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(More customer reviews)I left this review for the TMobile HD2 with the service plan version also. Unfortunately Amazon doesn't let you combine review for two same products so I'm leaving it here again.
The same review applies here too since this phone is a TMobile version too (and not a AT&T or European one) and locked on TMobile.
I've been waiting for this phone a long time. I looked at everything in the market and the main reason to wait for this was the snapdragon processor (1 GHz) combined with the amazing screen resolution (480x800) and the operating system.
I'm a longtime user of smart phones and you can say that I'm a heavy user. I typically have multiple email accounts, use GPS for occasional driving or just for walking tours during travel, WiFi regularly during international roaming and Skype on 3G/Wifi for calls. Plus watching some videos, listening to live internet radios and pod-casts as well as use it as a media player.
All the websites provide the specs, so I'll get into the plusses and minuses of the phone and my experience with them.
Plusses:
+ great capacitive touch screen. Very responsive. 480x800 resolution for crystal clear colors and videos
+ Included Transformer movies (1&2) do a great job showing off the screen and the processor power. It's just HD video without any lags or hazy-ness. Very impressive
+ comes with 16GB with only movies on it so you have ample of room for other media.
+ plays live audio and video flawlessly over 3G
+ HTC Sense is amazing and does a great job of hiding those Microsoft screens which you rarely get to. All the apps like email, messaging etc look much better with Sense.
+ Comes with a great animated weather screen
+ very slim though a little on the heavy side
+ 5.0mp Camera comes with flash which is good for close up photos.
+ charges thru PC USP port as well and has an option to be connected as a hard-drive, which is much better and faster compared to the Media Sync feature
+ good battery life, lasts up a day and a half with regular 3g usage and video watching
+ can be used as a WiFi Router/Access Point.
+ comes with FM when you plus the head set as an antenna
+ Swype app (included) as a replacement for keyboard rocks.. much faster to type with that.
Minuses:
- Huge screen is a plus but then you can't keep it in your Jeans pocket as it might put strain on the screen or device
- even though camera is a 5.0 MP, some pictures do tend to be grainy due to low light
- Skype is removed its support for WinMo 6.5 but the older version of apps can be found on the internet
- Doesn't come with the "Wifi Router" app which basically turns your phone into a Wifi Access Point.. So you can have many people connect to your phone thru wifi and the phone provides the internet thru 3G.
- Microsoft says that it won't provide Windows Mobile 7 on this device which could be a bummer since you might see new Windows Mobile 7 devices in next few months. I'm sure you can go to XDA developer website and get yourself a WM7 rom.
Other Notes:
o The T Mobile version of this phone will only get 3G on the TMobile and you won't be use it with AT&T or any other network, for that matter, in Europe as TMO uses 1700 as one of the band which is not used any where else. On the other hand, the European version of the phone will do 3g with AT&T and vice versa but they won't be compatible with TMO 3G.
o The above is true only for 3G while GPRS and EDGE are quad band which will work everywhere in the world.
I've been using this for few days now and am very impressed with it. Haven't found any deal breaker issue so far, but will keep you guys updated.
*** After few weeks
- Lot of issues with getting flash player to work seemlessly with the browsers. I ended up installing flash player, plash player 10, flash lite 3.1, windows .NET compact framework to make it work and then installed the latest Opera browse, opera mini browser, Skyfire browser only to find that Flash now works in Skyfire.
- Many people have stopped supporting windows 6.5 and are prepping for Windows Mobile 7 so difficult to get it working on this device. (e.g. Adobe flash player and Skype)
- Different browser have different zoom in / zoom out settings which is frustrating.
-- The Opera browser which comes installed has the pinch in and pinch out (expand) to zoom in /out.
-- Opera 10 (new download) has click zoom in and out.
-- Skyfire has its own icon where you can click on + and -
-- IE also has click (tap the screen) and then a slider on the right side to zoo in and out.
I'd like all the browsers to support pinch in and out or atleast a common method.
- Very less applications on 6.5 marketplace, for example kids learning apps are not available easily (at all?). This is due to lack of 'app marketplace' when this phone launched and hence the apps are scattered on all different websites and it becomes difficult to find them. The problem might be addressed with the launch of Windows Mobile 7 marketplace.
Given all the above issues and it becoming unresponsive every few days, I'd say that I had much higher expectations with the phone but the OS support might be pulling it down. Comparitively still a good phone due to specs but not as good on usability and what you need to do to make it customized to your taste and apps.
== Changed rating from ***** to *** ==
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Htc Hd2 (Eu) Unlocked Unbranded Without Contract
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