Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

Product Category: Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Smartphone

Manufacturer: HTC

Where to buy: Expansys

Price: $339 USD Unlocked version

Specifications: From HTC site

Pros:

• Good performance;
• Small and light - fits nicely in your hand and your pocket;
• Capacitive touchscreen is responsive with fluid scrolling;
• Most thoroughly "touch enabled" WM phone yet.

Cons:

• Capacitive buttons on front panel too easy to hit by accident;
• Back cover difficult to remove;
• Doesn't support 3G for AT&T.

Summary: Not too long ago, HTC introduced the HD2, which featured just about everything a Windows Mobile smartphone buyer could ask for. But it also had a couple of characteristics, namely comparatively large size and heavy weight, that didn't thrill some prospective buyers as much. So HTC subsequently introduced the HTC HD Mini in Europe, with the goal provide the bulk of the HD2's capabilities in a smaller and lighter form factor. How successful were they at achieving that goal? Join me as I research that question...

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"This update amends the internal management of SMS functionality, and enhances SMS transmission stability."

With this simple note, HTC's European support site has announced a software upgrade for the HTC Touch Pro2 and HD mini that enhances SMS transmission stability. If you have one of these phones you might want to scurry over to the support site and get updating! Note that this update is suitable for ROM versions less than or equal to 1.36.XXX.X.

Smartphone Gurus has written a review of Brodit Mount for the HTC HD Mini. It works well for hands free calling, running music through the auxiliary port of the radio if your car is so equipped or for GPS navigation. If four wheeled transportation is your primary means of locomotion, give the review a look. For those of you that travel with half the wheels of most vehicles, then maybe not so much.

""We had to exercise our neglected patience muscle with this one, but at long last we've gotten ahold of a real live HD Mini and put it through its paces. Equipped with the same processor, screen size and resolution as HTC's Legend, but running the HD2's Windows Mobile 6.5.3 under a WinMo-specific Sense skin, the Mini is in many ways an amalgamation of its two better known cousins. You'll no doubt be aware that we weren't too displeased by either of those handsets, so what you must be wondering now is whether or not splicing them into one eminently pocketable package delivers an equally compelling device. Read on to find out."

Overall, Engadget seemed to quite like the HTC HD Mini - even with its "dead-end operating system". Those are their words, not mine, but it's not like you say that's inaccurate. However, given that most people tend to switch phones ever couple of years, I don't think you need to have a long-term investment in your phone in the same way you might in a car. The HD Mini looks like a nice piece of hardware, but in my part of the world at least, the mobile operators aren't carrying much in the way of Windows Phones...so I doubt I'll get the opportunity to recommend this phone to anyone in my circle of friends/family. Any HD Mini users out there? Do you agree with the Engadget review?

I'm actually surprised to see a video - I wasn't expecting to see this phone in the hands of anyone yet...this is a short video, but it gives you the overall basics of the HTC HD Mini. If the price is right, this could be a very popular phone!

HTC launched three new devices at MWC yesterday (click the link for Engadget's commentary during the press event). The Legend and the Desire will both run Android, but the last of the trio is the HD Mini which will run on Windows Mobile 6.5.3. That's honestly a bit of a come down after all the excitement over Microsoft's big Windows Phone 7 Series launch yesterday, but the Mini isn't a slouch by any means and is quite likely to be successful given it's positioning as a mid-level/entry level device (remember the Magician and all its variants?). Engadget has a hands-on gallery (and soon to come video) on the new device, which will sport a 600MHz processor, HTC Sense, a 3.2" capacitive screen, and the usual array of radios. Jason had a chance to discuss the device with HTC - well worth a read for the insight into the thinking behind its design.

I was part of a conference call with Eric Lin from HTC last Friday, and in that call he told us about three new phones coming out soon. Two of them were Andriod-based (HTC Legend, HTC Desire) so of little interest to me, but the third was very exciting: the HTC HD Mini. Before I get to that, it's interesting to note that all three of these phones were designed by One & Co, an industrial design firm that HTC purchased in late 2008. One & Co continues to serve other clients, but when it comes to wireless phones, they only work for HTC. One & Co designed the HTC Diamond, which, love or hate the angled back, you have to admit was a phone that looked unlike anything else HTC had ever created. One & Co has also designed the Microsoft Arc mouse and Arc keyboard.

[click here to check out the 9 megapixel high-resolution of the above image]

The visual theme for the HD Mini is "Hidden Power". Lin described this as "Nothing is cool for the sake of being cool". Everything that looks cool about this phone is also functional. Here's what I was told about the HD Mini in the conference call. Read more...