HTC HD2 Phone

[666moe666]

Pick up the Palm Pre and have a go, the OS is an absolute pleasure to use. It's the most intuitive, user-friendly mobile OS on the market and so elegant with it too. Support to record video is coming in a February update and since the start of this year a number of 3D games have been released for it, e.g. Need for Speed, Assassin's Creed and NFL 2010.

I'm not a fanboy, I'm just concerned that people are dismissing Palm off-hand because of their previous efforts based around Windows Mobile. WebOS is a truly great platform.

Another benefit is the similarity of hardware between the Pre and the iPhone 3GS meaning porting games from the iPhone to the Pre is a snap.

If you want a phone that makes you smile when you use it, buy a Palm Pre. If you want a phone that frustrates you or just seems overly complicated or poorly thought out go with Android or Windows Mobile.

I dismissed it, and got the HD2 instead, because the qwerty was one of the most tacky features I'd seen on any phone. I was waiting for months for the Pre as well...

[mikemikemi]

Just ordered my stylus for the HD2, I'll let all know what it's like when it arrives. Should make crayonphysics easier to play, but annoyingly out of stock and due in 5 days........

[HSK]

The official ROM (WWE:1.66.405.2) is up on the UK site now:-

http://www.htc.com/uk/SupportViewNew...56&news_id=500

Needs a serial number for a download.

[mikemikemi]

The official ROM (WWE:1.66.405.2) is up on the UK site now:-

http://www.htc.com/uk/SupportViewNew...56&news_id=500

Needs a serial number for a download.

Thanks for the heads up, might try it out tonight if I have time, just pain to reconfigure all my stuff again.

Hoping this actually fixes the SMS stuck in outbox problem.

[Chris P]

190MB is a large file just for an SMS fix, surely there is more to this update...?

[HSK]

It's an entire ROM update. If there's any SMS fixes in it... I'm not sure. But most likely they've included those other (5?) small updates in to this new rom.

[Nelsaidi]

I'm not a heavy phone user, but I want a good phone - I'm able to get this for £200 by getting a tmobile contract for £13.50 a month for a family member who wont use it that much either - Yes its epxensive but means cheap phone. Anyhow, Just *how* good is this phone? Its windows yes - Its big yes, but, its £200 - Anything good for a lower price? (thread hijacked - but just tell me whats good about the HD2)

[HSK]

Thanks for the heads up, might try it out tonight if I have time, just pain to reconfigure all my stuff again.

Hoping this actually fixes the SMS stuck in outbox problem.

Hopefully, it will iron out any problems you're experiencing.

I have not flashed this one yet, don't want to go through reloading the phone with my contacts, settings etc at the moment...

[[GSV]Trig]

All your contacts and stuff on the phone (not the memory card unless you configure it too) can be synced automatically with a myphone account.
As for settings I find I can hard reset my phone and be up and running in less than 10 minutes.
If you plug into your PC might I also recommend "MyMobiler" which allows you to remote your phone from your normal PC, means you can text/configure using mouse and keyboard to speed things up even more...

[HSK]

I use myphone it is great! but I'm being (really) lazy at the moment.

I'm using a custom ROM with this new rom as the base, so it's cool for now.

I like the sound of MyMobiler, will check that out!

[mikemikemi]

No time to try it today.

MyMobile looks like potentially useful program, might check it out.

My only issue with rom updates is the reg tweaks I've applied, bit of a pain to put them back on.

Does anyone know how to make a cab so I can just run that once?

[[GSV]Trig]

Yeah theres something over on xdadev and htcpedia where you can basically run an app and it'll install all the stuff in a folder, if u put some sort of reg files in there I presume it'll ahve the same effect...

[just_laze]

I dismissed it, and got the HD2 instead, because the qwerty was one of the most tacky features I'd seen on any phone. I was waiting for months for the Pre as well...

You're entitled to your opinion. The keyboard certainly isn't best in class and it does take some getting used to, but I'd argue it's still better than any on-screen keyboard. The Palm Pre is a great phone but so is the HD2 - enjoy it.

[mikemikemi]

Trying the ROM this weekend will let all know how I get on.

Also anyone seen and tried this:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/29/h...of-hidden-ram/

I think we'll be seeing a win7 upgrade

[Hicks12]

edit: Sorry for smudges on screen, forgot to clean before shots .

Well i got my HD2 today from Virgin mobile, extremely fast delivery from DHL and VM so hats off to them especially with the pricing! £25 p/m for 500minutes/unlimited texts/data and 18month contract along with £80 for the phone, however you get 2 months free line rental if your a virgin customer and £30 quidco!.

Now for my mini review, i havent had much time to use it fully today so havent explored everything.

In the box comes the phone/earphones/2gb Microsd and an SD adapter(so useful, i can use it in my card reader now!)/ usb cable and usb charger (swapable plugs so easy eu/uk etc) and the fancy htc case, no screen protector like i was expecting (my renoir came with 2!) so i was a bit annoyed at that as i havent ordered any...



First is the phone itself, it looks really smart and feel solid as the casing is full metal iirc but most of it has a slightly rubberised coating (much like that of the sandisk sansa fuze, AKA nice). There are only a few buttons which are at the front of the phone (apart from the volume rocker), these seem smart and you would think it was metal but im still unsure. They feel fine and do their job well but mine seems to have a little bit of movement and i think its due to the fact the buttons arent seperate (one bar)which would of been a better choice i think, but it isnt really an issue as they feel like they will last still.





The volume rocker does its job perfectly im not used to these types (my renoir is just up and down buttons) so im not sure if its ment to feel so loose overall so if someone could comment on that id appreciate it .



edit: forgot to mention that a great part about the design is that you dont need to remove the battery to put in the sim card or the microsd, nice features which although not used often are appreciated signs of quality


The screen, this is the major selling point of the phone and i think you all will agree HTC are right to do so! Its absolutely gorgeous, bright display and good viewing angels which makes it imo the best display on the market (although nexus is good, it doesnt fair aswell in the light im told and its 3.7 not 4.3). The thing HTC have managed to do is minimise the amount of frame instead of keeping loads around the device, this allowed them to keep it smaller however when looking at it... it looks MASSIVE because the screen dominates in that way, in reality its only a bit bigger than my renoir and alot thinner.

Ive tried the HD2 in my pocket for the day and i do admit it feels big and i keep fearing of breaking it(havent yet!) but these jeans are tight and new (smaller pockets than i normally have) so i dont think it will be a problem for people with normal sized pockets and other clothing.

Back to the screen sensitivity, it really is a lot more responsive than other touch screen phones and for me im comming from using a resistive screen which isnt very responsive to this and its great but also incredibly frustrating, im not used to typing on it yet and i always end up typing the wrong number as my finger is to close to the screen so it thinks im pressing a letter which is really annoying and probably more so than me pressing the wrong letters on my renoir because i actually physically pressed the wrong button!. However, this is a preference and more of me just getting used to the technology as it took me a few days to learn the renoir so im gunna have to learn a slightly new layout again. Oh and it is much more responsive than the Lg Arena which my dad has so it really is the top end of capacitive as far as i can tell, HTC did a great job even if its annoying me .

Now to the software, as many know it runs on Windows mobile 6.5 and it would seem theres a lot of hate for this OS but i dont like the restricted apple OS so it didnt bother me. However after using it today i can see why people absolutely hate WM, im not enjoying my experience and ive had 5 crashes today and 3 of them caused the inability to send text messages(had to reboot!). And it looks bland and can be hard to find things you want.

The HTC sense is pretty good but also makes it really confusing IMO because they have masked only half of it basically so you come across WM often and then im confused as to how to work out where the thing im looking for is. Im used to basic flash based GUI so its a big step for me(again!), i think id be better with either a full HTC reskin or just WM because WM is logical as far as i can tell, but HTC have made it all random and i get really confused .

The way im saying it makes the OS seem really bad but in all honesty its what comes with something that is compatible with almost everything (desktop windows anyone?) and its also dependent on the user getting to learn the system and where things are so with time it will be much better i can tell. Right now i feel though that if you want something really simple and it works then the iphone or maybe android is something you should aim for, WM requires the time and effort but the rewards seem really good.


Now onto the next bad thing, the camera... seems OK at best and im one of the sufferers of the pink tinge camera which is really bad as mines one of the later versions. HTC have to what i can see done their best to sort this and thats by masking the problem (refined photos etc), however its still there!. Its not really HTC fault as ALOT of major phone manufactorers (samsung/sony etc) are all having the same pink tinge but worse, so im worried that this wont be fixed in a software update .
I am thinking about asking virgin for a replacement but im not sure if it is a valid reason? (someone comment about this please )

The quality is a big step down from my renoir (MP isnt everything but it is put to shame), its probably about the same as my dads old 3.2mp Nokia 6500 slide(probably worse) but then again this phone isnt about the camera so i wasnt expecting much and to be quiet honest it bested my expectations and im ok with the quality. I dont however like the poking out camera as i keep putting finger prints on it and dont like it resting on the table (skin will sort though though).


So what else is there to talk about, the apps install great and easily once you find them. Internet browsing is GREAT! and lag free so im really happy about that, very smart and useful with opera (double tap then i use pinch zoom to zoom out a bit) and that allows me to read full hexusarticles with no trouble .


Phone in general is lag free most of the time, had a couple of lag spikes but it was due to my apps so not the phone, atleast task manager allows me to kill it!.

One thing im annoyed about is that pressing the cross in the top right doesnt actually close the program it just minimises, HTC seem to think its better than what WM did but it really isnt however there is an app to sort that (cant remember where but its on xda).

So far music playback is fine but theirs better music players so i will probs change it soon(nothing wrong with it though as far as i can tell). Video playback, well i havent got anything in .avi or mp4 working yet and so im getting some other media player off xda that enables the support. That is a major niggle in my opinion but if i get it working then i dont mind.

I cant think of anything else to cover but overall my opinion with this phone is that it is the best by far (i hate iphone and alot of others ), it just requires the user to put the effort in (luckily i will) so im impressed by the specs and the overal performance of the device.

8/10
-1 for broken video player and slightly lacking camera
-1 for confusing mixture of htc sense and WM



If anyone wants me to check something or give my opinion on features etc, feel free to ask . Im testing satnavs over the weekend and will let you know how good it is.

[[GSV]Trig]

What ROM it ship with?