The big trend this year appears to be the release of miniature versions of popular mobile phones, or at least it would seem that way following this month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. With the T-Mobile Pulse Mini and Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini and Mini Pro, it seems like scaled down touchscreens are going to be the next big thing this summer.
The HD Mini is HTC’s addition to this latest trend, as a miniaturised version of last year’s HD2. The HD Mini is HTC’s response to a great quantity of interest in the HD2 but calls for the same experience to be placed into a more conventionally sized handset. Because of this the HD Mini is mini in comparison to the hefty HD2 but not necessarily so in regards to standard touchscreen handsets, and so, despite the name, is perhaps not in the same category as the Sony Ericsson and T-Mobile handsets. Either way, it is certainly a nice prospect to have an HD2 that is easier to carry about.
While getting a lot of its design cue from the HD2, the HD Mini takes on a more ‘industrial’ design that is meant to give a rugged and metallic appearance. One of the most noticeable places where this is put into effect is the screws on the battery cover that are a deliberate part of the phones design. HTC have stated that it actually took a great deal of effort to get the screws like this as they are ordinarily placed in more arbitrary places with little aesthetic appeal. The HD Mini also features a unique, and somewhat gaudy, yellow interior to fit in with this theme. If this is not to your taste do not worry as you will rarely have much cause to see it.
Screen Quality
Like the HD2 the HD Mini focuses quite heavily on its screen, although at 3.2″ it is inevitably smaller than the 4.3″ beast found on the HD2. With this in mind you can see that the HD Mini is not exactly one of the smallest touchscreens around, and is actually a fairly standard size for a touchscreen. The HD2 had a WVGA resolution of 480 x 800 but this has been reduced down to a resolution of 320 x 480 for the HD Mini, which still offers a high degree of detail considering that the screen is smaller. The screen still employs a very colourful 65k colour depth and capacitive touchscreen technology, allowing for greater precision and features such as multitouch support.
There are a few sensors included with the HD Mini such as the proximity sensor which allows for auto-turnoff, and the G Sensor or accelerometer. This allows for the now commonplace auto-rotate feature, so that you can easily switch between portrait and landscape orientations.
Operating System and Connectivity
The HD Mini runs on Windows Mobile 6.5.3, which is a slight upgrade from the HD2 but essentially not very different. The OS is powered by a 600MHz processor that is not quite as nippy as the 1GHz Snapdragon of the HD2 but still provides plenty of power to make the HD Mini a seamless and enjoyable experience. One of the more interesting things about the HD Mini is its novel feature of lowering the ringing volume when it is picked up and also increasing it when it is in your pocket.
While running in Microsoft’s Windows Mobile the HD Mini also utilises HTC’s Sense UI. This is a great interface and is the one that was used on the highly popular Hero. HTC Sense is an effort to create a better user experience by making an interface that is more people oriented. This ranges from having threaded SMS messages to integrating social network accounts into the phone so that it does not feel like an assortment of disparate services but one holistic device focused around your contacts.
Operating on quad-band GSM the HD Mini has fantastic connectivity specs. There is support for HSDPA (7.2Mbps) and HSUPA (2MBbps) as well as GPRS and EDGE. There is Wi-Fi support, microUSB and Bluetooth with A2DP. A2DP allows you to connect wireless headphones so that you can talk on the HD Mini hands free. The HD Mini also comes with A-GPS and a digital compass for those times when you are not sure where you are going.
The HD Mini supports threaded viewing for SMS messages as well as MMS messages. If you like you can chat to your friends through instant messaging, with the WinMo OS coming with great support for Windows Live (MSN) in particular. There are Facebook and Twitter apps preloaded onto the HD Mini allowing you to quickly update your status or tweet your latest thoughts to your friends. The HD Mini also packs some great email support with MS Exchange and push email being included.
Entertainment and Multimedia
The HD Mini has a nice 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and geotagging, although it is let down by a lack of flash. This is great for every day out and about photography but is not so well suited for indoors or night time photos. The camera does record video however, which is a bonus.
The Windows Media Player included comes with excellent support for music and video including WMA, AAC and MP3. There is also an FM radio included so you can listen to the latest tunes, and this includes RDS so that you are not left guessing what it is that you are listening to if you have just tuned in. A 3.5mm audio jack is included on the side of the HD Mini allowing you to insert your own headphones to listen to music without disturbing people around you. With microSD cards there is 16GB of storage space available for music and videos, which is plenty of space to keep you entertained while out and about.
Summary
Don’t be fooled by the name, the HD Mini is a pretty standard sized touchscreen. The Mini name is derived in comparison to the earlier HD2, which was a larger than usual handset. All in all the HD Mini should prove to be an ideal handset for people who had looked at the HD2 but considered it to be just too big of a device to use as a phone. See what HTC HD Mini contracts are available or read some more HD Mini reviews if you are interested in this phone.
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