HTC HD7

Woohoo! It's the HTC HD7 ..

The HTC HD7 boasts a speedy 1.3GHz processor that performs tasks instantly and without delay. The widget based menu system is touch responsive and with the Windows Mobile 7 operating system on board, the HD7 is as flexible as it is powerful. Social networking integration places updates from Twitter and Facebook right at your fingertips and the speedy 3G/HSDPA Internet connection not only allows for wall updates and picture uploads but brings the whole Internet into the palm of your hand.

The 4.3 inch display has a crisp resolution of 480x800 pixels and a huge colour palette helps to bring pictures and videos captured on the in–built camera come to life. Landscape images can also be taken, simply turn the handset on its side and the display picture rotates automatically. Remembering where your favourite images were taken is also no issue as the HD7 uses geo–tagging to the mark the location.

HTC HD7 Specifications

• Size: 122x68x11.2mm
• Weight: 162grams
• Screen Size: 4.3 inches
• Screen Resolution: 480x800 pixels
• Camera: 5 megapixels
• Talk time: 320 minutes
• Standby: 320 hours
• Operating System: Windows Phone 7
• Video recording?: Yes, 720p
• Video Streaming?: Yes
• Compatible Video: MP4/WMV/H.264/H.263
• Internet?: Wi-Fi. HSDPA
• Browser: WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
• Memory: 8/16GB
• Music: MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+
• Email?: Yes
• Video Calling?: No
• GPS?: Yes, A-GPS
• 3.5mm Audio Jack?: Yes

HTC HD7 Review

The new HTC HD7 is one of the first of a new breed of smartphones to run the new Microsoft Windows Phone 7 operating system. But that is not the only reason to get excited about this phone. Read on for the complete overview of HTC's new baby.

Why should I be excited about HTC HD7?

The HTC HD7 is the latest in the latest smartphone in the HTC Touch family. It is also a successor to HTC HD2, a very competent phone smartphone in its own right. Let us see what makes this phone a worthy successor to HTC HD2.

CPU, GPU and Memory :

The HTC HD7 is powered by 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD 8250 CPU (aka Snapdragon) which is the fastest yet in a smartphone. It is accompanied by the Adreno 200 GPU, which is great for mobile gaming.

This CPU/GPU combination is accompanied by 512 MB ROM and 576 MB RAM which will ensure that all the smooth running of applications. The internal storage memory offered is 8 GB.

Operating System:

This is one more reason to get excited about HTC HD7. The new Microsoft Windows Phone 7 operating system brings in a totally new UI which runs like a snap, thanks to Microsoft now controlling the specification of Windows 7 phones.

The new UI, called Metro, consists of a home screen made up of tiles. These tiles are actually links to functions such as contacts, applications and media information. Any information on these tiles gets updated in real time, for example, if you have a tile displaying number of unread messages, it will get updated automatically the moment you receive a new message.

Another feature that we liked is that these tiles are can be customized. A user can add, remove or rearrange the tiles as per his or her requirement.

The operating system is very tightly integrated with online services via "hubs" wherein a user can view local and online content together and interact with the online service. For example, the pictures hub will show a user photos stored on user's phone as well as from user's Facebook account so the user can decide if he "likes" a photo. Among such online services which integrate very well are Windows Live, Gmail, Xbox Live, Microsoft Office and Windows Phone Market Place.

The Microsoft Windows Phone 7 operating system is fully optimized for text as well as multi-touch input. Operating system updates will now be delivered to the user's phones directly by Microsoft over the air, just like standard Windows updates. However, bigger updates will be delivered via Zune PC software so that the phone can be updated via USB connection, hence, eliminating the dependency on the OEM for firmware updates.

Display:

The HTC HD7 has an awesome 4.3 inch backlit TFT SLCD display capable of displaying 16 million colours in WVGA (480x800 pixels) resolution. The screen also has capacitive multi-touch capabilities. This means it is very easy to use, navigate and control the Metro UI interface with your fingers. HTC HD7 has a kickstand at the back, where its camera is located. You can flip out this kickstand and place the phone at a horizontal angle for viewing videos and photos. With a pair of front stereo speakers and Dolby SRS surround sound, the screen feels like a portable theatre, especially when you play high definition (720p) video on the phone. You can also play games via Xbox Live on the HD7.

Camera:

The HTC HD7 features a 5 megapixel camera, with auto focus and dual LED flash. The camera application has built in scenes - candlelight, landscape and portrait. The photos come out great, even in low light, thanks to the dual LED flash. You can also record high definition (720p HD) videos with the camera.

Multimedia Support:

The Photo hub allows you to view photos stored on your phone and in your Facebook and Windows Live account. The Music and Video hub lets you listen to radio and download content from Zune. The audio formats supported are .m4a, .m4b, .mp3, and .wma. The sound from the phone speakers is ample and clear. Also, the supplied headphones are of very good. Quality

The videos can be recorded in .mp4, while the supported video formats are .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .m4v, .mbr, and .wmv (wmv9 and VC-1).

Connectivity:

The networks supported by HTC HD7 are 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM and 900/2100 MHz HSPA/WCDMA. It also supports 3G (up to 7.2 Mbps download speed, up to 2 Mbps upload speed), EDGE (up to 560 kbps download speed), GSM (up to 114 kbps download speed), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 EDR with A2DP support for stereo Bluetooth headsets. There's also a 3.5 mm stereo audio jack and micro-USB 2.0 port for charging and data transfer. Pretty much nothing left out in this department.

Widgets and Applications:

Widgets (in the form of tiles) provided by HTC are Weather, Stocks, Converter, Photo Enhancer, Sound Enhancer, Bedside Clock, Calculator, Converter, Flash Light, Love me/love me not, Note, To Do List, Parking Meter, and Voice Recorder with many more available via HTC hub.

The applications worth mentioning are the on-screen virtual keyboard (one of the best with emoticons, spell checking and word prediction), IE Mobile (with support for up to 6 tabs, streamlined UI, smooth zoom, ability to save pictures from web pages, share web pages by e-mail, inline search and Adobe 10.1 Flash Player support), Microsoft Pocket Office, Digital Compass, Facebook and Twitter integration, YouTube client, PDF Viewer, Music and Videos hub, Xbox Live, Bing Search, Bing Maps, Zune integration and Windows Phone Marketplace.

Sensors and Other Features:

The HTC HD7 has the following built-in sensors - G-Sensor (Gravity sensor, changes orientation of display as per the orientation of the phone w.r.t gravity), Digital compass (for direction), Proximity sensor (turns display off while the phone is held close to the face and saves battery power), Ambient light sensor (auto adjusts screen brightness so that display is readable under any type of lighting conditions).

HTC HD7 also has an internal GPS antenna of which Bing Maps takes advantage.

HTC HD7 users can choose from thousands of video titles and music tracks via Zune.

HTC HD7 users can play try-before-you-buy games with Xbox Live before making a decision to purchase it.

HTC HD7 users can purchase applications from Windows Phone Marketplace.

Battery Life:

HTC HD7 is powered by a 1230 mAh rechargeable Lithium-ion battery which lasts for around 2 days with moderate use, which is surprising considering that the display on this phone is one of the largest in the market.

Size and Weight:

HTC HD7 is sleek with 68 mm width, 11.2 mm thickness and 122 mm height. The phone weighs 162 grams (5.7 ounces) with battery but don’t forget that it has a 4.3 inch vibrant display which is well worth adding a few extra grams to a mobile phone.

Conclusion:

The HTC HD7 is a worthy successor to HTC HD2, as is Microsoft Windows Phone 7 operating system to Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5. They both form a killer combination and it is a must upgrade for any Windows mobile user out there.

What is included in the box?

HTC HD7 Phone
Stereo Headphones
Headphone Foam Pads
Battery
Compact Charger (uses the USB cable for output and the 3-pin attachment)
3-Pin attachment for the Charger
USB cable

We've compared the cheapest HTC HD7 deals from all the leading UK retailers. And the results are in below..