Reviews4,313 Reviews

All Reviews > Hardware > Mobile phones

December 3, 2008

HTC Touch HD review

Product Code: HTCTOUCHHD

The HTC Touch HD more closely matches up to the Apple iPhone 3G than other HTC smartphones because of its huge 3.8in screen, one of the biggest available on a smartphone, which has more responsive touch capabilities than the HTC Touch Diamond or Touch Pro, which sport 2.8in screens. The iPhone 3G has a 3.5in screen.

We were impressed by the HTC Touch HD.

The sleek 3G (third generation mobile telecommunications) smartphone is probably the best hope for a Microsoft Windows Mobile OS handset that I've seen so far in the battle against Apple. The HTC Touch HD has a Qualcomm 7201A microprocessor, the same as the Touch Diamond, and Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system.

The HTC Touch HD's huge touchscreen is what makes it a better rival to the iPhone 3G than other HTC products.

The HTC Touch HD's screen is speedier, more responsive, and far larger than the Touch Diamond, without losing the Diamond's striking display quality. The Touch HD's screen has WVGA (widescreen video graphics array) 800 x 480 pixel resolution. The screen on the iPhone 3G, by comparison, is VGA 480 x 320 resolution.

The only smartphone weve tried that compares to the HD touchscreen in terms of speed and performance is T-Mobile's G1 (the Google phone), which is also made by HTC.

Ethan Chen, a supervisor at HTC, said there could be a few factors that make the HTC Touch HD's touchscreen seem faster than the Touch Diamond that we tried out back in June. First, the larger screen size helps because finger movements on the screen are more pronounced than on the 2.8in Touch Diamond. Second, the touchscreen software made by HTC, TouchFLO 3D, has been improved since the launch of the Touch Diamond. The Touch HD has the latest improvements, as well as tweaks specific to its hardware components, said Chen.

There is also an update for the Touch Diamond, which people can download from HTC's website.

The HTC Touch HD performed well in a normal phone call with crisp voice quality and signal strength, and also created a sharp image in a video call with a Nokia N73. We had to wait several seconds for the video call to go through on Chunghwa Telecom's mobile network. The picture on the N73 screen was nice, but the picture quality of our friend on the HTC Touch HD wasn't so pretty. We were told the difference in picture quality had more to do with the camera than the display.

Considering how nice the HTC Touch HD's display handled downloaded and onboard videos, the camera on the N73 may well be to blame for the poor video call picture.

The HTC Touch HD screen handles video watching beautifully. The handset has a speedy link to YouTube from a button on its applications menu and we downloaded one short video in about 10 seconds. The video also filled the entire screen, unlike some handsets that leave a control bar or other items up on the screen.

The HTC Touch HD also takes nice video shots and has an uplink to YouTube as well, to post videos fast.

The 5Mp camera in the HTC Touch HD snaps very nice photos. Not only is the quality good, but the camera clicker is displayed right on the touchscreen, and the delay between pushing the button and taking the photo has been reduced, which is nice to see on a smartphone. A lot of handset cameras seem to leave a delay between pressing the snap button and the taking of the picture, leading to blurred or missed shots. The HD has minimised this problem.

Another nice touch on the handset is using the GPS (Global Positioning System) function to tag pictures so you know exactly where you took a shot. The GPS also works with Google Maps.

The HTC Touch HD is very similar in size to the iPhone 3G, with most of the face taken up by the screen. The HD weighs 147 grams with the battery inside and measures 115 millimeters by 62.8mm by 12mm, while the iPhone 3G weighs 133 grams and is 115.5mm by 62.1mm by 12.3mm.

NEXT PAGE: design quality, quality design

Visit Mobile Advisor for the latest mobile phone news, reviews, tips & tricks, as well as PC Advisor's unique Apple iPhone 3G Spotlight

Visit Business Advisor for the latest business IT news, reviews, tips and tricks - plus sign up for our unique and FREE business IT newsletter

Buy it now: click here

Continued...
1 | 2 | 3 | NEXT >

Independent customer reviews from

HTC Touch HD scored:
8.5 out of 10 100% real reviews

The 2 most helpful reviews based on 173 reviews:

09 Jan 2009 Gavin, Glasgow

8

Good Points

Use the built in Wi-Fi to connect up to wireless internet and use MSN and web brower on your phone. Several text input methods, eg. QWERTY, phone keypad and transcriber. 5mp camera Download weather updates

Bad Points

Can be complicated to use at first. No flash on camera.

28 Dec 2008 Brian, Halifax

5

Good Points

The look The display quality is good

Bad Points

Very hard to answer a call never know what volume setting is going to be , sometime i set silent then it rings! hard to locate the things you want on the device Difficult to manage photos Camera is poor quality Camera is very fiddly to use Camera has a riddiculous delay when taking photos, people think it has taken when it is still thinking Most photos are blurred because of above photos sent to me by text dont download when typing texts device hangs hard to keep clean difficult to manage music file

See more HTC Touch HD reviews on Reevoo.com

null

Keep up to date by adding PC Advisor Reviews to your iGoogle home page or Google Reader

What is this?

Subscribe to PC Advisor now and claim your FREE gift

Question of the day!

Does your smartphone replace your need for a laptop when on the move?

Question of the day!

Does your smartphone replace your need for a laptop when on the move?

% of PC Advisor readers agree with you

Yes
TBC
No
TBC

What tasks can your smartphone do that would have traditionally been done on a laptop?

119 characters remaining

Follow the conversation at @SmartphoneFocus

web browsing, search facilities, voip, email, word processing everything RT @Graham_D_C

Mainly email but getting better at spreadsheets etc, RT @IDGdan

Total reviews: 4,313

Click here to buy now

See product specs

expert rating

Overall

4/5

expert rating

HTC Touch HD

READER REVIEWS


Google


Recent reviews

Reviews index


Latest reader reviews

Latest reader reviews


Top news

News index


Latest blog entries

Blogs index


Sponsored Content

  • Take the internet to new places with the Nokia N800
    Communicate how you want to, where you want to with instant messaging, email and internet calling. View movies, browse the internet wirelessly and watch TV on the high-resolution screen and listen through high-quality stereo speakers with headphone jack.
    Buy now