HTC Touch HD User Reviews

mvc posted on 05 May 2009, 23:48

Good 8

Good, but don't recommend it

I bought the Touch HD in November 2008, after some frustration with the 1st gen Iphone. On the positive side, I've got to say this is one of the most complete handsets available on the market, it has almost everything a smartphone could have: GSM quad band, 3G, wifi, large 3.8” display with WVGA resolution of 480x800 pixels. However after 6 months of use I have to say the phone disappointed and I don't recommend it for these reasons: 1.- Windows Mobile. Microsoft has to do something about its mobile OS soon, or eventually it'll die, period. I'm not a fan of any particular mobile OS, I've used most of them, and believe me Microsoft is being left behind. It doesn't matter how great the hardware is on the phone, the OS is still slow and it's simply not designed for finger-touch operation. HTC does a good job with its Touch Flow interface, but it's only a mask, in the end it's all about windows mobile 2.- Crappy camera for pictures and video. The camera is just too slow to focus and take photos, and video quality is mediocre. 3.- Video playback. HTC didn't include a propietary video player, so it just relies on Windows Mobile Media Player which, to be honest is even worse than the desktop version. Besides, the only clips that plays (MP4 with H.264) have the potential for good quality but are choppy if they are in high resolution (over 640 pixels wide), needed for this screen. So if you are planning to use this phone as a personal media player (PMP) for watching movies and/or videos...  

I bought the Touch HD in November 2008, after some frustration with the 1st gen Iphone. On the positive side, I've got to say this is one of the most complete handsets available on the market, it has almost everything a smartphone could have: GSM quad band, 3G, wifi, large 3.8” display with WVGA resolution of 480x800 pixels. However after 6 months of use I have to say the phone disappointed and I don't recommend it for these reasons: 1.- Windows Mobile. Microsoft has to do something about its mobile OS soon, or eventually it'll die, period. I'm not a fan of any particular mobile OS, I've used most of them, and believe me Microsoft is being left behind. It doesn't matter how great the hardware is on the phone, the OS is still slow and it's simply not designed for finger-touch operation. HTC does a good job with its Touch Flow interface, but it's only a mask, in the end it's all about windows mobile 2.- Crappy camera for pictures and video. The camera is just too slow to focus and take photos, and video quality is mediocre. 3.- Video playback. HTC didn't include a propietary video player, so it just relies on Windows Mobile Media Player which, to be honest is even worse than the desktop version. Besides, the only clips that plays (MP4 with H.264) have the potential for good quality but are choppy if they are in high resolution (over 640 pixels wide), needed for this screen. So if you are planning to use this phone as a personal media player (PMP) for watching movies and/or videos because of its big screen, you'll be disappointed. 4.- Resistive Touchscreen, meaning it reacts to pressure rather than touch like the iPhone. If you have used an iphone you'll be wondering if there's something wrong with the screen. Let's face it: most people will consider this phone because they want something like the Iphone. Now I want to clarify that I'm not an Apple fanboy, but to be honest, the user experience is superior on the Iphone. In my opinion, Windows Mobile 6.1 is to blame. 5.- Price is very high. Sure, it comes with almost everything, but you can get better phones for much less.

Pros

• - Screen size
• - Specs

Cons

• - Windows Mobile
• - Crappy Camera
• - Video playback
• - Price
• - Resistive Touchscreen

fantom557 posted on 13 Dec 2008, 08:49

Excellent 10

Fabulous Phone!

This phone is perfect in every way. i must say i am not a fan of windows mobile, i am an apple junkie. I had the iphone 3G hated it sold it in 1 month. Then i went to the BB bold that phone is a 9.5 but to corporate for me. I then got the storm it was ok rim needs to make the responce faster to the touch i think the storm was a lame attemts to chalange the iphone. The developers of this device need to go to school and learn how to make a touch screen device oh and no WiFi. Now i get the HD i was blown away the 3d touch flo is great the phone is wonderfull the weight and the feel its a 10 in my books. Buy the way i am using it on AT&T and even though i dont get 3G its not a big deal the wifi is better. Also the lack of 3G is better for the phone i get better signal and less droped calls if any. I love the keyboard its easy and i can type on it easely i am 45 so i have man fingures. and when i am not in the mood i use the styles whic is like a pen i love it. I wish they brought this phone to the USA but i have not lost anything service wise. Yhis is better then iphone buy a longshot. Some will say you cant get the apps like iphone but windows mobile has enough to make me happy. I can go on and on but it all boild down to whats important to you in a business device. For me its perfect. I am using this phone on a mac running VMware with vista. its the only true windows device i own. My storm will now go to my son who is 10 years old.

Pros

• Everything

Cons

• OS a little slow to respond sometimes.

Hugo posted on 20 Nov 2008, 02:30

Excellent 10

Excellent phone

For a phone that is actually not that big the screen is awesome, 800x480 resolution allows me to actually do a usefull remote desktop connection.
All other features are top notch too, with my previous WM phone I've had to install 3rd party software for some basic features like a decent keyboard, contact manager, app launcher etc. but with the Touch HD it is not needed, the HTC shell placed over WM 6.1 is very good and the HTC keyboard really works when only using fingers I've not used the included stylus very much, in fact I only found out while reading another review that removing the stylus turns on the phone, a useful feature if I actually used the stylus.
The GPS is also very good, aparently it preloads sattelite positions from the web so getting a location is very fast, Google maps works a little (if you have a good data plan) but to actually do some real navigating you need something like Garmin Mobile.
It's not cheap but the Touch HD is well worth it's price!
So you can see that I'm very happy with my purchase!
 

Pros

• SCREEN
• HTC shell
• Connectivity (wifi, umts, gps)
• Memory
• Processor speed

Cons

• Included pouch
• Price (but worth it!)