HTC 7 Surround Windows Phone (Unlocked) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been using this phone for about six weeks by now. Before I got the HTC Surround I used Apple's iPhone 3GS, and HTC Touch Pro. I will review not just the phone, because I think the OS is also very important when talking about HTC Surround.
Dimensions and Characteristics
I think the screen size is the same of iPhone's 3G or 4G. Talking about image quality, I can't find any differences between them, of course there might be some technical differences but I am not able to notice them with my eyes :).
The phone size is very similar to the iPhone; HTC Surround is a little bigger because of the speaker, but I would say there is no size difference. The built in camera is good and you have a good flash light also which is nice to have when taking pictures in dark ambience.
User Interface
Microsoft has done a great job redesigning the screens in WP7 with "Metro". You will see that the icons (which are called tiles) in the main screen are "alive" and are not static icons like the iPhone. The tiles gives you information about your contacts (updates from Windows Live, Facebook, My Space, Messenger), some applications are using live tiles like Weather channel, so you don't have to enter the app or contacts to see the information. I think the "live tiles" will be very popular in the near future, because they can give you the information you need without wasting any time opening the application unless you need more info from it. Also live tiles make the main screen more attractive... I like them.
Zune vs. iTunes
After using iTunes for several years, I just realized that if you don't have an Apple's computer, then you will have some troubles using iTunes (at least that's my experience). I have to say that I like Zune much more than I like iTunes. Zune is all about multimedia, the UI is really nice, full of watermarks which change depending of what you are viewing and that makes you enjoy using the software, the opposite feeling when I use iTunes which I consider boring and I use it because I have to in order to synchronize my iPod.
Touchscreen
I think HTC's touchscreen responds better than iPhone's 3GS or 4G. The screen responds incredible fast (compared to iPhone) and touch is very accurate (much better than I got in Touch Pro... I can't even compare them!)
Marketplace vs. Appstore
In Ecuador the items you can purchase from Appstore is very limited due copyright terms, but in US you will find a lot of more applications in Appstore than Marketplace, even though Microsoft is doing a great job with developers, but there is a long way to go. I would really like to have applications in Marketplace like Whatsapp, Waze, Google Maps and Skype (which has been announced to be delivered in fall this year). If you think the applications are something really important when you have to pick your phone, then I recommend that you look at Zune or Marketplace if those applications you really like are available for WP7. If the application is not in available, then you can check at developer's forums if there are any plans to develop the software.
Keyboard
If you are used to type using a built-in keyboard (like Blackberry 9300 or similar), then you will have some troubles while you get used to type on the screen. iPhone's and HTC's keyboard work pretty much the same, both respond fast and the size of the letters are good enough to type without making many mistakes. You can turn on the grammar checker that help you to correct misspelled words (only English), since 99% of the time I write in Spanish I have turned off that option so I cannot tell you if it is good or not.
Office Hub
I expected more from WP7 Office hub. The office applications are extremely basic and I still don't know how to synchronize documents from the phone to the PC, or transfer files from the PC to the Phone. Microsoft has announced that Office Hub will be much better with the next upgrade (codename Mango)
Conclusion
In conclusion, I am not an expert about phones; but I have used several models and OS and I really like this phone. Of course there are things to be done before it reaches the level of Android or iOS, but Microsoft is doing a great job with Phone manufacturers like HTC.
PS: Last week I got the "NoDo" update, and now I am able to copy/paste information.


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