HTC HD2 deals & review

In a word or two

The HTC HD2 is a more advanced smartphone than its predecessor and is the best Windows Mobile 6.5 phone currently on the market.

The Design

The first Windows Mobile 6.5-operated mobile to have a sensitive touchscreen, the HTC HD2 is impressive. The touchscreen is non-resistive – unlike the original HTC HD – and measures an incredible 4.3 inches. This is the largest screen on any smartphone available at the moment including the Acer neoTouch F1 which has a 3.8 inch screen.

Considering the huge screen, the HTC HD2 manages not to feel large. Thanks to the single row of buttons beneath the screen – for call, home, start, back, and call end/ power – simple case design and a curved back, the phone retains elegance. It feels good to hold in one hand and is fine to be popped into any moderately sized pocket.

The screen is high resolution and displays images in sharp and bright colours. The HTC HD2 is great for browsing web pages, watching videos or simply navigating all the icons. With a responsive screen, you can simply swoosh and swipe to scroll or lightly tap to access an application. It feels as good as the iPhone 3G S and you can even zoom in on an image by simply squeezing two fingers together.

Specifications

Along with the bigger and sensitive touchscreen, the HTC HD2 also has the edge over its predecessor because of its 1GHz Snapdragon processor. The Toshiba TG01 was the first phone with the Snapdragon inbuilt and along with the Acer neoTouch F1, no other smartphone on the market has this feature. As a result, the HD2 is very fast – you can browse the web effortlessly; download music, video footage or files quickly; and have a number of applications running at once without the phone showing any signs of slowing.

The HTC HD2 comes with a number of applications pre-installed including those for social networking sites. Similar to the HTC Hero, the phone’s address book will sync your friends’ details from Facebook along with the photo gallery which will sync the pictures. You can also access the Twitter and YouTube applications from your phone. The Windows Marketplace for Mobile offers a lot more applications for you to customise your HD2 further, and many of the apps are free to download.

Along with all the fun you can have with your HTC HD2, the phone also comes with Pocket Office so you can keep track of your business world too. You can open emails with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote or PDF attachments, and then edit and save them – all when on the move. And should these documents be important to you, you’ll like the Microsoft MyPhone service which lets you back-up your files online, for free.

Considerations

Although this is the most user-friendly and likeable Windows Mobile 6.5-operated mobile, this is mainly because of HTC’s tweaks – which has also resulted in some features being duplicated. For example, the emails on the home screen look brilliant but only a few lines are displayed. To read the whole message and reply, you need to open in Windows Mobile email viewer which offers a less enjoyable experience.

Verdict

The HTC HD2 has the largest touchscreen of any smartphone in the current market and this offers a lot of pluses. You can view images on the screen in bright colours and the on-screen keyboard is so comfortable to use, in both portrait and landscape views, that texting, emailing and writing documents are effortless. The phone also has some great features which can be accessed from the mammoth screen, including a 5-megapixel camera, FM radio, GPS, Google Maps, Pocket Office, and the ability to add up to ten email accounts.