HTC Snap Review

Software and Functions:

The HTC Snap runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard edition that comes with almost no personalization. The major, extra add-on is the Inner Circle function that is meant for people who receive many emails and therefore, need to follow only the most important ones. To get yourself all set, you first need to choose people for your priority list. Pressing the green keyboard button (lower right-corner) calls up a screen showing all emails, received from the select group of people, which allows you to instantaneously see only information you consider important. The function comes in really handy and can make your life substantially easier. Our only gripe is that Inner Circle works with all your email accounts at the same time, meaning there is just no way to separate personal letters from work-related correspondence. Well, a simple filter option by relevant email account would have fixed the issue. If you happen to have more spare time like when, say, you boss has just left for some exotic country (and no one wants you to urgently mow the lawn), you can easily switch over from Inner Circle to the general inbox, that shows all received emails (including spam messages).



All that can be expected from a device running Windows Mobile Standard is right here – straightforward contacts (with direct keyboard searches from the home screen) and good functionality in terms of keeping your daily routine in order or working with messages. And there is the built-in Internet Explorer, of course. We do recommend that you install another browser the minute you get the phone, because we don’t really think IE is good to browse web pages on. The HTC Snap delivers internet connectivity through HSDPA 3.6Mbit/s and Wi-Fi.




This is a business oriented device and it seems logical multimedia capabilities have not been of primary concern to the manufacturer. The phone sports 2-megapixel camera and the best we can say about it is that pictures are taken quickly and videos are captured at QVGA resolution and 20 frames per second. The overall quality of both snapshots and videos is rather low with blurry details and unrealistic colors. You can listen to music using Windows Media Player or HTC Audio Manager. The latter allows you to switch between songs by slightly turning the trackball, shows large sized album art and as a whole, is convenient to use. Sound is not loud enough through either the loudspeaker or the earphones, but its quality is OK. Video playback support is limited to MPEG44/H.263 and H.264 content and stuttering becomes pronounced if the resolution width of your video exceeds 320 pixels.