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HTC HD2

I’ve spent a few hours with HTC’s latest Windows Mobile based smartphone, the HD2. Much anticipated, this device represents the leading edge of Windows Mobile smartphones.
Written by First Take , Previews blog log-in

I’ve spent a few hours with HTC’s latest Windows Mobile based smartphone, the HD2. Much anticipated, this device represents the leading edge of Windows Mobile smartphones. It has facilities like GPS, digital compass, Wi-Fi, HSDPA/HSUPA (7.2Mbps/2Mbps), an accelerometer, 5 megapixel camera, and Bluetooth.

The HD2 runs Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional, and HTC adds in its Peep application for Twitter use, and its Footprints application for geo-location of places you visit. There is an FM radio and a 3.5mm headset jack.

A 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, the most powerful available for smartphones, provides the power.

The headline feature, though, is the screen. It is capacitive, which is a first for any Windows Mobile device, and it responded extremely well to my own finger presses and sweeps. Being capacitive it can handle multi-touch events. This means smooth zooming in Web browsing and when looking at images is achieved simply by placing two fingertips on screen and sliding them together to zoom in and apart to zoom out.

Moreover, at 4.3 inches across diagonal corners and delivering 480 x 800 pixels, the screen is the largest I’ve ever seen in a Windows Mobile device that can be comfortably held to the ear for voice calls.

And the viability is the key point. The hardware is sizeable and heavy at 120.5mm x 67mm x 11mm x 157g. I couldn’t get it into every pocket I wanted it to slot into. Nor could I reach right across the screen with a thumb to use the device one-handed.

These two factors are an obvious by-product of the large screen, and a serious point against the HD2, which, in all other respects, on the face of a couple of hours of usage, is superbly put together. The other slight turn off for some will be the £500-ish (Inc VAT) price.

More details at the HTC Web site.

Sandra Vogel

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