We’d forgive you for having forgotten about C-motech’s Mangrove UMPC; after all, the market for a 7-inch touchscreen tablet running Windows Mobile 6.5 is hardly vast. Still, we were interested to see the unit at Qualcomm’s event today, though its tubby form-factor was a whole lot less impressive when sat next to the Quanta Android Smartbook.
A week ago we described HTC’s HD2 as the poster-child for Windows Mobile 6.5, despite HTC having to replace, rework or generally junk a lot of the Microsoft OS’ native functionality and replace it with their own. One such change – and a particularly welcome one at that – is multitouch support, but HTC have limited its use in the final build to the browser and a few other apps. Now there’s a nifty app which unlocks multitouch support in every app system-wide.
Zooomer for the HTC HD2 will work with any .exe executable file on the Windows Phone, and basically add in multitouch control. That’s going to be of mixed use, of course, since not all apps will really benefit from it, but we’re glad to at least have the choice ourselves. The functionality is selective, too, which means you can turn off Zooomer’s multitouch on an app-by-app basis if you’re experiencing problems or just find the zooming frustrating (such as in certain games, perhaps).
If you thought you’d seen it all in Nokia’s Vision of 2015 video, book a flight to Tokyo and stop by Fujitsu’s offices there. They haven’t seen to have got the memo that modular, wirelessly-connected mobile phones with integrated pico-projectors are meant to be the stuff of futurology, not fact, and as such have produced a working version of their F-04B cellphone. Akihabara have been for a play, and claim it’s a brilliant multifunctional device.
Last week, the buzz was clearly on the DROID (see my first take here) but there was another device that was also getting a lot of attention, albeit somewhat more restrained as few folks had one to work with. A few weeks ago, I wrote a column that emphasized people shouldn’t dismiss Windows Mobile. Over the last week I’ve been using the phone with the quiet buzz that proves that assertion. Sadly, it’s the best Windows Mobile phone that you can’t buy in the US yet. What device am I talking about? None other than the HTC HD2.
The HD2 is marked by two features not usually found on most Windows Mobile phones. The first is a capacitive touch screen. This is the first Windows Mobile device that has no stylus and is totally designed for input by touch alone. The second is a 1GHz Snapdragon processor that makes Windows Mobile and especially the HTC Sense UI fly. Finally, add in a gorgeous 4.3″ screen and you realize this is not your father’s Windows Mobile device.
Twelve months ago HTC shook up the Windows Mobile world with the launch of the Touch HD, a smartphone that offered a vast touchscreen, lashings of connectivity and the latest version of their UI tweaking, TouchFLO 3D, to produce what was hitherto thought impossible: an alluring Windows Phone. Now, the company have attempted just such a revolution with Windows Mobile 6.5 in the shape of the HTC HD2. They’ve upped their game with a speedy Snapdragon processor, even vaster display and a fresh UI that’s been educated by their recent work on Android. Can the HTC HD2 again do the unthinkable, and give us a reason to love Windows Mobile?
HTC’s CEO Peter Chou has reignited speculation that the company is preparing some sort of netbook. Chou apparently told reporters at the Taiwanese launch of the HTC HD2 that the company was “carefully looking into that category and how it can be part of that”; the comment echoes the chief executive’s vague allusions to a tablet or MID style device when SlashGear talked to him at the HD2’s debut in London last month.
No great surprise here – after all, HTC CEO Peter Chou already exclusively confirmed it to us back in October – but HTC have officially announced that the HTC HD2 Windows Phone will be headed to the US in early 2010. According to a new press release today, the HD2 “will be available with a major carrier in the US in early 2010″; previous leaks have suggested T-Mobile will be the lucky network to offer the smartphone.
One of the most common questions we’re being asked in the aftermath of our HTC HD2 unboxing is how its on-screen QWERTY keyboard compares to one of the other eye-catching smartphones of the quarter, the Nokia N900. We’ve staged a quick size and keyboard comparison, and you can find the gallery – and read our early opinions on both devices – after the cut.
It’s fair to say that the last time we saw excitement to this degree about a Windows Phone it centered on the HTC Touch HD, and so it seems only right that it’s the company’s successor to that handset, the HTC HD2, that is prompting such interest in 2009. Announced last month after copious rumors, what makes the HD2 special is its 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen, HTC Sense UI and 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset. It’s taken a while, but the HTC HD2 has finally dropped onto the SlashGear test bench, so check out our first impressions and an unboxing video after the cut.
Updated with first-boot video demo after the cut
T-Mobile UK have announced that they’re preparing to offer the HTC Touch2 and HTC HD2, though it seems that someone in their web team hasn’t been keeping up with the rumor-mill. Both Windows Phones are listed as coming in November, but the HD2 is illustrated with an image of the Touch HD and said to come with a 3.8-inch display and access to the Android Market.
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