SlashGear Japan
Rarely do we receive so many questions, so many comments and demands over an upcoming review. In the few days since our HTC Touch HD unboxing and hands-on video demo, the messages have been flooding in. Today, we’ll try to answer those questions – and, of course, the biggest question of them all: have HTC managed the unthinkable and tugged the must-have crown from the head of the iPhone 3G? In the first half of our two-part review, we’ll be looking at the touchscreen, OS, GUI and keyboard entry, as well as the Touch HD’s internet abilities and more.
For first-impressions we’ll point you at our unboxing post. We’re still waiting to hear back exactly what will and will not be included in the retail packaging. Someone at HTC has obviously given no small amount of thought to the perceived quality of what’s included – the USB cable, for instance, is finished with a soft-touch, rubberized coating; a small point, perhaps, but you notice it – but I wish they’d given equal thought to the AC adapter. A universal design, with slot-in country-specific pin sections, with a UK plug it protrudes down from the socket not up and, as such, if your power point is in a low skirting-board, it won’t fit. Just as with the USB cable, it’s a small point but, yes, you notice it.
Put a 3.8-inch 480 x 800 display into your smartphone and you’re making a statement; you’re also taking on some impressive competition. The iPhone 3G is just one of HTC’s key rivals with the Touch HD; there’s also RIM’s BlackBerry Storm, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 and the Samsung Omnia i900. Each has their advantages, certainly, but with the exception of the Storm – which we’re yet to spend time with in person – the Touch HD bests them all. Picture the crispness of the HTC Touch Diamond’s screen, stretched to take up the fullness of this new, broader sibling; image quality is something we’ll not tire of.
It’s that fact which makes the resistive touchscreen all the more frustrating. Like with the rest of its Windows Mobile range, HTC have selected a standard, non-capacitive touch panel; the benefit is that it responds both to the stylus and to a finger, making it suitable for both general prodding and the sort of handwriting input we’re told the Asian markets prefer. The downside is that, while good for a resistive screen, it feels less precise and responsive than the display on, say, the iPhone. A slightly-flexible plastic front is necessary, rather than glass, and the fact that it responds to finger pressure means scrolling isn’t as smooth as on the Apple handset.
Nonetheless, it’s certainly no slouch. For once HTC’s custom Windows Mobile GUI, TouchFLO 3D, has room to really spread out. The bottom tab icons are large and finger-sized, and swiping from side to side quickly flicks through the panes. Everything has been spread out, some aspects more successfully than others. The weather pane, for instance, now incorporates both the large day’s forecast with the next four days along the bottom, rather than on different pages; however on the main home pane the clock has become oversized and squandered space that could have been used to display more calendar entries. Only three will fit without scrolling, just one more compared to the Touch Diamond’s 1-inch smaller display.
Still, there’s more customization on offer, with the new found ability to remove and reorder the different panes (although the home tab is locked in place and you can’t switch it, the settings or the program launcher panes off). A new Stocks display has been included, too. It makes it all the more disappointing when you drop out of TouchFLO 3D and into standard Windows Mobile, which is pretty much a given unless you’re only making calls and taking photos. Microsoft’s smartphone OS might support high-resolution displays, but it certainly doesn’t take advantage of them: font options are basically large & clunky or small & stylus-demanding, with none of the finesse seen on rival OSes. Contrast any of the standard settings pages with HTC’s communications manager, and tell us which you’d prefer to have more of. This isn’t HTC’s fault, as such, but it undoubtedly takes away from the user experience; Windows Mobile 7 can’t come soon enough, frankly.
Happily touched upon by HTC’s GUI finessing is the on-screen keyboard. In addition to the usual Windows Mobile QWERTY, ‘block recognizer’ (similar to Palm’s old Graffiti system), ‘letter recognizer’ (which accepts handwriting letter-by-letter) and ‘Transcriber’ (which accepts full-screen, whole word handwriting), there are three of HTC’s own keyboards. Phone offers a standard numeric keypad for either multi-tap or T9 entry; Compact QWERTY is similar to the BlackBerry SureType system, with two letters per key and T9 used to decipher which you intend; Full QWERTY gives the whole keyboard. Each has a straightforward switch to toggle T9 on and off, together with several pages of characters. The video at the bottom of this page demonstrates all the available options.
The HTC full QWERTY offers keys the same size as those on the iPhone. Happily the resistive touchscreen is precise and responsive enough to differentiate well enough to make typing at a reasonable speed possible. Two factors, though, keep the iPhone input method ahead: first, and most simple for HTC to change, is the way the iPhone letters ‘pop up’ when you press them. Typing on the Touch HD with the stylus is no problem, as the keys are big enough to still see which you’re tapping; with a finger, however, the whole button (and most of those surrounding it) is blocked.
Second, and more frustrating, is the poor auto-correction. Here the iPhone is leagues ahead of Windows Mobile, managing to make sense out of even the most haphazard of typing styles. On the Touch HD, meanwhile, simple things such as “I’m” – where you’d like to miss out the apostrophe, have it automatically added, and the ‘I’ captitalized – aren’t recognized. It’s not a deal breaker, certainly, but it slows you down.
The messaging app is the usual Windows Mobile 6.1 fare, with Microsoft Exchange compatibility for push email (along with wireless calendar and contacts synchronization). Giving Microsoft their due, setup of an Exchange account is always straightforward on WM handsets; email and password was all it took to get everything up and running. POP3, IMAP and Hotmail are all relatively easy to set up too, but push email does initially confuse by having on- and off-peak delivery frequency switched on by default. The handset assumes that, out of office hours, you’re content to get new email every thirty minutes rather than as soon as it arrives; that may be so, but with no suggestion that it’s set up that way it can lead to initial confusion.
SMS and MMS messaging is another section of the email client, with a sideways swipe taking you between inboxes. The Touch HD has threaded text message conversations and there’s a surprising range of sound alert options: you can have the phone bleat differently for when you receive a new MMS, when it’s downloading and when it’s fully downloaded, if you’re so inclined. A Windows Live Messenger client is preloaded, but there are no AIM, Yahoo! Messenger or GTalk apps. Thankfully there’s a decent selection to be had – including free software – from third-party developers.
Speaking of which, considering that Windows Mobile probably has the biggest back catalog of software for a mobile platform, it’s ironic that Apple and even Android are storming ahead with on-device download services. Microsoft really need their own “AppStore” to at least guide new users through the wealth of software on offer; without it, they’re undoubtedly missing out on making the most of their smartphone.
Thankfully HTC preinstall Opera Mobile 9.5 (build 2682 on our review sample). Unlike the mobile version of Internet Explorer, Opera Mobile supports tabs; however out of the box it only permits three at a time and there’s no obvious way in the normal settings menu to change that. Instead, go to “opera:config” in the address bar and there’s an option to increase the number. That tweak made, it’s a very usable browser; zooming – in the absence of multitouch – is triggered either by double tapping on a section of the page, or by calling up a zoom scroll-bar by tapping the icon in the bottom left corner. Panning around the page is done by dragging with your finger or the stylus.
It’s not perfect, though. The zoom seems less “intelligent” than that on Mobile Safari, for instance, which automatically reframes around different sections of the page. On the Touch HD it instead zooms in by a specific amount, and then requires you to tweak the level and shuffle the page about to fit in exactly what you want to read. We also have an ongoing issue with selecting links: it almost seems as if the Touch HD’s high-resolution screen is better than Opera’s designers ever expected it to be. When viewing a whole webpage we can see the links, we can even tap on them individually (with the stylus, at least), but the browser won’t actually register the tap unless you zoom in closer. It’s an ongoing frustration and adds an extra step into browsing.
Flash and streaming media is not supported, unfortunately (there’s a standalone YouTube app to view videos from that site). Over the past few weeks a number of Flash Lite 3.5 cabs have emerged, but we could get none of them to work on the Touch HD. It means that, as we suspected, streaming sites such as the BBC’s iPlayer, Hulu and others won’t display. We had hopes that new browser Skyfire might save the day, with its promise of Flash support, but sadly their current beta doesn’t support VGA or higher displays and, while doing so is on the roadmap, they’re not releasing a date for that version yet.
Nonetheless, rendering in Opera Mobile 9.5 is quick and accurate, with problems in page formatting rare and the quality of the display – link issue aside – doing great justice to most websites. As with the touch-sensitive control buttons along the front of the Touch HD, successfully selecting a link is marked by a slight haptic response. The orientation sensor is also used, rotating the page between landscape and portrait; the on-screen keyboard similarly rotates, the only time – as far as we have found – that it does so.
In Part Two of our HTC Touch HD review, we look at GPS performance, the media functionality of the smartphone – including the camera, audio and video – and battery life. We also explore how the Touch HD performs as a phone. You can find Part Two of the exclusive SlashGear HTC Touch HD review here.
HTC Touch HD text entry demo:
20 Responses to “HTC Touch HD SlashGear Review: Part 1”
Dimitry Wolotko November 5, 2008
Very good review, thx u.
+2Are you doing all photo this HTC?
losdrivare November 5, 2008
When going through text input, you never covered landscape full-qwerty. Too bad, this is the preferred text input method, at least for me. 3rd party apps (such as Gsen, gyrator) can already rotate other apps than Opera, so it’s possible to write e-mail, texts, etc in landscape full-qwerty.
Judging from the landscape full-qwerty in your photos, it seems HTC has wasted valuable screen-estate width with the arrow buttons. Those could have been put below the keyboard instead, leaving space for either wider keys or language-specific characters. That’s a shame, it could have been better designed IMO.
+6adm November 5, 2008
Great review, just the in depth detail I have been looking for.
+3Really looking forward to part 2, hope it comes soon :)
nic November 6, 2008
is the touch screen quality on the touch hd WAYYYY behind that of the iphone?
NeutralMatt November 6, 2008
Will other GPS programs like TOMTOM and Mapking able to be use?
Neutraladria nplesa November 6, 2008
googlemaps gps works with internet conexion or withouth?
+1wath is quality of call conversation?
what other software can be used with gps or Agps?
what is it stand by time or call time?
sorry for my language
thank you
Marc November 6, 2008
The most interesting review I have seen till now, thanks.
What about the phone feature (call quality, adress book,..)
+1What about battery life ?
Arthur Norton November 6, 2008
What us the signal-detection and -holding like? Does it drop calls? If it’s poor as a ‘phone (like the Diamond), forget the bells and whistles.
NeutralJohnBlue November 6, 2008
That is all?
Seriously? We put in like two pages of questions and that’s all we get?
Earlier you stated that the touch screen is “surprising” and that you didn’t want to give anything away until you fully reviewed it. Now we get, “oh it’s alright but not as good as the iPhone.” WTF does that even me? Examples man. Depth. Details. Looking for some insight. Is it smooth and pretty damn good but just not as good? I mean….. for such an important aspect of the phone, the PRIMARY importance considering the BLOODY PHONE IS CALLED “TOUCH” you give it about a line. WOW.
It could have a 90 megapixel camera and teleport us to Mars, but if the damn touch screen blows than we got a big bloody problem. You in all of your genius decide to give it A SINGLE BLOODY LINE.
This review sucks man. Waited days for a review and this is it? Fuk it.
-15JohnBlue November 6, 2008
Taken from XDA developers:
“Thanks for that, seems a bit of a mixed review to me. Doesn’t leave me any clearer as to whether to get this device or not.”
And that means the review SUCKS.
You literally made me wait for days man, I gave you questions and things to consider, and you used ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in comping up with this POS review.
You spent more time ANALYZING THE BLOODY AC ADAPTER THAN ON THE TOUCH SCREEN. TELL ME THIS IS LOGICAL. PLEASE.
I don’t give a BLOODY DAMN if the wire has rubber or not! I DO care about the performance of the TOUCH screen of the TOUCH BLOODY HD.
Honestly, when I read that line about the wire I figured this was going to be a very in-depth review. Then you skip over the MOST IMPORTANT aspects of the bloody phone. Seriously disappointed.
-13DanBurton November 6, 2008
Hi, I have a really interesting question about how the phone as I am going to order one very soon. But I’ve been looking for a way to stream media and live TV to it. The best way I can find is by using Orb either with wmp, coreplayer or orb’s partner software Kinoma (this app looks the most interesting.) aparently there are updates that make it work with the diamond and the x1 better. I would really like to see it tested on the HD if you could be so kind though. What do you think to the software running on it? is it full screen, high quality, smooth playback?
I would be really gratefull if you could answer this please. Thanks.
-Dan
NeutralChris Davies November 7, 2008
John, I’m sorry you’re disappointed with part one, and I’m hoping that part two will answer your questions. I thought long and hard about splitting the piece into two – because no matter how large and how often you write “this is part one, there’s more to come” there’ll always be people coming along and telling you that there are no firm conclusions, you’ve missed stuff out and this is the worst review ever written. Perhaps naively I hoped people would at least remain civil when they did so.
You’re right, you and lots of other people gave me plenty of questions and things to try out. I’ve been trying to get through them all within the limits of what I have available to me, and as such I knew the review as a whole would take longer than I expected. Since there’s obviously such great interest, I thought I’d put out the first half when it was done. In the future I’ll probably think twice about that.
+5losdrivare November 7, 2008
Chis,
Don’t let ONE GUY who can’t hold his language get to you and affect how you choose to do things. Personally, I’d rather have part 1 on wednesday and part 2 on friday than having to wait for the whole review till friday.
See it as a plus that you get feedback from the first part, that you can bring to the second. Just ignore the rude guy that’s always going to be there. After all, this is the internet. ;)
+1JohnBlue November 7, 2008
Chris,
Let me explain why I jumped the gun:
You stated that the second part will look at GPS, Media, and how it performs as a phone. I assumed that you already did your piece about the touch screen as you seemed to “cover” it in part 1 while there was no mention of it in the upcoming review points for part 2. If this is not the case then you do have my apologies.
You are right in that pushing out part 1 quickly was the right thing to do- there is no argument there.
The infuriating aspect is that it seemed like you simply overlooked our suggestions, it came off as you simply ignoring us. I hope you at least can understand WHERE I was coming from. Sometimes it’s good to know the reasons behind another persons actions, even if you don’t agree with them.
Regardless, I have read over what I wrote and I did go overboard, you have my sincerest apologies.
I will wait for part 2 to make any final conclusion, which is what I should have done in the first place.
Again, you have my sincerest apologies. :)
-John
Losdrivare:
Eat my balls.
-4Pete November 7, 2008
Guys,
you probably know that chinese saying – “one picture tells more than a thousand words” …
I believe, that the HD is so anxiously expected, that one finds a really hard time to satiate all those hungry gizmo lovers appetites … Chris, keep up feeding them, you’re doing a good job.
As far as the HD is concerned, I have just bought mine and I’ll do a test on my own. If it’s not what I expect it to be, damn, I’ll probably sell it in a no time …
Neutraladria nplesa November 7, 2008
I forgote a question
+2Iphone have auto-blocate screen to prevent accidental touch or dialing
HTC HD have the same protection?
soryy for mai bad english
and keep treith to the subject
thanks
I will wait for part 2 hope soon
Arthur Norton November 7, 2008
Chris,
I found Part 1 informative and had no trouble understanding that many issues would be tackled in Part 2. I’m grateful for your review and the time and trouble you’ve taken over it. I can contain my impatience and avoid using intemperate language.
Part 1 seemed to me to be fair, mentioning the good and the bad: far too few reviews do that. Some aspects will be more important to some readers than others (e.g., I’m not that fussed about multimedia) – my fellow-readers should allow for that. After all, the reviewer is only human!
+2Marc November 7, 2008
A specific question concerning opera : I use logmein (free version) a lot to remotely take control of pc. (www.logmein.com)
Logmein on the iphone/itouch is disappointing since it works only in html : each time you click on something, it reloads the whole distant page. not fast, not user friendly.
On a windows mobile 6 pda, there is a special logmein client for internet explorer that works really perfectly. it is really usable.
Does anybody knows if it works with the HTC HD and Opera ? If it works, it should be a pleasure to use it with the bigger screen/bigger definition of the HD…
So, did anybody already tested logmein on the HD ?
Thanks, M.
+3joey199 December 13, 2008
I tested the demo unit at a showroom yesterday, although briefly (I cant test the WiFi as there was no free available network to be logged on)
1. With the default screen filter (not literally sticking like a real screen protector), it seems HTC HD is less responsive cf iphone 3g.. does anybody know why, is it because of different sensitizing technology or sth?..even when pressing the HOME button (2nd from left), its not as sensitive (mayb to avoid being too sensitive?), as I have to press it good to make it respond
-22. Also, I wonder why (as per review), in open sunlight, HTC screen is not as good as iphone (no explanation)
3. I tested the camera, and it seems if one wants to zoom in and out, have to swirl your finger inward/outward.. but cant drag the pic left/right/up/down after zooming – this is a cons cf iphone 3g, where its very easy to zoom using fingers and just drag along the picture after the pic is zoomed in/out to have a look around
4. There was no free available wifi that can be logged during the test, so, I cant test the Opera9 / browsing capability fully. However, when testing to load a log-in page (secure network), using Opera, the screen somewhat became a bit jumbled (as with Omnia, last time I tested). Its gives me the same awkward feeling as browsing with Omnia. At that time I have my iphone3G..and the login page was not as such. I wonder when will WMobile have its own Safari.
rarewolf December 31, 2008
[quote comment="53741"]Will other GPS programs like TOMTOM and Mapking able to be use?[/quote]
I’ve heard this is possible at a number of review sites. However, this review is the first I’ve seen that mentions there being a time lag between GPS reporting current location and the THD updating it (eg, as stated 50-80′ in a moving car, which means missing a few freeway exits). Can you confirm this problem with installed Tom Tom software?
cheerios from the Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland :o)
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