HTC Touch HD Review

HTC has come up with the newest version of its very popular Touch smartphone series powered by Windows Mobile - the HTC Touch HD. The first version - HTC Touch was a decent hit, but the next versions - the HTC Touch Diamond and the HTC Touch PRO were much more successful. Though they still aren’t as popular as the Touch series’ main competitor - the Apple iPhone 3G, they are improving a lot with each new version and the newest - Touch HD seems to have all the ammo to blow away the iPhone 3G. It features a revamped version of the TouchFLO 3D UI, a mammoth 3.8 inch display - the biggest in any smartphone, oodles of RAM and a very fast processor. It it probably the most powerful Windows Mobile smartphone yet. In this detailed review, we check out the HTC Touch HD and its features, and whether it is a better buy than its competition - the iPhone 3G and the Samsung Omnia i900.

HTC Touch HD Specs:

• Dimensions: 115 mm x 63 mm x 12 mm
• Weight: 146 gms
• Display: 3.8 inch TFT touchscreen, 65K colors, 480 x 800 pixels
• Processor: Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 Mhz
• Memory: 288 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
• Connectivity: GPRS class 10, EDGE class 10, 3G HSDPA 7.2 MBPS, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP, USB v2.0
• Camera: 5 MP camera, 2592 x 1944 pixels with autofocus, Video recording - CIF at 30 FPS, Secondary videocall camera
• GPS: Built in GPS receiver with A-GPS
• OS: Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional with TouchFLO 3D UI
• Battery: Li-Ion battery, 1350 mAh
• Other Features: 3.5 mm audio jack, Stereo FM radio with RDS, Pocket Office, Java MIDP 2.0, Accelerometer

Design and Display:

The HTC Touch HD sports a stylish design dressed fully in black. The major part of the body is occupied by the huge 3.8 inch display, and the rest is covered with polished black. At dimensions of 115 mm x 63 mm x 12 mm, it is slim and portable, though obviously a bit larger than other Touch handsets, thanks again to the display. The designers have tried to minimise the dimensions by removing the D Pad altogether. The build quality is superb and the phone has a very nice feel. It weighs about 146 gms which is relatively higher compared to other smartphones in this range, but that can be completely discounted if you consider the superb display and the ample amount of features. The body offers a good grip and feels ergonomic.

The front of the phone sports the 3.8 inch display and 4 touch sensitive keys - the Home, Back, Call and End keys beneath it. Above the display you will find the earpiece and the secondary videocall camera. On the left edge, you will find the volume rocker while on the top, there is the power button and the standard 3.5 mm jack. The right edge is totally empty while the bottom has the USB port and the stylus compartment. On the back of the phone, you find the 5 MP camera located on top of a silver metal plate. Despite being a 5 MP, it doesn’t have flash which is a bit of a letdown.

The touchscreen display is superb and supports 65k colors and has a maximum resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. It is one of the best displays ever seen in smartphones, and the biggest touchscreen display. The brightness and contrast is just perfect and the color reproduction superb. It is very responsive and has nice sensitivity. You can safely throw away your stylus and operate the phone using only your fingers, thanks to the large icons in the TouchFLO 3D UI. The size of the display and the high resolution improves the usability of the phone a lot. The display is perfect for watching movies and videos and provides a video experience second only to maybe the Sony PSP 3000 and the iPhone 3G (totally subjective, I would go for the HTC Touch HD).

OS and User Interface:

The HTC Touch HD is powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. It comes with an improved version of HTC’s popular TouchFLO 3D UI. The TouchFLO 3D user interface has improved greatly since its first version in the HTC Touch. It is now more fluid, more responsive and looks better visually. It is almost the same as TouchFLO 3D in the Touch Diamond, just more spacious due to the increased screen real estate. It is very closely integrated to the underlying Windows Mobile 6.1 OS and can look like a totally new OS to newbie Windows Mobile users. The homescreen allows you to access your contacts, messages, email, Internet, music, photos and videos, weather and settings etc with a click. Most of it is the same as that in the Touch Diamond. The Touch HD sports nice hardware specs - Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 Mhz processor, 288 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM etc which is capable of running Windows Mobile 6.1 and the TouchFLO 3D UI with utmost ease.

Multimedia:

You can access your images and videos through the Photos and Videos tab on the homescreen. The gallery interface is similar to that of the Touch Diamond, but is more responsive. You can view your images in landscape mode (with auto screen rotation too), as a slideshow, you can zoom into it all using finger gestures.

You can view videos on the built in video player. You can also use any of the large number of applications available for the Windows Mobile platform. The video playback is superb on the brilliant spacious 3.8 inch display. It provides one of the best movie watching experience in smartphones.

You also get the Music Player built in, it supports all the popular formats and offers a nice cool interface to work on. You can sort tracks according to artist, genre etc, create your own playlists etc. Browsing through your music collection is truly a joy on the Touch HD. You also have a custom EQ to play with. The audio quality is great, the Touch HD is both a multimedia oriented and a business phone - it offers the best of both worlds. The Touch HD also has a FM Radio with RDS enabled. The FM reception is nice.

The Touch HD sports a 5 MP camera which can take shots at a max resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels. It comes with autofocus, but surprisingly no flash. The image capture quality is superb, much in line with the best 5 MP shooters - the Nokia N82 and others. It is great at day shots. It can also record CIF video at 30 FPS. The video recording quality is decent. It also has a Secondary videocall camera located at the front. The camera interface is very easy to use and offers a range of standard features to choose from.

Other Stuff:

The HTC Touch HD is powered by a standard Li Ion 1350 mAh battery which has a rated talktime of about 7 hrs. It can power the Touch HD for about 2 days easily with moderate usage. This is quite an achievement considering it has a huge 3.8 inch display which can be a power guzzler. The call reception quality is very nice, hardly a deciding factor in most phones these days. It also features loads of connectivity options like GPRS class 10, EDGE class 10, 3G HSDPA 7.2 MBPS, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP, USB v2.0 etc. It also has a GPS receiver with A-GPS. It also bundles Quick Office using which you can edit and view all your Office documents - Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc.

Pros:

• Superb 3.8 inch Display
• Nice Design and Build Quality
• Great Hardware Specs
• 5 MP camera
• TouchFLO 3D

Cons:

• No Flash
• No Geotagging
• Slightly Bulky

Final Words:

This is the best Windows Mobile phone yet, and possibly the best smartphone ever. Personally, I would prefer it over the iPhone 3G. In other words, a must buy.

Our Rating: 4.5 / 5