JP
We’re still getting to grips with the HTC Touch HD smartphone, putting it through its paces before the definitive SlashGear review, but we thought we’d share some demo video and answer a few of the questions you’ve been putting to us. This is obviously a highly-anticipated device, and we can tell you now that, while in some areas it excels, there are still some frustrating omissions. Check out the full demo video after the cut, together with the Q&A.
Q. How many calendar appointments show on the TouchFLO 3D home screen, compared to the HTC Touch Diamond’s two?
A. At most, three, unless you scroll down. While the Touch HD’s 3.8-inch screen is bigger than that of the Touch Diamond, the bigger clock still takes up most of the Home tab. You can see more of the calendar functions in the video below.
Q. Can the Touch HD’s Opera browser play content from BBC iPlayer, Hulu or other streaming sites?
A. No. For instance, the iPlayer site loadsbut the streaming video component does not. There is a streaming video app, separate from the YouTube player, but that requires a specific url to load.
Q. How is the sound quality from the Touch HD’s media player? Better or worse than an iPod?
A. We’re still testing this out, as we like to use multiple different types of music and preferably different file types too. First-impressions are positive, though, and with a big MicroSD card we could see ourselves using the Touch HD as our everyday PMP.
Q. Will the HTC Touch HD work on AT&T’s network in the US? What functionality will be lost in the process?
A. The Touch HD is quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, so you’d be able to make calls and get online. However the HSDPA/HSUPA uses European bands not the US frequencies, so you’d be limited to WiFi b/g for high-speed internet access. HTC have already confirmed that they don’t plan on making a version of the Touch HD for the US. Features like Visual Voicemail won’t work either.
Q. Why doesn’t the Touch HD have a capacitive touchscreen? Is this related to Windows Mobile?
A. HTC have obviously used a capacitive touchscreen on the T-Mobile G1, which runs Android, so it certainly looks to be a Windows Mobile issue. According to Brandon Miniman it’s because Microsoft don’t want to give up on the stylus-driven handwriting recognition, which is particularly popular in the Asian markets.
Q. Does the HTC Touch HD have TV-out functionality, as with the Touch Pro?
A. There was no TV-out cable in our Touch HD box, but we already knew that it was not the final bundle, so I put the question to HTC. The bad news is that the Touch HD does not support TV-out as “it would require a different chipset and accessory”.
Q. Does GPS work without lag?
A. We’ll be testing this out over the weekend, and have full details in the Touch HD review next week.
Q. Can you change the default TouchFLO 3D homepage from the clock to, say, the programs page?
A. No. You can rearrange the tabs, or remove them, but the clock homepage is locked.
Q. How easy is the on-screen keyboard to use?
A. As you can see in the video below, the keyboard is a lot easier to use without the stylus than on, say, the smaller-screen of the Touch Diamond. We can manage a fair hunt & peck typing speed, plus the T9 word auto-completion is easy to toggle on and off. However, unlike on the iPhone, when you tap a key the letter doesn’t appear above it; that can make it tricky to tell if you’ve actually hit the correct button. The auto-correct feature is also less impressive than on the iPhone.
Thanks for all the questions so far; we’ve got the Touch HD for another week or so before we have to send it back, so if there’s anything else you’re desperate to find out about HTC’s flagship smartphone then let us know in the comments. We’ll have the full review, plus more exclusive video, over the next few days.
HTC Touch HD video demo:
25 Responses to “HTC Touch HD: Video Demo and Q&A”
JohnBlue October 31, 2008
Why are you using the stylus? You know everyone is going to use their finger, that’s the entire point of the device.
Reason being, want to see what the responsiveness is like!
If the iPhone is a 10 in touch responsiveness, what would you give the Touch HD?
Thanks!
Neutralno2steph October 1, 2009
doubt it would happend
NeutralChris Davies November 1, 2008
Mainly to keep my fat fingers from obscuring the screen, John :) I’ll shoot some video of using it with my fingers; my early opinion would be that, compared to the iPhone, I was surprised how finger-responsive the HD is. I assumed the resistive touchscreen would be a struggle with gestures, as I found the Samsung Omnia i900 to be, but the HD has been a pleasant surprise.
+1JohnBlue November 1, 2008
Oh ok. :)
Hate to be a stickler, but compared to the iPhone, the finger-responsiveness is….. ?
Surprising isn’t the answer I am looking for. :P
Great site by the way, and the fact that you personally reply is a HUGE plus! You are going in my bookmarks and I will get word out on this site!
Thanks again!
NeutralBas November 1, 2008
Nice preview!
NeutralCan you also say something about battery life? (what I find most interesting)
For example: Can youn estimate how many hours constant video / music the device can play before its empty?
Thanks!
David C November 1, 2008
Does the keyboard get wider if you rotate to landscape mode ?
NeutralChris Davies November 1, 2008
John, I know it was a hedging answer, but on such a huge issue like the touchscreen I don’t want to make any pronouncements too soon. I’ve only had the HD since Thursday, so I feel it’s still early days. I promise that I’ll be more definitive once I’ve spent some more time using it.
Bas, I shall do some timings on battery life for the review.
David, the screen rotation only works in the browser, as far as I can tell. At which point, yes, the on-screen keyboard gets wider. I’ll take some screenshots for the review.
NeutralJohnBlue November 1, 2008
That’s beautiful. Many reviewers seem to overlook the fact that the touch screen is the main component of the phone. If the touchscreen is not responsive and smooth, that renders everything else about the phone moot. I cannot remember a single review that gave the touch screen and it’s responsiveness due investigation and analysis in a review- I am glad to see that you seem to be on the ball on this!
Enjoy your time with the phone! Patiently waiting for the review!
A few things:
1. Does it have a light sensor?
2. Does it have a proximity sensor?
3. If you could also pay great attention to the various keyboards and such, that would be great as well, because well, if you can’t write messages/emails properly then it’s a slight problem! :P
Thanks and good luck!
+1Arthur Norton November 1, 2008
Why do British reviewers say ‘haitch’ instead of ‘aitch’?
-2Sakuragi November 1, 2008
How about Video playback? without reencoding using a ppc video converter. I hoping the playback is very fluid. I’m waiting to Import this phone to the .US
Neutralerick November 1, 2008
It will be great if you can report on the battery life, thanks!
+1JohnBlue November 2, 2008
Oh ya! Pictures too!
How bad is the effect of the lack of flash on the quality of pictures?
A nice good focus on pictures would be great!
Neutralmobilemi November 2, 2008
Please try
the TV-out cable
some navigation software
3D games with accelerometer
biggest microsd card that works
screen comparation in term of colors and contrast
different video playback.
I saw a screenshot identicall to a PC desktop, it is possible to be a home screen
Neutralon HTC HD ?
Khoa Huynh November 2, 2008
Great video – looking forward to your review next week ! Some questions:
1) How is handwriting recognition. Could you show us how to send a one line SMS to someone?
Neutral2) Although the phone doesn’t seem compatible with BBC iPlayer, does it stream anything? (such as BBC NEWS at http://news.bbc.co.uk)
3) So it has problems playing high-def videos, but normal videos should be OK (Avi, Divx) ?
4) Sony X1 or HTC Touch HD? ;-)
Ralph November 2, 2008
Keep up the good work! And enjoy your phone :)
NeutralDaniel Grant November 3, 2008
I would like to know what the phone comes with in the box. More importantly, will it have a screen protector or wallet/pouch. also does it come with any memory stick ??
NeutralDavid Lucas-Smith November 3, 2008
[quote comment="53315"]Why do British reviewers say ‘haitch’ instead of ‘aitch’?[/quote]
ay
bee
kee
dee
ee
feff
gee
haitch……..wubble you, xex, yai, zed
They never learnt the alphabet properly at school. Mind you, at least they don’t say Zee.
NeutralThis is a top phone even when pronounced Haitch Tee Cee Haitch Dee
JazzM November 4, 2008
Great site and much appreciated that you let readers post their questions. Keep up the good work!
What I would like to know is: what is the reception quality of the Touch HD like? I used to have a Samsung phone, but at home I always had to open the window when I wanted to make a call and to have a good reception. Currently I have the Nokia 6233 and the windows can stay closed. The reception of this phone is excellent. I can even make phonecalls when I’m in an elevator. So can you tell something about the reception quality?
Thanx.
NeutralFiras November 4, 2008
Great video review Chris. Thank you for taking the time to put it together and answer our questions. I would just like to clarify one of your answers regarding the keyboard going into landscape mode. This is only possible in Opera and not in other apps such as Word for eg.?
Thanks again, and keep up the great reviews :)
NeutralDanBurton 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
NeutralMarc November 11, 2008
Chris,
Quick question :
If you change the language of the HD to french, do you get an AZERTY keyboard instead of QWERTY?
Cheers, Marc.
NeutralJagjeet Singh November 30, 2008
Hi -
>A. No. You can rearrange the tabs, or remove them, but the clock homepage is locked.
Does that mean I can not change the home page background ? I am looking for that kind of phone with large screen so that I can put lot of programs and be logged in messenger .. and others..
I was thinking to remove the clock options and have a flat screen with nice background to see all those links ..
Can you please confirm if this is poosible ..
Regards,
NeutralJagjeet Singh
jon December 28, 2008
Errrr because it was us Brits that invented English by any chance? :)
[quote comment="53476"][quote comment="53315"]Why do British reviewers say ‘haitch’ instead of ‘aitch’?[/quote]
ay
bee
kee
dee
ee
feff
gee
haitch……..wubble you, xex, yai, zed
They never learnt the alphabet properly at school. Mind you, at least they don’t say Zee.
NeutralThis is a top phone even when pronounced Haitch Tee Cee Haitch Dee[/quote]
BlueCeez December 30, 2008
So can you, or Can’t you, TEXT Message in Landscape Mode ( Horizontally )..??
NeutralChris Davies December 30, 2008
Out of the box, no. But there are freeware apps that will add screen rotation; I link to one in my review:
http://www.slashgear.com/htc-t.....1-0521514/
Neutral