The HTC HD7 is one among the first handsets available in India with Windows Phone 7. At Mobigyaan, we will do an in-depth analysis of both the hardware and the software and bring the review to you soon. While we are analyzing it in detail, we would like to share our initial thoughts on HTC HD7.
As we opened the box, we were greeted by a massive block of mobile beauty. Yes it’s a big phone. The screen size is 4.3 inch diagonally and it supports 480 x 800 pixels resolution. It weighs 162 gms and its dimensions are 122 mm x 68 mm x 11.2 mm. It’s a bit bulky at those dimensions, but you will pardon it once the mobile is switched on. A bright brilliant LCD capacitive screen lets you play with 16 million colors. The display quality is absolutely brilliant except for a few jerks in text re-rendering while scrolling pages. The screen is a total finger print magnet. Just near the edge of the screen are the speakers. The inundated speaker slots are dust magnets. It’s just hard to maintain this mobile clean and clear.
The size of the mobile is wide to make it uneasy for anyone with small palm. It would require both your hands to operate. But the back cover provides a lot of grip and makes holding a little easier. The screen lock / unlock button at the top is a bit difficult to press. You need to press it really hard and at the right spot to activate it. The kick stand at the back flaps out neatly and helps the mobile sit like a monitor. The angle is perfect to watch movies and flip through photos.
The camera is average, which is typical of HTC phones. I haven’t yet taken pictures at different conditions, but so far it takes decent photos at 5 mp assisted by its very powerful dual LED flash. The dedicated camera button is very difficult to operate. It’s very similar to the lock/unlock button. The auto-focus camera needs the button to be pressed for a few seconds before its ready to click. You would need a flat long and thick nail to operate the button and take a perfect picture.
Finally the OS. Windows Phone 7 is refreshingly a new experience. We loved the layout, the fonts and the user interaction design. But there are very few applications in the Market Place and most of them are paid. The HTC HD7 comes with a vanilla version of the Windows Phone 7, with no extra applications installed. HTC has thrown in a few applications but not very impressive. We had no problems setting up the WiFi or the Data connection for the first time. You would need data connection almost immediately to start using the mobile. It syncs with Facebook and Google for contacts apart from Live and Outlook accounts.
Once we connected the device to the system, it installed all the required drivers, but it prompted to install the Zune software. The Zune is a 120 MB download and its an old version. After install you would again need to download updates for it. The Zune application is need to manage the phone, music, video and other data.
If you have used HD7 or Windows Phone 7, do share us your comments and we will add your views in the detailed review that’s coming up soon. Meanwhile checkout the video.