HTC HD2

A descendent of the venerable Touch HD, the HD2 is a Windows Phone with a large, multitouch capacitive screen measuring 4.3'' across.  A capacitive multitouch screen is a first for a Windows Phone, as the OS itself doesn't handle multipoint gestures.



This top quality outsized handset is even bigger than the Toshiba TG01.  With plenty of features, it looks set to be the flagship Windows Phone for the end of 2009.  With solid hardware and the largest capacitive touchscreen currently available on the outside and the most powerful processor in its range, the 1 GHz SnapDragron, on the inside, the HD2 has what it takes to be fast, responsive and provide users with an intuitive, engaging multimedia interface.  After trying it out for ten days, here's our verdict.

The XXL screen we've been waiting for

It's difficult to encounter the HD2 without being impressed by it.  From any direction, its size stands out, both longer and wider than any of its competitors.  Fortunately, it's incredibly thin, which helps to slim down its silhouette.  However, it still weighs a hefty 157 g and is hard to slide into a pocket--HDC includes a warning on the box reminding you to take it out of your pocket before sitting down, but it's not something we'd ever forget about given the size of the device.

A classy, elegant but stripped-back design is finished in black and dark grey brushed aluminium.  The forbidding exterior, which looks rather masculine, will have a harder job finding favour with female consumers.  The HD2 wins you over immediately with its quality finish, which bucks the current trend for phones entirely finished in glossy plastic.  However, the back can still get scratched, and opting for a case wouldn't be out of the question to protect such a large screen.



Having such a large touchscreen is clearly a benefit for anybody who's after the best possible multimedia experience from their phone.  Once you've switched it on--something which could have been quicker than the 35 seconds you need to wait before you can place a call--you can enjoy the 480 x 800 pixel resolution, the largest currently available on a mobile phone, with good brightness and decent contrast.  It's still not as impressive as the AMOLED display found on the Samsung Omnia II, however.  It's a little less useful in bright sunlight, as we'd expect from a glossy screen like this.  It displays videos faultlessly and makes browsing the web a real treat.

Using the same capacitive technology found on the iPhone and some Android models, the touchscreen responds to gestures quickly and accurately.  Zooming into photos and web pages by pinching two fingers together works as well as it does on the iPhone.


Underneath the screen are five little buttons raised up a little from the surface of the screen, which are backlit while the phone is in use.  The home button allows you to return to the home screen, while the Windows button opens Microsoft's customisable Start menu.

Sense Interface: fast, responsive and attractive

The Sense interface that we were so impressed by on the Hero was until now reserved for phones running Android--but it makes its debut on a Windows Phone on the HD2.  Well, almost.  HTC has used the name 'Sense' again, but the interface isn't exactly the same as the phone found on the Hero: instead it's the TouchFlo system, first found on the Diamond, but in a new, improved version.  Adding this extra layer on top on Windows Mobile 6.5 has been very nicely handled.



It will take you a little while to get used to scrolling across the application bar at the bottom of the screen.  The first few times, it's easy to accidentally hit the icon next to the one you're going for, but don't worry, it's not as frustrating as slow, unresponsive touchscreen phones.

You can thank the SnapDragon processor for the handset's responsiveness, which means that any app you choose appears on screen almost immediately.  There's no waiting, no lag: the HD2 is ready straight away.

The Windows MarketPlace app store is still rather meagre. So unless you want to spend hours looking all over the web, or spend a lot of time hunting in forums (something which regular consumers aren't necessarily likely to be thrilled about) there's not much to be found in Microsoft


An excellent Internet tablet

What's the camera like on the HD2?  Are the five Megapixel sensor and dual LED flash useful?  The focus is automatic, but taking a photo takes a little while but he stabilisation isn't much help (nobody move!).  The quality of the photos that result isn't excellent, either, and a long way short of the Nokia N86.  The white balancing is very average and the lack of details is a real drawback.  The double LED flash means you need to get used to the very bright light that appears before you take the photo and which remains lit throughout: at worst, your subjects will close their eyes and best there'll be a negative impact--and for all of that, the photos themselves are actually quite dark.  In short, HTC really needs to improve the performance of its camera--a very popular amongst mobile phone users--which just isn't up to the other features on the handset.

Don't get confused: despite it's name, the HD2 doesn't film in HD.  That said, it can take perfectly decent videos for a device like this.  Of course, it could have easily gone a lot further given the processor inside.

Video playback looks great on screen, despite having narrower viewing angles than the AMOLED display on the Omnia II.  The HD2 can read 720p HD content natively.  But what's the point, if the HD2 doesn't have a HD screen?  Well, it avoids tricky re-encoding, and downscaling a HD source will be much neater than moving from SD to the HD2.  For the standard DivX and XviD formats, though, there's nothing you can do as Windows Media Player still doesn't have anything to do with them.  Instead you'll need to either use a less handy DivX Player, or the more fully-featured, but more expensive, CorePlayer.


In the shadow of the Hero, the HD2 has also moved from the ExtUSB interface to a standard mini-jack, so you can use any headphones.  Unfortunately, the audio output, although average for a multimedia phone, is still a little fuzzy and can't be compared to a dedicated audio player.  The software interface, however, is as successful as ever.  Another useful feature is the presence of an FM radio, allowing you to record radio programs, and also edit your recordings.  The headphones act as an atenna for radio signals, but you can also still play radio stations on the speaker. 

You can browse the web either by using Microsoft's own browser, Internet Explorer, or Opera Mobile.  Without a doubt, we wouldn't hesitate to recommend the latter.  Not only does it display pages more accurately, but it does so more quickly--we found if to be just a shade quicker than the iPhone 3G S when we loaded the same page in the same physical location with identical conditions.  The accelerometer reacts quickly to rotate the page.  Note that the HD2 also supports Flash, although only the Lite version, but that's something that Apple has still yet to do anything about.


The GPS-based tools work well thanks to decent reception, with the satellite signals picked up by the phone relatively quickly; the HD2 also has digital compass.

Looking finally at battery life, the HD2 can go for two relatively light days of use before it needs recharging.  But given how many features it has, you're likely to want to use it a lot.

Two years after the iPhone, the HD2

The HD2 can stand proud next the iPhone 3G S: we finally have a smartphone that can stand up to Apple.  Its responsive capacatitive touchscreen, attractive interface, lively system and overall reasonable quality of photo, audio and video features, the HD2 is clearly the best Windows Phone currently available.  It has better specs than the Apple iPhone 3G S and a more impressive interface than the Omnia II, giving it a very good chance in the ultra-competitive world of smartphones.

Although it's less sexy than the iPhone, the HD2 has what it takes to be a hit with technology fans.  But will it be able to win over a much wider share of the consumer market in the same way as the iPhone has?  Its main competitor's success has been in part due to the huge variety of content on offer in the AppStore, which is much more diverse than the HD2's MarketPlace …