HTC HD2 review

We can forgive HTC for leaving many areas of Windows Mobile's user interface untouched, because we won't often be visiting the ActiveSync configuration screen, for example. But email is one of a smart phone's most important features, and we don't like being dumped out of the warm bath of the HTC Sense user interface into the cold shower of Windows Mobile.

Social-networking mojo
HTC has brought the same social-networking mojo that we loved on the HTC Hero to the HD2. This includes an address book that grabs your friends' info from Facebook, a photo gallery that grabs their online photos, and a dedicated Twitter app as one of the home-screen tabs. It all works fairly well, although we had to merge many of our contacts manually if they weren't using the same email address everywhere. Also, Twitter didn't update reliably enough. 

App me like a hurricane
Windows Mobile is a great platform for app developers, but we found the HD2's on-board apps to be a mixed bag. For instance, the YouTube app is fast and easy to use, while the Facebook app doesn't have all the features we need -- we ended up going to the Web site to check our inbox.

There are heaps more excellent apps out there for this platform, but they're not always easy to find or install. Microsoft has launched Windows Marketplace for Mobile to help, but the shelves are still almost bare. We missed the simplicity of Apple's App Store, but at least the big screen makes browsing the Web for good apps a pleasure.

The HD2 also includes the Microsoft My Phone service, which makes it wonderfully easy to back up your files and manage them from anywhere over the Web. It beats ActiveSync and a USB cable any day, and, unlike Apple's MobileMe offering, it's free.

Walking the Web
You have a choice of two built-in Web browsers. HTC has gone with the speedy Opera Mobile as its default choice, but Internet Explorer is also on-board, and, although slower, it supports Flash so you can see more Web sites as their designers intended.

You can also track down other choices, like Fennec (from the crazy kids who brought you Firefox) and Skyfire. With a big screen like the HD2's, it might be worth trying them all out to find your favourite.

Multitude of touches
HTC has put some welcome effort into making the HD2 support multi-touch gestures, letting you, for example, zoom into Web pages by pinching the screen with two fingers. But be warned that, in terms of browsers, multi-touch gestures only work with the default Opera Mobile. Multi-touch functionality also makes an appearance, however, in the Google Maps and photo-gallery apps. It makes using the phone so much more fun that HTC should get a hug every time someone takes advantage of it.

We also have to give special mention to the on-screen keyboard, which is the same as the HTC Hero's. The buttons are laid out well and easy to press. Each button also provides a handy shortcut for adding numbers and symbols, without the need to swap to another keyboard. On a screen this big, the keyboard is huge, even in portrait orientation. As we write, it's our favourite virtual keyboard in the world.

The HD2 also sports a 5-megapixel camera with two insanely bright LED photo lights. You can focus just by tapping the screen, and it's also possible to record video.

As if that weren't enough, there are all the usual fantastic smart-phone features, including Wi-Fi and 7.2Mbps HSDPA for faster downloads over 3G. Even our old friend the 3.5mm headphone jack makes an appearance. There are plenty of other interesting features to find if you dig around the HD2. One example is a car mode with mega-big icons, although you'll need a car dock to use it. Even with all these features, battery life proved good in our tests.

Conclusion
The HTC HD2 applies a substantial boot to the backside of every other Windows Mobile phone currently available. In fact, it accomplishes the near impossible -- it makes Windows Mobile crave-worthy. We love its huge capacitive touchscreen, and, thanks to HTC, it's got a lovely home screen and some excellent apps. We only wish that the user-interface tweaks were less skin-deep in places, and that Windows Marketplace for Mobile did a better job of helping us find the best apps out there.

If the HD2 were running Android, we would have already run away with it forever to a country with no phone-stealing extradition treaty. As it is, for big-screen fans and people who need Windows Mobile for work purposes, we wouldn't hesitate to recommend the HD2.

Edited by Charles Kloet