Even though Aryeh, along with some othe people, wheened me off the HTC Touch HD and any of its Windows Mobile brethren, I cannot let the fact that GSMArena just released a full review of the HD, go unmentioned. Whether you like Windows Mobile or despise it, there is no debate surrounding the superior and market dominating looks of the HTC Touch HD.
To sum up the review, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages by far. I think the only main disadvantage on the list that would prevent me from buying it, is the lack of flash for the camera and maybe the low quality video. Among the HD’s selling points are a 3.8″ display, which puts the iPhone’s screen to shame, Wifi, GPS, 5mp camera with auto-focus, TouchFlo 3D, accelerometer sensor for auto screen rotation and turn-to-mute calls (pretty cool feature), Office document editor, and many many others.
Some people are bothered by the lack of a physical camera shutter button, but I say they are nitpicking, and if that is all they can come up with, we got ourselves a pretty amazing mobile device on our hands.
GSMArena were extremely satisfied with the phone, and on occasion, even quite surprised at how well it performed. The camera beat the N82 and the OMNIA on photo quality, something it seems the reviewers did not expect. The HD beat the iPhone in many respects, among them copy/paste functionality, Java/Flash in the Web browser, and a MicroSD expansion slot, not to mention the 3.8″ display compared to the iPhone’s 3.5″.
The HD comes with some nice preinstalled goodies, like an RSS Reader and Streaming Media manager, as well as a great task manager, something I know the iPhone is missing. It also comes with an MP3 trimmer app to automatically convert your favorite MP3s to ringtones. It even comes with what seems to be a highly entertaining game called Teeter. Seems like it is very similar to Labyrinth on the iPhone, which I already said is up there with the most addictive things I have come accross.
In conclusion, GSMArena thinks the HD is going to change the way we look at cellphones. I am not sure I agree, I think the iPhone already made that change for us, but the HD is definitally going to raise the level for all future cellphone manufacturers. Watch the video below and tell me what you think (of the phone, not her accent).
HTC took care of the hardware and the TouchFlo part of the software, but if Microsoft really wants to get in the ring with Apple, they are going to have work on an app store of their own that will compete with Apple’s. For me, the lack of applications and software solutions for Windows Mobile devices, is what has me leaning toward the Java-less iPhone, even if I cannot copy and paste with it. Oh yea, and the HD’S $900 price tag.
-Hillel
