I’ve been waiting for such device from since the original iPhone came out. Big display, easy to use interface, powerful processor, tons of program memory, those are some of the qualities I was looking in a true iPhone contender. After a lot of wait, well, it is finally here! THE HTC TOUCH HD
Recipe: Take a HTC touch Diamond, put in a 3.8″ display, remove D-Pad, add a 3.5mm headphone jack and you will have the HTC TOUCH HD!
By it’s looks, one would assume that it is just another iPhone-wannabe, but that is where the story ends. The HTC TOUCH HD is the first truly amazing muscle phone containing massive 3.8″ display having a very high WVGA resolution (800 x 480).
Unboxing
The box came with the usual stuff. It didn’t have the HTC Touch Diamond like Diamond box, but the HTC manages to provide decent unboxing experience.
Box Contents
- HTC Touch HD (expected Santa?)
- 8GB microSDHC card
- AC Adapter
- USB Cable
- Stereo earphones with microphone
- Case
- 1350mAh Battery
- Additional Stylus
- Screen Protector
- Getting Started CD, User Manual CD
All the accessories are same as the it’s sibling HTC Diamond except for the 3.5mm headphone jack which now supports direct plugging of your normal headphones without use of converter.
Design and looks
The HTC TOUCH HD has rounded corners and remarkably polished looks. It follow the minimalistic approach. The front of the device is mostly covered with glass and thus attracting fingerprints.
At the back, it has a rubber finish which provides a firm grip to the device. Also, as it does not attract finger prints due to it. You will also find the 5MP camera here. There is no flash.
Display
The HTC TOUCH HD has a BIG 3.8″ display. When was the last time you saw such a big display on a mobile device. Perhaps 5 years back on those QVGA 3.8″ screen iPAQs. So what has changed then? It comes with a WVGA 800 x 480 resolution, which promises great internet experience as compared to the normal QVGA devices in the market.
The best part about the display is that you don’t have to press the display hard to register a tap. A little touch on the screen makes the device register the tap, which brings the sensitivity to whole new level for Windows Mobile devices.
Buttons
On the top, you will find the power button. Below the display, you will find four touch sensitive buttons(answer, end, Home and Back key), which can be felt by haptic feedback (you can disable it too). There is no D-Pad. So, you may find difficulty in navigating the device if you have just bought the device. After you get used to the design, you won’t have any problems navigating. On the left side, you will find the usual volume buttons.
Stylus
Just like HTC Touch Diamond, the stylus resides in the lower right corner of the device. The magnet holds the stylus in it’s place, again just like Touch Diamond. The stylus is non-telescopic, which is a nice thing as I’ve never been a fond of telescopic stylus.
The evil reset hole
HTC has also carried the genes of evil reset hole which is hidden behind the battery cover. So, everytime your phone gets hanged due to some reason, you will have to remove the battery cover just to reset it.
The micro-SD slot is also not accessible directly from the sides of the device. You again have to remove the battery cover to access it. If you don’t change your micro-SD cards frequently, then it won’t bother you much
Software
The HTC Touch Diamond runs Windows Mobile 6.1. HTC has made a lot of enhancements to the usual interface to make the user experience better. The popular TouchFlo 3D has been borrowed from the HTC Diamond and it really shines on the massive display.
Here are few screenshots of the TouchFlo 3D interface of the HTC Touch HD.
1) Home: Beautiful home screen with a big clock. Flipping your finger up will make the clock small and it will provide room to display more appointments.
2) People: This contains the list of quick dial numbers with big pictures. Clicking the contact opens it in the contact application providing you the option to send an SMS/EMAIL or call them.
3) Messaging: I find this tab the coolest to show-off the TouchFlo 3D. Dragging your finger up takes you to the next message while dragging your finger down takes you to the previous message. The words slither away!
4) Mail: Similar to the messaging tab. It shows email instead of SMS
5) Internet: It has a big button to launch the Opera Browser. Below it reside the bookmarks you’ve done in the Opera Browser
6) Stock: This is a new tab that was not there in HTC Diamond. It shows latest stock prices.
7) Photos and Video: This tab shows photos and videos stored on your device. You also get access to the still camera and video camera from here.
8) Weather: This shows weather for the current day and for the next four days underneath the weather for the current day. It can set to fetch data for upto seven cities
9) Music: You can flick through the albums by swiping your finger up or down. It shows album art too.
10) Settings and programs: Settings let you do basic modifications to the TouchFlo 3D. Unlike the TouchFlo in diamond, you can also change the order of the tabs. Programs lets you define shortcuts to your favorite program.
Unfortunately, the beauty is just skin deep. For example: If you click on any message in the TouchFlo’s SMS tab, you will to not-that-finger friendly messaging application.
On the brighter side, HTC keyboards provide quite nice finger typing experience, again thanks to the big screen. On my Diamond, I still struggle to type on that keyboard.
HTC has also put it the G-Sensor application, which was first seen in the HTC Touch Pro.
Sound and Video Quality
It’s ability to take 3.5mm headphone jack is the immediate advantage over most of the Windows Mobile phones, which use ext-USB. This lets you use your favorite headphones with it. The sound quality is really nice!
The WVGA screen of the touch HD is great for watching videos. Don’t get fooled by the word “HD”. It is not meant to play those HD WMV files.
Signal Strength
The TOUCH HD has very powerful GSM radio module which manages to pick up a nice signal. The sound quality at both ends (sender and receiver) was great. No calls were dropped. Like Diamond, the screen switches off when you are on a call.
So, what is missing?
Well, it does not support TV-out like Touch Pro, which may be a let down for some. The HTC TouchFlo 3D is a valiant effort by HTC to make the windows mobile friendly, but unfortunately, HTC cannot make the whole windows mobile interface finger friendly. But, the big 3.8″ display surprisingly made everything very finger friendly.
Battery life
It comes with a 1350mAh battery. It is adequate for the average Joe. Even a power user should be able to easily squeeze out one day of battery life with heavy use. With casual use, getting two days of battery life is no big deal too.
Final Words
Undoubtedly, it is the most advanced Windows Mobile handset I’ve ever used. The big, high-resolution display provides great internet experience thanks to the wonderful Opera Browser. TouchFlo 3D adds to it’s “wow factor”. The sensitivity of the screen is great; sound quality is great and has one of the best GSM modules I’ve come across in the windows mobile arena.
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Pros:
- WVGA resolution (800×480)
- Big, easy to read display
- TouchFlo 3D
- 5MP camera
- Good battery life
- GPS
- Sensitive screen
- Including opera browser was a wise choice by HTC
Cons:
- Unfortunately, TouchFlo 3D just cannot make the whole windows mobile finger friendly
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