Camera

For years we have been knocking on HTC for their classic orange tinted cameras but the camera on this device was just awesome. Pictures came out crisp and clear as you can see from the shots below which were taken from my balcony. I also really like what HTC did here with the camera application. The onscreen controls are intuitive and easy to use making sure you never have to see the Windows Mobile interface while taking a picture. The video recorder was as good as any Windows Mobile video recorder. The videos were a little jumpy and if you record a long enough video the audio will get out of sync with the video. However, it is a handy feature to have and you never know when you're going to need a video camera.

Figure 15: A picture of some trees right outside my back porch.

Figure 16: Some newly built houses directly off my back porch.

Figure 17: A bright red building down the street from me. I like this picture since few camera phones come close to capturing the red of the building.

Conclusion

While HTC has made some questionable design decisions regarding the hardware on the device, the amount of work they put into the operating system and tweaking it to perform better than the competing Windows Mobile Standard devices on the market more than makes up for it. I was pretty sad to have to send the device back, but without being able to use it on T-Mobile's 3G network it would have been pointless for me to keep it around. I am, however, seriously considering picking up the HTC S743 when it is released here in the United States later this year. If you are in the market for a new Windows Mobile Smartphone I would definitely look into picking up the HTC S740, especially if you live across the pond where you can utilize all of the hardware included in this phone. HTC has really outdone themselves with the device and they should be proud. Good job guys!

UPDATE: eXpansys has sold out of all of their HTC S740 devices. Fear not though because you can pre-order the North American HSDPA/UMTS band device right here!

Rocco Augusto is the Managing Editor of Smartphone Thoughts and owns and operates Skimbee Studios – a small Web Development studio based out of Portland, OR. When Rocco is not up to his elbows in gadgets and technology, you can usually find him trying to keep up with his incredibly peppy and energetic daughter or wasting hours away on Twitter.

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