The HTC Titan runs the latest version of Microsoft’s smartphone platform, Windows Phone 7.5. This updates the previous version with 500 tweaks and changes. While many of these are under the hood, the addition of support for Office 365, ability to group contacts, addition of Local Scout which can find amenities close to your location, and addition of LinkedIn and Twitter support to Facebook may appeal to many. See also HTC One X review.
Windows Phone 7.5 continues with the same look and feel as its predecessor version, and this is shown off to some benefit in the HTC Titan’s enormous screen. At 4.7 inches you won’t find many smartphones with larger displays, and no other Windows Phone handset can match it.
The screen is at the same time the greatest advantage and biggest annoyance of the HTC Titan. It is impossible to reach across it for one handed use, but it displays complex content very well indeed. Web pages look superb; email is easy to read. We’d have preferred a higher resolution than this handset’s 480x800 pixels, but that’s a Microsoft requirement and not HTC’s fault. The onscreen keyboards are large in both tall and wide mode, so that entering text is fast and comfortable.
Elsewhere the HTC Titan suffers from a lack of support for microSD cards, leaving you reliant on the 12.63GB of storage that is available out of the box. It is also hampered by a lack of support for Flash. Again both are down to Microsoft, not HTC.
The build is excellent. This is a large handset but it is very thin measuring 131.5x70.7x10mm. You will need sizable pockets for it, but it feels robust and there’s no flex in the chassis.
Professionals should like the SharePoint synchronisation, while those without corporate facilities can use their Windows Live account and 25GB of SkyDrive space for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote synchronisation as well as contact and calendar sync and photo backup. There’s an 8Mp camera on board, and this unusually for Windows Phone, supports burst and panorama modes.
The HTC Titan puts Windows Phone 7.5 into an enormous chassis, and the big screen has its advantage. However, with no Flash or external memory support Windows Phone itself lacks some key features.
Comments
Chris Georgeson said: No hurt feelings here MattStill like the site keep up the good work
Matt Egan said: Fair point I apologise for my facetious reply It was uncalled for I was trying to be funny Never a good idea in my case But I stand by the rest of my comment I do think that being able to properly browse Flash websites is a positive That is all
Paul said: Strange comment for a magazine editor to make And there was me thinking that the grown ups were talking What did Chris Georgeson say that would warrant that kind of arrogance I think its a reasonable argument to be honest - Flash is being discontinued on mobile so Microsoft and iPhone are going with HTML5 Also iOS does not get round Flash - Adobe make flash work on iOS Which they are now no longer going to support Makes me laugh also that you mark down the HTC for no external memory support - does the iphone support it Does WP7 not integrate with Skydrive making external cards irrelevant
Matt Egan said: And there was me thinking that the grown ups were talking Of course flash is not the be all and end all But it is a factor in 2011 web browsing And Android is not as adept as iOS at getting around it Give it six months things may have changed
Chris Georgeson said: I think hessuggesting that Adobe finds developing for a mobile platform irrelevant Whyfault the platform for something that Adobe is discontinuing Im not going toget on my Commodore 64 and judge it for not running Windows 7
Matt Egan said: Are you suggesting that Flash is an irrelevance
Guest said: Adobe is dropping flash for mobiles so why should a mobile phone not having flash support be a negative And mentioning what key features you are referring to would be helpful