HTC Touch HD Pros And Cons - Review

Pros

• It is stylish with a very large , high quality screen, images are displayed beautifully and video reproduction is smooth, YouTube video plays very well and other formats are supported.
• The camera produces some very good images, it is easy to use and offers quite a few options when taking photos. It is not a replacement for a good digital camera but it is very competent.( below is an example of an arty nature shot I took with the camera)
• The user interface is very attractive, easy to use, intuitive and responsive. Early adopters reported some lag in the user interface. I experienced this myself but HTC has released a few patches, found here, the application of the patch fixed the issue for me.
• Wi-Fi connects without fuss, and is very good. I connect at home to my wireless router (Billion 7404vgp) and can surf the net or watch YouTube videos without any problems, the YouTube streaming over the network is fluid. I usually connect to open wireless hotspots in my area to retrieve data, so I can't really comment on the G connection to the net.
•  I have a SONY stereo with Bluetooth in my lounge room and it pairs easily with it. I can then stream music and control the volume with the built in media player of the phone.
• Texting is good with a few choices for input. ( on screen keyboard or stylus with hand writing )
• There is a large variety of applications both free and commercial which allow for you to customise the phones appearance and functions.
• The GPS , I love it, mine came pre-installed with TOMTOM software. I have never had a GPS device before so I have very little to compare it to. I just like the feature.
• microSD expansion slot ,3.5 mm headphones, FM radio = a replacement for my mp3 player, one less device in my handbag.

The image above is a test shot taken in the early morning, This has been resized so the full image is attatched at the end of this review.

Cons

• It's one of the most expensive smart phones available, you do pay a price for the functionality.
• The buttons at the bottom of the phone seem too close to the screen.  The soft buttons are also at the bottom of the touch screen, when I first got the phone I would attempt to tap the menu but I would also accidentally click the button below it as well. It takes a while to get use to and I still do it occasionally when I am not paying attention.
• Lag ...  UI lag was fixed with the patches but by default if you click the X button of a program it will minimise. There are settings and free programs you can use to alter this behaviour. If the phone seems slow I always open my application list to see if I have left other programs running in the background by accident.
• There is a large variety of applications both free and commercial which allow for you to customise the phones appearance and functions. Yep I placed this in the pro's section too , it's here because there is a potential to really mess up your phone if you install or modify the wrong thing. This is a communications device first and foremost, be careful with any additions you might install, conflicting programs may cause errors.
• Heat, under continuous heavy load the device will generate a fair bit of excess heat.
• GPS I have no previous experience with GPS devices but this does seem to lag by a few meters when travelling over 75 Km/h
• No flash - The camera doesn't have a flash or a light.

Final Thoughts

If you have read the whole review you can probably tell that I love this device. It is simply the best phone I have owned to date.
If you are a gadget freak, business user, or someone who would like to cut down on the number of devices they carry then I would recommend this to you.
If you just need a phone and an mp3 player or you have a lot of trouble with your home PC then I would recommend something simpler.

Many people asked why I didn't buy an i-Phone, if you do your research or even just look at the listing on this site  you can see the i-Phone is a different class of device. At the risk of upsetting the Apple fan boys It is my opinion the i-Phone is a well marketed phone, it is not however a smart phone.
From a technical point of view the i-Phone has good hardware, but it was hobbled by Apple. It is just missing too many features, the battery is not user replaceable which is a revenue earning tactic from Apple that limits the life of the phone. The i-Phone is right for some people , but it's just not right for me and that's what it all comes down to in the end.

What do you need ?