HTC HD2 Preview

Ed Hardy · 10-21-2009, 05:53 PM

The HTC HD2 is an upcoming Windows phone with a feature set that few of its competitors will be able to match. This starts with a 4.3-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen and 1 GHz processor.

It's not out yet, but Jason Mackenzie, the President of HTC America, was kind enough to loan me his for a few minutes.

Build & Design
I have the original HTC Touch HD, and its successor is going to be just like it, only more so.

The goal of the HD2 seems to have been to create a smartphone with the biggest screen practical. The designers picked a 4.3-inch one, noticeably larger than its predecessor's.

The best feature of last year's model was its generously-sized display, and the new model's will be even larger.

A side effect of this, though, is that the HTC HD2 itself will be a fairly big device, if somewhat slim: 4.7 inches by 2.6 inches by 0.4 inches, and 5.5 ounces (121 mm x 67 mm x 11 mm, 157 g). It's not big enough that you're going to feel silly holding it up to your ear, and that nice screen will make it all worthwhile.

Especially as this will be the first Windows phone with a capacitive touchscreen. This type of display is widely used on devices like the iPhone, and is designed for for fingertip control, rather than stylus control -- the HD2 won't even come with a stylus.

It will come with a 3.5 mm headset jack, a GPS receiver, and a 5.0 MPx camera with flash, but I didn't get a chance to test these features out in my brief time with this model.

PERFORMANCE

The HTC HD2 will run Windows Mobile 6.5 Pro on a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, one of the first models to do so. This is welcome news to me, as I'm somewhat disappointed that so many of the latest-generation Windows phones have just 528 MHz chips.

I'm certainly not disappointed by my preliminary testing. The pre-release unit I got to try out had outstanding performance. Microsoft's OS is powerful but not always quick, and the 1 GHz processor will give it a noticeable boost.

Overlaying Microsoft's standard user interface will be a HTC's proprietary user interface. -- which used to be called TouchFLO but is being renamed HTC Sense. Like the earlier versions, this offers a series of finger-friendly homepages with large icons, each one dedicated to a different function, like playing music, reading e-mail, surfing the Web, or watching video. The new version will add some tabs, including one for Twitter.

Underneath all this eye-candy will still be Windows Mobile. While this brings advantages -- including an amazing range of software -- it is also one of my few concerns with the HD2. As I mentioned earlier, this smartphone won't have a stylus, and it's capacitive display means most styli won't even work. A great many Windows Mobile applications, on the other hand, were designed to be used with a stylus, and frequently include screen elements too small to be tapped on with a finger. This device's large screen will help by enlarging these elements, but only time will tell of it helps enough. A D-pad or trackball would have completely allayed my fears, but this HTC model won't have either.

The unit I got to try out did not have support for 3G in the U.S., but that's expected to come later. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth will be included, too.

Testing other features, like battery life, will have to wait until I can get more time with this device.

PRICING & AVAILABILITY

The HTC HD2 will be available by the end of October from operators across Europe, and the company says it will be available in "other regions" in the coming months.

That definitely includes the U.S., as HTC's CEO has promised a release in this country early in 2010. According to unconfirmed reports, T-Mobile will be offering this uber smartphone.

Expect more details on the HTC HD2 in the future, including an in-depth review.

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twickard · 10-21-2009, 09:32 PM

I will be looking forward to updates on this one! The HTC HD2 continues to look like an outstanding device. My concern continues to be the lack of stylus input. I tried using my HP 6945 while working with gloves. I found I was able to navigate the menus on the 6945 easily even while wearing gloves. Other than multi-touch which is an interesting feature, I see little benefit with the capacitive display. I really hope HTC considers supporting a stylus before this is released in the US. Without a stylus, I might as well finally make the migration to the iPhone as painful as it will be.

Drillbit · 10-21-2009, 10:34 PM

Seems like an awfully big phone to me. At this point its time to market this more as an internet tablet with voice capability.

Also sounds like it maybe terribly expensive.

Digitaldoc · 10-22-2009, 10:25 AM

The iPhone has been out for two years now. I wish HTC would bring their large screens to the US phone market!

Ed Hardy · 10-23-2009, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digitaldoc

The iPhone has been out for two years now. I wish HTC would bring their large screens to the US phone market!

The HTC HD2 will definitely debut in the U.S. early next year, and rumor says it will be released by T-Mobile.

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Som30ne · 10-24-2009, 06:49 AM

I believe that a stylus is a MUST for me.

I have an older pda, which has many Excel spreadsheets that I regularly use and update.

these spreadsheets are configured (by zoom and text size) to display as much information as possible on the screen.

I cannot see any way in which I can select a cell in any of these spreadsheets with my finger, as the size of my finger is about 3 cells in height.

Without a pinpoint stylus – I believe I would have a hard time using this device.

Im mainly out in the market for a better performing PDA, with internet connectivity. Not for the multimedia, not for the games, not for MP3 player – For a PRODUCTIVE better performing PDA, with the benefit of connectivity.

For the same reason – the size of the huge on-screen keyboard (which id derived from the need to use your fingers, and not a stylus) that leaves you with about 6 lines of editable text - is a big MINUS for me, as I was expecting to get bigger editbale field with the on-screen keyboard on, as a benefit of the huge screen.

So – there are many users out there, with many many different needs.

A stylus is a need for some of these users, for their legitimate reasons.

Having the option to use either your finger, or a stylus will be a big PLUS, instead of limiting the user to one of the input methods.

Now - since HTC had already designed “Capacitive Screen Stylus”
(Search Google for "Htc Capacitive Stylus")
I see no reason they would not include it with this flag-ship device, and allow the user a CHOICE of how to use the device, and how to customize the keyboard (allow so set a much smaller sized on-screen keyboard)

SMARTPHONEPC · 11-10-2009, 03:40 PM

I totally agree I would like the option for both stylus & multi-touch & people have used this for the iPhone capacitive touchscreen so it should work with the HTC HD2 (even if they don't include it):

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...=f&oq=&aqi=g10

Not sure I've seen anything as beautiful (with integrated WiFi router!) as the HD2, simply awesome, look forward to all the in depth reviews :

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...rch_type=&aq=f

Varjak · 11-10-2009, 05:22 PM

Som3One, that's why HTC NEEDS to make the HD2 with an external keyboard. If they want to shrink the screen to 4.0", fine by me (but no smaller).