HTC HD7 - Built for Mobile Entertainment
HTC's flagship Windows Phone 7 device, the HTC HD7, sets to impress with a generous 4.3-inch screen, Dolby Mobile, SRS surround sound and HTC Hub. How does it fare under our intense scrutiny? Find out.
HTC HD7 - Built for Entertainment
As most avid readers of our site would known, the tidal wave of the Windows Phone 7 (WP7) OS has arrived, kicking off first with LG Optimus 7, and now the new HTC HD7 smartphone. HTC has had its fair share of Microsoft Window Mobile phones in its lineup from the HTC HD2, which garnered much attention for its large 4.3-inch screen, to the HTC Touch Diamond2. Unsurprisingly, HTC is one of the forerunners in a close partnership with Microsoft's Windows Mobile 7, and at the recent Microsoft Windows Phone launch on the 12th of October, they unveiled a total of three HTC WP7 smartphones including the subject of our review, the flagship HTC HD7.
For those still foreign to the Windows Phone 7 OS, here's a short recap on what's the user experience about. Users familiar with Windows Mobile 6.5 will find themselves working with a totally new interface comprising of live tiles, hubs and apps. While the former's primary area of concentration is on productivity, Windows Phone 7 has rather aggressively branched out into social aspects of mobile user experience, namely its close integration with Facebook and Xbox Live.
The HTC HD7 looking smart with a streamlined button layout and a clean Windows Phone 7 interface.
The HTC HD7 sports a huge 4.3-inch screen - the biggest one on the WP7 bandwagon so far - that sits nicely beside the existing family of 4.3-inch touch screen behemoths like the HTC HD2 and HTC Desire HD. That's not the only thing striking about the phone; the slim HD7 is built rather fashionably in the same vein as other HTC devices. The downside here is that the huge screen and its glossy sides are fingerprint magnets. The large screen size also means that the phone has rather large dimensions that it might not fit well in your pocket. On the upside, the phone feels sturdy with a rather heavy body.
Like the LG Optimus 7, the phone adheres to Microsoft's design guideline, such as sporting a 480 x 800 pixels resolution display as well as the three essential buttons on the face of the phone among others. However, the buttons aren't the physical type, but are touch-sensitive. While they are extremely responsive (even to light taps), they sometimes get in the way of navigation due to their proximity to the screen. The phone's other physical buttons don't fare well either. For example, the power button on the top is a thin and flat strip that is a nightmare to press. The experience is made worse since you have to constantly interact with it to unlock or lock your screen. The volume and camera buttons on the right profile are also equally flat and thin, but they are decidedly easier to press because of their more favorable positions.
It is easy to spot the power button, but unfortunately, it is too flat and takes too much effort to start or lock/unlock the phone.
The Volume and Camera buttons are thin and flat as well, but are easier to press due to their position on the right profile. Besides the screen, take note that the glossy sides are also fingerprint magnets.
The ports have been laid out nicely side-by-side on the bottom with easy access - i.e., no covers to pry open.
We have encountered some bad experience with previous HTC phones with regards to removing battery covers, but we managed to easily snap it off the HD7. The bad thing is that the cover is made out of thin plastic and feels fragile, so do exercise caution and exert less force when opening it.
There's a small gap that makes it easier to pry open the cover to the battery compartment.
The back is predominantly plastic, with the battery compartment taking the top half of the real estate. As you can see, the battery has to be removed first before you can remove or insert the SIM card. There's no SD card compartment here, but you can rely on the phone's hefty 16GB internal storage.
The obvious unique feature of the HD7 is that it comes with an aluminum kickstand that rests on top of the camera and dual LED flashes. The kickstand does not protect the lens, but works as a stand that can easily be propped for viewing photos or videos (think of it as a miniature photo frame). It feels sturdy and can be easily flipped out or snapped back without any cause for concern.
The kickstand feels stable and props the HD7 at a good viewing angle for viewing photos or videos.
The HTC Way
As mentioned throughout the previous articles, Microsoft has placed strict guideline policies for manufacturers, limiting the level of customization for WP7 phones (i.e., the interface). If you're still not accustomed to what WP7 brings to the table, you can check out out these mini articles from Microsoft as well as our own feature articles and findings. However, this is not an entirely despairing situation as most manufacturers find innovative ways to differentiate their WP7 phones with hardware add-ons or proprietary apps. One good example is the HTC Hub that is found on all HTC WP7 smartphones.
A huge weather widget greets you on the HTC Hub startup page.
There has been a lot of hoohaa about the HTC Hub, and with HD7 being the flagship HTC WP7 phone, we were excited to see how the app fared. On switching on the phone, you will find that you can easily access the HTC Hub on the homepage. Starting it up, a nifty and quick animation will greet you - which you can't skip so be careful to navigate properly. The Hub exists mainly to alert you to featured apps, new HTC applications, and games. Essentially, it works similarly like the Marketplace hub, but with a clear anchor on HTC apps.
On clicking the weather widget, you will get transported to a page with HTC's trademark weather animation as well as weather data for major cities around the world.
One of the more exciting HTC apps is the Photo Enhancer. Just like its name implies, the app works as a simple, no-frills photo editing software. There are a couple of color presets you can choose from after selecting your intended photo - simply click on the desire palette and your photo will be automatically edited. Don't expect to be able to change color temperature or contrast levels manually as you are limited by the available color presets.
HTC has provided users with a simple photo enhancing app that allows you to add effects to your photos.
With an obvious emphasis on mobile entertainment (which is further augmented by its huge screen size), HTC has also included the Sound Enhancer app for both Audio and Video. You can choose to play your entertainment on Dolby Mobile or SRS Entertainment modes when you using the phone's internal speakers. Once you're plugged into headphones or external speakers, you have an array of equalizer options to choose from such as Jazz, Country, Bass Booster and more.
The menu is simple to navigate, with choices laid out in a list. The choices could have been better integrated with the music player so that you don't have to go in and out of apps to select different sound enhancing modes.
For now, the HTC Hub's interface is pretty to look at but rather bare in terms of offerings. There isn't any more that is already on the Marketplace or pre-installed on the phone, but we are excited to see more exclusive offerings to come in the near future.
There aren't many HTC-exclusive apps yet, but we will be sure to watch out this space for more.
Smooth, Quality Experience
One thing we noted while we were trying out the WP7 phones at the launch event was that the interface runs very fluidly - and this smooth experience continues in our in-depth testing of the LG Optimus 7, and likewise, the HTC HD7. We spotted no lags between screen transitions and loading graphics as apps loaded extremely snappy. The screen reacted to our touch responsively too and we found that the smooth-sailing messaging experience was similar to the LG Optimus 7 and perhaps even more so, due to the HD7's larger screen and bigger virtual keys.
The multimedia experience is definitely enhanced by the huge 4.3-inch, 480 x 800 pixels resolution screen. We sampled HD movie trailers on the phone and were generally pleased with the colors and clarity of the video playback. While its S-LCD screen pales in comparison to an OLED screen, for us, viewing videos on the HD7 was overall an above average experience. It also helped that we could flip out the kickstand and place it on the table to watch content at leisure. Like the Desire HD, the HD7 has been pumped with audio options like Dolby Mobile, SRS enhancement and a large selection of equalizer modes, allowing for better music playback.
Perhaps because of the recent Desire HD (and the fact that both share similar specs), we expected a 8-megapixel camera with on the HD7. Instead, the latter has been fitted with a 5-megapixel camera, and with dual flash capabilities. As per usual, we put the smartphone to a series of resolution and color chart tests, with a mock display image shot to test its actual performance.
The overall performance is average but shows improvements over other HTC smartphones, with more details shown prominently. Colors however, appear washed out and with a tinge of blue.
Details are moderate, with colors appearing washed out.
Detail levels are moderate, with significant improvement over even recent HTC phones like Desire Z.
Last but not least, we compare the HTC HD7's battery performance with a selected group of devices chosen based on their similarities across battery capacities, display sizes, resolution and processing power. We have adopted the same complusory video looping test that we use on other platforms, but like the Optimus 7, the HD7 does not support multitasking, so do take the battery results as a rough gauge of its battery mileage against the other multitasking-capable mobile phones. The standard battery test consists of looping a 240 x 320 pixels resolution video clip at 100% volume and screen brightness, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switched on. For the HD7, we compared it against the LG Optimus 7, HTC Desire HD, and the Apple iPhone 4.
The HTC HD7 fared worse than the LG Optimus 7, unsurprisingly due to a bigger screen and a smaller 1230mAh battery. However, sharing the same battery capacity, screen capacity and resolution on top of a similar processor and portability, the HTC HD7 fared pretty badly compared to the HTC Desire HD. The only glaring difference here is the OS. Compared to the iPhone, the HTC HD7 trails far behind, lasting almost 3 hours and 30 minutes less. However, as we mentioned earlier in the Optimus 7 review, we'll only be able to give a better idea of how these devices or the Microsoft mobile OS fares against its competing platforms. Still, it's something we hope Microsoft or some vendor can address to get the power consumption figures down.
In addition to this strict lab test and comparisons, we've also used the Desire HD7 as our main phone to test out how its battery would fare on an average day-to-day usage scenario. This included 3G connectivity while partaking in heavy mobile usage throughout the day (e.g. occasional browsing on the web, internet messaging, and taking photos). On a single charge, the phone managed to last about 5+ hours, less than Optimus 7's six hours. This is a bit of a concern for heavy mobile phone users.
Our Closing Thoughts on the new 7
We were generally pleased with the look and feel of the HTC HD7 - it is simple and sleek with easy-to-discern front controls (although we would have preferred better button placement). The only real button-related problem we faced was with the power on/lock button on the top as it is far too flat for convenient usage. Compared to several other of HTC's own devices, this phone is definitely larger and bulkier but it's also because it doubles up as a multimedia device. However due the width of the device, don't expect it to fit comfortably in your pocket, unless you're wearing cargo pants.
Physical gripes aside, the Windows Phone 7 OS earns points for its high usability and fluidity, and while Microsoft has implemented strict guidelines for phones across the board (such as a 1GHz processor), the HD7 has a few attributes playing in its favor. For one, its huge 4.3-inch, 480 x 800 pixels resolution screen brings about a less error-prone messaging experience and enjoyable video playback. Videos were also smooth with no obvious frame losses. On the audio department, the phone supports Dolby Mobile and SRS options that noticeably enhance the audio playback quality. The kickstand at the rear might not be an essential add-on, but it brings convenience to those who prefer to position and watch their multimedia content from a comfortable viewing angle. The HD7 phone is clearly geared to provide a decent multimedia experience, and we dare say it does a rather fine job. Last but not least, HTC has added the HTC Hub, which might not have much to boast as of now, but has the potential to feature HTC-exclusive apps for downloads. The ones available at the moment aren't that fancy yet, but we will wait and see before we cast our final judgment. Nonetheless, it is a nifty add-on for those looking to extend their HTC experience within the Windows Phone 7 platform.
HTC devices are not renowned for their image quality, but the HTC HD7 appeared to have slight improvement over its older siblings , including the recent five-megapixel sensor based Desire Z. Quality-wise, it's able to match up against the eight-megapixel camera sensor of the Desire HD. However, the significance of this will not be a deal-breaker as the quality overall is still average, with washed-out colors and middling details.
The HTC HD7 has a strong multimedia proposition going for it, but as a mobile phone, we are quite concerned of its short battery life performance.
The HTC HD7 would have been a highly recommended smartphone, if not for its weak imaging capabilities and even weaker battery life performance. As mentioned in our earlier Optimus 7 review, if you are an early adopter willing to shell out and embrace the new WP7 platform, the HTC HD7 is definitely a worthy investment , more so if you are keen on experiencing smooth and comfortable video playback on the phone (provided it is hooked to a charging outlet at the same time). Otherwise, its S$938 asking price could be a bit difficult to stomach.
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