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HTC Touch HD Review

Published on: 13 November, 2008 by PhoneArena Team

HTC Touch HD
Conclusion:

We were excited when we started testing the phone, hoping that we’ll see something great and revolutionary. Sadly, the reality is different. Hardware-wise, the Touch HD is impressive with a large display and excellent build quality. As a phone, it offers many functions and a very good sound during a call, but the software is not innovative at all. TouchFLO 3D, which we’ve seen in Diamond and Pro is the best for a WM smartphone, but not for a multimedia device what we wanted to discover in the HD. The music player is good, we can live with the mediocre camera, but why the bad video capabilities and not the multiple codec/format support like seen in the rivals? This would have made it possible for the users to really enjoy HD clips. So far, the Touch HD is a good smartphone but doesn’t have what it takes to be a good multimedia phone. As we’ve said before, we hope this will be fixed by future software updates, making the HD the best Windows Mobile device available. What we would really love to see is Android on that beautiful screen, but that’s not expected officially.

Pros

  • 3.8” WVGA display
  • Very good size and construction
  • This is the phone for document viewing

Cons

  • Currently, it cannot play quality videos
  • Weak display performance in direct sunlight
  • More lag in the menu compared to Touch Diamond

PA rating

  • Design 9
  • Display 9
  • Camera 5.5
  • Sound Quality 8
  • Battery 8
  • Connectivity 10
  • Multimedia 8
  • Organizer 10
Excellent
8.5
out of 10

How do we rate?

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Comments icon User comments

User comments

Show only comments with rating Display mode
0
1.
i really love the display of this phone and i am a HTC lover, but i am still considering the xperia .. waiting for a review of it
0
4.
I was about to buy this one too...
Now I'm really considering the Xperia instead. Those 5MP photos look as if they were interpolated 2MP photos.

Why couldn't HTC put their hands on some good (e.g. Zeiss) lens, borrow a samsung sensor and give us some good results?
Is throwing in a Divx codec that expensive?

Ok HTC, take a $150 more for the set and just make it happen...
I can't avoid a comparison to say.. KIA motors: for some reason they must be thinking their brand should remain cheap and are trying to keep the prices low even when they don't have to. This way HTC is just losing market. hey.. take $700 per unit, not 550, but give us a decent camera to take photos with and we DO want a Divx player when we buy "HD" devices!
Reply to this comment
0
40.
I think there's something wrong with this review. I've read other reviews, as well as seen Youtube videos showing videoplayback and it doesn't seem to be the problem indicated by phonearena. Besides, the HD actually comes with hardware video acceleration, so videos should run fine.
Reply to this comment This comment is posted in response to #4 ( Show )
0
53.
I know a free program. Umm, actually, it's commercial, but you can get it for free via... Go ahead!
You can also add DVD menu and chapter menu in a flexible way.

Check their official site
http://www.flvdvd.com/flv-to-dvd-converter/
Reply to this comment This comment is posted in response to #40 ( Show )
Reply to emblema Hide 3 replies to this comment
0
2.
Regarding the bar with letters to the left, sorting the contacts, this can be enabled or disabled in Contacts/Menu/Options, uncheck "Show alphabetical index".

Howcome you never covered GPS performance?
0
5.
...How come the English in this review makes me think they can't afford a good dictionary, let alone a native English speaker to write it?

"...we can live with the mediocre camera, but ***why the bad video capabilities*** and not the multiple.."??
Reply to this comment
Reply to losdrivare Hide 1 replies to this comment
0
3.
Play.com have changed the price of this handset a few times over the past 4 weeks - it was £549, then £499, then went back up to £519 last week.
£474.99 with the discount code is probably the best price for the time being.
Reply to this comment
0
6.
Hey Guys,
its smartphone - with ability to install any third party software like Core player...
not only video, but nothing is problem!
0
23.
If you read the review, they said that Core player didn't work that well with the device, as the video was choppy. READ!!!!!
Reply to this comment
0
29.
Bet u monkeys never even touched a smartphone. LOL. There is something in this technological term we call UPDATE. Every softwares will be updated. Just wait for a new version more suited for HD. Not suprised if you don't understand. Don't even bother. Sheesh. Monkeys.
Reply to this comment This comment is posted in response to #23 ( Show )
0
48.
The latest news on this problem is a new windows program made by Jandre from XDA-Developers. It's called "MP4HtcHD". With that, you can transcode and optimize any (avi, mp4, wmv, mkv, mpg, m2v, mov, vob, flv) video. You can even transcode direct from a DVD, including srt subtitle support for foreign films; as well as the ability to select the audio language of a multilingual DVD. It can also split, join, and preview your video. It's designed specifically with the HD and it's MP4 format. But the built-in quality and format support may change if HTC updates the HD to 6.5 when it releases the next generation touch smartphones.
Reply to this comment
Reply to koko Hide 3 replies to this comment
0
7.
I have just bought this phone (unlocked) & have been experimenting with various video formats that i re-encoded from avi.files. To date the best result i have got from the built in windows media player is a H264 codec, MPEG-4(mp4), video 196kbps, audio 64kbps, 720x480 resolution, 23.976fps & audio sample rate of 44100 Hz. This is acheived by using a prog by Allok. The playback is smooth & in sync. I hope this helps people.
0
12.
its windows mobile, so WMV format must be supported too... try this
Reply to this comment
0
31.
is the hd support divx??
is any 1 knows?
many thanks
veronica.
Reply to this comment This comment is posted in response to #12 ( Show )
Reply to anonymous Hide 2 replies to this comment
0
8.
how about standard divx/xvid not converted of recorded tv shows? will it play it with default software without conversion?
0
17.
It doesn't play them at all. If you install Core Player they play, but not well. Check out the review text.

Thanks!
Reply to this comment
0
32.
thank you but how can i install core play?
is that will make divx work on the hd?
thank you so uch
veronica
Reply to this comment This comment is posted in response to #17 ( Show )
Reply to anonymous Hide 2 replies to this comment
+1
9.
Until Android gets ported to this thing it will never realize its full potential
+1
24.
LOL!!! At the moment android sucks... It needs time to mature an enough software developers to make it usable.... the G1 was just a taste, not that great of one mind you, but a taste nevertheless of the entree that is to come.
Reply to this comment
0
44.
And Windows Mobile sluggish ugly interface is a good fit on this beautiful device???? You sound like you havent spent any decent time with the android os, yes it is young but it would be optimized greatly by the touch hd. Notification bar on Touch HD...i drool at the thought....of course you probably dont know what that is
Reply to this comment This comment is posted in response to #24 ( Show )
Reply to anonymous Hide 2 replies to this comment
0
10.
I have a question for you UK guys. I have found several online merchants offering the htc touch hd for 250-300 USD. (about 167 GBP) Every single merchant that has this price I have found on Yahoo via google search. (which does not offer buyer protection from merchants using their services) http://www.walmartstore-inc.com/htc-touch-hd.html , http://www.cellltd.com/htc-touch-hd--unlocked.html , and this one which doesn't even come up in the search anymore: http://www.adriannewworld.com/htc-touch-hd.html . I was curious if anyone on here has had *any experience with any of these merchants. I find it suspicious that the ONLY websites that have these kind of deals are all using Yahoo as their platform.

What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance,

-Richard
0
11.
That's a scam man, in other words, do NOT buy!
Reply to this comment
0
21.
Be careful when giving your credit card number to so called "merchants".
I can offer you my home for $300, would you buy?
Reply to this comment
0
49.
Trust us, only buy from online "merchants" certified with buyers insurance, like amazon.com/amazon.co.uk. And use common sense, especially online.
Reply to this comment
Reply to Rocco Ruthless Hide 3 replies to this comment
0
13.
"despite the OS limitation of 65 536 colors"

WRONG! It's 2008 already, learn the facts, if you want to call yourself a Windows Mobile expert.

http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2005/09/07/462187.aspx
0
15.
Thank you
Reply to this comment
0
20.
so what are you trying to say moonman? that blog entry is a few years old, but basically says that 65k is the most wm will display (if not support.) every winmo device is 65k for a reason, be it good or bad
Reply to this comment
Reply to moonman Hide 2 replies to this comment
0
14.
I also would like to know if it play ok divx/xvid tv shows from the net (not converted, just as they are)? Such as heroes for example?
0
16.
It doesn't play them at all. If you install Core Player they play, but not well. Check out the review text.

Thanks!
Reply to this comment
0
18.
Sorry, i checked the review but i though it reffers to HD ( 720p ) video.
It really sucks if this device can not play normal divx xvid tv shows and movies.

HTC realy got it very wrong here .. and they are going to lose big becouse of this. A lot of devices play divx / xvid... totally disapointed about this.

How about Mobile Divx ? did you tried with it also?
Reply to this comment This comment is posted in response to #16 ( Show )
0
47.
OMG! There SHOULD be somewhere on the net a place for noobs in the WinMobo world! Every new forum I'm registering to has one and same question - "how to play DivX/XViD in WM devices".



The simple answer is one-and-only - get the FREE media player called TCPMP (short for The Core Pocket Media Player). Does the name ring a bell? Oh, yes - it sounds _almost_ like "The Core Player" about which it had already been told (regarding the HTC HD device) the is does NOT perform quite well. OK - "The Core Player" is a _commercial_ spin-off of TCPMP, built by _almost_ the same time, where the _almost_ makes a difference! The Core Player has only limited support to video acceleration and no support for subtitles. It's just the opposite - TCPMP support almost all kinds of video accelerator chips available today on the PocketPC market, plus supports SMI, SRT and SUB subtitles, plus - it's an open source _modular design_ project which is constantly developed and modified to suit to its best to the new hardware.



Right at this moment the TCPMP modification for the HTC HD device is ready and performing charmingly well with ALL kind of HD videos in DiVX/XViD format. Just download it from:

http://www.araxbg.com/download/index.php?dir=
Touch%20HD/&file=TCPMP-0.72RC1-ARM-PPC-recomp-03.CAB



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