HTC TOUCH HD

Key features :
• Massive 3.8" 65K-color WVGA display
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS
• TouchFLO 3D Home screen and gesture controls
• Wi-Fi and built-in GPS receiver
• Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 Mhz CPU and 288 MB DDR SDRAM
• Dedicated graphics chip (64MB RAM reserved for graphics)
• Quad-band GSM and dual-band HSDPA support
• 5 MP auto focus camera with nice image quality
• microSD card slot
• Accelerometer sensor for auto screen rotation and turn-to-mute calls
• Proximity sensor to automatically turn the screen off during calls
• Fingerprint resistant rear panel
• Touch sensitive keys with vibration feedback
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Standard 3.5mm audio jack
• miniUSB slot and Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• Active magnetic stylus
• MS Office Mobile document editor
• Excellent Opera 9.5 web browser
• Rich retail package, including 8GB microSD card

Main disadvantages :

• A wee bit overweight
• Sizeable body (still within acceptable limits though)
• Average sunlight legibility
• Video recording maxes out at CIF@30fps
• There's no dedicated camera key or flash
• No D-pad (offers more precise navigation)
• Power key is really hard to press
• No TV out port

Final words :

The HTC Touch HD is guaranteed to change the way people think of Windows Mobile. It is a bold and confident step, taking full advantage of all the hardware and software strengths and a worthy effort of addressing the weaknesses.

There are still quite a number of performance issues but the problems of Windows OS are far too deep to disappear overnight. Still, if modding and tweaking is your game, you can fix quite a lot of the issues that come out of the box.

But while this certainly isn't a flawless phone, the results are impressive indeed. The multimedia power of the HD is immense, and only a touch away on that huge screen. Thehigh-resolution camera and the tons of software available, make the HD a truly attractive package. And with looks like those - what more can you possibly want in a phone.

The great response and sweet thumb-optimized handling are remarkable (in WinMo terms) but that's hardly an achievement of the Touch HD alone. The company's headliner is the cutting edge of a consistent effort that started back with the HTC Touch and went sky-high with the Diamond.

The crown of that effort, HTC Touch HD, is now set on a path pretty much signposted by iPhone. Its driving inspiration has brought to the scene a capable candidate for a hefty bite at the apple.