HTC HD2

The first impression of HD2 is the minimalist design with less button, things also get more simple without stylus & thanks to its capacitive screen, no more precision click but just swipe through your finger.



HTC has also decided to get rid of front camera (no video call) & replace the Mini-USB to Micro-USB, the power button has merged with disconnect call button right below the screen. Without the front camera is not a big problem for me as i'm not a big fan of video call.



The overall design emphasizes on its 4.3-inch screen, however, the capacitive touch screen is something that requires to get familiar. The screen is quite sensitive especially when you uses the soft keyboard, occationally a simple gesture from one key to another might result in typo, you just need to lift up the finger to have enough gap between the screen while typing. A long time Windows Mobile user might experiences this but it doesn't take long for you to get used.



With the 1GHz Snapdragon processor, it gives noticeably performance gains compare to my Touch Pro which has smaller screen size/resolution & processor speed, as well as in other normal operation such as TouchFLO 3D navigation or browsing the net. The display is more fluid than any other Windows Mobiles phone which i came across & it's getting closer to the iPhone.



With 11mm thickness & weight at 157 grams, i hardly can feel it inside my pants, sometimes i doubt if it's still with me (perhaps i'm too used to the Touch Pro).



HD2 is also the first Windows phone to embody HTC Sense with core principles of make it mine, stay close & discover the unexpected. The animated weather is now embeds into Home tab with quick links. Unlike the quick link from People (second tab), user is able to add program, Contact or bookmark on the home tab, and i think it's a great improvement from the previous version of TouchFLO 3D.



The People tab is now allow user to retrieve contact photo from multiple sources, such as Facebook profile, Outlook Photo, photo album or use the camera. Once you have configure the login for your Facebook account, it will let you to choose which Facebook contact to retrieve into HD2, quite cool huh :) With that, the Facebook profile photo of your friend will automatically become your contact photo in the HD2. Besides, it comes with Facebook client v1.007, it's provided by Microsoft though, not HTC.



Facebook is not the only social networking site that tied with HD2. Peep, is a twitter plugins that display as another tab. Unlike Facebook client, Peep allows user to tweet GPS location besides text & images. Let say you have a twitter plugins on your Facebook, by tweeting your GPS location, it also doubles update your Facebook status so your friend knows where to catch you through Facebook status & Twitter, it's lovely to see social network services are highly integrated into HTC Sense. Hey HTC ~ what about a Facebook tab like Peep?



Under its perfect weight & with better screen size/resolution than iPhone, i decided to load a pdf magazine & see how good it functions as ebook reader. The version of Adobe Reader in HD2 comes with Core Engine 1.0.404840, a typical pdf magazine is readable after you zoom in 4 times & uses your finger to scroll through pages. This isn't new in HD2 but i think it's a combination of all bells & whistles, 1GHz processor, larger screen estate & slim form factor, it just encourage you to read more with the device.

Test message & Emails



Internet & Calendar



Photos & Videos in portrait & landscape



Music in portrait & landscape



Weather & Footprints



Stocks & Settings



The sequence of multiple tabs are now highly customizable to user likings, its TouchFLO 3D acts like a series of applications which are always there for you to multi-task, thus leverage the intuitiveness as well as the entire user experiences. I think HD2 has established a identity to compete with iPhone, its Windows Mobile 6.5 now comes with Marketplace but sad to say Microsoft is still playing catchup in these field.

Pls note that the pros & cons here are comparing the HD2 with iPhone.

Pros
- Highly responsive & multi-task for all apps
- Customizable home screen
- Social network friendliness
- Better display & resolution (480x800 WVGA at 4.3-inch)
- Removable battery
- 5MP camera with dual LED flash
- FM radio

Cons
- Entire eco-system compare to Apple's iTunes & App Store

Price: RM2899

Available at YQC Technology Solution
Prangin Mall: 042628601
Queensbay Mall: 046428601
Gurney Plaza: 042290601
Sunway Carnival: 043900454



Source: http://v4.mypdacafe.com/news/2009/11/28/1.html