Product Name: HTC Touch HD
Price: £539.33
Supplied by: Clove
Reviewer: Shaun McGill

In The Box- HTC Touch HD, 8GB microSDHC card, AC Adapter (UK), USB Cable, Stereo earphones with mic, Pouch Case, Battery (1350mAh), Additional Stylus, Screen Protector, Getting Started CD, User Manual CD.

Having reviewed a few HTC devices recently, I was half expecting what I got in the package- the pouch case is poor, the AC adaptor is sweet to look at and everything else is made with quality materials. An 8GB microSD card is in the box which is an unusual step, but it is actually a good move- more on that later. The stylus is much better than the telescopic types we have been used to in recent times- the fact that it magnetically goes in and out helps and it is very sturdy.

The screen protector is another nice touch and it is not too bad for a free one. Serious users will look at the more well known brands because this is a very important accessory considering the screen size.

Design and Materials

The screen is everything about this phone. At 3.8” it is massive and gives the impression of the Touch HD being a PDA rather than a smartphone. With touch sensitive icons below the screen (call start and end, home and back) the front is incredibly elegant and it is one of the best looking smartphones I have seen in a long time.

The back is just as elegant with the camera housing being a raised silver rounded square and a few words running up the centre. On the left hand size are overly long volume keys (nice) and to the right you will find… nothing. The miniUSB port is at the bottom and the power button on the top and that’s your lot. Everything about the design ensures that you are under no illusion that this is a ‘touch’ enabled device.

It’s not light at 146 grams, but that somehow suits the phone. It is almost identical to the BlackBerry Bold and iPhone in size, but does feel more substantial because of the weight. I have to give the design and build quality a huge thumbs up and immediately felt at home with the Touch HD, which is something I have not experienced with an HTC device for a long time. 

Software

TouchFlo 3D is of course present and of course slows everything down. It looks great and the stocks and weather tabs are particularly good, but after 2 hours of struggling I disabled it and stuck with the standard set up for testing. I have to say that it did perform very well on the Touch HD and responded quite well to finger presses, unlike the Diamond devices I tested recently.

You know what to expect with a Windows Mobile device in terms of core software, but it’s always nice to see some extras thrown in. MP3 Trimmer is a useful, if likely to be rarely used, application and the RSS Hub is much more likely to be a consistent performer.

Opera and Google Maps are there alongside JETCET PRINT 5 and WorldCard Mobile and Remote Desktop. You certainly won’t need to install much if you are the type of user who requires the basics and none of the fancy extras.

Besides Bubble Breaker and Solitaire, Teeter is present which is a stunning game suiting the large screen and accelerometer perfectly. Resco Bubbles and Sudoku Touch will be perfectly suited to this device so gaming should be a positive experience.

I am happy with the software included and suspect that the vast majority of purchasers will be too. Just the right set up to cater for the masses.

Screen

When a device is dominated by the screen, it has better be good. This one is more than good, it is stunning! The size is so cleverly integrated into the unit whilst still maintaining the level of dominance required to make it a splendid experience. It works well outdoors and even more importantly, is very close to the iPhone in terms of the ‘touch’ effect.

This is the first Windows Mobile device that manages to make the touch experience worthwhile and when it works it brings Windows Mobile into a new league. This sounds as though I am overstating things, but trust me I am not. It is very, very impressive and HTC has pulled off something special here.

I would liken it to the latest HP PDAs rather than the Bold or iPhone for quality. Without a doubt these two offer a more vibrant experience, but the Touch HD offers a very high resolution which works exceedingly well with Windows Mobile.

Camera

HTC cameras have always been dreadful and so I was experience another disappointment here, despite the 5MP specification. In actual fact the photo side is pretty positive- it does take a long time to take a picture, but the results can be mind blowing (for an HTC camera anyway)

Video recording is a tale of good and bad; the colour reproduction is excellent, but motion tends to blur and fast swinging of the phone will cause some distortion. It is still better than the majority of other phones in this area, so let’s not quibble too much.

Sadly there is no TV-out support which is a real shame considering the entertainment possibilities this phone offers. Why did HTC not include this when it is an obvious iPhone competitor?

Tomorrow I will be looking at entertainment, battery life, voice quality, data input, connectivity and whatever else catches my eye. It would be safe to say that this has been the best first day I have had with any device to date…

Today I will be looking at the remaining features of the Touch HD which I did not cover yesterday, and there’s a lot to look at…

Entertainment

The audio quality when music is played through proper headphones is very good and comparable to most other smartphones and ‘i’ devices on the market. The loudspeaker produces a strange audio experience which is devoid of any bass at all and can actually become quite annoying over time. It is likely, however, that most people will be using the Touch HD via headphones so I can live with that.

Video playback is very sweet and the extra large screen offers a mobile movie experience that few can match. It is very hard to explain, but watching a film on a Touch HD is more like watching a film on a normal sized TV than any other mobile device I have used to date.

The hardware makes this a near perfect platform for mobile entertainment and the included software just about manages to take advantage of that.

Battery

1350mAh may not sound like a lot to power a device with a 3.8” screen, but it does the job well and appears to cope with even the most power hungry functions. I managed a full 2 days on the first charge and this included periods of movie watching, GPS, music and constant opening and closing of applications etc. It is hard to judge in the relatively short period I have had this device, but it is looking good so far.

Voice

The Touch HD has excellent voice quality built in and is the best I have heard in the Windows Mobile arena to date. The speaker suffers from the same lack of depth as it does when playing music out loud. It is very loud though and actually works well, but long conversations could start to irritate if the person has a particularly high pitched voice Dialling is easy with the large screen and responsive as well; I do think the standard HTC phone interface software could be improved though to bring it closer to the dialling experience offered by hardware keyboarded phones.

Data Input

This is the point where my reviews usually start to go downhill, but not this time. Maybe it is the larger than normal screen, but with practice this phone is as easy to type on as the iPhone. I would go as far as to say it is better because it sits well in the hand which is a factor many people miss when discussing data input. It’s not perfect by any means, but a definite improvement on previous HTC devices.

I need to play some more with the HD to check the landscaping features, but it appears as though this only runs in certain applications. There are third party offerings which will enable this though so a quick search should bring up a solution for your particular needs.

Performance

In theory the copious amounts of memory and fast processor should produce a blazingly fast smartphone, and it does the majority of the time. On occasion it does stutter for no apparent reason and this can annoy a little. Turning TouchFlo 3D off helps of course, but it still stutters now and then. Without doubt the XDA Developer people will resolve this pretty soon though, if you choose to undertake full scale ROM changes.

Each separate function does speed along nicely though and I found no issues with video playback, GPS, complex web browsing or any other data intensive application.

Connectivity

The signal strength is above average and I could get HSDPA in my house, just. There is every connectivity option you need included and with such a good battery on board you will not find yourself wanting for options. I find it hard to write a lot about connectivity when everything just works as it should.

Conclusion

I admit that I was expecting a bloated smartphone with far too much squeezed in to make it a practical and worthwhile device, but I was so wrong. Unlike the Touch Pro, Diamond and Xperia X1 the Touch HD feels like a finished unit that can be used for so many functions with ease. The large screen makes entertainment and GPS comparable to standalone solutions and the camera is also much better than we have seen elsewhere.

It has been called an iPhone Killer on many occasions, but then again hasn’t every device with a big screen been called that recently? A Windows Mobile smartphone will never match the iPhone for finesse and the interface takes a little more work than some would care to put in, but as a single unit capable of delivering in almost every area a mobile device can it has some big advantages over the iPhone; the camera is much better, the screen is bigger, GPS works very well with proper solutions, and everything else you could want is included.

If you are looking for one device to replace all of your other mobile devices, the Touch HD is probably the only one on the market capable of delivering in every area. It’s not perfect by any means, but the areas in which it falls back are easily fixable. The areas in which it jumps above the crowd are already present and even the high price tag could be justified when you consider what this device can offer.

Build Quality- 9
Ease of use- 9
Battery- 8
Screen clarity- 9
Value for money- 8
Total score- 93%

If you would like answers to technical questions concerning this device, please use the comments link below. I tend to concentrate on how well a device works rather than spelling out every technical detail, but am more than happy to answer any questions you may have.