HTC HD2 preview: First look

Introduction



The dragon in the HTC camp has awoken, ladies and gentlemen, and it's time it shows what it's capable of. Be it a dragon, or a lion, the HTC HD2, codenamed HTC Leo, is truly a spectacular device. It seems to have all modern mobile technologies in its pocket, bridging the gap between phones and tablets.






HTC are pushing the boundaries of the impossible by fitting the 4.3-inch screen in a phone smaller than the Toshiba TG01, which was the first Snapdragon-based device ever to be released. HD2 is certainly a feat of engineering and something to really look up to.


Now that it has just hit the market, the HD2 is bound to make some serious waves in the high-end smartphones pool and we guess many of you would probably be checking it out this holiday season. And you would be right to do so. Let's go over its impeccable specs sheet one more time:







HTC HD2 at a glance:


•General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/2100 MHz, HSDPA, HSUPA


•Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone


•Dimensions: 120.5 x 67 x 11 mm, 157 g


•Display: 4.3" 65K-color TFT capacitive touchscreen, 800 x 480 pixels WVGA, multi-touch support


•Platform: Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon 1 GHz processor


•OS: Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional; HTC Sense user interface (formerly TouchFLO 3D)


•Memory: 512MB storage, 448MB RAM, microSD card slot, 2GB card included in the retail box


•Camera: 5 megapixel auto-focus camera with touch focus and dual-LED flash; VGA@30 video recording


•Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio


•Battery: 1,230 mAh Li-Ion; up to 6 h 20 min talk time, 490 h standby, 8 h video playback, 12 h music playback


•Misc: Built-in accelerometer and digital compass, proximity and ambient light sensors, carrying pouch in box, optional car kit


•Software: CoPilot navigation software (trial version), Wi-Fi router software, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter integration, HTC Footprints


The HTC HD2 most certainly feels great in hand - the quality of the used materials is nice and the slim bezel around the screen is almost as spectacular as the slim profile. For the fist five minutes you can't help but simply sit there and just stare at the amazing screen.






But with touch smartphones getting screens that large sooner or later ergonomics had to be sacrificed. We somehow thought that the original Touch HD had almost crossed the line, but the HD2 has definitely crossed over. Reaching your thumb to the opposite angle of the screen is quite a task and it's not really comfortable to use the phone single-handedly. But we guess many of you would find the compromise with ergonomics quite worth it.

Unannounced Nokia N900 previewed - turns smartphone

You've probably heard of Nokia's upcoming tablet dubbed Nokia N900. A pre-announcement preview revealed that the Maemo-based smart internet device is also a GSM phone. The excellently geared smartphone has obviously impressed our fellow tech journalists and according to them, it's the next big thing in the mobile phones world.

Being the next generation in the natural evolution of the Nokia smart mobile internet devices, the N900 features full telephony and messaging capabilities. The author chose not to disclose its full specifications until the handset is officially announced but the bits revealed are enough to make us drool

Nokia N900 relies on a 3.5" resistive touchscreen display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels for most of its user interaction. The other features include 32GB internal memory, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, microUSB port, TV-out and haptic feedback. A 5 megapixel camera, identical to the one of Nokia N97 is also onboard.

DivX support makes sure that the Nokia N900 can easily play your favorite videos without having to convert them. Coupled with the generously sized screen and the same lens-surround kickstand as on the Nokia N96 it should provide for great video-watching experience.

Also true to its tablet origins the smartphone sport an excellent browser with Flash support and a bunch of other software goodies to keep you in touch with your preferred online social communities.

Nokia N900 is powered by an ARM Cortex-A8 CPU but the reviewer chose not to disclose its clock, but it's an easy guess to say 600Mhz, much like Samsung Omnia HD. We will also have to wait for the official announcement to see what is the amount of available RAM.

The Maemo OS that the Nokia N900 uses is also great looking with excellent performance as the reviewers point out. Although the N900 has pretty different looks and feel, its touch experience is comparable to that of the iPhone, according to the source.

Nokia N900 will start shipping in the last quarter of the current year, its estimated price being in the region of 550 euro. We look forward its official announcement at Nokia World 2009 this September.