly due to the resolution of 480x800 pixels. Fortunately, the display remains totally useable in direct sunlight.



You can compare the HTC HD2 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

We aren’t quite finished with the screen yet. Due to its enormous size, even the tiniest interface elements appear now large enough to press with your finger. Thanks to this, the HTC HD2 is proud to be the first Windows Mobile smartphone equipped with a capacitive screen that delivers quality of interactivity with the operating system that´s unseen before. For all diehard conservatives we can say that using TouchFLO 3D on such a screen cannot compare to the experience delivered by even the best resistive displays. And the icing on the cake is HD2 supports multitouch.

All physical buttons of the HD2 are distinctly felt when pressed and we don´t expect anything less of a cream of the crop, high-end smartphone. The build quality is proper and the phone feels tightly assembled and reliable, although you will be better off not testing the sturdiness of that 4.3-inch screen.



We are pleasantly surprised by the presence of microUSB port. HTC has clung to the miniUSB standard for far too long, but we can see they have finally decided to integrate the younger technology. Aside from it, the phone is equipped with the mandatory for a device like this 3.5mm headphone jack and microSD card slot, located under the metal battery cover.





The HTC HD2 doesn´t stand out with brave, innovative designer solutions. Still, we consider its design a definite success, because the manufacturer has managed to fit the largest screen possible to the best of their abilities. The first stage of the mission seems successfully accomplished, now let’s take a look at the refreshed interface.

HTC Sense interface:

As it has probably become clear by now, the Sense interface of the WM6.5-based HTC HD2 is just an improved version of TouchFLO 3D. Similarly to Sense as seen on Android devices, we can notice the shift of the manufacturer´s focus towards individual customers and their ability to communicate with online buddies over various social networks. The HD2 integrates information from three popular social services – Facebook, Tweeter and YouTube.

There are two alternative ways of synchronizing your contacts with their corresponding Facebook profiles. In case the names of your contacts are identical to their account names on Facebook, you can get a list of all matching entries through the Updates and Events tab and synchronize them right away (an important option that´s unavailable with the Android version of Sense). The other available option is to link your contacts to their corresponding profiles one by one. Similarly to the version found on Android devices, the synchronization with Facebook integrates relevant pictures, birthdays, related galleries and status updates into the linked phone contacts. Of course, the standard WM Facebook application is available as well. By the way, using the tab dedicated to your favourite contacts is an enjoyable thing indeed, because their pictures are large and look awesome on the big screen.



Using Twitter is absolutely intuitive thanks to the application called Peep and the separate Twitter tab it´s moved to. Just enter your account details and get down to tweeting right away. All necessary options like picture and location updates, profile browsing and retweeting are at your disposal.



Thanks to the added YouTube functionality, you can now upload videos directly from the phone gallery fast and easy and share them with other people. You can watch other people´s videos with the dedicated YouTube application that´s capable indeed. You can browse videos grouped by relevant category - this is quite a comfortable option, but more importantly, doing it on the huge screen is an awesome experience. Definitely, one of the few cases when size does matter.



Fusing TouchFLO and Sense has led to a surprisingly good amalgamation. We do like that the manufacturer has retained the appealing, recognizable TouchFLO 3D appearance while managing to intricately weave Facebook and Twitter functionality into the interface. However, this is by no means everything that HTC HD2 has to offer in terms of software, not at all. If you want to know more... you know what you need to do.

Messaging, software and internet:

The portrait screen QWERTY keyboard of the HTC HD2 is more than suitable for text correspondence and thanks to the reasonable overall size of the handset, typing away with one hand is not a problem at all. The possibility of making mistakes, however, cannot be disregarded, because the screen is extremely sensitive and sometimes you may press a key involuntarily. If you want clear massages free of typing mistakes, you better use the compact QWERTY keyboard (or even the T9 keyboard) with the XT9 mode turned on.



As expected, handling your emails with the HTC HD2 is as easy as ABC. Once you´ve set up your email accounts (you´ve got automated setup for Outlook, Google and AOL), you can go over short versions of your emails via the Mail tab. If you´ve received a longer email or it contains a web link that you wish to open, just tap the email preview and you´ll get its full version loaded into the email client. Working with several email accounts simultaneously is extremely easy as well.



Aside from the standard applications, the HTC HD2 comes with quite a few additional programs that let you take full advantage of the extra features of the handset. It´s a bad thing that HTC has removed the handy multitasking manager that we saw in the Touch2 and what you´ve got instead is the standard Task Manager. What´s worse, the application is buried deep into the menus and to top it off, you just cannot create a shortcut to it. Anyway.



First off, the HD2 can be used as a Wi-Fi router. This feature will allow you to create a Wi-Fi network based on the mobile internet connection of your carrier. Quite cool indeed!



Aside from the standard Office suite and Adobe Reader LE, the application JET PRINT 5 is aboard as well and allows for printing of documents, pictures, etc. via network of Bluetooth printers. JET PRINT 5 is compatible with Canon BJC, Epson, Hewlett-Packard and PlanOn printers.



Fortunately, life is not all about work and all of you who like spending time in the wild will be happy to know that the HTC HD2 comes with a digital compass to help you find your way out there. We didn’t check its reading against a normal compass, so we can only hope it gives proper directions. If it doesn’t – it was a pleasure for us! Anyone who´s to set off on a journey can rely on Google Maps and CoPilot Live for navigation, the thing is the former requires active internet connection, while the latter comes with a 15 day trial, meaning you would have to buy the app if you like it. GPS satellites get pinpointed in no time, even if the weather is not exactly fine. Moreover, the handset sports an A-GPS to get your position located accurately.



You can surf the boundless expanse of the Internet with Opera Mobile and Internet Explorer, but we prefer the former, because it supports multitouch here. Pages load extremely fast, scrolling is smooth and zooming via multitouch is superbly implemented, almost as good as with Apple´s Safari. Of course, you can also zoom in by double tapping the screen. By the way, Opera Mobile has an advantage over Safari – web text gets automatically shrunk to fit the display, so you don´t have to scroll sideways. However, the application also has its shortcomings when compared to its competitor, say, you need to zoom in before being able to click a link or pages aren’t automatically resized if their width exceeds the screen resolution. These are, however, trifling issues that by no means ruin the pleasure of surfing the web with the HTC HD2, especially given the kick you get out of the huge screen and its high resolution.



As we mentioned, if you opt for Internet Explorer, you won´t be able to zoom via multitouch, but at least you´d have partial Flash support. In a nutshell, you´ll be able to watch embedded YouTube videos.

Thanks to the snappy 1GHz processor and ample amount of RAM (448MB), we didn’t encounter any lagging, hang-ups and the like. All applications run fast and smoothly, so we believe the HTC HD2 is THE smartphone if you happen to be an eager mobile gaming fan.

Similarly to its predecessor, the HTC HD2 sports a camera equipped with 5-megapixel sensor. The newcomer, however, adds double LED flash to help you take snapshots at night. Its interface is unaltered and functionality remains just as meager as ever. We are happy the touch focus function is present, because it will allow you to take advantage of the camera autofocus extremely effectively.



As a whole, pictures taken outdoors lack enough details and are worse than what one would expect of a 5-megapixel camera. At least the colors are real and the macro snapshots are simply put, amazing. Even the tiniest dust particles are captured properly by the camera of the HD2 in close-ups. The overall image quality of pictures taken indoors remains acceptable, although they cannot be referred to as fascinating. Fortunately, the flash does a good job and manages to provide enough light to objects even in pitch dark areas. Finally, you can use the Footprints application and tag all snapshots with information like current location, category, notes, etc.

*Update: Note that there seems to be an issue with the camera, as images turn out with some kind of a pink aura in the center. Check out this story for more details on the matter.





Due to the fact that the handset captures videos at VGA resolution only, clips don’t exactly have abundant details. Fortunately, the frame count is more than adequate and content plays smoothly. The audio tracks to them are definitely intelligible, so as a whole, videos are perfect for quick sharing on YouTube.

HTC HD2 sample video at 640x480 pixels resolution

We didn’t exactly expect grandeur performance of the camera of the HTC HD2, so we are not disappointed. The final results are nothing to write home about, but are passable for amateur photographers.

The audio player is very pleasing both in landscape and portrait mode. HTC has, however, done something really odd. The volume controls can be used to, erm, control volume only if you happen to be in the library. If you are in the standard screen showing relevant album art, they switch between tracks instead... Rather odd really, we hope the issue gets fixed with a software update soon.



The 3.5mm headset that comes boxed with the phone looks cool and packs enough punch, but it could have been more powerful. The sound quality is good on the overall, but the audio lacks proper bass. We got what was missing on plugging in one of our own earphone sets. The power of the loudspeaker is average.

Now, it´s time we found out whether or not the HTC HD2 makes amends for what was its predecessor´s most grievous drawback – video playback. Let´s start with the bad news – right out of the box, the HD2 cannot play DivX, Xvid and H.264 videos and this is a shame, crying shame. The built-in player allows for playback of MPEG-4 files only and as you may have guessed, they look awesome on the 4.3-inch screen. They played smoothly at resolution of 800x480 pixels, but the video and audio streams were slightly out of sync. Quite disappointing really. The issue is not existent with videos with lower resolutions, but then the quality, of course, drops. 



Obviously, the Snapdragon chipset gets in its element with heavier tasks, because once we´ve installed CorePlayer, we got the much cherished DivX and Xvid support and were able to get down to watching such videos at resolution of 800x480 pixels right away. Finally we managed to make the screen break some sweat! What details, what colors! Actually, the image quality is not that smashing, but the screen size makes up for it. CorePlayer allowed us to watch H.264 files as well, but at lower resolution so as to avoid skipping of frames.

Performance and Conclusion:

We made quite a few calls with the HTC HD2 and our conclusion is its performance is average. Sound is passable in terms of loudness, although there´s room for improvement. We could hear constant static, quality was a far cry from being the best we´d evidenced and voices were slightly muffled. Our callers said we sounded a bit louder and sharper, but more intelligible. It´s a good thing the HD2 manages to isolate environmental noises, meaning the only thing your callers hear is your voice. On the overall, there is nothing to write home about in this respect.

At first sight, the 1,230 mAh battery seems inadequate for a cell phone like this. In reality, it performs decently, provides about 6.33 hours of continuous talk and keeps the handset alive for up to 490 hours in standby, at least according to the technical details. During our tests we got adequate battery life out of it - with the Wi-Fi turned on all the time, quite a lot of fiddling with various menus, moderate internet surfing and snapshot taking sessions and about 30 minutes of calls daily, the battery gave up at the end of the second day and this is a proper achievement for a smartphone like this.

There is no way a cell phone equipped with such a huge screen and powerful components would fail to appeal to eager high-tech buffs. The truth is, we see no reason not to recommend the HTC HD2 to anyone who feels overwhelmingly compelled to get a device with such a spectacular hardware. In terms of software and interactivity, it delivers everything that any self-respecting Windows Mobile smartphone offers and then some, adding capacitive screen and a lot of preinstalled applications, which make it not just head and shoulders, but light years away from its WM rivals today. The only WM smartphone that has a fighting chance against it is the Samsung Omnia II I8000. Personally, we´d go for the HD2 for its capacitive screen and better performance, but if we were predominantly focused on video playback, we would gladly sacrifice the extra 0.6 inches for the perfect video codec support of the Omnia II and its brilliant AMOLED screen – even if a bit smaller, its image quality is incomparably superior to any LCD display.

Ultimately, we say “yes” to the HTC HD2. This is a great handset that offers a lot with any respect. What´s more, considering the presence of the Sense interface, the HD2 escapes the fate of being qualified as just “another high-tech toy”, because it comes with functions in the forefront of today´s social networking, something that will certainly appeal to a good part of the now numerous people using various social networking services.

HTC HD2 Video Review: