If big is beautiful, then the HTC HD2 is undeniably, deliciously and devastatingly drop dead gorgeous.
Because, “at 121mm tall and 67mm wide, the HD2 is some 5mm taller and wider than the iPhone,” exclaims Trusted Reviews.
“The phone itself,” continues Pocket-lint, “is edged in a rubberised finish which neatly caps the top and bottom, as well as running around the edges making it feel secure in the hand.”
And, says Cnet, “It sports an epic screen – the biggest of any mobile currently out there.”
But, cautions Knowyourmobile, “the size of the screen does come at a price. The HTC HD2 is massive.”
Even so, says Register Hardware, “it lines up as HTC's most complete package to date.”
“In terms of internal features, you get Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, a digital compass, HSDPA, GPRS, EDGE, GSM, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 448MB RAM and 512MB ROM. In other words,” suggests Trusted Reviews, “you're left wanting for nothing.”
More pertinently thinks T3, the HD2 is “the first phone to make Windows Mobile work.”
Cnet agrees, proclaiming it “the greatest Windows Mobile phone in the world.” But only because, they explain, “HTC has effectively covered up Windows Mobile's flaws with a customised user interface so beautiful that just looking up the weather brings tears to our eyes.”
“What HTC have done,” proclaims Pocket-lint, “is taken the pain out of Windows Mobile.”
“This means that for the most part you can use this phone quite effortlessly for everyday tasks,” confirms Trusted Reviews. “However,” they warn, “step outside HTC's soft cushioning and you're hit square in the face by the cold hard slab of horrible that is the Windows Phone interface, where even finger scrolling isn't always natively supported. It really is quite a shock.”
Nor is that the only surprise, exclaims Techradar, “would you believe it, Microsoft has bundled its new wonder software into the mix as well, without you even needing to download it.”
So, along with what was Windows Mobile and is now Windows Phone, the HD2 also comes replete with added Bing. More predictably, as Wired points out, “it’s easy to set up Microsoft Exchange synchronisation, and the phone comes with Microsoft Office Mobile.”
As for the phone itself, says Techradar, “it's quickly noticeable that this is, by far, the best touchscreen on any Windows Mobile device thus far.”
“With a massive 4.3-inch 480 x 800 pixel resolution display, it steals the crown from Toshiba's poorly-received TG01,” notes Pocket-lint and, enthuses Register Hardware, it “both looks and feels fantastic.”
“It uses capacitive touch sensing as well and,” adds Trusted Reviews, “it is superbly implemented.”
“Easily as good as the iPhone,” agrees T3, “with every brush of the screen registering correctly.”
“The screen is fantastic,” concurs Wired, “crisp and a joy for web browsing.”
“You have a choice of two built-in Web browsers,” continues Cnet. “HTC has gone with the speedy Opera Mobile as its default choice, but Internet Explorer is also on-board.”
“The difference between the two is pretty major,” Techradar points out. “IE will support Flash video but not multi-touch browsing, and Opera vice versa.”
“But both offer a slick experience thanks to the uber processor and sensitive touchscreen,” admits T3, “and saving relevant pages is nice and easy too.”
What’s more, says Register Hardware, “the four-line onscreen keyboard is a breeze to use too, regardless of whether you're in portrait or landscape mode.”
“Typing is accurate and, when you press a key, the handset vibrates in response,” affirms Wired. “Responsive enough to actually use at speed too,” asserts Pocket-lint, “we found the experience to be very close to the HTC Hero – high praise indeed.”
“Put simply,” states Trusted Reviews, “this is arguably a contender to the iPhone's crown of best touchscreen keyboard.”
Cnet concurs. “On a screen this big,” they spell out, “the keyboard is huge, even in portrait orientation. As we write, it's our favourite virtual keyboard in the world.”
“The size of the screen does come at a price though,” caveats Knowyourmobile. “The HTC HD2 is massive. It doesn't make chatting on the phone simple at all, feeling like you have a remote control firmly lodged in your hand.”
Nonetheless “it is perfectly suited to an inside jacket pocket,” Pocket-lint proposes, “which is where we suspect HTC see this phone heading: a corporate world of finely tailored suits.”
“This is a handset aimed at business users,” acknowledges Wired.
“Lip service has been paid to social networking,” admits Register Hardware, “with onboard apps for Twitter and Facebook, though only Twitter is featured in the menu bar.”
“It all works fairly well,” Cnet concedes, “although we had to merge many of our contacts manually if they weren't using the same email address everywhere.”
“The camera on the HTC HD2 is probably the best the company has whacked on to any of its models thus far,” Techradar believes. “Sadly, that's not saying much.”
“We found the same problems that we always have with HTC camphones,” is Register Hardware’s verdict, “flat colours, poor handling of bright exposures and fuzzy edging.”
“Pictures still come out lacking detail and colour on most occasions,” T3 agrees, “and the dual LED flash is brighter than the surface of the sun. This means detail is not just washed out, but obliterated like a nuclear blast on many pictures. In fact this feature is only useful to scare your friends with how bright it gets.”
Fortunately, says Register Hardware, “video quality wasn't quite as bad as we'd feared, delivering 640x480 pixels and 25fps, which isn't bad, but it still suffers massively in comparison with similar spec’d camphones from Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and LG.”
“Media has also been improved for the HD2,” notes T3, “and shows the power of the Snapdragon processor under the hood of the phone.”
“Another headline feature of the HD2” Pocket-lint thought it important to mention “is its Wi-Fi router feature. Our Mac found it and hooked up with no problems at all, drawing data through the mobile phone network. Apparently on some phones you'll be charged for tethering, which isn't aproblem here.”
As far as other factors are concerned, “call quality is pretty good, if not as loud as you might hope,” according to Techradar. And battery life, thinks Register Hardware, is “not great, but understandable for such a high-feature phone.”
Consequently, decides Trusted Reviews, “if you want the ultimate feature-packed big phone that can do everything, and you can accept the interface limitations of Windows Mobile, then this is the one to get.”
“The best 'business device' on the market by a country mile,” trumpets Techradar. “An excellent choice if you want to mix business with pleasure,” states Wired. “It accomplishes the near impossible,” professes Cnet, “it makes Windows Mobile crave-worthy. For big-screen fans and people who need Windows Mobile for work purposes, we wouldn't hesitate to recommend theHD2.”
“The HTC HD2 is the best HTC device yet,” choruses Knowyourmobile. “A gorgeous multi-media device with lots of points in its favour, not least its impressively huge screen,” proclaims Register Hardware.
“We like the HD2,” T3 is not alone in saying. “We like it alot.”
Quite clearly, if you have to have a Windows phone, the HD2 is your only choice. Even if you do not, but business matters and photography is not your primary focus, this handset could yet be for you.