back to article HTC Touch HD Windows Mobile smartphone

Has the discussion about what might be the ‘iPhone killer’ become irrelevant yet? Yes, the iPhone is a great multimedia device, but it's easily beaten in other, now traditional, phone feature categories. It’s horses for courses. So where is the device that can beat it at its own game - in other words, it's great screen and …

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  1. Kenny Millar
    Coat

    One reason why it will never be an iPhone killer

    Ok, here it is.

    The one reasone that this won't be an iPhone killer.

    Are you ready?

    IT RUNS WINDOWS.

    There. That's it.

    Garroted by it's own operating system.

    The end.

  2. K

    All HTC phones suck 1 for reason...

    They're slooooww.

    my HTC TyTYN has great features,also it looks dead sexy.. but they use crap processors and Windows Mobile just sucks.

    Though HTC should be praised for how customisable thier phones are, I'm currently running Android on mine :D

  3. Ben Mathews

    A first!

    The first phone I've seen thats made me think about trading in my N95. Looks lovely.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Is this "review" serious?

    "...welcome to the business iPhone". That line says it all really, i.e: not really suited for business at all.

    The review spends a page talking about the camera(!) on a supposed business phone. Where are the statistics on battery life when used for push email and 3G data? What about the (embarrassingly long in the tooth) WinMo 6.1 OS?

    The things we care about in a business handheld are:

    - Battery life

    - Email

    - Fast browsing and data speeds

    - WiFi

    - Ease and speed of use

    - Extensive security options (remote lock and wipe, etc).

    If you are going to purport to review things from a business perspective, then do so. Anyone can write a review about how pretty it is.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Is this reviewer on crack?

    Seriously. I'm forced by my job to use HTC devices along with many other devices of different platforms and manufacturers. Whilst HTC are undoubtedly the best Windows Mobile devices out there, that still only makes them the best of the worst.

    This reviewer must have used WM devices too much and become blind to their outrageously poor design.

    90% for a WM device is on crack

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Kenny Millar

    Don't you mean "It doesn't have a shiny apple on the back"?

  7. Cedric
    Thumb Up

    Try it

    I am extremely happy with it.

    It isn't slow, which was true of some older HTC.

    Windows Mobile 6.1 was a great update & now Exchange ActiveSync is a 10 second configuration. With TouchFlow one almost never sees the WM UI it anyway.

    It is also the best sounding HTC I ever had, communication is more than decent. And finally, the headphone has a standard xjack, with the plug on top so that one can hear music while the phone is covered. I think HTC really heard the customer feddback.

    While it was quite hard to use the screen to tap with fingers on the HTC Touch Cruise, it is really easy to write with the Touch HD.

    All in all it is the best HTC ever and certainly a very worthy alternative to the iPhone. I'm just missing TomTom.

    The screen is fantastic, just look at it side by side with an iPhone.

  8. Paul Leighton
    Thumb Up

    Thumbs up!

    I have the HTC Touch HD and so far I think its the best Windows Mobile I've used, and I've had or used a few over the years. Watched an entire film on it whilst on a coach from the airport in germany and it hardly impacted the battery... approx 1/4 power used.

    It does appear to suffer from the occasional latency and stutter when doing things in the touch interface, I'm assuming thats down to software rather than a 'crap processor'. A few times I've gone into screens I didnt want as I press, nothing happens, press again and find it spring to life and register both presses. I hope HTC/MS manage to patch that at some point.

    Using the onscreen keyboard works very well and web browsing in opera is a much better experience than any attempt with IE on WM's in the past! especially on such a good size and resolution display.

  9. Ash
    Joke

    @K

    So you say they suck, then praise them?

    You say they use crap operating systems, then state that you're using one different to the just berated?

    Do you work for NuLabour, by any chance?

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Windows Mobile compatibility - my ass!

    The author of this article obviously didn't play around with the device very long.

    Compatibility with other Windows Mobile applications is terrible! Loads of apps do not work at all because of the higher resolution of the screen.

    So this whole article is completely silly, as it presents the Touch HD as being better for being compatible with business apps, but it's not!

    Also, if this thing has a 90% rating, than the iPhone should have a 200% rating! I would give the iPhone an 85% rating (it's the best device out there, but still far from perfect), and this one a measly 55% due to its appaling Windows Mobile OS and terrible software compatibility.

  11. Gordon
    Alert

    @All HTC phones suck 1 for reason...

    "but they use crap processors and Windows Mobile just sucks."

    Thats 2 reasons /pedant

    Probably right about Win Mob but plenty of other phones use the same processors with no issues.

  12. Tim Cook
    Stop

    Wasted opportunity

    Yes it's a nice screen, but scratch the surface and its the same dog-slow, poor performing Qualcomm chip that weakly powers the rest of the HTC range underneath. Anyone looking for the kind of multimedia performance a screen like that is made for will be bitterly dissapointed by the HD, which uses virtually the same processor as that found in the Tytn II. You know, the "HTC Class Action" Tytn II? That's the one.

    Seriously, don't encourage HTC by comparing this with the iPhone, they don't deserve that kind of support.

  13. Daniel Silver badge

    Tempting, but not quite there (for exactly the same reasons as other HTC phones)

    Every SINGLE time I read a review of an HTC phone, I always come away with the same reaction. Great hardware, innovative GUI front-end, high-tech gubbins all present and correct, and I start to feed the little spark of hope that maybe, just maybe, this might be the one that breaks the trend.

    And then I read a bit further.

    It runs Windows Mobile. Complete with piddly little icons, underlying GUI that makes negotiating the fiery pits of Hades look simple, a rocket-fast processor that when trying to run WinMob ends up feeling like a 75MHz Pentium running WinXP, and so on.

    It has a camera which clearly has good hardware as far as it goes, but is crippled by ... well, see above. Oh, and no real flash. For me, this is a dealbreaker because I'd actually like to *use* the 5MP wonder on my phone.

    So for me, no deal. Disappointed. Again. Even more disappointed because it's for the EXACT SAME REASONS as every other HTC handset - why oh why can't they just make the extra teeny weeny bit of effort to clear up the last annoying niggles - like (ahem) dropping WinMob and using Symbian, Android, Linux, OSX, maybe even make an OS themselves?

    PS with a handset this powerful and with this big a screen, wouldn't it almost make sense to put WinXP Embedded on it? Then I could live with the niggles because of the universal compatibility and flexibility.

    Just a thought...

  14. Youvegottobe Joking
    Flame

    I doubt it tries to be an iphone killer

    The fanbois will always rubbish any phone that the pundits/hacks/reviewers say is an iphone killer. I seriously think that this is aimed at business and in that space should do well.... unfortunately reviewers will only go on about its screen and compare it features to the iphone its spirals down from there

    I have tried my mates iphone for 3 days, and while it is ok I honestly dont see what all the fuss is about. It just does not have the features I want, decent camera (it was ok.... for a 2mp camera), stereo bluetooth and most importantly long battery life. This HTC phone review does not mention bluetooth, exchange interoperability (WM so it should be ok, but was not mentioned at all) or any other business must have app .... just iphone this and iphone that...

    It will get thoroughly slated in these comments because the reviewer concentrated on trying to make it into something that it is not ever going to be for the apple zealots.

    for the record, I am looking at the N85 .. flash isnt great but otherwise a fine looking phone

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    @wm moaners..

    I'm sure most posters out there moaning about WM have not used even used it - or haven't used HTC's excellent TouchFlo anyway...

    I've got a TYTN 2 reflashed with WM6.1/TouchFlo from the Pro - including the updated class action video drivers - and it's nothing short of excellent, especially compared to a standard WM 6 interface. Ok it's probably not quite as fluid as the iphone but it's a close call.. For people like me who don't want the rubbish itunes bloat and want to avoid Apple 'it's our phone despite what you pay for it' vendor lock-in, there really is nothing better...

    For once, Microsoft is the preferred choice for an 'open' platform - maybe Android or other Linux-based distros will be one day but there really isn't a lot of software for them yet when compared to WM. Plus I can boot my TYTN 2 into Android if I want to (but only if I want to cripple it's functionality somewhat!)

    My main complaint to these new brand of "designer" WM devices is the lack of buttons. Why have HTC removed the camera button?!? Plus the cursor controls are useful in some WM programs..

    Touch HD with a camera button and a keyboard like the Touch Pro would be perfect.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Horns

    Speed comparison with G900?

    I'm hearing mixed reports here. I own a Toshiba Portege G900, which has the same resolution (800x480) in a smaller (3") screen, Windows Mobile 6.0, and an integrated keyboard. I've not been too bothered by WM app compatibility, but criticising an 800x480 screen because apps haven't been written to support it seems a bit backwards. I'm not too dissatisfied with it, except that it's so painfully slow. (Well, and the camera crashes the phone if you point it at the sky, but that only affects me if I want to take a blurry photograph ten seconds after I've poked the shutter button.)

    I appreciate that the iPhone is slicker (although it sometimes pauses too), but the resolution is a killer for me. The Xperia X1 seems to have been a disappointment, especially since I left the P800/P910i fold in order to get more pixels. I'd be here in a shot if it ran Android - but can people live with the (lack of) speed? Methinks I need to visit a shop and have a play...

  17. JMH
    Paris Hilton

    did the reviewer actually spend any time with the device?

    cos this sounds like a rehash of the HTC press release, all be it on a very creditable device, there's very little insight in this piece. The other elephant in the room is that as this is an orange exclusive for a couple of months, with this device is crying out for rich media content, you'll soon be up against their 2002esque 250mb monthly download limit. these exclusive deals are the prime indicator of a closed, inneficient industry - if your service and costs are the best then punters will come, clearly not the case if you rely on handsets to pull people in...says he stuck on orange hankering after a touch pro. PH, cos those nightvision videos would look great on this screen.

  18. Nick Drew
    Thumb Down

    Review?

    Sorry, must have missed a few pages in reading this - no mention of TouchFlo or WM and how the actual UI is. Likewise, one of the iPhone's main shortfalls is in its lack of physical keyboard - does the Touch HD fall at the same hurdle?

    A surprisingly thin and lacklustre review, really. Boo.

  19. Nuno

    more intuitive

    "Pressing this reveals a slider you can use to adjust the pages to your heart’s content. Not quite as neat as the iPhone's pinch-and-pull zooming, but more intuitive."

    the greatness of iPhone's pinch-and-pull zooming it's not because it's neat, but because it's incredibly intuitive!

  20. Stuza

    Poor manufacturing

    Now I am a Windows fan boy, that I will admit but .... HTC devices build quality is awefull. Truley awefull. EVERY htc device I have had has had to go back to repair at least once and they include: Blueange, TyTN, TyTN2 and now a TD. I now currently use an Omnia and despite the low res screen this is simply awesome - im tempted to try and import an Omnia-T (800x480 screen in Asia). I also had a Tosh G900 which was excellent and also had an 800x480 screen, over a year ago! Sadly though the Tosh started getting a bit long in the tooth and didn't have newer stuff like GPS etc.

    HTC? NEVER again, no matter the operating system (Google) or badge (Sony) on the outside, no point, it will fall apart within month.

  21. RichyS
    Paris Hilton

    No good

    You lost me at 'stylus'.

    Paris, 'cos she only uses her fingers.

  22. Bassey

    So let me get this straight

    So the article basically says previous HTC devices have been quite good but suffered in certain areas. This device has fixed most of those problems and is actually very good.

    Then we get three lots of responses.

    The first lot from people who haven't used the HD but have used previous WM devices but wish to dismiss this as crap because they had bad experiences with aforementioned previous devices - so presumably responded without reading

    The second lot have this device and think it is the bees knees.

    The third lot own an iPhone so would slag off oranges because they aren't apples and the rest of the world has learned to ignore their ejaculations, nod condescendingly and move on

    Other than the soporific predictability of it all, do the first lot of respondents not even feel vaguely embarrassed when presenting an argument that amounts to "I don't own it but it must be shit because another device I once used was shit?"?

    Probably not

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    So many twats responding

    so I thought I'd join in.

    Coments like "it;s so slow", "it runs MW 6.1" and such like - where is the hard proof that they are slow ? Is it because those writers are in fact the slow ones and are unable to use any computer ?

    Has the reviewer got so used to MW he can't see it's flaws? Well, what exactly are the flaws ? And saying it's slow is not a flaw, that is pure subjectiveness unless you can prove that it is slower than brand X running OS Y - using the same program mind you.

    All seems to be a bunch of iTwats and Googlankers with nothing better to do with the Friday afternoon.

    Paris - she looks intelligent and knowledgeable compared to most of the comment writers above.

  24. MsJamie

    This phone must be good...

    ...given the way the Apple fanbois are attacking it...

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Prejudice?

    It is quite interesting to see that so many people know a lot more than the reviewer about the device without even seeing it. Perhaps the device is really good that it took so many to try to undermine so quick.

    For those who need functionalty and flexibility in their device this seems to be a very good choice. I will need to get used to lack of directional buttons but still it is a compromise well worth it. For those considering a contract with orange, £150 cashback from Quidco is worth considering.

    Just received this morning and it is hard to believe how HTC has taken windows mobile so far.

  26. Giles Jones Gold badge

    Wait for WM7

    WM7 will make everything so much better, I may even try it (depends on hardware really, HTC's design has never appealed even though I've had 4 of their phones).

    WM8 was going to be the big redesign of the interface, but it seems Microsoft have scrapped that idea and WM7 will have a proper touch screen interface instead of one that tries to act like a desktop computer (close buttons and start menus?).

  27. Peter Mylward
    Gates Horns

    IPhone Killer?

    I was recently looking for a phone, a touchscreen phone which had WiFi, 3G, GPS, a camera of some sort and was easy to use and was excellent at multimedia, to get rid of some of the electronic crap lining my pockets these days and combine into 1. I was personally dead against the iphone, I'm not a fan of apple in general and find the hype off-putting, so I looked and I looked and settled finally on the XDA Ignito (the O2 branded touch diamond) which is basically this phone written small.

    I was initially impressed with the features on the phone, but it wasn't a package, and never felt like it, it felt like a mish-mash of winmo apps covered under (admittedly quite nice) HTC's touch flo interface. The fact that I had to reg hack the bloody thing to get something anywhere near a decent sensitivity out of the screen should have got the alarm bells ringing.

    In the end I went back to the shop and tried an iphone, and then it hit me, this phone just works, the screen is a joy to use, the ipod app is first rate, the controls are intuitive and fast, the visuals are top-notch, and above all, it all feels like it comes from the same place. This is what a phone needs to do to be an iphone beater, be a gloriously user freindly, un-complicated tied together unit, which, just works.

    I am prepared for abuse now!!!

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    oh dear

    Once again i appear to be in the minority, I too have used many many HTC devices over the dears, starting with the Wallaby, Himalaya, Alpine, Universal and finally the Artemis, I soon will shift to either the Experia X1 (built by HTC) Touch Pro or Touch HD, ive not quite made my mind up yet.

    anyhow, ive never had any issues with any of them, all of them dispite some amount of abuse are still in working order, WM isnt great, we all know that, and yes we all know the Iphone has a better UI, Windows 6.1 has made some long needed improvments and 6.5 and 7 will likely follow in those steps, fact is tho, i can do anything i want to my device, have it looking anyway i want, it works, and works well. and more importantly for anyone who actually uses these devices for work i can do many things at once.

    Let me see TT7 working in the background whilst accessing my exchange server and talking on the phone all at the same time on a Iphone and then i will consider it a worth while change.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Orange only..

    Dammit why does it have to be Orange only? I really want a new phone to replace my HTC TyTn / T-Mobile MDA Vario II but T-Mobile's current range of phones is so awful that I'm holding on.. They *still* haven't released the HTC Touch Pro, no Xperia, no Blackberry Storm.. I honestly can't believe that they are still selling the HTC TyTn II!! Yeah I know I can get all the good phones on the other networks but the point is that I need to be on T-Mobile (long story) and my phone is slowly dieing..

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A quick reminder

    The iPhone can't do:

    - A2DP

    - real sat nav

    - Office file edit

    - video capture

    - MMS

    - send same SMS to lots of people

    - cut'n'paste

    - replace battery

    - multi-task

    etc

    The high sales of the Omnia, SE X1 and the RIM Storm show that not everyone needs to buy an iPhone just because of the media hype. We will see good sales of the HTC HD as well :)

  31. Kenny Millar
    Coat

    @Anonymous Coward

    >>Don't you mean "It doesn't have a shiny apple on the back"?

    No I don't.

    I don't have an iPhone, but I do have an HTC running WinMo 6.

    I hate, this actually HATE windows mobile 6.

    It is NOT a suitable OS for a phone.

    180 Seconds from OFF to being able to make a call? Get real! It's supposed to be a smart phone. I hate it and it ought to go, but I can't afford an iPhone.

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Business/casual

    I have used both a winmo HTC Touch Diamond and an iPhone, and i have to say unless you are a business user who knows your way round an OS then you should not opt for a winmo phone. This OS is not and was not ever designed for casual use. It is specifically used in business handsets because it suits the job. It may not be the quickest mobile OS in the world, it may not be the simplest OS in the world. But when used correctly it does the job. The iPhone HAS been designed for the casual user, and this is blindingly obvious. It is slick and easy to use, forget all the hype and spawn of the devil Steve Jobs and just think about the handset for a minute, no matter what anyone says, it is very good at what does - Internet, email and media.

    Now i know i'm gonna get all sorts of comebacks because i'm sticking up for the iphone (automatically makes me a fanboi) but at the end of the day is this phone gonna be any different from previous. We know they have carried on with the looks trend ie: extremely nice looking phone, however have they ironed out the other problems screen sensitivity speed of loading times and so on and so on. The touch was getting some very good reviews but yet in reality was nowhere near the quality mentioned in the reviews. As a direct comparison the iPhone wins for me i'm afraid, but i look forward to the day when a HTC phone can beat it because i want a phone that looks as good as a HTC i mean, just look at the dam thing.

    Mines the one with riot shield in my pocket so i'm ready to protect myself from the fanboi haters

  33. Reg Sim
    Dead Vulture

    @ The Reg (another crap article)

    I think this article is a fine example, of where 'we' the general humans (some of us anyway) wot read articles on this website would like to give you feed back on.

    I presume you only give us the 'feedback' option on articles from your own staff, or commissioned by 'you'.

    <rant>

    I have read this article, and further more if I had not read the comments (good and bad) about this phone I would still know bugger all about it. Once again we have a 'phone review' which tells us about 0%. Near bugger all spec, I mean can you have an article about a phone (the second one I think) that does not even mention how long the battery lasts? - seems so.

    I think the reg should look long and hard at the comments above before buying in any more articles. This is after all posted on Reg Hardware - you might expect them to mention the hardware a bit.

    I have been sorely disappointed by the quality of 'reviews' on the reg site. I understand that this is not a 'hard core' review site, but at least providing a spec summary at the end would be a good start. AND allowing us to give feed back on the quality of these articles so we can give them 'there shit' feed back so you know to feed us better stuff, or we might have to bite your hand thats feeding us junk food.

    </rant>

    *O'yes, and no pictures except the ones from the manufacturer, some real world ones in hands might give this more credibility too.

  34. Monkey

    @Bassey

    Spot on, absolutely spot on.

  35. ruffage
    Stop

    Slow users more like

    For all those moaning about slow HTC devices, I suggest you install a decent cooked ROM on it, such as Duttythoys:

    http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=411707

    My XDA Ignito absolutely flies along. I guess the WinMoaners haven't the technical ability to flash their devices. Bless.

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    App queries

    Anyone know if you can run Memory Map and Tom Tom on this?

    William

  37. Scott Mckenzie

    2.5 times...

    <quote>

    nd so to the screen, easily the most impressive we’ve yet seen on a Windows Mobile device. At 3.8in, it's 0.3in larger than the iPhone and its 480 x 800 resolution - apparently the maximum that Windows Mobile can currently be used for - is two-and-a-half times as big as the iPhone’s 320 x 480. It's big, bright and clear.

    </quote>

    Err, 480x800 isn't quite 2.5 times bigger than 320x480 now is it... i mean sure in a physical number of pixels on screen it might be, but in actual, real world useability it's not "bigger"

    Oh and to the AC, the iPhone can send the same SMS to multiple people, and if you're prepared to work at it a little (i.e. Jailbreak), it can do MMS, it can do Office file editing, it can do video capture and it sure as hell can multi task! Sat Nav will be here quite soon i'm sure too.... all of that added functionality for completely free - amazing!

  38. Monkey

    Nice to see...

    This degenerate into a phone cock waving contest.

    Bassey's comments still remain THE most valid ones made.

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Let's have the truth

    there are so many fanboys here having a go at this little device, which I have owned for the past week or so, and used for that period as my main/only phone/mobile factotum.

    I don't know why everyone has a go at WM - I have tried Symbian many times, using UIQ 2 and 3, slow??? try using UIQ (make it quick, it is just about to disappear). The processor in this thing is vastly faster than the steam-powered thing SE put in the P series.

    It syncs better than the competition, the screen is good and spacious.

    The iToy is just that - it is a pretty toy, can't edit documents, can't do a raft of things you need for business. This is a seriously cool device, takes a bit of getting used to, but the Touch Flo interface works well after getting used to it. The touch bit doesn't work so well as an iToy, but you can do more on it, and that is what you actually want from a gadget.

    Remember OS/2 Warp? if you were using Windows 3.0, then Warp looked just great, and worked better, but you couldn't do much on it, and it disappeared. The Apple OS is the same: pretty, proprietary, limited.

    Most apps do work with the screen which, BTW, is glorious.

    Oh, and by the way, you can change the battery on it, which is frankly a disgrace on Apple's part. My ipod died within months of purchase, wouldn't trust them again. Wouldn't trust them for launching without 3G, and for keeping hold of the app base. The future is bright - it's WM and Android.

    It also has something which every gadget should have, without which I don't buy gadgets these days: a mini-USB connection, so that I can charge it anywhere I go in the world.

    You can always sell the iToy on ebay of course ...

    rjstep3

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Batteries

    Ooh good, people are still lurking here.

    I've now seen a few of these in shops, but sadly they're rare enough that they won't let me power one on and see what it's like to use in case a customer won't buy one whose box has been opened (sigh). I'll be back later in the week.

    Meanwhile, I hear a rumour that the battery life is a bit on the wussy side. I've heard the same about my G900 and it doesn't bother me most of the time (*most* of the time I'm not making 3G calls on it), but could anyone who has one comment on that? I'm hoping it's a sign that they're accelerating it properly and it'll be reasonably nippy...

    Incidentally, I'd be wary of comparing OS/2 to the iPhone. OS/2 was technically quite advanced, probably more so than Win95. Win95 was prettier, and that (along with the Microsoft brand name) is what killed OS/2. If anything, in this space, the iPhone is Win95 and Windows Mobile is OS/2. What we need is for Apple to keep the pretty, but fill in the rest of the functionality. I'm not sure what the equivalent of "employ a load of DEC engineers and get them to port VMS, then call it NT" would be, but watch out for Apple putting in a bid for RIM.

  41. Michael Brown
    Jobs Halo

    @AC Re:Let's have the truth

    > The future is bright - it's WM and Android.

    Yeah right! The iPhone is already the best selling phone in the US. Not just the best selling smartphone, but the best selling phone, bar none. The numbers speak for themselves and the iPhone is blowing Windows Mobile and Symbian clean out of the water. Take away the hype and at the end of the day the iPhone just "works", and that's why it's selling, and will continue to sell, by the boat load (and yes, I have one).

    TBH I had heard all the horror stories about HTC and WM 6.1 and thought that it can't be that bad. But then my girlfriend bought an HTC Touch Diamond and I discovered that it *is* that bad. The thing was just a disaster from start to finish. TouchFlo is so slow as to be practically unusable. There's something seriously wrong with the sensitivity aswell as it simply cannot distinguish reliably between "flick" to the next contact/sms/photo/whatever and "click" on the item to open it, and invariably does the one you didn't want, which quickly becomes infuriating. As was pointed out earlier, TouchFlo is just a thin veneer over WM and the result is a horrible mess. If you want to do something as simple as enable vibrate and ringing at the same time you can't do it in the TouchFlo settings page and have to delve into WM 6.1 settings and its horrible UI. Within a week the Diamond had crashed so the screen was only displaying white noise, requiring a reset. Then the phone earpiece speaker went gaga and you could barely understand callers because of the distortion. Then the standby button stopped working. Enough was enough and she's now changed it for a Nokia E66 which works a treat.

  42. david jackson
    Thumb Up

    New to touch

    I'm new to TouchPhones having just upgraded from the Nokia N95, having had 2 faithful years of service, which IMO would be a hard act to follow. I've seen the iPhone and wasnt overly impressed.

    Much as I hate to admit I'm a fan of Windows Mobile. The TouchFlo and-on is a pretty good extension to WM6. The phone itself I find a lot more tasteful to look at that the iPhone and you just can beat the HTC's hi-res screen. All in all its shaping up to be a good replacement for my N95.

    I dont understand all the iPhone or WM bashing but for tech and features the HTC beats the iPhone hands-down. Looks-wise its quite tasty. The iPhone [i feel] is a bit brash and showy and doesn't come across as a serious business device.

    It would be interesting to see Android on it too, though as a techy I can develop stuff for WM6 a lot more easier. Though I do miss "Snake". Anyone know of a WM6 version of snake ?

  43. Niels
    Dead Vulture

    everybody has their own set of requirements.

    Certainly, many of the user comments tell me more about the phone than this sad "review". But some people gotta lay off the propaganda, there is no "best" phone of all, just different compromises.

    If my only catch phrases were "pretty" "slim" "easy to use", I'd buy an iPhone. But when I ask myself "can the iPhone do what I want on my travels?" the answer is regrettably "no, it can't"

    I've been looking really hard for a phone in this area for several months. None of the offerings have offered everything I wanted in one device. I'd like a phone with the Touch HD's screen, Apple's interface and the nice lense and camera from the N95, and the battery life, navigation and memory combo of internal 16GB + micro SD cards from Samsung's Omnia.

    While I think the iPhone has the best interface, the hardware is just not acceptable, and neither is being under Steve Job's ugly thumb (exclusive carriers, only the apps his steveness likes for his own corporate reasons - no, he gets the middle finger out of principle)

    I want as good a camera as I can get in a phone, video recording, the ability to swap memory cards for different types of data (audio, pictures, video), I want it to run FRING over wifi, have navigation and internet. Definitely Fring! (no, I don't work for them, its free software anyway)

    All that with good battery life, and the ability to swap between 2 batteries when traveling.

    I don't like Windows Mobile much, but other offerings maybe prettier, but far from better in every aspect either, and at least I can install what I want on it. With Apple's iPhone, I had to tell my friend, to get Fring for his iPhone right away, cause you never know when Steve suddenly kicks the application out of his store... and then you need to fumble around with jailbreak hacks? no thanks...

    I've looked at Sony Xperia, Samsung Omnia, Nokia N85, Nokia 5800 and Touch HD.

    Xperia and Touch HD have crap cameras, barely better than the iPhone, so they're out. I don't like those tiny keyboards much either, the touchscreen keyboards seem no worse. Nokia 5800 won't be out till next year, so only the Omnia does technically everything I want right now, its camera and video recording came out great in comparison reviews, and its touch screen works fine, even though its touch interface won't win any design awards, and the Touch HD has better resolution. The N85 got great reviews, but lack of a touch screen makes it less appealing than the Omnia.

    In the end, if you don't have any special requirements, iPhone might be good for you, if you don't mind having to send it in for battery swaps.

    As soon as you want to do something creative with your phone, like taking video, record audio, take pictures, or even just copy and paste text, Apple lets you down... its suitable only for pure consumers.

    For those who say a phone can't replace a "real" camera or video cam anyway: when did YOU carry a camcorder with you the last time, at that random moment when something wild happened?

  44. Richard
    Happy

    Owner's Review

    Hi All,

    I've been enjoying the HTC Touch for about a week now after a run of very good phones from Nokia; the most recent of which was the N95 which like a past reviewer, I've had 2 years of good use from!

    I'll start with the Cons because this is the shorter list:

    1) Compared to the N95, the quality of the onboard 5-megapixel camera isn't brilliant. You have to be in good lighting conditions and the quality of video recording is also not great with some lag and blurring. It's fine for the casual user or podcaster but won't blow you away.

    2) Being a Nokia fanboy, I had a couple of days readjusting to the interface - this wasn't too painful but I don't find it as intuitive as the Nokia interface (e.g. it's difficult to turn your alarm off in the morning!). However to give you a comparison I gave up on my Work-phone (a Sony Erricson Cybershot something or other) because I just couldn't learn to love it. Both HTC and Nokia are streets ahead in usability in my opinion.

    3) Windows mobile has been skinned and skinned very well indeed. It's fine for now but you can tell it's there! I'm looking forward to being able to flash the phone to Android as soon as someone figures out how ;-) That may solve some of the other cons too such as -

    4) Seems to have trouble with some inexpertly encoded media files maintaining a/v sync under divx whilst others work fine.

    5) I don't know what they were thinking with the headphones they included. Yuk.

    ....and the Pros:

    1) It's beautiful, the screen is large and gorgeous and easy to read in any lighting condition short of direct glare. The colours are vibrant and it's big enough to watch comfortably on the train!

    2) Voice and Video calling is crystal clear. This is the first phone I'd seriously consider video calling on.

    3) Touchflo 3D is brilliant and I will certainly miss it a lot should it ever be possible to flash to android.

    4) Browsing the internet is fast and responsive as it is on the majority of desktops. I've barely needed to go on my PC since I got this phone.

    5) Music player means my Ipod is now gathering dust.

    6) I actually find the weather and stock tracker gadgets rather useful! Not to mention the Youtube player.

    7) The camera has a great panoramic feature and is more than good enough for taking snaps of the dog when out walking or a friend doing something embarrassing on a night out. I can't say I've missed the flash.

    8) The catalogue of software out there is amazing and not centrally regulated which is great for diversity.

    9) The GPS function runs rings around any other I've seen in a phone. Google maps is lovely to use on the touch.

    10) I love the email functionality and the sync to outlook calender.

    11) The sheer variety of input methods is great. I've opted for the phone keypad method as it allows for one hand usage which is important when you are carrying things to work!

    12) The battery life is so much better than my Nokia even with heavy usage.

    Overall:

    It's basically a class act all the way. I was discussing HTC with my IT manager the other day who has a Touch Diamond and we both agree that with this latest series of phones they've basically gone form being a cheap producer of phones branded for other companies to a maker of quality, well thought out products.

    It deserves the 90% rating the register gave. A N95 style camera/video recording facilities would have added 4% for me, decent headphones in the box would be +2% (seriously, what were they thinking! They are worse than the Ipod standard ones and that's saying something) and sorting out the little software niggles would have added another 4% out of the box.

    The tilty marble game is more than an adequate replacement for snake :)

  45. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    HaHA!!!

    Ahhhh, children children.....as one or two have mentioned, it doesn't matter how 'sexy' or intuitive your iphone/pod is....it will always be utter SHITE because the evil occultic geniuses @ apple in all their inspired & infinite wisdom insist on removing the user's, let's face it, 'reasonable' right to remove the battery and replace it with a fresh one....I mean really, how long ago was it that replaceable battery technology was introduced to the general mass consumer market???

    ....Oh yes, one other thing...I met an old friend a couple of weeks ago who was utterly livid with his 3rd unit of the iphone 3g as supplied by O2 in 3 months....as he was only too willing to tell (more like 'rant' at) me, it was all he could manage to stop himself from smashing the gadget to pieces with a sledge hammer as even his 3rd replacement in as many months consistently freezes usually at the most inconvenient moment...when he needed to make or take a phone call...!!!...mmm, never mind whatever hype HTC is allegedly accused of, methinks they will never come close to Apple's and all their fanboys :)

  46. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    WM

    I am looking for a business phone, I had a windows mobile phone from this company a whole three days, until I decided to send it back. Windows mobile is crap, ie is crap ... you have to quit applications with .... task manager? Come one!!! the ui was slooooow, no really sloow, I have a prototype phone with proprietary OS (which never made it onto the market!!!) and it works better than an HTC with wm ... besides, wm keeps hanging, does NOT always show you all you contacts (god knows how that is possible ???), at one point, as I turned it on in the store where I complained, I got a new bug, there was an additional banner, with no icons, only reducing the viewable area. The providers website that was made for their mobile devices did not display properly in ie ... that is when I thought: if they cannot make it happen, who can?

    Anybody considering WM for a phone must have:

    A. never used anything else

    B. used only/mainly Symbian

    I am torn between real business phones, like Blackberry and iPhone ... dunno which one to take. I have used an iphone for a few mins and I can say the ui is great, not sure I'll need copy-paste, I don't care about apps, am a bit unsure about MobileMe, sync's with Macs, Windows and Linux and has 16B out of the box. I don't care about [video|photo] camera. As for the battery, cut the crap it IS replaceable, just not by everybody and it looks way better than any other phone out there I have seen so far (I have not seen this HTC, it was not in the store last week). I dont really care about looks that much, it just has to work well, and the ui and especially the browser really work well. What I don't like with mobileMe is, it does not work with evolution on GNU/linux (from what I know), its stupid little "add-on" makes Outlook crash every so often, at the least the suspicion persists ... and it addtcosts 79 euro.

    I would love Palm OS (Centro), but no French provider seems to offer them anymore! Palm have the best OS, but a lousy board - I guess some of em get an additional paycheck from Redmond and are trying to kill the company, that, or they're just plain thick as bone (but I cannot believe that, I mean, those guyz made it onto the board ... ).

    Blackberry, the phones work great with business stuff, email etc, but they have limited storage, OK, I can get a 16Gb mem card ... but will they take it, could not find maximum capacity these phones could take anywhere. Multimedia player sucks a little ... and the browser is not really up-to it. Syncs with iTunes as well, can read aac, can it read AppleLossless? I dunno, would be a pain to convert all those files (my entire music lib is in AppleLossless, well almost, I also have a few from the store, of which very few with DRM, like 10 or something- I usually refuse to buy stuff with drm).

    Blackberry Storm|Bold vs iPhone - I cannot make my mind up.

    It all boils down to: MobileMe || crappy browser, crappy media player

    If you have other ideas of phones: I wanna get mail, browse, see where I am going on GPS (occasionally) and listen to music. No WM, please, thank you.

  47. Mark

    Cut the Crap?!!!

    "As for the battery, cut the crap it IS replaceable, just not by everybody"

    ????!!!! Quote of the month if not the year methinks :D

  48. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Must just be me.....

    If the iPhone interface is so f***ing fantastic, how come my fat fingers can't type anything properly on it's stupidly small SMS keyboard, if the iPhone interface was so f***ing great I could rotate it in SMS mode and get a descent sized keyboard, I can't type a text message on it, so the iPhone is a waste of space, end of.

    At least on HTC if I want to rotate it, I can rotate it, or I can get a normal T9 keypad, or any keyboard I want.

  49. Michael Brown
    Jobs Halo

    @AC: Must just be me......

    Err...yes, it is just you. The more than 10 million people iPhone users around the world (myself included) don't have any problem with the keyboard.

    @Mark: Quote of the month? Why? It's the truth, nothing more. The iPhone battery is replaceable, just not user-replaceable. This 'problem' with the iPhone is a non-issue that has been blown out of all proportion by people looking for an excuse to bash Apple. I haven't needed a user-replaceable battery in a mobile phone since the mid 90s when my Ericsson GH388 couldn't make it through the day on a single charge. By the time the battery in the iPhone becomes "worn out" due to the number of charge cycles (which won't happen for at least 2 years) I'll probably be looking to replace the whole phone anyway. Otherwise I'll just pay a small charge to have the battery replaced by Apple.

  50. Mark
    Gates Horns

    mmm....Doh!!!

    @ Michael: ahem, I think EVERYONE is aware that the battery is replaceable, just not user-replaceable!!! And no, this 'problem' is NOT a non-issue blown out of proportion by people looking for an excuse to bash Apple.....just because YOU haven't needed a user-replaceable battery in a mobile since the mid 90's doesn't therefore mean that NOBODY else does!!! Smacks of "if it works for me then it MUST be alright for everybody else attitude"...and while on that very point, sheer unit sales never did mean that a product was therefore without flaw and serious flaw at that...it merely means that human beings are very sheep-like in mentality and have always loved to follow the herd!!

    FYI, there is a significant (albeit perhaps in the minority) user group, that DOES have a need for their mobile com device (for want of a better term) to have user replaceable batteries since they are not either permanently tethered to a desk with an apple power lead protruding from the wall or computer, or always within 1-2 days away from a computer or power point to recharge their non user-replaceable battery.....and since by all reports your iphone, as well as very many other power hungry mobile devices run out of charge within only 2 days of moderate use these days, YES, non user-replaceable batteries is a MAJOR issue sir.....end of!!!!

  51. Michael Brown
    Jobs Halo

    @Mark: no power??

    Who exactly is more than 2 days away from a power point?? Round the world balloonists? Trekkers in the Himalayas? Significant user group I'm sure, but possibly not the target market for smartphones (iPhone or any other). But even for them there are 3rd party external batteries (eg http://www.3gjuice.com/) for the iPhone. It really IS a non-issue, just get over it.

    "if it works for me then it MUST be alright for everybody else...". Well here's the thing: it works for me....and the other 10 million plus and counting happy iPhone owners.

  52. Martin Lyne
    IT Angle

    Er

    It's not the fact that you're not far away from a power point that makes it annoying, its the fact that you then have to carry a charger with you, just in case you get called more often than usual and it dies at midday.

    I don't care hwo shitting nice your phone's UI is if I have to carry a lumpy charger in my pocket and the shitting thing won't turn on anyway.

    Now.. can IPhonists please stop infecting smart phone reviews, some people are actually trying to make informed decisions here, you went for an over priced toy, fine, I want something I can fiddle with without duffing the warranty.

    You don't need to advertise the iPhone. EVER AGAIN. You won't change peoples' minds. If they're reading a review about another phone, chances are they will not suddenly go "Oh, the iPhone - I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THAT ONE!"

    Don't suppose anyone went from a k800i to this did they? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. Cybershot insta-pictures are great, is it worth the trade-off?

  53. Mark
    Alert

    Himalayas?!!

    Himalayas?! I didn't see any Itoy power leads protruding from the earth and contaminating the woodland anywhere in the Highlands, the Lochs of the Great Glen, Caledonian Forest, Southern Upland Way, Cumbrian Fells, Pentland Hills, Yorkshire Moors, Peak District Hills, Snowdonia Mountains, Brecon Beacons, Dartmoor, or even your gad damned New Forest last time I checked....thank god!

    Round the World Balloonists?! The list of professionals, as well as recreationists, who's work and activities involve traveling and or living in areas without a power source for more than a day and a night (YES, all together at one time!!) is indeed a 'significant' one...I've got better things to do with my time than spend it making a list for you...compose your own list or consult someone who has actually ventured out of their own comfortable electrically powered world long enough to be able to.

    'Just get over it'?! I'll never get over the mind numbing and blatant corporate greed of companies like Apple who remove their customers ability to do totally commonplace everyday things like replace their products power sources without spending (how much?!!!!) yet more bucks on a 3rd Party gadget (that's how big?!!!) just to be able to continue using the device when they find themselves without access to a power source for a day or more. And that's without even getting into the mind boggling fact that the user must also simply do without their phone entirely (for how long?!!!) while it is returned to the manufacturer for battery replacement every year or two....does this sound like a serious device for serious professionals who seriously depend on their comms device for work as well as play??...mmm...don't think so!!!

    "it works for me....and the other 10 million plus and counting happy iPhone owners." Here's the thing, as mentioned before, pure numbers of unit sales never did prove anything except people's herd-like mentality and large corporate moguls' ability to milk that fact...and of the 2 iphone owners I know neither one is 'Happy' as you put it...one is so mad with fury at his 3rd unit constantly freezing on him he is anything BUT happy, the other who's job involves a lot of foreign travel is none too happy with her bills for data use while abroad (which as she puts it is exactly when she most wants to use it for this purpose!) and is more than a little frustrated that she is so tightly straight-jacketed by the OS that she cannot install 3rd party office and productivity apps on her device, or even do other elementary activities that are standard on practically every other device on the market....but then being an Itoy fanboy, you'd know all about that eh?! LOL :D

  54. Michael Brown
    Jobs Halo

    Ouch!

    My, my, the Apple haters are really quite a touchy little bunch aren't they? "does this sound like a serious device for serious professionals who seriously depend on their comms device for work as well as play??...mmm...don't think so!!!" Mmmm...you'd be in the minority then:

    http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2008240

    "iPhone manufacturer Apple ranks highest in overall customer satisfaction among business wireless smartphone users, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Business Wireless Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study released today."

    @Martin Lyne: funny you should mention it, I went from a K800i to my iPhone 3G, and I'm loving it, but by all means buy a Windoze Mobile device and enjoy the crash fest if you prefer.

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