The "Wow" Factor is Included (4/4)
HTC Touch HD with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
BENCHMARKS
Spb Benchmark from has been used for the
following benchmark comparisons with HTC Touch HD.
I'd compare the performance of the Touch HD with that of the Touch Pro or Touch Diamond. It's not as fast as the XPERIA X1, but it's well optimized and going from screen to screen feels quite snappy.
BATTERY
The battery on the Touch HD is a reasonable 1350mAh, which is the same as the Touch Pro. With heavy use of data, GPS, and many calls, the Touch HD will get through about a day. With moderate use, you'll last about 1.5 days, and with light use, expect around 2, maybe 3 days. This is not outstanding, but above average for a smartphone of this kind.
BUGS AND WISHES
In terms of bugs, there really aren't any except for one issue with the keyboard: sometimes the keyboard doesn't display when it should, and when you try to type on it, it hides away.
In terms of wishes, I wish HTC had designed the Touch HD to feel smaller in hand. As it stands, it's nearly identical in dimensions to the iPhone, but because the edges aren't rounded and because it is just a hair wider, it feels big.
The Touch HD has serious ease of use issues because of the lack of D-Pad and programmable hardware buttons. Although HTC has added a D-Pad to all of the keyboards, they've also added another step to many operations such as highlighting items on the screen or flipping through multiple phone numbers for a contact. The saving grace is that the Touch HD is well optimized for input with your finger via the touchscreen. Everything is large, the screen has a good level of sensitivity, and even scrolling is easy by flicking your finger.
I'd love to use the Touch HD in landscape full time, but I can't. Heck, I'd love to use Remote Desktop in landscape temporarily
, but I can't. The Touch HD is a portrait device, unless you're in Opera or viewing pictures/video. With some registry modification, you could fix this.
Web browsing is great on the Touch HD, but the fact that Opera Mobile still doesn't do Flash is bothersome. Even the prototype Touch HD had it, why not the production version?
The built in video player - Windows Media Player and the HTC gallery media player, don't do the Touch HD justice. They don't always scale to full screen, they play a limited amount of video formats, and they don't allow for much control over video playback. For a device with the name "HD" - it's disconcerting that there is no really good video playback solution included. Like I mentioned, CorePlayer works very well.
And then there are the other little things, that aren't deal breakers but just annoying: there is no flash on the camera, the soft reset hole and microSD slot are under the battery, the stylus is too short, and the status LED is way too small.
In the end, the Touch HD isn't practical for business users. The large and exposed screen will prove somewhat fragile for those that are rough on their devices; the lack of hardware controls limits how quickly you can do certain tasks; and the one-handed usability is almost non-existent...heck, even to access the Start menu with one hand requires a very long thumb thanks to the tall screen.
PURCHASING
The Touch HD is only being sold overseas right now (and is not likely to come to North America), but you can import it into the US it'll work fine on GSM carriers like T-Mobile and AT&T, though you won't get 3G data (only EDGE). Hop on over to Clove Technology where they are selling it for about £445, which, depending on the current exchange rate, comes out to $700-800 USD.
PROS
Super sexy design
Has a large, high resolution screen
- Everything is finger-friendly
- Ships with an 8GB microSD card
- Includes 3.5mm headphone jack
- Solid performance
- Haptic feedback on hardware buttons and some icons
- Pouch/screen protector/extra stylus included
- Includes updated version of TouchFLO 3D
- Upload to YouTube right from the device
Decent battery life
WiFi/aGPS/FM Radio/HSDPA/HSUPA
CONS
- Feels big in hand
- Poor one-handed usability
- Lacks D-Pad and programmable buttons
- Lacks US 3G bands
- Cannot re-orient display to landscape permanently
- Still no Flash support in Opera Mobile
- Needs a more robust built-in video player
- microSD slot and soft reset hole is under battery cover
- Status LED is tiny
- No flash on camera
- Not practical for business users
| Value |  |
| Ease of Use |  |
| Features |  |
Overall |
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OVERALL IMPRESSION
As I mentioned, for the business user, the Touch HD is just not practical. Instead, business users should consider the HTC Touch Pro or SE XPERIA X1. If you're looking for the most flashy/sexy/gorgeous (and capable) multimedia and internet browsing phone that has ever been sold, the Touch HD deserves your serious consideration
