If you’ve been following my review series on the new HTC HD2, this post concludes the series. If you haven’t been following along, here’s part 1, part 2 and part 3. I’ve used the HD2 for close to two weeks now, and while I may not be a hardcore user, I feel that based on my experience in using smartphones from different manufacturers running different operating systems, I may have some insights to offer if you’re looking to buy one. So, as is customarily the case, let’s start with some pros and cons things for HTC to improve on.
Pros:
- beautifully made hardware – the finishing exudes class befitting its price.
- fast 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.
- huge capacitive 4.3 inch screen. Purists say this screen looks better than AMOLED screens which tend to give out exaggerated colour tones.
- packed with almost every current mobile hardware feature imaginable.
- HTC Sense – it simplifies things and brings new things to the Windows Mobile (WinMo) party. The “biggest” feature and draw of the phone.
- the overall speed of WinMo, even with HTC Sense activated.
- good media playback support. Anything that the built in players cannot handle, throw it at CorePlayer and it will satisfy 99% of requirements out there. In my testing, I did not need to re-encode video files for playback on the HD2.
- multi-touch, or should I say “pinch-zooming”.
- Opera Mobile 9.7, customised for the HD2 to support multi-touch.
- inclusion of a PDF reader and Microsoft Office Mobile.
- loud and clear speakers, although there’s only the single one on the HD2.
- good and clear call quality.
Areas for improvement:
- Windows Mobile (!) – yes, I know this is not HTC’s area, but if Windows Mobile was rewritten to really support touch and re-architected to perform much faster, HTC would have a definite winner on its hands, even when compared to the latest generation iPhone. Once you leave the comfort of HTC Sense, the experience becomes mixed – good in some areas, just plain poor in others. The unpredictability and ugliness of WinMo rears its head outside of HTC Sense. For example, the Outlook client is ugly, the interface difficult to navigate and is not intuitive. Certain screens are not finger friendly especially with small “OK” buttons at the top right corner and small-ish check boxes which are hard to “check” using a finger. The other issue concerning Windows Mobile (and I’ve confirmed this with another WinMo 6.5 device) is that push emails on the WinMo platform is the slowest amongst the Blackberry, iPhone and WinMo platforms.
- a bigger capacity battery – a 1230mAh battery for a 4.3 inch always-connected device is simply not going to be enough for the true road warrior. While I found it sufficient (perhaps because I’ve been used to the poor battery life of the iPhone!) others may not find that the battery lasts them a day on a single charge, with heavy usage of the internet, emails, browsing and media playback on an always-connected device.
- the performance of the soft/virtual keyboard – I’m a person who types really fast. And half the time, I type a lot. On the HD2, I found that there was a lag in responsiveness once I typed a lot of words – the phone would freeze for a very little while, and then resume input. I found this rather disturbing. Word prediction needs to be better. Word correction also needs to be better. But this customised HTC soft keyboard is still miles better than the stock/standard WinMo soft keyboard I have tested on other WinMo 6.5 devices! Due to the size of the device, you may need to re-adjust your typing style when you type in landscape mode.
- the little quirks I discovered – when you switch the HD2 on (from a standby state), you need to wait for around a second before you can swipe the icon to unlock the phone. Also, the notification bar “flickers” randomly – it’s very disconcerting to see! Also, the camera performance issues needs to be fixed – there is a pink tinge/hue in the centre of a photo when you take a photo of a completely white surface. I was also not particularly impressed with the video recording quality which suffers from the “pink tinge-ing” as well as lack of sharpness – check out the photos and video I took to see what I mean.
- port over the PDF reader with text re-flow from the Hero to the HD2! I want this feature as I read a lot of e-books on my devices!
Were the issues serious enough to recommend against getting the HD2? Far from it, because I know that with one firmware update, HTC can resolve all of them, apart from the first point about this still being a WinMo phone. As they say, you can only slap on so much lipstick to make a bulldog look pretty, because people will know it’s still an ugly bulldog underneath. For the record, I don’t think bulldogs are ugly – it’s just a silly metaphor I’m using.
Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the best WinMo smartphone ever built. It is the fastest out-of-the-box WinMo phone without any tweaking or disabling of cripplingly slow user interface enhancements. This is the phone that puts WinMo back in the smartphone game, a little anyway. Microsoft should be thankful to HTC for making the HD2 – without it, there is nothing to “showcase” or brag about WinMo 6.5.
So here are my recommendations, and since there isn’t a “one size fits all”, I’ve broken it down into various scenarios, which I’m sure is not collectively exhaustive as I’ve documented in the various scenarios below. If there’s a scenario which I did not describe, drop a comment describing your situation – most importantly, what you’re looking for in a smartphone and what your benchmarks are, if any.
If you’re an existing Windows Mobile user, get it. There’s no need to think any further. You will not find any better Windows Phone on the market, in this world, in this reality, at this very moment.
If you’re an existing Symbian user and want to try something new, get it. The interface is very pretty. You have access to a lot of applications, probably meeting all of your application requirements – after all, the Windows Mobile platform is not new, it’s been around for a long time. The underlying WinMo operating system is easier to understand – after all, it’s Windows, right?
If you’re an existing “physical QWERTY Blackberry” user, you probably won’t like it. Most, if not all, Blackberry users I’ve spoken to, wax lyrical about their physical QWERTY keyboards. Since the HD2 does not have a physical QWERTY keyboard, you will feel lost and perhaps lose productivity. I own a Blackberry and can understand this major concern, although I contend that I can still type faster on a good soft keyboard compared to a physical QWERTY one; but then again, did I mention that I can type quite fast?
If you’re an existing “touchscreen Blackberry” user, you may want to consider this if you’re sick and tired of the Blackberry. Do a comparison of the two soft keyboards’ performance. Check that you can get all of the software that you are using on the Blackberry on the WinMo platform in your evaluation.
If you’re an existing iPhone user, you may want to consider this if you want a change. The soft keyboard on the iPhone is still better, in my opinion, and this may be important for people who type a lot.
If you’re a Palm user, you’re too fanatical for me to even attempt to change your mind. I give up, so you may continue using your Palm device.
Finally, if you’re in the market for a new smartphone, I’ll narrow it down for you – the Apple iPhone 3GS and the HTC HD2. If you have friends who are gadget geeks, get them to show you their respective iPhones and HD2 and ask them why they think their device is the greatest in the world. Then, prioritise those things that are important to you and make a decision.
Oh, and before I go, do I hear you asking me the million dollar question? If I had to carry only two phones (geeks like me carry at least two phones, but if you restricted me to only two phones…well…), I would carry my iPhone 3GS and the HD2. Yes, I would gladly pay for the HD2. Now if only I can find a sucker nice person who wants to buy one of my other smartphones at a decent price…
Oh, and finally finally, the vast majority of ladies that I showed the phone to said it was too big for their hands, so it wouldn’t be comfortable to carry around. But they loved the phone, so that goes to show you how well made this device is. So I’ve concluded that unless you’re a 6-footer basketball player, geek at heart, gadget loving lady, the HD2 is probably too big to tote around! :P
wow – very good review – at PC Fair – there was no stock available
- big mistake by the distributors !
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 6th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
@readycompanies, thanks for the kind words. I believe in KL the stocks have run out. When I last spoke to HTC a week or so ago, I was told that the first was almost completely sold out then! I guess every country only has their limited allocations for this year?
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no stock? but i tested a demo unit at the pc fair, screen is really nice but main problem is how u gonna carry it…
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 12:48 am
@JC, I’ve been carrying mine around in the pants pocket without any problems…it lies next to the Samsung Omnia 2…
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Jack Lee Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Huh?! You carry the HD2 and the Omnia 2 in the same pants pocket? You really must have huge pants pockets! LOL!
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
@Jack, I have a pair of very old golf pants. They fit quite comfortably. I can even stuff the Blackberry Curve 8520 in there if I wanted to, but I’m worried that they’ll start fighting in there.
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Excellent review .. AlphaDog .. I loves your multiple scenario advise and very unbiased opinion. Keep up the good work. I do agree I too loves the hardware but the software (OS) part which I will avoid. Hope there an Android version ……
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
@Alvin, thanks for the kind words!
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I’ve also tested it at their booth.It was awesome.Then i tested the camera function…..sadly even the demo set also plagued by the pinkish center.Even the promoters there also didn’t know about this bug existed until i tell them so.I am putting this phone on hold first,who knows…..maybe in the coming 2-3 months,there’s a better phone comes out to compete with HD2?I’m betting Samsung is the main contender,cooking and brewing….waiting to be unleashed out soon.
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Jack Lee Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
I am sure Samsung will be coming out with something for the first quarter of next year (and no, I don’t have any insider info). They need something to counter the HD2.
Samsung already has a 800mhz chip. They just need to tweak it further, give it a lot of RAM and make it perform like the i8910 (or why not just use Snapdagon or the same chip as in the i8910 which is fantastic for video playback), give it a screen like the i8910 too but with multi-touch (the Samsung’s way of zooming works quite well but multi-touch for typing on the on-screen qwerty would be very very good, needless to say), tweak the OS a bit more (to remove known/existing lags), and they are there! All the bits and pieces and tech are already with Samsung, its all now a matter of how to put them together and how they package it.
Or Samsung may even implement the latest in resistive screen technology where multi-touch is possible….
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
@Jack, with nothing much concrete in the product pipeline, I fail to see how Samsung can counter the high end HD2. TouchWiz just doesn’t cut it when compared to HTC Sense. Simple as that.
Believe it or not, the snappiest phone I’ve ever reviewed here on this blog is the feature/dumb phone – Samsung Jet – fast and good camera, bloody good video playback support out of the box. Only problem – not a smartphone, and can only install J2ME apps. Sigh…
Samsung now has a problem – how to sell their Windows Mobile phones when HTC is out there selling boatloads of phones with Sense.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
@Ken77, let’s hope the camera and video thingy can be fixed with a simple firmware update. And HTC works on tweaking the slow dog called Windows Mobile a bit more, the HD2 is going to be very usable indeed!
At the moment, I don’t see anything on the Samsung product roadmap that can give me a good cause for excitement.
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well done and very detail …on the review , hope HTC can rectify the problem , to make a better phone , i will be back to use HTC again , instead of iphone…..
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
@andy, thanks! Use two phones la!
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Held my Omnia2 next to the HD2 at the HTC booth, fired up the Start menu on both. The advantage of the Omnia2 was as clear as daylight.
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Jack Lee Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Can you please elaborate? What problems did you find with the HD2 Start menu?
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skeelee Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Oh, nothing wrong with the Start menu. Just the difference between AMOLED and LCD screens. The LCD on the HD2 looks dull next to the Omnia2.
The Start menu is used to have similar view for comparison.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
@skeelee, @Jack, in my eyes (and I don’t have very good eyes, with each eye having a “power” of > 1,000) I don’t see a glaring difference. A difference, yes, but not a glaring one. Maybe if the Omnia 2 used a capacitive screen the difference would have been more “glaring”
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
@skeelee, the colours on AMOLED screens are OK for you? Not too “fake”?
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Ken Reply:
December 8th, 2009 at 3:42 am
Imho, those who call AMOLED screen colors too fake are those who just can’t face up to the fact that AMOLED screens give more vibrant colours.
As long as the colors aren’t too overly distorted, who doesn’t want to see more vibrant colours on a screen but boring dull colours? It’s a no brainer.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 8th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
@Ken, hahah, tell that to the purists!
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Ken Reply:
December 9th, 2009 at 1:13 am
Hehe….won’t even try. Those ostriches have their heads stuck too deep in the sand to acknowledge the incoming lorry.
I’m switching to the HD2, but I’m not blind enough not to accept that AMOLED gives more desired colours for a handheld.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 10th, 2009 at 10:28 am
@Ken, in that case, free ostrich meat then!
I always tell people there is no perfect device. Just like there is no perfect wife.
Ken Reply:
December 14th, 2009 at 7:15 am
Ah…a caveat. You can tell that to other people, just not in front of your wife.
In front of them, all wives are perfect.
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 15th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
@Ken, since I don’t have a wife I can always say anything I like with impunity! Muahahahaha!
skeelee Reply:
December 8th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
@DaAlphaDog, the Start Menu consists of icons created by designer/artist probably on LCD screen and tested on LCD screen mobile phones too. When he/she sees the same digital creation displayed on AMOLED screen, would he/she say “hey, that’s not what I want, the color is too vibrant!”?
On the other hand, the judge is still out as regard to whether LCD or AMOLED displays the “true” color, such as nature shots or human skin colors. So far, I like what I see on AMOLED, and am considering serously on LED tv now.
By the way, if you haven’t, why not pop into the National Science Centre for the Da Vinci – The Genius exhibition and see how Pascal Cotte revealed the true color and secrets of Mona Lisa with 240 megapixels shots.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 8th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
@skeelee, haha, like I was telling Ken, tell that to the purists who like to see more “natural” colours, not “touched” up by technology!
Actually, I too like the vibrancy of AMOLED screens, and HTC is recognising this shift, I suppose, by outfitting some of their new models for 2010 with AMOLED screens.
Me, pop into the Science Centre? I’m neither that “refined” nor that intelligent to comprehend what they are trying to say!
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Ken Reply:
December 9th, 2009 at 1:14 am
Methinks if you want natural colours on a desktop/laptop screen for photo editing, fine….but arguing about that on a phone where the point is just to show your friends the photo? Defeats the purpose.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 10th, 2009 at 10:28 am
@Ken,
As I’ve said a million times, tell that to the purists…
D.A.D.
Have been following your post with great interest. Have you seen this issue before in the link below?
http://www.modaco.com/content/leo-leo-modaco-com/297105/frozen-on-wake-up/#entry1123398
Colin
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
@Colin, no, this has never happened to me. Perhaps I’ve got a newer firmware? I tested the SMS issue also, which another poster mentioned in that same thread you referred to, doesn’t exist on my unit either. Or perhaps it is not consistently present?
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Issues 1-4 of the areas for improvement would be enough for me to delay getting this phone, especially considering the price of the HD2. But re issue 1, since no one can really do much about how Winmo 6.5 is designed… I may end up waiting for Winmo 7 and by that time, I am sure a replacement of the HD2 would have come out! Hahaha!
Re issue 2, whats a powerful device without the appropriate stamina? I wouldn’t have minded a slightly thicker form factor just so they can put in a bigger battery.
However, I was expecting a much better virtual qwerty keyboard performance though, something on par with the Iphone or better, given the larger screen, it being capacitive and the powerful hardware and the large amount of RAM in the HD2.
As for the lag “when you switch the HD2 on (from a standby state), you need to wait for around a second before you can swipe the icon to unlock the phone”, I get this as well with my Omnia 2 after I upgraded the OS to Winmo 6.5. In fact, half the time, its a bit longer than a second with the Omnia 2! I guess this could be due to the OS? However, I don’t remember having this issue when I was using the Touch 2 though… hhhmmm…
HTC better come up with a solution for the cam issue soon too. For me, I take a lot of “impromptu” photos/videos of stuff in general and of my daughter in particular in her growing years for sweet memories to be stored and having “spoilt” photos/videos will just truly spoil everything.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
@Jack, even with the issues, I for one would get this anytime over the Omnia 2. At around RM500 more than the Omnia 2, I actually get a usable “enhancement” in HTC Sense. Not to mention the speed. Trust me on this, since I also have a unit of the Omnia 2 for review!
The extended battery is on the way, and so is a stylus specially for the HD2.
The soft keyboard is miles better than the one on the Omnia 2 as well. But still not up to par with the iPhone. Trust me, I have a unit of the Omnia 2 for review!
Yes, the lag has to do with WinMo 6.5. I tell you, this is really killing the manufacturers who have to make a living making devices that run on it la…really sad.
For photos, nothing beats the Samsungs because they also manufacturer digicams, so have a lot of experience in the software and hardware side of things. The same can be said for SonyEricsson. Nokia seems to be an exception, for certain of their phones.
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If I hadn’t gotten my Omnia 2 oredi, I probably would have gotten this HD2 baby. But since I bought the Omnia 2 before HTC confirmed the pricing and the avalaibility of the HD2, it doesn’t seem too worth it to upgrade just at this moment.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 8th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
@Jack, yeah, since you’ve already got the Omnia 2, it may not make much sense to get the HD2. But do play with it at your favourite handphone seller!
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Nice review. Went thru all of them. Now still waiting for mine to come. Arr… Why still no stock after 3 weeks?
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 19th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
@Jayce, thanks for the kind words…why is yours taking so long to arrive?
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