The HTC HD2 is the world's first Windows Mobile-toting phone with a capacitive screen, and also packs the world's largest mobile phone display too.
It's also the first WinMo phone to use HTC's Sense UI, previously used on the company's Android handsets, bringing with it Facebook integration and direct Twitter access, as well as masking well the operating system beneath it.
Running Windows Mobile 6.5, it certainly makes use of the all the good bits of the upgrade, but HTC decides to do its own thing on around 95 per cent of the HD2.
The first thing that most people will notice when picking up the HTC HD2 is the sheer size of the screen, which is justified when you realise it's a whopping 4.3-incher.
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The screen dominates the whole front of the phone, reaching very close to the edges on either side and only leaving room for a speaker at the top and buttons at the bottom, meaning it's a very nice tablet-style look.
The buttons on the front of the HD2 look like brushed metal, and are nicely rounded and raised, making them easy to hit. There's the usual suspects on offer, with the call and terminate keys flanking the home, back and Windows buttons.
Other than that, there's very little else on the HD2 button-wise. On the left-hand side, around half way up, there's a volume up/down key, which is flush to the chassis. This is actually a little hard to hit at times, as it's difficult to find it when not looking.
The bottom of the phone houses the microUSB slot for charging and PC connection, along with the 3.5mm headphone jack. It's an odd place to put this pair, with the common option being at the top or in the top corners, and it means a headphone jack can sometimes get caught up in the pocket.
It's also hard to text in portrait mode when listening to music – we know that sounds like a pretty niche situation, but as the multimedia aspects of the HD2 have also been upgraded, this is important.
The rear of the phone is also pretty minimal as well – apart from the camera (with dual LED flash) there's very little else to look at. It takes a while to work out how to get the battery cover off as well, with a slight groove on the right-hand side needing to be pulled pretty hard to remove it.
The battery looks pretty small, although that's probably just to do with the scale of the HD2. It basically holds in the SIM card and nothing much else, with the microSD card slot sitting away from it, making hot swapping possible.
The other noteworthy aspect when picking it up for the first time is the weight of the phone - it's just 157g with battery, which is pretty darn light for a phone this size.
The camera protrudes slightly at the back, which can get in the way of holding it, but this is a minimal problem as you swiftly learn to shift it to a more comfortable position.
The phone is curved nicely on the back, meaning it sits well in the palm. And despite the huge screen size, it's actually not that hard for the average (admittedly male) palm to navigate to all the important areas of the screen, with the thumb easily called into action to hit the upper levels.
In the box
Keeping with HTC tradition, the box is a slim design featuring just the basic components. This means a microUSB lead, an adaptor to let you plug said lead into the wall, a pair of headphones that double as a (pretty cool with remote control for the music player) hands-free kit, and of course the phone itself.
We're not too sure we like the fact we only get one USB lead that doubles as both the charger and the computer connector, but with the polar bears in trouble the way they are, it's only fair we all do our bit.
However, we do like the lack of CD in the box for software, with that being either available on the phone or downloadable from the HTC website.
Your comments (16) Click to add a new comment
parandeh
August 10th 2010
16. I relied upon these comments to make my second purchase of an HTC handset. Of course the first HTD Touch Diamond was a disaster and I think that HTC should be sued for this false pretence of creating a mobile phone.
1. the HTC Touch Diamond constantly jams, so does the HTC HD2. If you happen to go to the media files and start playing any music file then minute you want to reduce or incrase the volume the phone will jam.
2. You cannot control the volume of the phone even if you are listening to music if the screen is off.
3. You cannot hold or go forward or backward either. So as an MP3 player this phone is completely useless.
4. The SMS service of this mobile unit is a joke. It will show you as if the SMS is sent, only for your friends to call you several days later to say that they have just received a text you sent 5 days ago. Of course, your messages get stock in the phone for some reason. They will not be sent until you remove battery and restart the phone again. A true microsoft windows phone.
The touch screen is not exactly what one would expect. If a ghost existed in any phone, it would be in the HTC HD2.
An expensive purchase without a guarantee for its functionality, I would strongly advice everyone against buying an HTC product. Get yourself an iPhone or a Nokia phone that works. HTC is the a cheap chinese imitation of a phone and good as a toy for kids to play.
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gimmeverries
June 10th 2010
15. this thing is great UNLESS you want to use it as a phone!
the review and some comments say it all regarding the physical device the apps etc, but i've found it frustrating when using its core function - the phone.
the wireless cards are week and under powered and trhe OS doesn't seem to handle multiple network connections well. my signal decreesed significantly compared to my blackberry (i live in a village) from full bars to a complete unknown.. i look at it one minute its ok the next nothing, its disconnected! (im on the same network as before) things are better if you i switch the wifi off but still not great.
call quality is awfull for me - its like going back to the mid 90's
Maybe its OK if you live urban with loads of mast all over the place and you're used to other "smart phones" but s**t!
@lafunga - yes o2 do it, i'm with them.
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jonathang
March 2nd 2010
14. The HD2 is an excellent device and most of the functions work well and are reasonably easy to set-up and understand until however you attempt to set-up and email account to Yahoo in the UK. The phone seems to think you're in the USA and defaults all the server addresses to the USA versions including setting the Account Type to IMAP4 when Yahoo in the UK is a POP3 account and it won't allow you to overwrite this value. I'm currently waiting for HTC to tell me how to workround this!!!! Not happy at the mo very likely that this will go back to T-Mobile as it does not do what I bought it for...
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sprocket
February 19th 2010
13. I swore I would never willingly own an HTC again after the disasterous experience I had with the Touch Diamond. I now currently own both an iPhone - on Orange and an HTC HD2 on Vodafone via my employers account. I chose the HD2 after auditioning several phones, Nokia N900, the iphone 3GS, HTC Hero, Samsung Blade2, Blackberry Bold. Im not going to go into lots of detail here about my findings, however I shoudl say that my criteria were - 1 the phone has to be a business tool, integrating with my works network and MS Exchange Outlook Mail, Calander & Tasks. The iphone is a bit of a pain.
2 It had to be able to multi task 3 or 4 apps and maintain reasonable speed (within reason I wouldnt expect 6 or 7 apps running simultaneiously) (iphone doesnt do this so well but has better battery life as a result)
3 I wanted something that I could 'tweak' and customise (N900 and HD2 win here)
4 I used the benchmark of the iphone 3gs from a UI perspective (NB I work for a UI design company) (iphone is a winner but isnt great if you are interested in customising to your preferences)
5 I wanted something that could integrate with my social networking favourite websites - Fb, Skype, MySpace. (all great, iphones the winner though)
6 Needed good GPS reception (HD2 is fantastic)
7 Needed good mobile reception (iphones weakest point, HD2 wins hands down)
8 Needed to have good battery life or be able to take a spare battery (Hmm difficult to judge, iphones good because it doesnt really multitask, HD2 is ok (1.5 days per charge using wireless, bluetooth and lots of calls)
9 Be pocket friendly. (NOT the N900)
Only the HD2 did all these. Now I've tweaked the phones registry Ive changed the sensitivity of the capacitive screen to suit my fat fingers so I now hardly ever mis select when scrolling (like I do constantly on my iphone); Ive improved the camera performance from 4M to 5M resolution; have 75 quicklinks on my home screen; 20 quick bookmarks and up to 6 open tabs in Opera; customised my screen menus, changed the stock clock animations to my preference; tweaked the phones memory performance (Even faster); improved the smoothness of the landscape scrolling on web pages and improved wireless performance and tweaked opera so I never get 'checker' board showing through (trounces my iphone on browsing and movie playback plus has flash); Also now works with BBC iplayer
The battery performance is good compared to other phones (iphones better for reasons mentioned here) - I also purchased a spare from ebay for £5.99.
The screen is fantastic in every way - protected with a Zagg helicopter tape case still works beautifully.
Sound quality is good - I use my phone for testing commercial IVR and speech recognition - and get much better than average, as good as the iphone on mic quality.
Very pocket friendly - 20 g heavier than iphone but slimmer.
Very insurance friendly - no extra charges unlike my iphone 3gs
I can run a GBA emulator for all my gaming needs too :)
More robust than the iphone (by a long way)
I took time to choose this phone, HTC has done a good job with the middle ware. I dont know what was wrong with bodge's experience - really bad by the sounds of it.
At the end of the day this is a better business phone than the iphone - much better; its performance is amazing when on wireless but less noticably better when just roaming on 3G. If you like toys and having access to lots of apps go for the iphone, if you just want a great phone and can shut your ears to lots of nay sayers then go for this. I didnt like the nokia N900 hardware (though I did like the UI)
Hope this helps
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savy
January 13th 2010
12. I had this mobile for 2 weeks and with my iPhone 3Gs beside me, this felt like it can't do this, it can't do that. Tried for over 10 days and felt it was like a bone stuck in my throat, so i coughed it on eBay.. I am so relieved i have my iPhone 3Gs. I just love it. Thanks Apple.
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jordanwebster
January 1st 2010
11. Ow and its really nice to look at as well superd build quality
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jordanwebster
January 1st 2010
10. Finally was able to get the phone after good month and bit and searching, got to say love the phone best phone ive ever had, smashes way past the iphone, well worth the wait, the screen is suprisingly superb quality even when zoomed in on a picture fully, its only frooze once when i was pressing too many stuff at one time, love it !
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lafunga
December 30th 2009
9. does anyone know if o2 are doing this phone?
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adiosx
December 13th 2009
8. I have just got my hd2 for 1 week and started having the player continuously skipping the music. Tried restarting the phone but problem persists. Havent found any solution yet. would appreciate suggestion. thanks.
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peter.p
December 3rd 2009
7. I was reading your in depth review about HTC HD2 and was almost convinced by it until I read “…and is far better than anything Samsung…”
Do you remember the rating you have given “Samsung i900 Omnia” and “Samsung Omnia 2”?
I’m not going to ruin the surprise for you, I suggest you do a little digging up on your own web site and look at the rating you’ve given those two phones and then come back and say HTC HD2 is “far better than anything Samsung…” !
What a joke!
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vishwaa
November 30th 2009
6. HTC HD-2 is the worst phone I have seen. I have returned it in just two days. My email indicating ome of the problems to mobileponedirect are shown below:
I request you to kindly return HTC HD-2. I will buy any other good handset with contract from you. I have been buying instruments from you since last 5 years and have very high confidence on your services.
For your information, problems experienced by me using HTC-HD-2 are listed below. I am so disappointed that I do not want to keep this instrument at any cost. Please take it back and cancel my contract.
1. HTC sense is actually HTC nonsense. It opens any screen randomly and phone does not go back to the screen which I have been using.
2. Internet Explorer, YouTube, Face book, Google map never worked. Opera worked intermittently and very unsatisfactorily.
3. While dialing a phone number screen freezes every time preventing me to dial next digits. The instrument can not perform the basic function of calling a phone number.
4. Even if phone number gets dialed, It gets connected only after indicating false engage half a dozen times. I checked this by dialing my own landline which was free available in front of me.
5. Last number redial and other basic functions are poorer than £10 phone. I never expected this from HTC HD-2.
If you do not return phone and cancel contract, I will be forced submit my view to various reviewing websites and take any appropriate action for getting the contract cancelled. I must repeat that I am very disappointed and do not like to use the phone or replacement.
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bigj
November 25th 2009
5. Sorry... I meant to say "pigs TEETS". hehe :D
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bigj
November 25th 2009
4. Well how very dismissive of you bodge. This phone is absolutley jam packed with extremely well done technology and software, made even better by HTC's Sense UI masking Windows'slightly failed attempt at "sexy" phone menus etc incredibly well... lol.
I have this phone (on T-mobile for £29 per month with unlim texts/net and 700 mins 18 mnth contract) and have had no such issues. Once the call is made, it vibrates upon connection. Then you can put it next to your ear, its sensors disable the screen to stop this random face touching. Alas I am also a sufferer of spade hands, I too have pigs **** for fingers, but I find the touch screen accuracy more than makes up for the splodge effect with a bit of patience lol :D. My only regret is that I am not clever/busy/popular/reliant enough for all the wonderful things this phone offers XD. Plus it can look a little "tooley" pulling out something that resembles a 22" LCD flat screen in a pub, people are mean you know! Anyways, this phone is immense and requires getting used to, but once mastered, like a slightly awkward three legged dog, it will always be there for you ;D
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bodge
November 25th 2009
3. just got a new phone on t mobile htc hd2 and have sent it back its the worst phone i,ve ever had .to many things to list what's wrong with it texting take forever if you have large fingers and it will calll other people when you put it to close to your ear
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mrgpearce
November 22nd 2009
2. Needed this phone quick, to support an on the fly trip to Dusseldorf exhibition. Never been one for following the iphone flock. The HD2 was available(16/11)in limited numbers from independent shops in Tottenham Court Road, London. Add £20(30day)SIM only (includes unlimited internet (UK)) and "Bobs your Uncle".
Great form factor, quality and ease of use.
Copilot software was problematic to install, but managed in the end. Copilot occasionally crashed on start up, however in the main was excellent.
Battery life was a significant shortfall, over the period of one days use, perhaps I need to optimise wireless connections and data syncing.
??? resolve battery issue and this has and does it all painlessly.
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jordanwebster
November 21st 2009
1. I really want this phone, but everywhere i go, its always the same "Sorry but we dont have them in stock yet" And "Come back next week" in vodafone they said they were getting 5 in soon, This phone is a nightmare to get.
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