SPG - Windows Phone Reviews

Review: Nokia Lumia 800

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:22:09 +0000

When Nokia announced their intention to form a commercial relationship with Microsoft, planning a range of smartphones running the Windows Phone 7 operating system, a great deal of interest and comment was generated within the mobile community. Nokia's intention was to time the release of their first models with the release of Microsoft's 'Mango' Windows Phone 7.5 update. This OS version was due to address a number of issues with the initial release, and allow some evolution of it's core features. Late last year, Nokia announced the release of the Lumia 710, and the more up-market Lumia 800 models. Smartphonegurus were kindly offered the opportunity of using a Lumia 800 for a few weeks and publishing our views on it.

Thanks to Nokia UK, and to Ruvina Uppal of Next15 who organised our review phone.

Product:
Nokia Lumia 800

Colours:
Available in Cyan, Black and Magenta

Price:
Around £400 SIM Free or available from all major UK mobile operators

OS:
Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5

The Nokia Lumia 800 combines a new hardware platform with a significantly revised version of Windows Phone 7. As such this review will be the subject of some comment regarding both the hardware and software as the relationship goes deep into the workings of the device though I will try and relate comments specifically to the Lumia 800 where possible.

Device main specification

3.7" curved AMOLED screen with Corning Gorilla Glass
480*800 screen resolution with PenTile RGBG layout and anti-glare polarising filter layer.
8Mp camera with Carl Zeiss lens and dual LED flash and 720p video recording
1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 CPU
512MB RAM
16GB ROM (13.9GB available)
1450mAH fixed battery
FM Radio
142g weight
MicroSIM card format

Full specifications available from Nokia.

In the Box

Nokia Lumia 800 phone
Soft cover in same colour as phone
Nokia stereo headset
Mains plug and USB charger
User guide and documentation

Unpacking and setting up

I collected the Lumia 800 from Nokia House in London just before Christmas, and was impressed with the service offered by Emma who led me through the basics of the Lumia itself and Windows Phone in general. Although familiar with the software myself, this was a useful introduction. One thing I had forgotten was that the Lumia 800 uses a micro SIM card, and I only had my full sized SIM to hand, so I did not go through the full setup at the time.

The phone comes in a 'Nokia Blue' box in a blue outer carton and is well packed. Apart from the phone and the usual charger, USB cable and headset, Nokia include a silicone case which covers the phone apart from the screen. This is apparently the same colour as the phone itself- in my case black. Cyan and Magenta phone/case combinations are also available.

On picking the phone up for the first time, initial impressions are very positive. It feels sturdy in the hand and at 142g for a 3.7" device is quite weighty. This is not in any way a criticism- the feeling is of solidity and quality. The body is made of Polycarbonate which is apparently well resistant to scratches and is self coloured meaning small daily use abrasions are unlikely to show much. The Gorilla Glass screen has a gentle curve at the top and bottom and it fits seamlessly into the body on all its edges. The two sides of the body are gently radiused but the top and bottom are flat and square.

If required, the rubber skin case can be fitted and removed quite easily, though there is a knack to it! A colleague suggests locating the bottom of the phone first, then the top right corner, followed by the top left. With the robustness of the body, and the sleek design I wonder how necessary this is? It adds bulk and makes the phone less 'wieldy' in the hand. Fitting it or not is of course up to the owner and Nokia are to be commended for at least supplying it. Personally I don't like them so have left mine 'bare' !

Configuring for use

When I got home I installed the micro SIM from my secondary phone account, which I used for most of the remainder of this review. It was with this that I encountered my first annoyance. This secondary phone account is PAYG Vodafone; although the SIM was recognised and SMS and phone features worked immediately, the GPRS services would not connect. Essentially, this Nokia does not recognise and configure the Vodafone PAYG service and I had to go online to look up the APN to use, then enter it manually. This is in contrast to my previous HTC phones which have all correctly sensed the SIM card type and configured the connections accordingly. The result of this could be that a new user would be unable to access any online services until they had use of another device for looking up the necessary connection parameters, or they had a valid WiFi connection available.

Once a WiFi or GPRS service is accessible, the Lumia 800 follows the normal Windows Phone setup process. This requires a Windows Live ID, or an XBox Gamertag to validate any Marketplace purchases, and set up Hotmail etc. Any associated services are automatically configured from there, so in my case my Twitter and Linkedin accounts were there from the outset. The same is true of Facebook, though I don't have a FB account to test this with. My Microsoft Exchange email, calendar and contacts were configured as expected and within a very short space of time I was up and running with a full and valid set of PIM data.

Initial impressions

As mentioned above, the Lumia 800 has a high quality feel in use and handling. This is reinforced when turning it on- the screen is beautifully clear with the usual AMOLED attributes of deep colours and 'proper' blacks. White screens are not quite so impressive, as they tend to have a mild yellowy tinge rather than the pure whites of S-LCD screens but unless you are comparing side by side this is unlikely to be very noticeable. Nokia have advised that this is a generic issue with their AMOLED screen and that it becomes less apparent when the screen brightness is turned up, which i can confirm. This type of AMOLED screen uses the PenTile RedGreen-BlueGreen configuration rather than true Red-Green-Blue which can introduce a little colour variance though it's pretty imperceptible on smaller screens. Interestingly Nokia have opted for a true RGB AMOLED screen on the forthcoming Lumia 900.

As Microsoft are explicit in how the physical operation of Windows Phones is conducted, the Lumia has the requisite buttons below the screen for Back, Home and Search. In this case they are all capacitive buttons with high sensitivity. The only other buttons are on the right side of the phone, and are volume up and down, power and camera. These are physical buttons as expected and the camera has a two stage button action. Personally, as a left hander I do find the power button placement to be an annoyance- it is too easy to press when you are just picking the phone up, even after four weeks use. I'd prefer a traditional top edge button, but I'm sure most users are happy as it is.

The left hand edge is completely bare and the bottom edge houses the internal speaker. The top edge has a 3.5mm headset socket, a flip-up cover concealing the microUSB port and a slot-in carrier for the microSIM card. The SIM carrier is released by sliding it to the left once the USB cover is opened, from where it pops up on a spring.

When the SIM card is inserted or changed, it is necessary to perform a soft reset, following which the new SIM will be operative. As I said previously though, it may be necessary to enter the GPRS settings manually.

The Lumia 800 has no notification LEDs for battery charge or messaging.

Software and Apps

As this is a Windows Phone device, there is a certain homogeneity to the available software- essentially Microsoft dictate the software available to the end user to ensure a consistent 'user experience'. This does not preclude a device builder from installing a set of default Apps, but Nokia have taken their agreement a stage further with the provision of some unique Apps not available to other users.

Default Build:
In addition to the core set of WP7 Apps, Nokia have pre installed a few Apps into their default build. These are Apps that are available to all, generally free of charge, from the Windows Phone Marketplace. These are British Airways, Tripadvisor, Ministry of Sound, Ebay and Sky News. The purpose of having these specific programs pre installed escapes me somewhat, as they could be considered of specialist interest. Many would be less generous and call it Bloatware! Thankfully they can all be removed and their storage space recovered.

Nokia Specific Apps:
Nokia have a set of four unique Apps available to their customers. These are Nokia Music, Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive and App Highlights.

Nokia Music
This is an alternative to the built-in Zune music player though I think it still uses the same playback engine. It has the addition of some useful features though these require registration with the Nokia Music service to get the most out of. This is free but needs to be done via a PC. It would be nice if Nokia could include a Nokia Music account sign up from within the mobile device.

The enhancements Nokia Music provide over the default Zune app are:

MP3 store: This is vastly superior to the Zune offering being comparable in scope to the iTunes Store, and can be used to purchase individual tracks or albums

Gig Guide: Seeks out local gigs using your location as the focus. Not particularly comprehensive at this stage, but can be useful nevertheless, and hopefully will improve in scope with time.

Mix Radio: This is a fantastic facility which allows you to listen to all manner of music free of charge. This can be via a stream if you have an unlimited data feed, or a limited number of mixes can be downloaded to the Lumia for listening offline.

Mix Radio has additional capabilities for those who have a free subscription to the online Nokia Music system. Once registered, the user can ask Nokia Music to interrogate a PC with music content, uploading a profile to the Nokia Music servers. Once this is done, Nokia Music on the Lumia has the facility to listen to a personalised mix based on your musical tastes. The Personalise screen lists the genres your music falls into, showing its percentage of your total library above which is a Play button to access music based on that genre, and your personal content. This is for streaming only and these mixes cannot be downloaded, but they are very nice to have. I've found that this option plays me a mixture of tracks I already own, other material by the same artists or some similar ones from other artists.

The other screen within Mix Radio is 'Create'. This works the same way as Personalise, but your selections are entered manually as lists of favourite artists, which you can save for later access. The streamed mix is then based on those artists and their genres.

One small anomaly within the music system, is that if you leave the Nokia Music app and want to adjust the volume, or pause or skip tracks, you access the music controls as general in Windows Phone by pressing one of the volume buttons. Tapping the track details takes you back to Nokia Music as long as the track is a Mix Radio track. If it is already in your own local library however, tapping the track details opens Zune Music rather than Nokia Music. If you want to ensure returning to Nokia Music, use the task switch facility instead by a long press the 'back' button.

The supplied headset is pretty average, with a very small and fiddly button for play/pause. It does not have a microphone for telephone use and pressing the button does not accept an incoming call, nor redial an outgoing call. Essentially if you wish to make a phone call, you need to unplug the headset or use a Bluetooth device.

Nokia Maps
This is an alternative to the Windows Phone Bing powered Maps app, though for some reason the Microsoft version is on the home screen not the Nokia version. The similarities between the two are marked though they do differ in features.

For everyday use, at least in my part of West Essex, the Microsoft version is far superior, in that it's list of 'Places' far exceeds the Nokia Maps version. Both can locate me quickly using GPS and cell triangulation, but my two test 'Searches' give very different results. For no particular reason, I choose 'Pizza' as one search term, and also my own profession of an Osteopath as another one.

Bing Maps pulls up many more local 'Pizza' places than Nokia, which has its nearest hit six miles away, when Bing shows at least ten within three miles. More worryingly, my 'Osteopath' search with Nokia fails to find either my own, or five other practices in the vicinity, citing one eleven miles away as the nearest. Again, Bing finds me as the nearest and all the other ones in the region, with Nokia's offering not even making it to the page of results.

Once a search is successful, both offer the ability to select an entry from the list and contact by phone or email, or get directions to the result. Nokia Maps usefully includes a public transport option as well as walking and driving where Bing only has walking or driving. Bing has the advantage in being able to scroll the list of directions, which results in the location on the map showing the actual map detail for that turn. Tapping the screen goes back to the current location.

As both apps are included, it is a matter of personal taste which one to use for any given situation. I would, however, like to know how Nokia derives its search results- it's obviously not from Bing or Google.

Nokia Drive
This is one of Nokia's flagship Windows Phone apps and is a full turn by turn navigation system with spoken commands. A degree of internet connectivity is needed when planning a route, because the location selection and initial route planning are done on Nokia's servers then delivered back to the phone. The maps however are stored locally so once progress is underway there is no need of an online connection, even when rerouting is required.

The interface is excellent with directions and information clearly set out. The actual routing is another matter however; I have found that on a number of journeys the route taken is far longer than necessary in both time and distance. Slightly modifying the destination can give a more representative route, but that is hardly the point of a navigation program if you are unfamiliar with the destination itself. As a matter of example, I can set a route to my home postcode, which Nokia Drive selects as 27 miles and 50 minutes. This is 6 miles and 15 minutes longer than the actual journey should be. Moving the destination to a junction just 400 yards up the road sees pretty much the correct route being selected.

Facilities are limited, as may be expected with a free program. There is no multiple destination setup nor any traffic or safety camera information.

For a fuller assessment of the capabilities of Nokia Drive, please see my specific review of a comparison of this and two other current Windows Phone navigation apps. This is my overall summary in that review: "For a free program, Nokia does the job, and it has a very easy interface. Its maps and graphics are clean and modern. It can be forgiven its lack of features though the routing issues are more cause for concern. As some of this is done online I'm sure Nokia will be able to adjust some of the parameters. Fast app switching is instant, which suggests Nokia integrates well with the WP7 OS."

App Highlights
This is a sort of spotlight facility showing a selection of Apps from the Windows Phone Marketplace. It is comprised of 'cool stuff', 'top apps', 'top games' and 'starter kit' which are all pretty self explanatory. Selecting any of the listed apps opens its page in the Marketplace from where all the usual details can be seen.

One small novelty is that there is a small icon at the bottom of most screens which turns on the 'Shake your phone to be surprised' feature. A quick shake of the phone moves one of the other apps in the list to the top spot under the 'Surprise Me' heading.

App Highlights has a live tile on the homescreen with a flip side showing a different app on each flip. Tapping the tile opens App Highlights with that app as the selected suggestion.

The Lumia 800 in use

Telephony
For many people their smartphones have become information centres combining media, social networking, organisation and entertainment. For many though, the main function continues to be making phone calls and texting. So, how does the Lumia 800 stack up in everyday use? Wherever possible I will ignore the limitations imposed by the Windows Phone platform, such as the lack of Quick Dials, the awkwardness of finding a contact to ring or text and such other matters.

As I mentioned at the start, I prefer not to use the supplied skin sleeve as it adds bulk and weight. The 'bare' device has an excellent feel. The curvy sides fit into the hand well and the squared off ends offer a more firm grip when holding the phone. The 3.7" screen form factor is pretty much perfect as a telephone. It is small enough to be discreet and easy to hold to the ear for an extended conversation, but not so small that it becomes difficult to find the buttons, or that the microphone and speaker become too far from the ear and mouth.

As there is no LED indicator, it is impossible to tell if one has a missed call or voicemail. It is necessary to get into the habit of checking the device by switching it on from time to time to see if the home screen has any alerts. For those that keep their phones in pockets or handbags this could be seen as a bit of a nuisance.

Call quality is excellent, as one may expect from Nokia. I have made and received a number of calls and have not had any adverse comments from callers about voice quality. The phone speaker has a good volume and appears to be very clear. If needed the main phone speaker can be turned on using the speaker phone facility, though I never needed to do this in everyday use. The proximity sensor for preventing unwanted screen taps when held to the ear works well. The Lumia lacks the enhancements we have seen on other devices such as 'pocket mode' where the ringer is louder when the device is in a pocket, or 'flip to silence' for an incoming call, but this is a relatively small point.

Battery Life
One of the results of the Lumia's sleek unibody design is that it has an inbuilt battery which is not accessible so a quick swap for a fully charged spare is not possible. A criticism of the Lumia 800 has been related to its battery life which was compounded in some models by the battery circuitry incorrectly reporting its full capacity, further diminishing battery life. This latter problem has now been fixed by Nokia with their recent online update.

Overall I've found battery life to be no more than adequate. Even with no usage at all during the day, apart from being left on standby, I've seen the battery charge drop from 100% in the morning to 30% by 8pm. Some phone calls, web surfing and a few texts in the course of a day plus use of an Exchange email account have seen it drop down to 15% by early evening. I would anticipate that any extended use of Nokia Music or location based services would see the battery expire before the end of a working day. For me, it's not really a problem as I have a mobile power pack which can charge it up by 50% within about one hour, but some will find it more of an issue.

Screen
The AMOLED screen on the Lumia 800 is very nice to look at. It may not go as bright as S-LCD equivalents, but the colours are deep and lustrous and blacks are truly black.

One area where this type of screen has a distinct advantage is when the phone is being used as an alarm clock using a third party app. One of the limitations of WP7 is that once the screen goes into standby, running apps can get shut down. The inbuilt alarm function is basic to say the least, and it uses a fixed volume the user cannot alter which can create difficulties. Therefore although a third party alarm app can have superior functionality, it needs the phone to remain switched on and attached to a power source to avoid running the battery down and to allow the app to access its full functions.

The Lumia's AMOLED screen is perfect for this as it does not have any backlighting causing 'glow'; my HTC Titan is poor in this respect as the screen emits a significant glow due to the backlighting even when turned right down. The lack of a charging LED also helps the ambient light situation at night!

If I have one criticism of the screen, it is that it can be oversensitive to touch. Capacitive screens respond to a finger touch or drag for various responses, for instance when selecting a tile from the home screen, or scrolling the screen. With the Lumia, I often find I'm selecting things when I want to scroll. This can be annoying as it then needs the 'Back' button pressing to return to the previous screen. A specific instance of this is in the TV Guide app's settings, when selecting channels to display. This is done via a scrolling list of channels with check boxes; try as I might, I need a few attempts to scroll the list without selecting a check box by mistake.

While we're on the subject of capacitive response, I still dislike the capacitive function buttons. It is too easy to brush one by mistake and cause an unwanted action. This is most noticeable for me when using the camera; I find I can touch the 'Search' button by mistake, which opens the search screen and ruins the photo I was composing! Note this is NOT specific to the Nokia Lumia, but afflicts all the Windows Phone devices I've used.

Camera
I am not much of a mobile phone camera user, but with the advent of online photo synchronisation via Microsoft Skydrive, I've found occasions when it can be handy. The Lumia has a well specified camera with 8 megapixel resolution via a Carl Zeiss lens and dual LED flash. It is also capable of shooting 720p videos.

In the course of testing, I've noticed a few issues with the camera. Firstly the software defaults to Macro mode rather than normal shooting. A quick adjustment in the settings fixes this and Nokia have advised that there will be a fix in the next update. All the other settings are set for Normal or Auto by default so should not cause issues.

In my first round of tests I tried some indoor shots at home and in my office; taken without the flash in slightly less than optimal light conditions showed a distinct pink tinge in the centre of the shot. This was present on screen during composition and also in the exposed shot. A little background reading on the matter showed that I was not alone in seeing this. Indeed I had seen it previously in an older Windows Mobile device, the HTC HD2 which needed a ROM update to correct.

Click to view photo in native resolution

I must stress that this pink spot is only apparent in certain specific light conditions when shooting a light background subject. Nokia have been very helpful in trying to get to the bottom of it, but even a replacement review device showed the same characteristic. Colleagues in Smartphonegurus with Lumia 800's have seen the effect to a much lesser extent so it may be related to a particular hardware batch.

In decent light conditions the Lumia is capable of some very good photos for its resolution. The flash is a little under powered being LED, but is just about adequate. My old HTC Mozart with its Xenon flash was a lot better, but Xenon flashes seem to have disappeared from the current crop of phones!

Here are some daytime shots taken last week in good bright daylight. Please click the text under the photos to open them in full native resolution. To my eye, the colours are natural and resolution shows some good detail.

Click to view photo in native resolution

Click to view photo in native resolution

Click to view photo in native resolution

The autofocus works well, as can be seen by the shot through the railings into the courtyard. In common with other Windows Phone devices, the Lumia has a 'touch to focus and shoot' facility- tapping the subject on the screen can cause the focus to centre and then expose the shot automatically. Alternatively a half press on the camera button sets the focus and a full press takes the shot.

Pros and Cons

Form factor as a phone
Build quality
Nokia exclusive program additions
Sound quality
Camera quality in good light
Screen characteristics

Form factor for reading and web browsing
Camera performance in some light conditions
Touch screen can be over sensitive
Battery life
Lack of notification LED
Poor network setup for some providers

Conclusion - NeilM

The Lumia 800 is a very important phone for both Nokia and Microsoft. Nokia have placed a great emphasis on their transition from Symbian to Windows Phone in their smartphone sector and Microsoft needed a strong partner to push Windows Phone 7 to newer markets.

I'm sure both are happy with the start that's been made. The Lumia 800 is a classy phone which has excellent build quality. For the first time ever, I've had people see me using the phone and without prompting say 'That's a nice phone- what is it?' allowing me to show off the Nokia and Windows Phone 7 to them. It's actually happened to me twice and neither time was it a 'phone geek' making the comment!

As a phone the Lumia does everything asked of it. Call quality is good; general sound quality for music is very good, especially with decent earphones and as I've said in the review it feels really nice in the hand. There are some drawbacks- these relate to both the Windows Phone operating system, and some specific device characteristics.

For me, the biggest device related problems are the battery life and the camera issues. It is pretty certain that a hotfix will solve the camera problems but I'm not sure about the battery. I'll just keep a top up charger handy for heavy use days!.

As a smartphone, for me the Lumia 800 is just a little too small. The 3.7" screen is beautiful to look at, but I've come to like larger screens for their ease of reading web pages, ebooks and so forth.

For a first generation device from a manufacturer new to a platform this is an excellent start. I'm looking forward eagerly to see what Nokia can come up with next!

Section from 'The Guru'

O2 Specific branding

We've also been lucky enough to be provided with a Nokia 800 from O2 which exhibits a few special touches from O2 which include:

The O2 coloured theme - which interestingly enough if you choose to select it the Nokia 800 advises against being used. This is of course as the 800 has an AMOLED screen which means that any black pixels shown on the display are actually turned off and use no battery power. As the O2 theme is pale blue on white which uses more power the phone recommends that the dark colour scheme is used which will extend battery life.

O2 Also provide you with their two custom Applications; The O2 app and O2 Priority Moments.

The 'O2' app allows you to access:

My O2 - Shortcut to the 'O2 Active' mobile web portal
O2 Home - Erm right, this is yet another shortcut to the 'O2 Active' mobile web portal
O2 Gurus - Access to the O2 Gurus whereby you can book an appointment with a Guru, access hints and tips via the 'O2 GuruTV' video system
Priority Moments - Takes you to the 'O2 Priority Moments' app in the marketplace
Priority Tickets - Gives you the opportunity to purchase concert and other tickets at subsidised rates
More From O2 - Shortcut to the 'More from O2' mobile web portal. You can access O2 Broadband, O2 International, O2 Rewards, O2 Shop, O2 Think Big, or O2 Recycle
News - Latest news from O2's UK business Blog

The 'O2 Priority Moments' app allows you to configure and access:

Preferences - Access your location - On / Off
Offer expiry reminders - On / Off
Live Tiles enabled - On / Off

View all moments - The 'moment's or offers are split down into categories:

Saved
Shopping
Entertainment
Food and Drink
Travel
Health and Beauty

This allows you to access O2 specific deals and offers that are geographically close to you.

Conclusion - The Guru

Having used the Nokia 800 for over 5 weeks now I consider it my favourite WindowsPhone so far. When used 'naked' without the rubber skin it feels svelte and slight in the hand with the polycarbonate giving you a warm comfortable feeling when in use. Couple that with a stunningly bright AMOLED screen and you have a phone that you enjoy holding and looking at. For me the form factor is a little small, but as Windowsphones are relatively lo-res as to the screen it works. The Live Tiles appear clear and sharp and the whole phone oozes quality - it's gained quite a few 'wow' comments from colleagues at work - and we are taking regular folks here not uber geeks.

In operation the N800 is smooth and slick and at no time does the system lag or fail to perform. Voice quality is also good with no distortion or lack of volume. Music playback is good, both from music stored on the phone as well as streamed via the Nokia 'mix' service.

The added Nokia specific apps work very well indeed and on two occasions Nokia Drive has produced a route for a journey with more accuracy than Navigon. There is room for improvement with the apps, but as these are first generation I'm sure those improvements will come.

Personally I find the screen wonderful for eBook reading and viewing holiday photographs (even in bright sunlight), etc and the phone a positive pleasure to use. The only flaw for me in the design is a lack of a front facing camera and the somewhat flimsy hinged protective cover over the micro-USB port.

I can agree with Neil that I've seen the pink spot issue with the camera but on my machine it seems to be much less of an issue, occuring only in poorly lit indoor conditions.

The 800 serves me well as a stylish and pocketable phone that with or without the protective sleeve fitted feels robust and capable of surviving the rigors of modern life. Mine has been dropped accidently onto a concrete floor from a height of about three feet and survived without a blemish.

Pros and Cons

Form factor
Build quality / construction
Nokia exclusive program additions
Sound quality
Clear well lit screen

Camera performance in some light conditions
Battery life
Lack of notification LED

Attached Thumbnails

Review: Snapshot of Windows Phone Satellite Navigation Apps

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:04:41 +0000

One of the fastest growing application areas for smartphones has been satellite road navigation. The form factor, touch screens and recent ubiquity of GPS receivers in these devices has seen their usage soar in this market. When Windows Phone 7 was released last year, one of it's many failings was the inability to offer turn by turn navigation due to the manner in which it handled memory and running programs, essentially meaning that only one non-system program could be running at any one time.

Windows Phone 7.5 Mango has addressed that issue and applications can now run in the background allowing a navigation program to continue operating even if a phone call or SMS text message comes in. This ability has now prompted the release of a few satellite navigation programs. This month's release of the Nokia Lumia series has added some frisson to the market, being a free of charge program, while others cost in the range of £30 to £73 to buy from the Marketplace.

The first commercial turn by turn navigation program to be launched was Navigon, and this is the one I purchased for my HTC Titan, at £55 for the European version (though the price has now risen to a whopping £73). In the last two weeks, GPS Tuner have released Navigation Europe and Navigation UK and Ireland at £31 and £35 respectively. This is available as a free trial allowing 24 hours use following the first route to be planned.

Although Nokia Drive is a native Nokia application, some of the ROM chefs have been able to extract the necessary files, making them available for installation on most developer unlocked WP7.5 phones. There is likely to be a tightening up of the encryption of this application in due course to ensure it's uniqueness to the Nokia platform but in the meantime many users have installed it. At present, I have installed the Nokia Drive XAP file on my Chevron unlocked Titan and it appears to work fine.

This brief review is aimed at giving my own personal perspective on these three programs. Bear in mind that much of the testing has been brief, especially with the 24 hour limitation of the GPS Tuner trial version. Hopefully it will stimulate some discussion and readers may provide some additional feedback on features I may have missed. I shall try to give a side by side comparison of these products within each area of interest. I have called the programs Nokia, Navigon and Navigation throughout the review.

Installation
The two mainstream programs are simply loaded from the WP7 Marketplace. Navigon cost a heady £72.99 with no trial version. Navigation Europe by GPS Tuner costs £37.50 and the UK and Ireland version £30.99. Nokia Drive, as mentioned earlier is not commercially available except to owners of the new Nokia devices. In terms of file size, Navigon is a full 2.3GB with no option for breaking down the installation. Navigation is 170MB for the UK map with other Eu maps downloadable at will for the full Eu version. Nokia Drive needs 230MB for the UK version. Each of these installs the base program which can be loaded over GSM or WiFi, then prompts the user to connect to WiFi when the program runs for the first time, to download the required maps.

Navigon Nokia

GPST Navigation

Multi Tasking capability
For the sake of regularity, I tested each of these programs for any issues when receiving a phone call or SMS message during an active navigation session. I am pleased to report that all of them passed the test, allowing a phone call to be taken, or an SMS to be read before using the back button to return to active navigation. In fact after a phone call, the navigation screen reopened automatically with all three apps. There were some differences in hand over speed, with the Nokia being immediate, Navigon about three seconds and Navigation about five seconds.

Planning a route
There are some significant differences in the manner and accuracy of entering the desired location. One matter of disappointment for me is that none of these offers the ability to use a specified starting point, so pre planning, for instance a holiday route in advance, is impossible. All use the current (or last known) GPS position as their starting point. Neither of the commercial programs has the facility for entering seven character UK postcodes. You can only enter the initial five characters to populate the rough location. From there you will need to know the street name or the road number to hone down the eventual location. Another negative is that none of the programs caters for multi stop trips, so each leg will have to be treated as a new journey.

Navigon

These two programs also show differences in how a location is entered by name. I live in a small village called Radwinter near the town of Saffron Walden. With Navigon I can enter Radwinter as the town, then select a local street. With Navigation, Radwinter is not recognised so it is necessary to enter Saffron Walden as the town, then a combination of street name/village to get the full address. One interesting error is that both incorrectly list Ashdon Road as Ashdown Road. Likewise near my office both incorrectly name Potters Mews as Potters Muse so presumably they use the same mapping data.

Nokia

Nokia does accept and recognise full UK postcodes. The downside of this one is that it needs a data connection to obtain location information before planning the route. The other two work fully off line.

GPST Navigator

Navigon has the ability to select a destination via the map screen. When in the 2D map, zooming/scrolling to a location, then tapping the top icon allows the centre of the screen to be set as the destination. The middle icon of the same screen shows the whole route in overview.

Navigation is the only one to include a proper turn by turn Itinerary. Tapping each location of the Itinerary shows the selected turn in the top half of the screen.

To accept a destination all have a Go button or similar. With Nokia you can swipe between matching address choices if a postcode search has not been used. The right pane shows the address and the left pane shows a map of the selected location, which can be committed by touching the Start button. Once a location has been selected it is not possible to reposition the location marker with Nokia.

Navigon Nokia
GPST Navigation

Navigon is the only one that shows a choice of three routes; pressing the colour coded graphic commits the route. Navigation simply has a Go button to start navigating.

In Use
One of the requirements of a satellite navigation program is that it gets you to your destination in a timely manner. Despite the lack of postcode search, both commercial programs managed to select what I consider an acceptable route for the 21 mile journey from my office to home, which usually takes 35 minutes. Nokia on the other hand went for a really wild option routing me for 27 miles at an estimated 48 minutes. Undaunted, I decided to test it by taking my usual route and seeing if it re-routed me. After 5 miles, it still hadn't re-routed and now showed my home journey as 31 miles and 57 minutes. Cancelling the route and redoing it succeeded in choosing the correct journey from its new starting point. Interestingly, the reverse journey used the correct routing. Some commentators have said that Nokia uses an online connection to plot the route as well as locate the destination. That might account for what I saw, as the chosen route was so different from my optimum route; maybe it was unable to re-route itself. Whether or not this is a true reflection of its capability is unknown, and one errant journey is not enough to prove a consistent problem.

All three have excellent spoken directions, giving timely warnings of upcoming turns. Navigon is the best here as it is the only one to use TTS voices which announce road names or numbers with the instruction. Navigon's spoken commands are a little more precise as well.

Nokia and Navigation use a dedicated part of the screen to show route instructions and driving information. Navigon uses a small area above the screen for the driving information and the turn information is superimposed on the main map screen. The driving information is, frankly, useless as the font is too small to read when the device is mounted on the dashboard, even with my HTC Titan. The other two are very readable at the expense of a smaller map display.

Navigon GPST Navigation

Nokia

Nokia and Navigon have options for 2D or 3D map displays, and both are good. Navigation is 2D only which makes it look a little dated. None have elevation or topographical overlays.

Navigon Nokia

Navigon has an 'block'feature which allows a route to be automatically replanned to avoid a variety of distances ahead should there be delays or roadworks etc.

Other Features
All three have the ability to navigate to Points of Interest. Navigon has a menu for navigating to a Contact from your main contact list, but in use I found this very unreliable. Even contacts with full postcodes often gave options up to 100 miles away (and often omitted the correct contact!); this is probably a function of the poor postcode implementation for UK addresses.

Navigon has a 'reality scanner' feature in which the phone's camera shows the view ahead, with any available POIs being displayed in a band across the centre of the screen according to their direction and distance. Pressing the arrow button opens an info screen with an option to navigate to the selected POI.

Navigon also includes live traffic information and safety camera locations within the purchased product. I have seen valid traffic warnings but not yet encountered how they work on a valid route.

Navigon and Navigation both have options screens from where features such as routing types, vehicles and voices can be set. Navigation has a Map screen to select which map(s) to download.

GPST Navigator

Navigon

Overall
Each of these three programs has much to commend it but none of them meets my ideal. For a free program, Nokia does the job, and it has a very easy interface. Its maps and graphics are clean and modern. It can be forgiven its lack of features though the routing issues are more cause for concern. As some of this is done online I'm sure Nokia will be able to adjust some of the parameters. Fast app switching is instant, which suggests Nokia integrates better with the WP7 OS.

GPS Tuner Navigation is competent and has a couple of features missing from the others. It looks good graphically but doesn't integrate with the Metro interface. Screen redraws are slower than the others. The 2D interface is a little old fashioned. Routing is accurate however and spoken directions are clear. The 24 hour trial period is very handy.

Navigon can be frustrating but overall has the most to offer, albeit at a much higher price than the others. It includes the whole of Western and Central Europe but lacks the ability to download individual countries. The 2.3GB file size may be a bit tight on some 8GB devices. The inclusion of such features as live traffic, safety cameras, contacts navigation and the 'reality scanner' add value, but one wonders why core features such as full UK postcode search, and offline route planning are not part of the package.The display of driving information also needs a serious rethink- speed, ETA and distance to destination are simply too small to read without compromising safety. Navigon has the best 'look and feel' integration with the Windows Phone Metro interface.

So, that's my potted opinion, based admittedly on limited use, especially for GPS Tuner Navigation due to the expiry of the trial period. If I've missed or misinterpreted anything, please post your views.

Review: HTC Titan; Initial impressions and day to day report.

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:00:12 +0000

With the release of Windows Phone 7.5 'Mango', Microsoft are attemptimg to boost the platform from its mediocre start into a genuine contender for the smartphone crown. At the same time, a number of manufacturers are releasing new hardware to take advantage of the latest features. Amongst the first of these, as ever, is HTC. As I was keen to move back to the MSFT fold, the new HTC Titan seemed a good opportunity to fulfill this objective. Over the coming days and weeks I will add to the review as I become more familiar with its features, so pop back from time to time to see how I'm getting on!

Device:
HTC Titan

Supplier:
The Smartphone Centre

Price: £479.99

With thanks to The Smartphone Centre for supplying this review sample.

Introduction
The smartphone market moves in strange ways sometimes. Until a couple of years ago, Microsoft ruled the roost with Windows Mobile in its various incarnations, particularly with the 'enthusiast' market- and you did need to be an enthusiast to get the best out of it. In 2007 the Apple cart was well and truly upset with the arrival of the iPhone and the rapid manner in which it became the aspirational phone device to own. Latterly, Google have gained massive ground with the popularity of its Android operating system, leaving Microsoft licking its wounds. Their evolution of Windows Mobile into Windows Phone 7 was a mixed success with many lamenting the poor feature set and lack of customisation ability. The first week of October 2011 saw the release of Windows Phone 7.5 'Mango' and the first samples of new ranges of hardware to run it.

I had previously been a staunch Windows Mobile user, so when Windows Phone 7 came out last November I was quick to obtain a phone running it. Although the HTC Mozart was a nice device, the operating system simply didn't offer the features I need as a personal and business user. Relucantly I moved on to an iPhone 4, which does most things very well indeed. It does lack some character though, and I was becoming a little bored with it. The promise of the updated WP7 and some interesting new smartphones persuaded me to dip my toe back into the Microsoft water.

Packaging and contents
Last week, dead on cue, my new package was delivered and I eagerly opened the box to get an initial charge under way. The packaging follows the recent HTC trend in being a black box with slide out tray holding the phone, with the accessories in the recess beneath. As is usual now, these comprise simply a charger plug, a USB cable for connection and charging and an HTC wired handsfree and headphone set. The latter is the generic HTC model which is adequate; no Sensation XE type enhancements here! As I use my Zagg earbuds for music, the supplied ones will stay in the box!

Initial impressions after the iPhone are that this is a big device. Its 4.7" screen dominates, but the bulk has been minimised by the very thin bezel. The overall depth of 9.9mm also makes it feel very manageable in the hand. I was interested in looking at some size comparison figures. One of our all-time favourite smartphones was the old HTC XDA II and IIi range. The new Titan is within 2mm of the height and width of that phone though is exactly half the depth. Maybe that will put into perspective how the Titan feels in use.

Before charging it is necessary to remove the back of the phone and take out the strip of insulating paper from behind the battery. A small button on the bottom edge allows the whole back to lift off giving easy access to the SIM card slot and the battery. I took that opportunity to install an old PAYG SIM card pending the arrival of a microSIM converter for my main contract SIM card. The battery was about 50% charged on arrival but I gave it another three hours before starting to use it.

Appearance and build
As mentioned above this is a slim, but relatively wide and tall device. As is standard with WP7 phones, there is a row of three touch sensitive buttons below the screen and a small 1.3Mpix camera to the top right above the screen for video calls. The edge of the screen housing stands proud of the casing by 1mm or so. This is not, as some reviewers have commented as a criticism, the screen edge itself; it is a plastic protective rim into which the screen locates to about half the height of the rim. This serves to protect the screen when placed face down on a desk or other hard surface.

The Titan has HTCs familiar unibody appearance, though in this case the aluminium back is a removable panel. The lower quarter has a rubberised coating giving it a similar appearance to the Mozart and Legend models. The release button is on the bottom edge along with the microphone aperture. The left hand side simply has the microUSB port (with contradictory reports that this doubles as a microHDMI port as well- not even HTC are clear on the matter!); the right side has the hardware camera button and the volume rocker, and the top edge houses the 3.5mm headphone/headset socket and power switch plus a small pin hole which I assume is a secondary microphone for the noise cancelling system for phone calls. I do find the power switch awkward to use. It is very shallow and sits on the bevelled lip of the top edge; this means that operating it with a finger of the hand holding the phone is less precise than pushing it with the other hand; I'm sure it is just a case of familiarity. At least it should prevent unbidden power switch pushes. A long press of the power switch prompts the 'Power Off' facility for extended power off times or to execute a reboot.

The rear panel has a large lens for the 8Mpix camera plus the twin flash LEDs which double as light emittors when using the Flashlight application.

Initial impressions.
The HTC Titan certainly feels well built. There is none of the plasticky feel of some of its forebears and competitors. The ultra slim depth makes it feel really easy in the hand and this does mitigate its overall bulk a lot. As I mentioned, it is pretty much identical in height and width to the XDA IIi so it doesn't look anywhere near as 'techy' as the HTC Universal or Athena of old. I can say with fair certainty that there should be none of the 'wally' factor when using this as a phone!

Once the initial startup has completed, with the mandatory requests for Windows Live credentials, time zone and other preferences, you are presented with the familiar Windows Phone Metro interface. I initially encountered a few 'cannot connect' messages which were down to the phone failing to recognise that my Vodafone SIM was PAYG. A quick visit to the HTC Connection Setup utility soon fixed that. Interestingly once I had my contract SIM installed, it also failed to prompt a new connection wizard and I had to use the utility to manually select Vodafone Conteract settings.

The right arrow on the Metro screen or a swipe left leads to the programs list in alphabetical order. Interestingly, after installing the HTC Dock application, the programs list added index letter headers. Tapping an index letter opens a full screen index for quick access to a particular letter if you have a lot of programs installed. I'm not sure if that was part of the HTC Dock feature set or I just missed it before!

One of the main features of the Titan is the 4.7" screen and there is no doubt this this makes reading the screen a real joy. Add the S-LCD depth of colour and the power of the 1.5GHz processor, and everything just flies. Maybe the native resolution should be been qHD but the 800*600 resolution gives clarity to text and browser based operations.

The screenshots here of SPG show that IE9 Mobile renders the full site very well. Scrolling operations are instant and pinch to zoom works well to zoom into and out of smaller text items. Likewise the usability of the Amazon Kindle application. The size of the screen means text can be set at a reasonable but still viewable size, reducing the number of page 'swipes' needed.

To date I have made little use of the phone functions. Calls I have made have been extremely clear but I've not had the chance to try it in noisier environments to test the noise cancelling features.

Media capability
It's early days for me yet, and I have not got around to adding any media. I usually carry a few gigabytes of music in my devices, but rarely any videos. I have not yet taken any daylight photographs, but did take a few shots in a dark concert hall at the weekend. This will warrant some definitive attention over the coming few days and weeks. One thing I was pleased about was the lack of 'overdrive' in a short video I shot during the concert. Previous HTC devices (and the iPhone) have all suffered serious distortion even at acoustic concert events. The sound on the Titan seemed very much better though I have yet to listen using headphones. This is a clip- bear in mind the hall was very dark and I was about 25ft from the stage! Also, I discovered in retrospect that the video default in the Titan is VGA so the quality of this clip is not representative of the HD capabilities!

I'm not a phone based 'gamer' and don't possess a console so can only accept Microsoft's assertions about XBox Live compatibility. I did download the trial of Need for Speed which appears to run really fast and smoothly. I don't have any test facilities but have seen a figure of 40fps mentioned, and this would seem to be fairly near the mark visually.

As I did have a WP7 phone before, I have a few applications I had purchased from the Marketplace. As yet there is no way to get those listed automatically, but Zune can show you the list, though not actually install them. From there it is necessary to search for each App individually and install it. You shouldthen get a message confirming the prior purchase, and the option to reinstall without needing to buy again.

So far, I'm suitably impressed with the HTC Titan. Battery life has been unexpectedly good. From fully charged at 6pm, I took it to the concert, took some photos and about eight minutes of video, then next day about two hours of general web browsing and program use. All the while, push email was turned on for my Exchange account, and WiFi and Location services were also running. By 8pm the following evening it was still showing 30% charge. I will keep an eye on it for a few days, as inevitably there will be some settling down.

So- that's it for the first instalment! Further experience and work commmitments allowing, I'll add more over the coming days!

2nd Instalment

I've been using the Titan as my primary device now for three days, and I'm getting used to the strengths and weaknesses of the new OS and the device itself.

I bought a new Exomount car holder for it, as I can't afford to keep buying Brodit holders for my swiftly changing mobile devices! I also bought, on a whim, an MHL cable to test HDMI output.

The latter first, I'm sorry to say did not work. I know HTC have hinted that HDMI might be a feature and a compatible cable might become available, but I really don't see that they would use yet another pin layout from the current MHL standard supported by the Sensation (and the Galaxy SII). We wait with bated breath!

The Exomount car holder is very good. The suction pad has a sticky material which gives it a secure fix even on uneven surfaces. My car dashboard has been a no go for all manner of previous mounts but this one seems to be very secure. The 'stickiness' does not leave a residue and the holder is equally at home as a desk stand. This is a generic holder and can support devices up the 5" screen size.

With this in place, I can now use my WP7 phone as a proper satellite navigation device, using the newly released Navigon Europe program. My experiences trying to install Navigon are in the specific thread elsewhere; suffice to say once the pain of installation is over, the program itself looks very good apart from the lack of UK7 postcodes.

Once the Metro-like interface is mastered and the tendency for menu items to become available only once certain other features are operative, Navigon seems to be an extremely good navigator. Add the traffic and safety camera features as standard and the value seems good. No word yet on how often the safety cameras will be updated. I am pleased to report that my 'test' journey from work to home, which includes a number of alternative routes was handled perfectly. It avoided a town (at the expense of three miles extra distance) and also selected some back roads home, which I know to be the quickest route. It did this using default settings unlike some competitors on other platforms!

I have still not got around to taking any daylight photos or videos- that may have to wait for the weekend!

Other things I have investigated have been adding email accounts and configuring Groups for SMS messaging. As before, email setup is a doddle and all four of my accounts are now set up and working.

Boz asks below what, for me, are the advantages of WP7 Mango. The above features really sum it up; turn by turn navigation, Exchange Inbox server searching and group SMS are all major improvements. The server search was a deal breaker for me in the previous version and I'm very pleased it now works as it ought.

Now some specifics of the Titan as opposed to WP7.5. For navigation, obviously the large screen makes for very easy viewing of the screen and upcoming turns. The overall build quality continues to impress me. Phone call clarity and volume is very good indeed, as is signal strength.

I've only had a chance to play music and videos for a short time, but what I have heard has been stunning. Using good headphones and a compatible video (such as the intro to the Need for Speed game) the Dolby 5.1 sound (OK- virtual Dolby!) is awe inspiring. The sound is clear but bass just hits you without any distortion. This is using my Zagg Earbuds which are good anyway, but the Titan obviously has a great sound chip.

For 'normal' music there is the option for SRS or Equaliser. I have to admit to not particularly liking either but in some circumstances they can add impact; the basic system is very good indeed though.

Battery life continues to be impressive. I last charged the Titan 22 hours ago since when it has been used for 40 minutes of satellite navigation without external power, three or four two minute phone calls, continuous Exchange connection and probably 90 minutes of general usage, downloading etc. The battery is still showing 35% charge so should make the end of the working day without difficulty. This means that even a heavy day's usage should be possible if starting the day fully charged.

That's it for this episode; more in due course, but please keep asking questions!

Addendum to today's episode!
In the course of playing around with the Marketplace I came across the Web based version on the PC. As that was something I'd not seen with my original foray into WP7 I decided to try the 'Push' style installation. On the PC I chose the trial version of a game, and used the 'Send to my device' option.

I had expected some sort of notification like an SMS or email, but none came. So, after one minute I checked the Titan, and lo & behold the App was already installed and ready to go. My newly provisioned 20Mbit BB connection must have helped a lot as the App was 30MB in size. That is very impressive all around, especially as the Titan was not physically connected to the PC at all, though WiFi was enabled.

Day 3 Update

Just a quick update today

I fully charged the phone at 7pm yesterday then did some random browsing and about 30minutes playing with a flight Simulator(Infinite Flight) and three short phone calls. Today have made another three short calls, three SMS and received about 20 emails.

I've been using Excel Mobile and Board Express a bit then a few minutes of Navigon plus about 30 minutes of general browsing etc. Now, at 8pm it still shows 23% charge, which is pretty impressive.

I'm not so impressed with Excel Mobile. I downloaded a simple spreadsheet from my Dropbox account (and also tried emailing it to myself ) in order to work on it over lunch. It doesn't have any fancy formulae or formatting, but Excel Mobile won't let me edit it at all. Had to go back to Docs to Go on iOS which edited without a problem.

Update:
This was proving to be a big problem. The Guru suggested I upload/download from Skydrive (in a later post below) but still no ability to edit, even a very simple single column worksheet. I then tried opening a Word document from Skydrive and had the same issue. However, Word Mobile has a slightly more useful error message when trying to edit a document and it told me it was unable to edit a Word 1997/2003 document.

So, the penny dropped. My saved files were all in the older format. WP7 needs files in Office 2010 to allow editing. Resaving my files in the newer format restored the ability to edit them, whether from Skydrive, Dropbox or via an email attachment. My bad, but it isn't made very clear that you must use Office 2010 files.

Overall the experience with Mango and the Titan is very good though.

Review: HTC HD7 Tradition Leather Case

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:46:27 +0000

Supplier: Noreve Saint Tropez

Product: HTC HD7 Tradition Leather Case
Part Code: 21543
Price: 44.99 Euros or £38.02 (as of March 2011)

Product: Belt clip 360 degree rotation - Metal
Part Code: 61304C
Price: 14.50 Euros (as of March 2011)

Recently becoming the proud owner of a HTC HD7 Windows Phone one of the items on my shopping list to accompany the device was a decent protective case of good quality. When an opportunity arose to review the new Noreve Tradition case for the HD7 it was a chance to kill two birds with one stone - to test out the case and produce a new review for the site.

The case supplied for the review was manufactured in 'beige perpetual' leather which is only one of the 22 colour and leather variants offered by Noreve which are all selectable on the product web site. Once the 'order' was placed the case took around 3-4 weeks to arrive which is not too excessive considering each case is hand made by Noreve's craftsmen.

Along with the main case we were supplied with the Metal belt clip which is recommended for 'excessive use' by Noreve. As I tend to use my holsters / cases daily within a factory environment this had to be considered a must have accessory to the case.

Both cases arrived well packaged in a strong cardboard box and once that was removed the Noreve 'Haute Couture for Mobile Devices' house style packages containing the actual products were revealed.

One minor but important bonus point here for Noreve - The product packages are a mixture of emblazoned cardboard and transparent plastic, and usually with this type of packaging one needs a strong grip and a pair of scissors to remove the goods - Noreve have used nested plastic which pushes together firmly which means you can with a little effort pull the plastic apart. No scissors needed and no risk of jabbing yourself with freshly cut sharp plastic edges. I wish a lot of other companies would use this type of packaging!

The case package itself comprises of:

The outer packaging
Inner protective cardboard box
The case itself
Plastic bag containing the standard belt clip, screwdriver, mounting lug and mounting screw

Mounting of the HD7 is achieved by pushing it gently downwards against the padded inner surface of the case and sliding it underneath the two hardened raised leather 'wings' which appear to be steel lined. A little force is needed to slide the HD7 into position, but no marking or damage ensued while locating it correctly and once held there is no danger of the phone coming adrift - it is held tightly.

Once in position the HD7 rests against the lower part of the case immediately next to the hinge component on the case, which again is made of high quality leather and is cut away to allow access to the USB and headphone connections.

This part of the case area exhibits a strong contrast in the constructional methods used. The padded inner leather beautifully embossed with the Noreve logo looks very stylish, but the port cut away appears a little poorly cut and slightly rough in appearance.

To Noreve's credit however this part of the case is either covered up or non-visible while in use and it is therefore of lesser importance, but it is the only styling flaw in the entire case and should really be addressed.

As you can see once in position within the case the HD7 sits slightly 'proud' of the back the case and should therefore be gently pushed backwards to achieve a final firm seating within the case.

Once in position the case can be closed via lifting the front flap upwards against the hinge and then using a slight finger pressure to push the locking grip over the top of of the HD7.

Once closed the HD7 is suitably ensconced and more than a little casual pressure is needed again to break the joint and unhinge the case for operation. Again here one gains the impression that the leather is reinforced with a steel strip so that the 'lock' should not work loose over time.

The HD7 is well protected once encased with only a narrow strip around the case allowing ingress by foreign objects, the rest of the body is protected by the nicely styled quality leather. In particular with the review model the leather was very fine grained and nicely finished with tiny regular stitching. There were no imperfections or faults visible in the leather itself.

Once closed the base of the case / hinge is pierced to allow entry for the headphones only, there is no provision to connect to the USB port while the case is closed.

The Right hand side of the case is again cut away to allow access to the camera button and the volume rocker switch.

As the top of the case is protected by the locking mechanism then both the power button as well as the opposite top side of the machine are left open and exposed. However as the HD7 is slid into the case via this part of the case there is little that could be done to increase protection in this area.

The back of the case is neatly pierced to allow the camera / LED port to be accessed, with the piercing mirroring the shape of the 'support leg' on the back of the HD7 and this looks well indeed. Be warned though, the piercing is not large enough to allow the support stand to kick out through the case and act as a stand for the HD7. If you try and force the the support through the piercing you may well damage it and stop it functioning!

Just below the camera piercing is a protective screw which serves to blank off the screwed port used for attaching belt mounts. If the case is to be used within the pocket or without a belt mount this can be left in place.

If one wishes to use the basic belt mount supplied (or the metal mount) then the blanking screw can be removed with the supplied screwdriver (a nice touch) and the requisite mount screwed into place with the supplied longer screw. The mount bezel shown here is that for affixing the standard plastic mount.

The standard 'crocodile' style clip can then be attached to the back of the case via pushing it over the mount bezel and pushing it downwards until the sliding lock plate moves up and over the bezel locking it in position. The case is then firmly held onto the clip until the locking button is depressed allowing the case to be withdrawn from the clip.

The clip is designed of course to remain in situ on the belt and the case unclipped for device operation and then clipped back in position once retired from use.

The clip itself is constructed from strong ABS plastic and should survive casual everyday use. The only critique in the design is that when the case is belt mounted and subject to a strong upwards force the clip can spring open allowing the case to lift upwards off the belt.

Such a situation can occur if one enters a car seat at speed and the car seat has raised portions to hold one in position when driving. Those raised portions can spring the case loose from the belt.

This is the main reason I'm not a fan of this clip design, but this is not criticism aimed at Noreve a large number of case manufacturers use this design of belt mount!

Belt clip 360 degree rotation - Metal

Noreve obviously recognise that the standard belt clip is only suitable for light use and so have designed and engineered the 'Belt clip 360 degree rotation - Metal' clip. This clip was designed by a real 'engineer' and is constructed from high quality spring and pressed steel. This is the clip I suggest everyone purchases and uses. It is very high strength and the spring is properly shaped and tooled ensuring it gets the maximum grip onto a belt and will not come loose.

Using this mount there is no danger of any car seat springing it loose - so be prepared for the case to remain in position and prod you in the side if you enter a car at high velocity!

As I'm an engineer by training I'm always complaining about belt clips being flimsy and under designed by all belt case manufacturers it's one of my pet grumbles. At last with this mount those days of complaints are gone as this mount surpassed even my highest expectations and continues to function well indeed in all situations. It has not come loose once and has met my design criteria for a well designed belt mount. Kudos Noreve!

To mount the case onto the high strength clip the case is turned 90 degrees to the belt clip, slid down into place and then rotated 90 degrees again to the normal belt case orientation. This means that to remove the case from the belt/clip that the case is twisted (forward) 90 degrees and lifted off the clip.

The procedure is reversed to remount the case on the clip. This mounting and drawing procedure becomes automatic very quickly and is much less onerous than extracting the case from the standard plastic crocodile clip. Once almost feels like a gun slinger drawing the HD7 for action!

The finishing of the metal clip is well done, with the spring steel highly polished and the base steel coated with a goodly layer of matte black paint. The clip looks as good as it is functional.

As you can see the steel belt clip looks good on the belt, is not too intrusive and proudly shows off the Noreve logo!

And once mounted onto the belt the Noreve Tradition case looks just as good. Again the Noreve logo adds a touch of distinction and class. Once mounted the case has a goodly amount of movement laterally on the belt which ensures that there is no interference when walking, sitting etc. The reinforced design of the flap gives a goodly amount of protection to the front face of the HD7 and keeps it from harm.

Pros and Cons:

Choice of leather style and colour
Nicely constructed
Goodly level of protection offered
Supplied with basic belt clip
Supplied with all tools needed
'Safe' packaging design
Optional high quality metal 360 clip

Slightly rough leather cut-outs in some areas
Can not operate kick out stand while encased
Can not use USB port with case closed

Conclusion:

The Noreve Tradition case is well designed and manufactured from quality leather and gives a goodly level of protection to the HD7. There are some small quirks in the construction that could be addressed but for the price it offers style and security for your HD7.

Noreve supply all that is needed to mount the case and deserve many and profuse congratulations for designing an optional metal belt clip designed to withstand all the stresses and strains of hard use.

And for the style conscious you even get a choice of leather to choose from.

The case and mount combination has it all; protection, ease of use, style. Go buy one now

Attached Thumbnails

Review: Brodit PDA Active Holder Tilt Swivel for HTC HD7

Sat, 05 Feb 2011 11:47:24 +0000

Product: Brodit PDA Active Holder Tilt Swivel for HTC HD7

Our good friends over at DSL Developments have supplied us with one of the first Brodit mounts for the HTC HD7. The mount in question is the Active model which is suitable for powering via a cigarette lighter socket. [Product code: 512220].

This arrived packaged as per usual by Brodit in a plastic bag which contained the mount itself, the instructions and a bag of mounting screws. For a new user to the world of Brodit you'd also have to purchase a matching Brodit Mount for your car.

As you can see the mount comprises the mounting bracket itself and a trailing 'active' power lead which ends in a car power adaptor (cigarette lighter socket). Once fixed onto the Brodit mount the HD7 can then be slid into place. Power feeds into the mount via the active lead and from there directly into the HD7, giving plenty of power for hands free phone calls or satellite navigation.

As always with Brodit the HD7 is held very firmly and even when driving at speed over bumpy roads there is no problem with vibration or movement - the phone is held safe and securely.

It is worth mentioning that the tilt swivel is the new improved design which allows more tension in the joint and is therefore mechanically stronger.

One other point of note is that there is a 'cut out' portion in the base of the mount which allows room for the headset to be connected to the HD7 while mounted in situ.

To conclude: Yet again another well engineered mount from Brodit, proved with speed and efficiency by DSL.

Pros and Cons:

A good sturdy mount designed by experts
No vibration or movement in the phone when driving at speed
Ensures a good level of power for operation when making calls or navigating
Reasonably priced
Designed specifically for the HD7

Attached Thumbnails

Samsung Omnia 7 Review

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 21:51:40 +0000

This is going to be a short review of my personal experience with the Samsung Omnia 7.

Before getting my hands on the Windows Phone 7 phone, I was a bit apprehensive because I have been reading about it and I am aware of some of the shortcomings that could turn into really annoying niggles if they don’t get addressed.

Right, First impressions on taking the phone out of the box are that it’s not as big as I thought it would be. I expected it to sit awkwardly in my hand and feel too big to hold. I’m glad to say I was wrong, the Omnia 7 sits nicely in the hand and you can even do one-handed text replies (although if you want to write more than a quick text, it’s better to use one hand to hold the phone and the other to type)

As is the case with most phones nowadays the initial set-up was an easy process and within a couple of minutes I had set up my Windows Live and 2 Gmail accounts on the phone with it syncing contacts, email and calendar items from all 3 sources. I also added my Facebook account to the list and then went into the people hub to make sure that all my contacts had synced properly.
I was a bit shocked when I saw all of my Facebook “friends” in the people hub but a quick look in the settings screen removed all the Facebook contacts except those connected with my Gmail contact list. Next was clearing up one or two duplicate contacts that were showing. This was an easy thing of selecting the contact, then hitting the link button at the bottom and choosing the duplicate contact. After about 5 minutes all my contacts were sorted out the way I liked them.
I also like the clean way the “Whats New” area shows all my Facebook status updates and lets me “like” or comment on anyones status.

The whole metro UI seemed to flow very smoothly and I like the clean and simple layout in the apps. The Samsung does come with a “Now” hub that gives you the weather, news and stocks and it works well. The only thing that needs to improve is adding more locations. The weather is supplied by accuweather.com, news by Reuters and stocks by Yahoo! Finance. I haven’t been able to see if I can change those sources, say to BBC News etc.

The Internet Explorer that comes in WP7 phones has an option to report itself as a mobile browser or a desktop browser. By default it is set to mobile browser to reduce the amount of data that is transferred eating up your data allowance. I went to a couple of sites that I know use a mobile version of their sites, www.bbc.co.uk/news and www.smartphonegurus.com to name two of the sites I visited. Both of these sites displayed the desktop version of their sites instead of the mobile version that I was expecting. I don’t know if this is because of an issue with IE in WP7 or with the sites not recognising WP7 IE as being a mobile browser.

The X-Box Live hub is where I spent a lot of my time. I downloaded a couple of free games and two trial games from the marketplace, The two trial games were Monopoly and The Revenants. I loved both these trial games that I bought the full versions after playing the trials for around 10 minutes. I’m not slightly addicted to Monopoly on WP7… ooops…
I like the way that you can see all you X-Box Live achievements on the phone and gain new achievements from playing the live games that are available from the marketplace. One thing I hope that they implement soon is multiplayer. It will feel so much better beating a real person at Monopoly than beating the AI.

I’m not going to talk about the media side of the Omnia 7 yet as I’ve not had a chance to sync any photos/music/video to the phone using the Zune Desktop software yet. Thats going to happen later tonight and I’ll post how I get on tonight or tomorrow.

As good as the Samsung Omnia 7 and Windows Phone 7 are, there are a few little niggles that will annoy me until they are sorted out (hopefully in the upcoming update start of 2011). These are (in no particular order):

- Lack of Copy & Paste. The phone needs copy and paste. If I want to copy a URL and post it into twitter or Facebook or even in a forum post, then currently I need to write down the (potentially long) URL and manually type it in. Same goes for any blocks of text that I need to move around. Luckly Copy & Paste is coming in the update.

- Limited Number of Apps. This one should sort itself out as time goes on. Just like the Apple marketplace and Android marketplace when they first started, there isn’t that much in the way of apps for the phone yet. Oh but one grip I do have is if your making an APPLICATION, make sure it is actually an APPLICATION and not just a silly little link. I’m looking at you YouTube app.

- On the Omnia 7 I do find myself accidentally hitting the search button on the front. It seems to be just a little bit too sensitive for me. Might annoy me or I might learn to live with it, only time will tell with this one.
- I need to find out how (if its possible) to add custom words to the user dictionary

Overall I am happy so far with my Windows Phone 7 experiance. Will I stick with it or will I go back to the trusty HTC Desire? I’ll find out over time.

Windows Phone 7 - HTC Trophy Review

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 12:43:35 +0000

Day 1. Configuration and Setup.

Windows Phone 7 is, for me, the most eagerly awaited mobile operating system ever. That said, having read countless articles, watched hours of videos and undertaken many training courses on it (the benefits of being a Microsoft MVP) I greet the new OS with a more than a little apprehension though, as being very much a power user I am aware that at it's early stage of the life cycle it's not going to be all things for me.

Anyway, back to the experience, I picked up my Vodafone Trophy yesterday after a fair few hours of wangling with the Vodafone phone support. I'll not pretend it was an easy process, but to be fair to Vodafone they have accommodated my wish to upgrade to a new device and plan even though I was only half way through my current contract, for a fair price.

So I got the phone home, charged it, popped in my SIM card and let the Windows Phone 7 goodness wash over me. My first impressions of the OS, Metro, and the hardware (HTC Trophy) were good. The menu animation is very slick and smooth and the screen is just about as responsive a touch screen as I've ever used. All good so far.

Right, first things first, it's time to get rid of the carrier customisation. From there I went back to the "homescreen" and with a long push on the Vodafone Web applications tile for all intents and purposes my device was how HTC meant it to be. Not done with my ridding of foreign bodies from my lovely new Windows Phone 7 device I next turned my attention to the HTC tiles and removed those too.

To give credit to Microsoft, from day one they said that carriers and OEM's would not be allowed to mess with Metro, and they're good to their word. Kudos to them. The red vodafone tiles are already making my eyes hurt and giving me an instinctual feeling of rage. I go into settings, theme, and change the accent colour from vodafone (red) to Teal and my Feng shui becomes nicely aligned once more.

Ok, now that I have my Windows Phone 7 device as Steve Ballmer intended it to be, I set about configuring it to my own wants and needs. Over the years I've owned or borrowed more mobile devices then I've had hot dinners. I've also swapped OS a fair few times so I've got the changeover process pretty much nailed down.

I use a two step configuration process. Step one is designed to implement my "can't leave home without it" functionality and entails:

Setup up and synchronising my Exchange account (for contacts, calendar and email),
Configuring ring and notification tones for SMS, Email and phone(I've used the same ones for years),
Copying my music onto the device.

Step two is the "really want to have" setup and involves installing applications for the following:

GPS navigation,
Stopwatch/Timer,
Sudoku,
Live sports scores.

When I made the transition to Android on the HTC Legend step one took me about 30 minutes all in, and step two about the same. In essence, within the hour after taking the device off charge I was running on Android at full steam. Microsoft has made loud noises about user experience so I was expecting the setup for Windows Phone 7 to be a walk in the park. How wrong I was.

Ok, step 1. Synch with Exchange. Every phone in the world now makes Exchange syncing easy so I wasn't expecting any pain here. Wrong again. I put in my details, it auto discovers my Exchange.... and fails. Exchange certificate error. Ok, I thought, no worries, just install the Exchange certificates on the device in the same way I would for Windows Mobile 6.5......or not. No SD card to put the certs onto, and no PC to device file sync facility either.

An hour or so of Googling later and I've found the answer. Simply email the certificates to myself. That's simple enough.....except I can't get my email on the device. Not to worry, I setup a brand new hotmail account just so I can install my certificates onto my device. After another 30 minutes or so doing this I finally get my certificates onto the new phone. Right, go into email, click sync.... and another error. Not the same error, but a different error. I dig out an old WM6.5 device, hard reset it, put my SIM card and SD card in, install the certs and sync with Exchange. It completes first time. WTF?

Ok, not to focus too much on that now, (but suffice to say I'll be taking the Exchange server apart later to try and fix this. What do Microsoft expect companies who used Self signed Exchange certs or hosted Exchange customers to do in this case? Get the whole company to setup a hotmail account?) back to phase one. Ringtones. Now having already realised I can't get my lovely comfortable normal configuration on the device I decide to just ignore the fact that there doesn't seem to be a way to add custom ringtones to WP7 at the moment. I go into the list of ringtones (settings - ringtones & sounds - Ringtone) and joy of joys, my favourite "Oldphone" is there. Good news at last. I wasn't so lucky with the notification sounds. It seems that for all the billions of development the best MS could come up with here is some jingly variations that all sound like R2D2 is being strangled. I choose the lease obtrusive notifications for SMS and email and move on.

I've now been "fiddling" for three hours and have got absolutely nowhere. I'm also at the point now where the the time it takes the fluffy menu to animate it's way on and off the screen is really starting to annoy me, but I can't even be bothered to dive back in and see if there's any way to speed up or turn off the transitions. I suspect there isn't but I'll be happy to be proved wrong. The final part of my essential setup is moving my music onto the device and to be quite honest I don't have the will to try it tonight so I'm going to bed.

So basically, 8 hours after buying my Windows Phone 7 device I've not got close to completing the stage 1 setup. My SIM card is back in the awesome value SIM slot of the San Francisco and I'm still seeing and communicating with the world through Android tinted glasses.

More tomorrow......

Day 2. Configuration and Setup part 2!

With a good nights sleep accomplished I set about righting yesterday's wrongs. To cut a long story short, and after a fair amount of certificate jiggery pokery I exported a new cert, emailed it to my alternate address and installed it on the phone. This time it worked. I'm unsure at the moment why the previous cert worked on WM6.5 but didn't work on WP7 but I think I'll chalk it up to voodoo. So with hurdle number one out of the way I set about the last task in Step 1 of my configuration process which is to move my music from my Android's SD card onto the Trophy. As there's no SD card slot it was time to test out Windows Phone 7's Activesync/WMDC equivalent, Zune. With yesterday's shenanigans still haunting me and Microsoft's past history of mobile sync software I was hesitant to say the least. I swallowed hard, and clicked the download button for the 64bit version of the software (I know, I know, but I like to live dangerously!). Download was about 65MB, and once completed it installed.

The Zune software is quite a pretty affair, and seems pretty sensibly designed. I setup the default syncing areas for Music, Video, Photos and Podcasts and all was done. At this point I gritted my teeth and plugged in the Trophy. Windows 7 detected the device, and trundled off to the internet to pick up the drivers which it duly installed. Zune then sprang to life and a little phone icon in the bottom left of the screen appeared. There were a few setup options about whether to automatically or manually sync from PC to phone for Music, Videos, Photos etc and whether to automatically update the song information and album art. I decided to sync all my music (4GB on this machine) automatically, and to manually sync the Videos, Photos and Pods. I then clicked finish and off it went. While the device was syncing it showed a nice page with a progress bar and completion percentage and I was free to wander around the Zune market place and play music to my hearts content. I took this opportunity to browse the marketplace for films etc and check out some of the other features. More on those later. I didn't clock the 4GB of music transfer time but it was much faster than I expected (15 minutes or so?). So was the update of the music information and album art. Consider me suitably impressed.

There's been a lot of irritation from current Zune owners of how the Zune software has been butchered to meet the needs of Windows Phone 7. I sympathise with these guys, but from my perspective, when you look at Activesync and WMDC, the Zune software is a hundred fold improvement. As a sync solution it definitely gets my thumbs up.

That's it for today, I'm gonna go kick back and listen to some tunes. Tomorrow I'll dive into the Marketplace and see if I can get Step 2 of my setup accomplished and start using the device for real.........

Day 3

After a much more positive day with Windows Phone 7 yesterday I'm feeling a lot better about the whole situation now. Added to that, I got about 44 hours out of the battery on my HTC Trophy as well, which is very good for modern day Smartphone.

Going back to my 2 Step setup I dive into the Marketplace to download some apps. I picked up:

Weatherbug - Which is a free Weather application that also puts the weather in a live tile.
Xbox Live Extras - Which does what the built in phone aopp should do and basically gives you the functionality of xboxlive.com on your phone.
Chrono - A free simple stopwatch program.
Sudoku - A free Sudoku game.

I also picked up the free Microsoft apps:

World Clock
Unit Converter
Translator
Shopping List
Level (spirit)
Calculator

All are pretty simple but work well. The two programs I'm missing now are a decent real time live sports scores app, preferably with a live tile attached and a GPS navigation program. Microsoft's limitations mean that technically a TomTom or Copilot app is not going to be allowed to run on Windows Phone 7, but the Windows Phone 7 Bing app does do GPS Navigation in the same way Google Maps does it for Android, so I guess that's half way there. I'd love to see something like Googles Scoreboard on Windows Phone 7, but unfortunately at the moment I've not been able to find one. I'll keep looking though and if I find one you'll be the first to know about it.

I also tried to download Board Express which will be Windows Phone 7's first tapatalk capable app, but unfortunately the Board Express folks are currently struggling to get it through Microsoft's approval process, but hopfully we'll see that soon.

Apparently there are now over 1,000 applications in the Marketplace, but from my perspective the quality is, as with Apple and Google's marketplaces, a little less than I was hoping for. Microsoft have made a big thing about Metro and the Live tiles but unfortunately the amount of Live tile enabled applications in the store is still very lacking. Just out of interest I found several fart apps in the store already, so in this example Microsoft's application store policy hasn't helped us with the flaws in both Apple and Googles offerings. The Market is young, and hopefully in 6 months time we will have seen a lot more quality applications and less of the trivial ones.

I'll finish today with some praise. The Outlook client really is very good. It's the easiest mobile email client I've used and integrates with Exchange very very well.

Another plus point is that connecting my Motorola S9 bluetooth headset was as easy as pie, and WP7 offered full functionaltiy through the headset. A nice touch is that with the BT headset connected and music running when you unlock the device you can control the music function without need to slide to unlock and going back into the Zune application. Simple controls are offered on the lock screen itself.

More tomorrow.........

HTC HD7 Review

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 06:33:17 +0000

As you will no doubt be aware today (21st of October) is the 'launch day' of Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 in the UK and Europe. Our good friends at O2 have kindly loaned us their variant of the HTC HD7 for review. As we only received the machine just in time for the launch date we'll be putting the device through its paces on a daily basis and commenting as to how each aspect of the device works in the real world! So onwards.

The HD7 arrived in full HTC consumer release packaging with the box being surprisingly small and compact. The packaging follows the new HTC house style with large photographs of the HD7 itself surrounded by the expected 'cartoon' graphics.

The back of the case shows the specifications of the machine itself:

Size: 122 x 68 x 11.2mm
Weight: 162 grams
Processor: 1Ghz Snapdragon
Platform: Windows Phone OS 7
Internal Storage: 16Gb (specially increased from 8Gb for O2)
ROM: 512Mb, RAM: 576Mb
Camera: 5MP, autofocus with dual LED, 720p HD video recording, built in scenes
Connectors: 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, Standard micro-USB (5-pin micro-USB 2.0)
Sensors: G-Sensor, Digital compass, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor
Internet:
3G (Up to 7.2 Mbps download speed, Up to 2 Mbps upload speed), GPRS (Up to 114 kbps downloading), EDGE (Up to 560 kbps downloading), Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
HTC Hub: Weather, Stocks, Converter, Photo Enhancer, Sound Enhancer, and more. Downloadable apps and games
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 2.1 with Enhanced Data Rate, A2DP for wireless stereo headsets, Other supported profiles: AVRCP, HFP, HSP, PBAP
Social Networking: Facebook and Windows Live, Share photos on Facebook or Windows Live SkyDrive
Multimedia: See photos from your camera, Facebook and Windows Live accounts in the Pictures hub, Music and Videos Hub powered by Zune lets you listen to radio, download music, and more, Dolby Mobile and SRS surround sound
Audio supported formats: .m4a, .m4b, .mp3, .wma (Windows Media Audio 9)
Video supported formats: Playback:.3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .m4v, .mbr., .wmv (Windows Media Video 9 and VC-1), Recording:.mp4
Location: Internal GPS antenna, Bing Maps
Power & Battery: Battery type: Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery, Capacity: 1230 mAh. Talk time: (WCDMA: Up to 320 mins, GSM: Up to 380 mins). Standby time: (WCDMA: Up to 320 hours, GSM: Up to 310 hours)
Network: Europe:(HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz, GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz), Asia Pacific: (HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz, GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
Special Features: Kickstand, Customize your phone with live tiles which dynamically update all key information right on the Start screen, Choose from thousands of video titles and music tracks via integrated Zune services, Play console-quality video games with XBox LIVE integration
Recommended Windows System Requirements: Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP, Zune software

as well as the specific data on the particular machine itself.

To get at the HD7 one slides the inner box out of the sleeve and the HD7 is revealed in its glory wrapped in the usual protective sleeving which carries the warning about care of the device and screen usage. The layer that the HD7 nestles into can be lifted out via a 'finger hole' and underneath can be found the supplied accessories.

These comprise:

Two piece charger into which the USB cable fits
The micro-USB sync / charge cable
Headset with rubber buds
Safely Information, Warranty, Quick Start guide etc

The HD7 once removed and examined proves to be sleek and black with the most recognisable aspect being the massive 4.3" screen which dominates the device, while underneath the obligatory Microsoft specified 'Back, Windows, and Search' buttons. Above the screen at the top of the front fascia is the speaker which is cunningly styled so as to be almost invisible at first glance.

The screen is also brightly lit (as can be seen above when booting) and is free from any discolouration or banding that may occur through poor screen design.

For such a large phone the HD7 feels light and manageable when held in the hand, the contoured shape and rounded edges work well to ensure that the HD7 is comfortable in the palm and there are no hard edges and slippery surfaces (Apple iPhone 4) that give concerns about the device escaping from the grip.

The only drawback with the large screen (as with the HTC Desire, iPhone 4, etc) is that it is a magnet for finger marks. Be prepared to have something handy for use as a screen wipe!

The base of the phone is sparse indeed containing only the 3.5mm jack plug and the micro-USB sync / charge port.

Similarly the top of the HD7 holds only the power on / sleep switch.

The left hand side is completely unadorned holding no controls of any kind.

The right hand side sports the volume up / down rocker as well as the dedicated camera (wake / shoot) button.

The camera button is one of the items specified by Microsoft in the design of 'chassis 1' for Windows Phone, as it can be used (default configuration) to wake the machine into camera readiness mode. This special mode can be activated even when the phone is locked and when triggered by pressing the camera button for a second or two unlocks the phone and loads the camera application so that a photo can be taken very quickly indeed. Kudos to Microsoft here!

The camera button does take a firm press to activate it which avoids it being triggered accidentally although it does mean you have to make sure you have a good grip on the HD7 it you want it to respond quickly.

The back of the device is much more interesting as it contains the battery cover (which is made of soft plastic and removed via inserting a fingernail in the 'removal slot' - top left). The battery cover also holds within it the piercings for the camera and twin LED flash as well as the kick plate.

Below the cover is the HD7 model branding as well as the Windows Phone logo.

As you can see the kick plate can be gently flipped up into it's in use position whereby an internal spring holds it in position (open or closed).

And the HD7 can then be positioned comfortably on the desk while one sits back and watches a video.

The HD7 will always be compared both on specifications and size to the HD2 which preceded it to the market (and ran Windows Mobile 6.5). As you can see the machines are nigh on identical with the HD7 only being different with respect to slight housing design changes and the lack of front facing controls compared to the HD2.

Even though the HD7 weighs in at some 5 grams heavier than the HD2 and is 1-2mm greater in size it feels slightly lighter and smaller, which indicates good ergonomic design by HTC's engineers!

Once the SIM card has been fitted into the HD7 and the on button pressed to wake the machine it boots up initially to a white screen (see above) followed by the green HTC logo.

A second or two later this is replaced by the O2 welcome logo.

Which after around 20 seconds clears to reveal the initial 'Welcome' screen belonging to Windows Phone. Once you tap the 'get started' button you are taken through the basic configuration of the phone.

Firstly setting your default language.

Then agreeing to the terms of use.

Then finally choosing the settings. I chose to follow the 'recommended' option here as that is the one that most users will choose. However the 'custom' setting will allow one to choose to vary items such as; allowing cellular data usage and sending improvement information ot Microsoft.

Next the time zone is selected.

Finally your Windows Live ID is either entered or created and entered. This is one of the most important parts of the initial configuration as this will be used to set up your account for all Microsoft Online services (Live ID picture and file sharing, X-Box Live, the application store, etc). So if you have multiple IDs ensure you pick the one you use commonly. If you do not have an ID a wizard will take you through the process of generating one.

Be warned though if you do want to change ID at a later date as it is the cornerstone of the phones ID with respect to Microsoft the only way of making the change is to hard reset the phone and configure it from scratch!

Once the initial configuration has been completed you are advised of the fact and once you tap 'done' .......

It should be noted that in my opinion that only half of the configuration at this point is actually done. For my use as I have Wi-Fi at home I also had to enter the settings and link the machine to my Wi-Fi network. Plus as I'm a social type I had to go into the settings screens and set up my preferences for: Facebook, Home Email, Work Email, G-Mail, etc. These processes are not undertaken as part of the basic configuration wizard.

However all the settings for these were configured with the minimum of fuss and no problems were encountered.

..... you are taken to the new home screen of Windows Phone. You now have in front of you the live tiles that are the core of interfacing with the individual applications at the hubs which comprise the main aspects of the HD7.

The new start screen is a complete change of ethos compared to that found on older Windows Mobile devices and even compared to other competing OS's like Android and iOS. The system is navigated entirely by broad sweeping gestures up and down, left and right, accompanied with taps and flicks to enter various modes.

Initially when at the start screen you can flick up and down the list of pre-configured tiles, or tap the arrow (top right of the screen) to gain entry to the applications or systems screens. When initially manipulating the screen and the tiles one immediately noticed how fast and smooth the scrolling of the display is. Everything feels natural and fluid, there is no hint of slow down or lag at all.

The tiles are intelligent and serve to update themselves with information the 'People' tile for example updates with mini icons of images of friends avatars when an update is seen on Windows Live or Facebook, and tiles linked with Email accounts contain the number of new emails.

As standard the following tiles are shown after initialisation:

Phone Hub - Allows you to access Phone functions
People - Allows you to enter the People Hub whereby you can view / edit your contacts or see their status updates on Facebook or Live
Messaging - Access SMS (TXT) Messages
Me - See or update your status of Facebook of Live services
Calendar Hub - Access your calendar(s)
Music and Videos Hub - Enter the Zune system for music or video playback (or purchasing)
Settings Hub - Change the settings of the HD7
Pictures - View pictures either synced to the phone or downloaded from Facebook or Live Services
Sound Enhancer (HTC extra) - Allows one to choose to enhance the sound via Dolby Mobile or SRS Enhancement
Marketplace - Buy or Try Applications, Music or Games
HTC Hub (HTC Extra) - Accesses HTC applications such as the wonderfully animated weather application
Internet Explorer - Browse the web
Photo Enhancer (HTC Extra) - Apply special effects to photos

Additional tiles for new email accounts appear as each are added via the Email Settings applet. If a tile is tapped and held it can be either unpinned, or moved to a new location. New tiles can be pinned into place by tapping and holding an application in the applications list as the option then appears to pin it to the start screen (or uninstall it for that matter).

The system works wonderfully well with all aspects either navigating, moving tiles, removing applications. Simplicity is the aim here and it is implemented well indeed.

From the above it is obvious that the HD7 and Windows Phone OS is heavily communications based as can access a lot of cloud services; email, Facebook, Windows Live, Feedback to Microsoft etc. Some options if so set can also allow the phone to automatically upload newly taken photographs onto the Windows Live Skydrive system.

Being a connected social individual I have all these options turned on as well as the 'Find My Phone' GPS facility which reports your phones location back to Microsoft's servers as a security measure in case your phone was lost or stolen. In addition I've set up three Exchange accounts, Hotmail, and G-Mail, all set to use push email. The point here is that there can be a lot of background activity taking place and that can indeed have an effect of battery life. The question is whether the 1230 mA battery has enough capacity to handle the load.

Under tests during the working day with all possible services turned on, a couple of phone calls made and a 45 minute hi-def video played back, the battery life looks to have reduced to just under fifty percent by 13:00 hours (leaving home at 7:30). This is not good news and I know that I for one will be investigating turning some of the background services (GPS in Find My Phone, and feedback, etc) off to see if this increases battery life.

Alas this brings to light one of my niggles with the phone, the notification bar and associated tasks / functions. In Windows Phone you have a clock top right on the start screen, this can be tapped on to bring down a 'blind' which shows basic phone signal strength, HSPDA, EDGE etc connectivity as well as battery charge indication. There is only the bar readout in the battery icon to indicate charge - you cannot get an exact charge figure anywhere.

Of course for every negative there is a positive and one aspect of Windows Phone OS 7 that scores (to me at least) is that of the lock screen. Once the phone has been turned off, or the timeout function activates which puts the phone to sleep - when it is turned back on the lock screen appears. This screen may be customised with respect to the background and displays important quick view information such as; your next appointment, any missed calls, new emails etc. It would be nice to have the weather on there too, but alas one can't have everything. To get past the lock screen and return to the Start menu one simply treats the screen as a 'window blind' and slides it upwards and out of the way - which reveals the Start screen underneath! Simple and Smooth!

More to follow!

[All images in this review have been processed by Snagit by Techsmith]

Review: Brodit mount for HTC HD Mini

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 14:33:16 +0000

If you've been keeping up to date with reviews on SPG then you'll have read my musings on the HTC HD Mini recently provided to us by O2. As we tend to go on a fair number of mini-breaks around the UK one lack we had as far as the Mini was concerned was mounting it in the car for navigation.

Luckily our good friends at DSL developments came yet again to our rescue and provided us with the 'Active Holder, Tilt Swivel with cig plug. HTC HD Mini', Brodit item number 512142.

This arrived packaged as per usual by Brodit in a plastic bag which contained the mount itself, the instructions and a bag of mounting screws. For a new user to the world of Brodit you'd also have to purchase a matching Brodit Mount for your car, but as an existing Brodit user it was easier for me - all I had to do was unscrew my current active mounts universal joint and screw the mount for the HD Mini in place.

As you can see the mount comprises the mounting bracket itself and a trailing 'active' power lead which ends in a car power adaptor (cigarette lighter socket). Once fixed onto the Brodit mount and the power plugged in the Mini can then be slid into place. Power feeds into the mount via the active lead and from the micro-USB mount directly into the HD Mini,giving plenty of power for hands free phone calls or satellite navigation.

As always with Brodit the Mini is held very firmly and even when driving at speed over bumpy roads there is no problem with vibration or movement - the Mini is held safe and securely.

To conclude: Yet again another well engineered mount from Brodit, proved with speed and efficiency by DSL.

Oh and please excuse the dusty last photograph - the sun was very bright and I'd dusted the screen twice - sigh

[All Images processed using SnagIt by TechSmith]

Review: O2 HTC HD Mini

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:21:42 +0000

O2 HTC HD Mini - Day 1 - Initial Thoughts

The first thought that entered my mind on seeing the O2 HD Mini was that is is truly miniature in size. After using the HD2 and the Desire the Mini really appears minute in comparison. It nestles in the palm and feels really really small, with no doubt the feeling being enhanced by the rubberised outer covering which surrounds the main metallic chassis.

This housing constructed of heavy plastic should serve well to protect the Mini from hard knocks and dare I say being dropped on the occasional floor. It covers the Mini completely top, bottom, sides, and back and then reduces in thickness towards the front which of course it leaves open for the screen to be displayed.

The covering is so complete that the second thought is how on earth does one get into the machine to insert the SIM card. The only openings are to allow the power button (top right), volume rocker (upper side left), and micro-USB slot / tube (bottom) to protrude through it, as well as piercings for the 3.5mm audio jack (top left), camera (upper rear back), and some screw-like column fixings.

The matter of removing the housing was solved after a few seconds thought, and the removal is accomplished by pressing down on the screw-like columns that protrude through the back of the device. Putting pressure on the two at the rear top of the casing allows it to be popped off in seconds. This locking method requires some force to be applied so it is very unlikely that anything else apart from a determined pair of thumbs will cause the back to be removed.

Third thoughts..... oh WOW that yellow inner cover is bright, as once the back cover has been removed you can see the canary yellow inside that HTC have engineered. A bit bright for my taste, but well it does look kind of impressive. The battery was removed via the insertion of a fingernail and both the Micro SD and SIM card inserted, the battery place back in and the cover re-affixed. A press of the power button and the Mini powered on.

As the machine powered up the white back-lit touch sensitive buttons on the lower front of the Mini lit very brightly and became clearly visible:

Phone (Call)
Home
Windows
Back
Phone (End Call)

These are not raised up at all and when not lit appear as white silhouettes under the surface of the front of the Mini. No buttons raised up as on the HD2, the face of the Mini is completely flat and smooth. However the top of the machine above the HTC logo is relieved slightly downwards to allow the microphone to be presented to the ear, and as on the HD2 the loudspeaker is covered by a very fine black mesh for protection purposes.

Whilst describing the above the Mini has finished booting with the anticipated O2 water theme animation rolling past and the OOBE (Of of Box Experience) wizard running - which allows one to configure email, connectivity, social networking, etc. When that has completed the Minis home screen arrives with the Mini version of HTC Sense to the fore.

The screen although relatively 'small' at 3.2" the HVGA (320 x 480) is bright and clear with all text readable and clearly visible, no ghosting or blurring at all.

The mainstay of the display is of course the HTC Sense application which overlays the Windows Mobile operating system. As with other recent Sense creations from HTC the main tabs on offer are:

Home
People
Messages
Mail
Internet
Calendar
Stocks
Photos and Videos
Music
Weather
Twitter
Footprints
Settings

Whilst navigating through the tabs, and entering data in the OOBE wizard it was noted the the capacitive screen was incredibly sensitive, only needing a feather touch for a screen press to register. This meant that the keyboard was difficult to navigate initially until the right light touch has been developed.

In operation generally the Mini feels fast and smooth and in fact is very much on par with its more powerful big brother, the HD2.

So initial thoughts about the device are good, it's fast and smooth and certainly easy to fit into a convenient pocket.

We'll see how it performs over the next few days!

O2 HTC HD Mini - Day 2 - App Loading and General Use

Late last night and this morning before work I loaded up a selection of my usual applications to see how the HD Mini would fare, with the non standard (to a lot of developers) screen resolution. I aimed to pick a selection of application types, from those which modify the system, add functionality, use the GPS system, as well as provide some light entertainment - things that most users would be interested on while on the move.

The applications loaded were:

uBook
MobiPocket
FourSquare
EverNote
CorePlayer
MS Marketplace (downloaded from the pre-configured shortcut)
MS MyPhone (updated via via Marketplace)
Bing (via Marketplace)
HomeScreen Customiser (loaded via Marketplace)
SynchroTime

All worked perfectly well apart form uBook (which crashed when I tried to enter the SD card - bug in the application), and FourSquare. The latter had buttons overley large which overlapped one another and crashed at every attempt to move into one of the sub areas - but then again that is a beta application.

Book reading with Mobipocket was not as easy as on the HD2 as with the default settings the text is very small, but increasing the text size solved that issue and book reading was suitably pleasurable.

The only other application glitch noted was with the HomeScreen Customiser - it loaded onto the machine without any issues, but the add on modules for weather, contacts, launcher were not offered as addons. I removed the application and reinstalled but still not offered, very strange.

Thanks to my good friends at ALK a registration code and maps were provided for CoPilot Live 8 (preinstalled in ROM) and that loaded and worked perfectly. It was noted that is was the 'professional' version too which leads me to think that the Mini may have a Navipanel built into it for when dashboard mounted in the car.

While I was in navigation 'mode' I had a brief fling with Bing and Google Maps, both worked as expected with no problems, but one cool thing as noted and that is a GPS activity icon. This appears very similar to the Android GPS indicator as it appears in the top system bar and flashes on and off to indicate GPS activity. Does this mean we can turn on the GPS and not worry about power drain as it'll only be activated when needed? Further investigation is needed here!

When loading up and configuring the Mini (which involved couple of soft resets) it was noticed how quickly it booted up after the reset, and on testing tonight I can confirm that it boots around 15 seconds quicker than my HD2 - maybe the smaller screen and less complex Sense application gives it an edge here. The only drawback of the small screen is that some of the smaller sized text in the configuration screens is slightly blurred due to the small physical size of the font used and the cleartype adjustment applied to it. This not helped by the cleartype toggle being removed from the ROM.

Speaking of Sense the Mini had to be tested out with Titanium as a front end interface, despite not having all the 'panels' loaded that I wishes to use. Titanium proved to be very finger friendly and smooth in operation compared to the HD2 where it feels a little unfriendly as one ends up wishing fingers were a little longer! On the Mini there are no such problems Titanium suits the small screen perfectly and is very usable. If my lost panels were in place I could well prefer using it to Sense!

Three things that surprised me with the Mini today were:

CorePlayer - this was used to play back a couple of recorded TV episodes, and with it set to play back video in 'RawFrameBuffer' mode the videos played back smoothly and quickly, there were no stutters in playback, no sound sync issues and the screen was rock solid and pinpoint accurate and clear - pretty impressive in fact.
Footprints - Not expecting it to work I exported all my Footprints recorded on the HTC Desire (*.kmz file) and imported them into the Mini. They all imported fine and are not resident. That was a cool discovery!
Battery Life - Okay I'm not comparing Apples to Apples here, but with approximate similar use of devices I tried to compare the HTC Desire to the Mini. At the end of the day the Desire had 42% battery life remaining, the Mini had 80% still left. Taking into consideration my HD2 which usually ends the day at between 55-65% charge remaining this is staggering! The Mini had been used with GPS, phone calls, with Exchange push email on constantly, Facebook updating and Tweets coming in as frequently as possible, and it still achieved 80% charge left! Wow!

O2 HTC HD Mini - Day 3 - In use

Okay onwards...... to see how the Mini performed in everyday operation it was taken away for a weekends mini holiday in Wales and was used as my main phone (apart from ebook reading) and it performed wonderfully well.

The first thing of note was that it was run from 7:30am in my pocket mostly while at work, a couple of phone calls were made, etc and a little PIM use. After work I popped home, loaded up and we drove from Manchester to Llwyngwril (in Wales near Tywyn), and arrived at 21:07. Now bearing in mind that a lot of the work environment holds signal dead areas, and that signal loss is high in mid Wales........

So I was expecting the battery to be down to around 60%, I turned the the machine on and the battery use was down to 80%, very impressive. But was it a fluke? No it was not, the machine was used while in Wales to make phone calls, take photos and respond to emails. Typically we'd be out of the cottage by around 10:00am and return around 18:00 in the evening. On all of those days battery life never left below 10% used which is truly outstanding!

Another bonus is it's tenacity in keeping hold of a signal. The cottage we sleep in has walls of stone - 2 to 3 feet thick and the signal is therefore dodgy so say the least indoors. The Mini was pulled off charge on morning and it was noted that it had held the mobile web (O2) connection to the net for over 51 hours, so all day, through the evening and during the night. Calls were also made home through the walls with no problems at all. As a double check the HTC Desire was checked for signal and data connectivity inside. Signal was either 0 or 1 bar, where the Mini had 1 to 3 bars!

Gotchas, there have to be a few gotchas lurking and alas there were.

These were nothing inherent with the device itself but have to be down to the HTC Sense implementation. Both may have been connected as they both tied into data updating. The problem was with both the updating of the Twitter feed and with the weather. Twitter updates were made, but not on the hour as scheduled they seemed to take place randomly during the day. Locational weather updates had a similar problem, and even when triggered manually the update either did not occur, or if the update did take place the correct location was not obtained. It's no good being in Wales and the device insisting we were still just outside Wrecsam!

The final gotcha may be partly down to the user having large fingers as I found it awkward when taking a photograph in controlling the precise focus area with the camera. So a fair few of the shots taken ended up a little of of focus. However with a bit of perseverance decent pictures did result and I'm glad to say the photo quality was good, no dreaded pink tinge at all. A few shots are attached for your enjoyment (All taken using the default camera settings and not resized at all!

More to follow as I move through the working week!

O2 HTC HD Mini - Day 4 - Battery life

I’ve been using the device minimally (no ebook reading as I'm waiting for a fixed uBook), so it has been used for weather watching, push email and general PIM tasks as well as at least two phone calls per day.

One thing that was starting to be apparent, the battery was not going down at all under the first few days of use, so I decided to test it out!

The Mini was fully charged and then removed from all power sources (no mains or USB charge) at 6:45am Tuesday morning and it’s been running 24/7 with GPRS (2G) left on and all functions allowed to auto-update. (Exchange turned off for off-peak night time), the rest of the time operating with full push email.

Battery remaining as of Friday at 16:50..... wait for it... a staggering 40%.

So only 60% battery usage through Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and most of Friday.

This is completely awesome and unheard of for a modern Windows Phone Device!

This mini review comprises four blogs which were posted concerning the device. Please check out the relevant blogs for the accompanying photos.

First impressions - Piel Frama HD2 iMagnum case

Wed, 12 May 2010 15:38:07 +0000

First impressions - Piel Frama HD2 iMagnum case

At the end of January I purchased the HTC PO S511 flip case for the HD2. It has been a great case for only £15, but is already showing some signs of ageing so a replacement was needed.

I ordered the Piel Frama HD2 iMagnum case in black from mobilefun.co.uk for £54.95 plus shipping. It was dispatched promptly and here are some first thoughts and pictures.

The iMagnum is a flip type case hinged at the top and sporting an overlap magnetic clasp for holding it closed. The iMagnum is comprised of 2 very thin and hard plastic shells which are shaped like open ended “trays” . These are both covered in thin embossed leather on the inside surfaces and thick, padded leather on the outside surfaces. They are connected together by the top leather hinge.

The HD2 is held in place by sliding it between the side walls of the lower “tray” and is gripped very firmly by virtue of a tight fit and the obvious rigidity of the plastic shell walls. There is no suggestion that the HD2 could work its way loose either by movement or gravity. It really is held very firmly in place and the case is a very exact fit.

My first thought on viewing the case is that it is in fact a little bulkier than the advertising pictures would suggest because of the padded leather exterior. The dimensions with an HD2 inside are:

Overall depth averages 25mm – over twice the depth of the “naked” HD2. The case is deeper, nearer to 30mm, in places because of the magnetic closure clasp and the screw mount base of the belt clip lug.

I find this a little disappointing, because whilst the lower tray is a respectable 15mm deep, barely deeper than the HD2 itself which sits flush in it, the upper tray / lid of the case is nearly 10 mm deep and much of this is fresh air because of the walled design. I have to assume this is an intended form of anti-crush screen protection for the HD2, but it does take away some of the attractive thinness of the device.

Case width is a very respectable 73mm, just 6mm wider than the HD2

Height is just over 125mm including the hinge, so again only a few mm more than the HD2 itself.

The iMagnum case features a rear cut away for the speaker, camera lens and camera led’s. The overlap closure tab has a cut-out to allow access to the headphone jack when the case is closed, but has no cut-out access to either the micro-usb port or the phone microphone when the case is closed. The left side of the lower tray is cut back to allow access to the volume switch.

Included in the box is a quick release belt clip and a spanner type tool which allows you to unscrew and replace the belt clip lug on the rear of the case with a flush fitting silver button, if you don’t wish to use the belt clip.

The magnetic clasp works well enough, though it is possible to accidently open the clasp by the action of putting it into or removing it from a pocket. The magnetic clasp does not affect the operation of the electronic compass when the case lid is hanging downwards in its normal open position, but folding the lid back on itself to be nearer the case does start to swing the compass around when the magnetic clasp gets closer to the device.

This is a clearly very well made case which uses high quality materials throughout. I feel that it makes the HD2 a little bulkier than perhaps it needs to be, but overall I am very impressed.

Attached Thumbnails

Brief Review: London Evening Standard

Sun, 09 May 2010 10:06:00 +0000

The London Evening Standard has been a familiar sight in the streets and newsagents of London and the Southeast for many years. Part of the Daily Mail group, it has a London based bias to its content but covers items of national and international interest as well.

Following a shake-up of the newspaper scene in London with the advent of a number of free morning and evening papers, the Evening Standard has now become a free paper as well. Browsing through Windows Phone Marketplace the other day I came across a new application called Evening Standard, and decided to investigate, especially as it is a free application. As the title suggests, this is indeed a mobile implementation of the main newspaper, and very good it is too!

After browsing Marketplace or doing a search, you will find the description of the program as in the screenshot below. Depending on your Marketplace settings, it can be installed into device or storage card memory. The core program is about 1.5MB and the stored cache can be around 500KB. After installing, you will find an 'Evening Standard' icon in the Start Menu. Launching the program initially shows the main News page.

The organisation of Evening Standard is very much like an RSS reader. Each headline opens a small synopsis of the story, from where there are links to open the full story within the program itself. The main news page contains links to the seventy most significant stories of the previous five days biased towards the previous two days.

Each synopsis page also has links to enable the story to be sent to a mail recipient, delicious, Facebook or Twitter. There is also an option to save a story for offline reading. The full story pages also have the same options, plus the ability to navigate the the previous or next story.

Back on the Home page, there is a list of topics in the header which can be dragged sideways to see additional categories in portrait mode. The content of categories other than main News is more limited, but certainly sufficient for casual browsing.

Each 'list' page and Synopsis page also has a very small advertising link at the top. Presumably this is a necessary feature of a free application and it is fairly discreet.

Menu settings in the synopsis and full story pages have similar options to the onscreen links plus the ability to open the story in a full browser window to the main Evening Standard web site. The menu from the home page includes options for refreshing the content, marking content as read/unread and saving. There are also links to the Settings and Help pages. The latter simply gives a list of keyboard shortcuts for those using devices with a hardware keyboard, but which is useful nonetheless.

My impressions of this program are very positive. it is an excellent way to catch up on news if you have a few spare moments and the content appears to be pretty comprehensive. Of course, there is a bias towards London and the Southeast, but even users away from this region may find something of interest, especially given that it is free of charge.

Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Attached Thumbnails

Mini-Review: HTC HD2 Capacitive Stylus and Screen Protector

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:14:00 +0000

HTC HD2 Capacitive Stylus

I might be the only person on the planet that finds the move to finger-friendly interfaces a somewhat double-edged sword as I do miss the accuracy and speed of using a stylus.

As a bit of an experiment I thought I would go for the official HTC HD2 Capacitive Stylus (mainly as I wanted some screen protectors - see below - and postage was the same!).

First Impressions

About £18 (including VAT) will secure you one of these weird looking contraptions (eventually - as they are not widely available and can take a while to come into stock).

First impressions are it is chunky, like a pen but the business end looks like one of those scientific spatulas you used to use at school in Chemistry lessons! Only this one is clear with a red dot in the middle. So for £18 you get a hollow, thin metal cylinder with two bits of plastic at either end, not looking like value is it?

It transpires there is a little more to it than that as there has to be some method of maintaining some sort of electrical contact with the capacitive screen but not much!

Is it up to the task at hand?

The main use of a stylus is for the interaction with the user interface and the input of characters using whatever SIP is in play. Now in the old world of Windows Mobile 6.1 and prior versions. The SIPs were fairly standard. Small, on-screen qwerty, Letter Recogniser, Block Recogniser and a few based around handwriting (including third party such as Calligrapher and Transcriber). With WM6.5 and the head-long rush to make the interface finger-friendly most of these dropped by the wayside with the finger Qwerty SIP becoming ubiquitous and other third party ones mimicking it (Swype and Finger Keyboard 2.1).

Now, I am probably not typical as I've had a selection of Windows Pocket PC/CE/WM devices for 10 years now and I was an absolute whizz with Letter Recogniser! Even with predictive functions, a finger qwerty keyboard is hard pressed to keep up with the speed and accuracy I could generate with a stylus and Letter Recogniser.

Now I wasn't expecting the HD2 Capacitive Stylus to re-enable this sort of speed again mainly as Letter Recogniser is not included in most of the finger-friendly ROMs. What I was seeking was accuracy as the on-screen keyboard can be a little hit and miss with the finger. So, has it delivered?
The short answer is NO!

So where does it fall short? Well firstly there is no point on the stylus it comprises a circular disc (10mm in diameter) with the red dot which is supposed to give the accuracy. This 'nib' is at a fixed angle too which can somewhat dictate the angle of use which is generally comfortable.

Secondly, most of the WM6.5(.x) ROMs don't have Letter Recogniser in them so that SIP isn't available and you are left with the QWERTY SIP. Now because of that I wasn't expecting any speed increase but I think it would be fair to assume an improvement in accuracy. Was this achieved? NO. The main culprit is the SIP and the spacing of the characters. It is still too easy to catch the next character.

So, all-in-all, not a great showing from the Capacitive Stylus. The main reason for having one can only be to use if you have lost the availability of the finger either because it's cold and you have gloves on or you have cut it/injured it in some way. That can't be a glowing recommendation....

HTC Official Screen Protector Pack

Now, I use my HTC HD2 pretty extensively and like most modern devices the screen is flush (well as near as makes no difference. That has always concerned me so Screen Protector time it was.

HTC's pack actually contains two protectors for the princely sum of around £10 (again including the dreaded VAT).

Although you get two protectors, that's pretty much all you get. Unlike the packs from other sources, there was no screen cleaning cloth and no applicator to smooth out any bubbles. My fears needn't have been that great however as after a solid clean and brush of the screen the protector went on first time and with no issues with bubbles.

It comes with cut-outs for the following: -

LED Light
Light Sensor
Speaker bar
Bottom Button bar

From that you may well have noticed it covers the entire front of the HD2 rather than just the actual screen so extra marks for complete protection.

How is it in use?

Very good actually. I've not noticed any decrease in screen sensitivity and it certainly doesn't take anything away from the screen clarity or brightness either. Although not a matte finish there is little extra (if any) reflectivity over and above the normal screen.

The stylus works through it too!

Good Value, YES
Effective, DEFINITELY
Recommended? CERTAINLY

Concluding thoughts

Capacitive screens don't lend themselves to use of a stylus. It's not that it's any worse than using a finger but there are no discernable benefits to doing so (unless its very cold and you are wearing gloves).

A waste of money, well no, not really, but not great value that's for certain.

The Screen Protectors are another matter. The HTC Official pack is good value (2 for £10) and certainly go on well and offer up the protection demanded and cover the entire front rather than just the screen.

Good Value - Yes, perform very well with no perceptible difference in screen sensitivity or reflectivity.

Didiom Pro Review

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 08:50:27 +0000

http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/Bassey/Didiom/DidiomLogo.png
Although the memory capacity of mobile devices is getting ever greater and memory cards ever cheaper, there will always be a class of user for whom the storage on a mobile device is just never enough. Be it obsessive music collectors, those with huge archives of podcasts or even audio-book aficionados. 8GB, 16GB, 32GB. It doesn't matter. We have a few hundred GB of music and we just can't carry it all around with us. So, we can either take the iTunes approach and create endless play-lists and keep syncing these back and forth to our devices or....?

Or we can use a streaming service like Didiom Pro. With Didiom a piece of server software sits on the PC at home and makes available all the music, podcasts, play-lists and everything else on our PC to anyone logged into our Didiom account. Then, with a simple piece of software on our phones, our entire music collection is always with us - anywhere in the world. So, how does it work?

Supplier: DIDIOM Pro
Mobile Platform: Windows Phone and Blackberry devices
Desktop Platform: Windows 7, Vista, XP SP2. Mac OSX available in 2 months
Price: $0.99/month or $9.99/year
Device used for review: SE XPeria X1i

Introduction

Didiom Pro is both a piece of software to stream all your music out onto the Internet and a service to manage this stream securely as well as the client software on your phone to select the music you want to stream and control it just like any other MP3 application.

Installation and Activation

First off, you need to create an account and select a payment plan. There is a "free" option but this limits you to five tracks at 64kbps as a trial. Once you have an account there are two things to download. One is the server software for your PC (Mac OSX version available in a couple of months). This is a standard windows .exe file and installs a small piece of software into the windows system tray. You then have to sign in to this with the account details created earlier and tell it where your music is. Didiom is set up to use the default location but if you have moved your music library off to another drive or a server you'll need to tell it where to look. You have three spaces to enter a location so if your collection is spread around a bit you should be okay. These are nominally called "Music", "Podcasts" and "Audio-books" but it doesn't really make any difference. All that done and the server software will now set off scanning your folders to build up a library of your music collection etc.

The other download from earlier is the mobile client. You can choose to download a .cab file straight to your device or use an exe. You will have to launch the exe from your desktop and allow it to install to your device over Active-sync or WMDC. With either method you end up with the Didiom client software on your mobile device. The first time you run it you will need to set the user-name and password from your account but you can tell it to remember these, to save having to enter them every time. You are now set up and ready to go.

Finding Music

Of course, the whole point of Didiom is that it gives those of us with massive music collections access to it all. So, it's pretty much going to live or die by it's ability to allow you to manage huge libraries of complex music collections. The Didiom interface could be described in one of two ways. If you were feeling harsh you might call it spartan but lets stick with simple. It certainly doesn't let fancy graphics or transition effects get in the way of you finding your music and with just four buttons across the centre of the screen, finger friendly it certainly is.

The browse button takes you to a screen asking you to pick from a fairly standard list of categories. Albums, Artists, Podcasts, Audio-books and Play-lists. I'd like to see genre or composer in there myself but it keeps down on the clutter and makes life simple. Besides, the larger your collection gets, the less likely you are to have sensible genre tags in your MP3 meta-data. Selecting, for example, albums brings up a list of the first few albums in your collection. My X1i fits on 11 - different devices with lower screen resolutions will have fewer. Arrows at the top allow you to scroll back and forth through screens of album names and the refresh is pretty quick. Two to three seconds even over an EDGE connection. There is no album art as this would, presumably, slow things down massively.

One slight annoyance is that the albums are always numbered 1-11 rather than representing the real number of albums. Then again, if you got into the hundreds or thousands the number would start to take up too much space leaving less for the album name so maybe it is a sensible decision. It just feels a little odd. However, browsing is useless for large collections. We need to search.

So, back to the main page with those four buttons and this time lets tap search. We are presented with the same list of six categories as last time so lets go with Artists. Now we get a fairly standard "googly" search box. I typed in "Leo" and tapped the search button. As expected, this brought back results for "Kings of Leon". However, I wasn't expecting it to also return "Eric Clapton" (turns out Leon Russell played on "Let it Rain"). The more hits the better and the speed with which it returned results for partial string matches was very impressive.

Tapping the name of any of the artists gives me the choice to either stream everything by that artist or to list their tracks. This is a bit strange. I want to see their albums. Yes, I know I could have searched for the album name but what if I can't remember it? This seems like a fairly obvious omission so hopefully it will be remedied in a future update. Anyway, clicking stream takes us to the player and lists all the tracks by that artist. In the first version I was sent this list was alphabetical. However, a recent update seems to have changed this to album order - although you still can't see the album titles so it is difficult to tell.

The Player

The player is incredibly basic but does the job with one minor omission. There is a large Play/Pause button in the middle and well spaced back/stop/skip buttons around the outside of a graphic that bares a remarkable resemblance to the iPod click-wheel. The current track title is displayed along the bottom (though not the artist or album) and that is it. For me, the big omission is a random or shuffle button. If I'm not going to be allowed to listen to artists by album then at least let me shuffle the tracks. Even I'm not sad enough to want to listen to my music in alphabetical order.

Formats

Didiom Pro lets you stream and download audio files in the format of WMA (both DRM-free and DRM-protected), MP3, WAV, AAC, M4A and Ogg Vorbis, as well as iTunes play-lists, and play-lists in WPL, PLS and M3U formats. It does not support DRM-protected iTunes tracks or audible audio-books as these are also DRM-protected. Didiom Pro will stream music at 64, 96 or 128Kbps or can download your music direct to your device keeping the original format and bit-rate.

Settings

There is only one Settings screen in the client. This allows you to select the streaming bit-rate and choose a downloads folder. That's it. The server side is only slightly more interesting. Here you can choose whether or not Didiom Pro will auto-start when Windows does, ask it to sign in for you automatically and choose whether to use UPnP or port forwarding. If you choose port forwarding you will need to select a port. Didiom definitely don't believe in fussy interfaces and pages of complicated menu options.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Easy, cheap access to your music
Editable entry list
stream or download
very simple interface

Cons

Requires unlimited data plan
PC needs to be left on
No shuffle function
Lacking album access via the artist

Conclusion

Didiom Pro seem to have taken inspiration from an old set of British TV adverts for a product called Ronseal - it does exactly what it says on the tin. It's a great combination of software and service that provides quick, easy access to your music collection from anywhere in the world - as long as your PC is switched on and, for me, that is its one major down-side. I have switched all my music onto a NAS device. This comes with an account which allows me to stream the music from any internet connected device with a browser - and all I have to leave switched on is the NAS. Leaving the PC switched on all day every day would just send shivers down my electricity bill. On the other hand, the idea of being able to access all my music from anywhere in the house DOES appeal. Every room on our house has some kind of music device. All bar one of them has a 3.5mm line-in (the shower radio being the exception - in case you were wondering). With Didiom Pro running on the PC in the study I can quickly call up some music on my phone, connect the headphone socket on the phone to the line-in on the stereo/radio/TV etc. and I can have my full music collection anywhere in the house. The interface is simplicity itself, at $0.99 a month it is dirt cheap and, if you have an all-you-can-eat data plan and a decent sized music collection it really could prove to be just the thing you were looking for.

(Thanks to Didiom for the review account/software and Tom Adler for his help in answering questions etc.)

Attached Thumbnails

REVIEW: Proporta Twisted System Speakers

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:05:20 +0000

Introduction{br}{br}My next attempt at carrying on the long line of 4WM accessory reviews focuses on something a little different this time. Rather than being a device case, a portable charging solution or a new set of screen protectors, Proporta have come up with something a little more entertainment focused in the form of the Twisted System portable speakers.{br}{br}With the proliferation of the Netbook, and many devices that now sport a 3.5mm socket for audio play-back, a good set of portable speakers could be just what the doctor ordered. Do the Proporta speakers live up to the challenge? You�ll have to read on to find out. |

css=transp

For your delectation some photographs are thumbnails which may be clicked on to load a larger image.
Thanks go out to our good friends at Proporta for providing us with a review sample.
For more information on the Proporta Twisted System Speakers, click here to visit the product page at the Proporta website.
Price: �24.95
Delivery: �2.95 Worldwide

Fast Facts | {br}{br}
:rs:Unique 180 Degree Rotational Design
:rs:Total RMS Power: 5W RMS (2.5W x2)
:rs:Total Peak Power of 10W
:rs:Simply Rotary Volume Control
:rs:Blue LED Power Indicator Lights
:rs:Accepts USB Power or 3 x AAA Batteries (not included)
:rs:Dimensions: 76.6 x 70 x 66.2mm (w x D x H)
:rs:Weight: 0.4Kg

css=transp

Externals{br}{br}Packaging{br}{br}I always like to describe the packaging in my reviews! ;-) The Proporta speakers arrived well protected, an external white padded jiffy bag hosting a reasonable cardboard box that house the goodies within. No problems there! | |

css=transp

| | What's in the Box{br}{br}On opening the box we find the speakers (of course!! :)), each neatly packaged within a bubble wrap shield, followed by a packet containing a single 3.5mm connector lead, a single 3.5mm lead that connects the speakers to each other and a single standard Mini-USB lead. And last but not least, an instruction sheet on how to setup and use the speakers.

css=transp

css=transp

Hardware{br}{br}Aesthetics{br}{br}From first view, the speakers look very professional in terms of quality & finish. The design is sleek & black, just like many of our favourite Windows Mobile devices, which is no bad thing.{br}{br} Closer inspection reveals the speakers to be of a very high construction standard. They certainly do look the part & I was impressed, but there�s more to speakers than just looks!! Firstly, a quick tour around the speakers. | |

css=transp

| Top{br}{br}Not much to see here really. A very nice matt black speaker grill covering the speakers themselves inside. With the eye you can�t really see the actual speaker, but the flash of the camera does indeed reveal them, again making them look very professional� From this point on, I�ll refer to them as left and right speaker, as there are differences between the two.

css=transp

Bottom{br}{br}Again, not much to see, there is a sticker stating the input voltage requirements plus the CE approval marking and country of manufacture, which in this case is China. On both there does appear to be a form of cable tidy moulded into the bottom of the speaker units, although neither of the supplied cables would fit into it, not to matter though as I always carry cables in a separate case so I know where they all are!!{br}{br}Each speaker also harbours a battery cover, although the right hand speaker is the only one that has the required metalwork connections to support use of batteries. The left hand speaker battery compartment is empty, suggesting that they are all made from the same mould perhaps.{br}{br}Finishing off the bottom are two rubberised feet plus two hard plastic feet on each speaker.| | |

css=transp

| Front{br}{br}Again, and developing a trend, not much to see on the front apart from the Proporta trademark symbol neatly stencilled in white.

css=transp

Left{br}{br}The left hand side of the left speaker is also remarkably clean, bar a small hole. This hole also appears as the only feature on the left hand side of the right speaker, I haven�t been able to ascertain the function of the hole myself, ventilation maybe? |

css=transp

| Right{br}{br}The right hand side of the left speaker just has clean lines, nothing to see here! The right hand side of the right speaker is a different kettle of fish. Here we find a rotary volume control, allowing manipulation of volume in addition to device/PC, but of far more interest to us techno-geeks is a row of blue led lights indicating that the speakers are powered� We like blue-led lights, we do!! :)

css=transp

Back{br}{br}Moving around to the back of the speakers, the left hand unit has a single 3.5mm socket marked �L IN�. Now, you could take this one of two ways, it could mean �Line In�, which, if you are normal would be your first thought! Mine was �Left In�� See, it still works. Essentially this connects the left speaker to the right speaker, the right speaker acts as the controller!!{br}{br}The back of the right speaker has a little more to offer! From left to right we have a Mini-USB socket, this is where the supplied USB lead is connected, and is used to provide power for the speakers, not much more to say there. Moving on, the next socket up is the AUX socket, this is where the speakers take the audio feed from the device that you wish to connect, once again the lead is already supplied for you, so no issues there. The final socket is the �L OUT� socket, so, for some this may mean �Line Out�, but for me, it means �Left Out�! :) | |

css=transp

An Interesting Twist{br}{br}Now, although I mentioned it was the top that housed the speakers themselves, covered by a nice matt black grille, this needn�t be the case� �What does he mean?� I hear you say!! Well, the Proporta speakers have a very interesting trick up their sleeves:{br}{br}The speakers certainly live up to their �Twisted System� name, in that they can twist to re-direct or direct sound as required. As the name implies, the speakers have a two-stage twist action, which I guess means that you could say that these particular models are double-jointed! :-)|

css=transp

| Setting 1 - Speakers Upwards{br}{br}This is the default setting, so leaving them as they are would direct the sound upwards. I would imagine this setting is useful if you are going to have the speakers positioned low down, maybe on the floor or a patio?

css=transp

Setting 2 - Speakers to the left{br}{br}The first stage twist sets the angle of the speakers so that they point to the left. Again, I imagine that this setting may prove useful if you are limited space-wise. Although I�m fairly sure that this is an intermediate twist setting and maybe not foreseen as an actual setting of the speakers, but they do work in this mode. |

css=transp

| | Setting 3 - Speakers to the front{br}{br}A second twist brings the speaker angle to the front. I would definitely see this as the most used setting as it directs the sound up and towards you, especially useful if you are using the speakers on a desk connected to a netbook or laptop, or even a desktop.

css=transp

In Use{br}{br}As I always say, the proof is actually in the pudding. I�ve spent a lot of time talking about the merits of the design and aesthetic properties of the Proporta speakers and how pleasing they are on the eye, but in reality, they are speakers, so how do they actually sound?{br}{br}Sound Scenario 1:{br}The speakers were connected to the headphone out socket of my Acer Aspire One netbook using one of the netbooks USB ports to provide power.{br}{br}I then used the netbook to play back a DVD I had previously made an archive copy of. The sound playback was loud and clear and by far better in quality than the Acer's built in speakers. | |

css=transp

| | Sound Scenario 2:{br}The speakers were connected to the Acer Aspire One netbook, Spotify was used to play back my extremely cheesy 80�s playlist that I created within the service. Once again, playback was nice and clear. The output was certainly loud enough to be used at a civil house party, although maybe not a rave!! Volume could be controlled by both the Windows volume slider and the scroll wheel on the side of the speakers.

css=transp

Sound Scenario 3:{br}The speakers were connected to my Palm Treo Pro, which, unfortunately does not have a USB socket enabling USB power to be supplied. For this test I had to use batteries within the speakers provide power, although carrying out this test did give me an interesting idea regarding my XDA Flint, more on that later.{br}{br}I inserted the batteries, connected the Treo Pro up, fired up Windows Media Player and I was on my way. Well, once the library had updated that is! ;-){br}{br}Whilst I won�t talk about my musical tastes, I will say I was blown away by the sound quality on this one, the Treo Pro set to 100% volume, the speakers set to maximum and the sound was awesome to my ears for a set of portable speakers. | |

css=transp

| | Sound Scenario 4:{br}Now I found this to be a pretty cool test, the speakers were connected to my O2 XDA Flint through its 3.5mm socket for audio, power supplied using the USB cable plugged into the Flint�s built-in USB via the adapter� Did it work. Read on!! :){br}{br}Yes, it did work. The USB host socket on the Flint powered the speakers with no problems at all. After 2 hours of continuous music playback, the Flint's battery was down to 60%, which isn�t too shabby in my estimation.{br}{br}Sound quality was as per the Treo Pro; these PDA�s with 3.5mm sockets can really drive the speakers effectively. The added bonus with the Flint was that it has HTC�s Audio Manager, in which you can play with Bass and Treble settings as well.

css=transp

Conclusion{br}{br}The ability to power the speakers via USB is a major plus point in their favour, it means that I don�t really have to worry about carrying batteries around with me, although devices such as a PDA or MP3 player may not have the USB host ability to drive the speakers, therefore batteries are a must in this situation.{br}{br}The novel twist setting is also an interesting feature. It does indeed allow you to direct the sound, the most common position would be to have them facing forward. At first I thought the twist was a bit of a gimmick, but being able to twist them back to a straight position means that they take up less space in a bag, which makes it a good plus point.{br}{br}The sound quality delivered by the speakers was excellent� Well it was certainly good enough by my standards. I don�t consider myself an audiophile by a long shot, I just don�t think I have the lobes for it. But for me, the sound output was clear, concise and the sound reproduction when playing back MP3�s and digital video definitely surpassed my expectations. The volume level was nice, loud and easily controllable via the volume wheel on the speakers themselves as well as the volume slider within windows or on a PDA. The output wouldn�t suit a rave, but would definitely be usable for a house party, unless you hold raves at your house of course! :){br}{br}In my opinion, the Proporta Twisted System speakers are definitely a worthwhile addition to my portable armoury. They fit into my laptop bag easily, so can be carried around without too much effort.|

css=transp

O2 HTC HD2 Review

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:28:31 +0000

The HTC HD2 (O2 variant)

Over recent years O2 announced and brought to the world the renowned Xda range of machines. Unfortunately the Windows Mobile devices offered by O2 seemed to be released less often with the dark days of the iPhone and O2's singular UK market of that machine. However now that O2 are no longer exclusive suppliers of the iPhone they are now once more broadening their offering of Windows Phones.

The first of the new breed of devices is the high specification HTC HD2 sporting:

1Ghz Snapdragon processor
512Mb ROM
448Mb RAM
Slim form factor
The innovative HTC Sense

It looks set to take the world by storm.

We'll look at its features as we move through the review and see how it performs.

Once more we extend our thanks to the generous folks at O2 for allowing us to review the HTC HD2

As always in the hardware section of the review all images shown are thumbnails which may be clicked upon to load a larger more detailed image.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Bear in mind that this is is a review package and therefore does not include any commercial packaging, disks or manuals. What we get to review are the machine itself and the core accessories.

So the first impressions are based on opening a plain box and seeing the HD2 nestled inside in a plain plastic bag. The immediate impact on picking the package up was two fold: that it was relatively heavy and at the same time very thin. Those feelings increased as the HD2 slid out of the bag and into my palm and I'm sad to say the geek in me immediately thought of the monolith from 2001 A Space Odyssey, that is of strength and power contained within a delightfully austere and plain shell. That thought was of course strengthened by the device being well manufactured and exhibiting a black screen on a black body with black buttons. HTC obviously believe that black is indeed still fashionable chic - and who am I to argue with them!

As I looked over the HD2 it became clear that HTC have designed it to be ultra-cool; there are no harsh or sharp edges that appeared with the Touch Diamond (O2 Ignito) and the edges are minimalistic with most of the control buttons moved on to the front of the machine. The body is a metallic housing coated with a matte black non-slippery coating which gives a good grip without the slippery feel of the HTC Hero. The lines of the device are muted and in conjunction with the smooth flat surface mounted screen give again the impression of controlled power and grace. This is a smooth and silky graceful machine that feels extraordinarily comfortable in the hand.

Build quality looks to be very high indeed; there are no edges that appear sharp or unfinished, no rattles of internal parts, looseness of controls or any visible defects. The HD2 also passes the grip and twist test which can reveal weaknesses in construction.

So now the emotive first thoughts are out of the way we'll launch into the review with gusto and some hard thoughts, facts and analysis!

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Manufacturer: High Tech Computer (HTC)
HTC Code name: HTC Leo
Supplier: O2 UK PLC
Product Name: HTC HD2
Price: Varies depending on contract

Firstly let's cover the initial technical ground with a detailed listing of the hardware specification that comprise the HD2.

The high points for me here are the large memory, and a fast processor as these have the greatest effect on the operation of the machine.

Note: Figures are the total ROM and RAM memory available for use and storage. Since the memory is shared by the operating system, applications and data, the actual available memory is less than that specified.

SYSTEM INFORMATION

Features

Platform

Ultra slim bar type touch phone
Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional

Processor/Chipset

Qualcomm MSM 8250, 1GHz (Snapdragon)

Memory

ROM: 512 MB
RAM: 448 MB

Display Module

4.3-inch 480x800 WVGA resolution
65K-color
Sensitive touch screen (Capacitive)
Keep support Multi-Touch capability for WM7 Chassis 1

HSPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS/GSM Function

Internal antenna
HSPA/UMTS (2100/900 MHz for EU, Asia, 850/1900 for US, Latin America sku, 2100/850 for Australia, 1700/2100 for US) and GSM/GPRS/EDGE Quad-band (850/900/1800/1900Mhz)
HSDPA
3GPP Release 5 compliant
Up to 7.2Mbps
HSUPA
3GPP release 6 compliant
UE category 5, up to 2 Mbps peak rate
EGPRS Functionality
EGPRS class B
Multi-slot class 12 (10 Operator dependent)
PBCCH

Standalone GPS

Internal GPS antenna

A-GPS
Motion G-sensor
Proximity sensor
Ambient Light Sensor
FM Radio

Digital Camera

Main camera:
5 MP Color CMOS with auto focus
2x LED flash

Key/Button/Switch

Volume up and down control
Send Key
End Key (Power Key)
Windows Key
Home Key
Back Key
Reset

Notification

Notification by sound, vibration, LEDs or status shown on the display
One dual colors (Green and Amber) LED in the left lens for PDA event, battery and charging status

Audio

Built-in microphone
Receiver
Loud speaker with hands-free support

Connectivity & Interface

Bluetooth
Version 2.1 compliant with EDR
Wi-Fi
IEEE 802.11 b/g compliant
Micro-USB:
USB 2.0 High-Speed client
3.5 mm stereo audio jack with mic
1.8/3V USIM/SIM card slot
microSD card slot
SDHC support

Power

Battery
Removable and chargeable battery, 1,230 mAh
AC adaptor
AC input: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz
DC output: 5V and 1A

Accessories [TBD]

Quick Start Guide
CD (User manual & Sync. software)
Screen Protector
Travel Charger, TC P300
USB Sync Cable (Micro-USB to Standard USB)
Battery with Battery Cover
Wired stereo headset with 3.5mm audio connector, HS G335
Premium pouch (Carrying Case)
Car Charger
Car Holder with battery cover [optional]

Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional Applications

Microsoft Outlook Mobile
Messaging (SMS/E-mail), Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Email Set Up Wizard
Microsoft Internet Explorer Mobile
Microsoft Media Player Mobile
Microsoft ActiveSync
Microsoft Windows Mobile Update
Internet Sharing
Pictures & Videos
Games
MSFT Zip
File Explorer
Device Management
Security Enhancement
Microsoft Office Mobile
Microsoft Windows Live!
Microsoft Smart Dial
Microsoft Remote Desktop Mobile

Value-Added Applications

Windows Mobile Enhancements
Pictures & Videos enhancements
Ring Tone enhancements
Telephony
(HTC) Phone Canvas
(HTC) Phone Experience
Multimedia
(HTC) Camera
Album
MP3 Trimmer
Streaming Media Player
FM Radio
Presentation mode
Web
Push Internet
RSS HUB
YouTube Client
Social Networking
Input Method
EZ-INPUT
Messaging
SMS/MMS Client
GPS/LBS
Navigation (CoPilot, Papago)
Google Maps
Quick GPS
Support CLL.dll library for indoor positioning and reverse geo-coding
Navi-panel
Calendar to Navi
User Interface (Enhanced HTC TouchFLO)
TouchFLO
Footprints
Auto Screen Rotation
Tools & Utilities
HTC Common Sense
3G to WiFi router
Task Manager
Text selection
(HTC) Connection Setup
OOBE
Voice Recorder
Document Viewer – PDF
OMA DRM Engine
Java virtual machine
Long Press End Key Confirmation (to shut down)
STK
SIM manager
(HTC) Volume Control
Business Card Reader
Document Printing
Magnifier

EXTERNALS AND HARDWARE

IN THE BOX

Once the box was opened it contained:

The HTC HD2
Rechargeable Lithium-ion polymer battery, 1230 mAh
USB Sync Cable (Micro-USB to Standard USB)
Charging Block
Back / Battery Cover
Wired stereo headset with 3.5mm audio connector

It should be noted that the charger is the standard HTC type whereby the sync cable plugs into the charging block and the combination becomes the charger. And as you can clearly see the charger / sync cable connection is micro-USB, not mini-USB as others have reported.

As you can see no stylus is included as the capacitive screen is designed to be used via finger touch.

THE HEADSET

The headset is completely standard to the type supplied by HTC and lacks some of the features found on the previously supplied 'Xda' headsets. It is fitted with a 3.5mm jack plug for insertion into the HD2s socket. You have the options to:

Answer or end calls
Pause or play music tracks
Move to the previous or next tracks

Therefore compared to the 'Xda' headsets the following features have been lost:

Volume up / down
Call holding
Call muting

The headset comes with a basic spring loaded plastic clip which allows it to be conveniently clipped onto a shirt or jacket collar. The clip is affixed to the cable via a half cylindrical mount which is forced onto the headset cable. Not the best design and I can see it being lost easily.

FRONT

The HD2 is utterly stunning in front view with most of the real estate taken up by the large and impressive 4.3 inch screen. The screen is flush mounted with no visible edges or lips and serves to operate well as a touch surface for interaction. This is good news as being capacitive it will be getting a lot of finger contact whereas previous resistive screens only had to handle limited finger use and a lot of stylus impacts. Under the screen can be seen the 'htc' logo picked out in silver lettering and below that the control buttons. These are set into a plastic control strip with each button being rounded at the ends and raised above the control surfaces. The buttons are back lit with white LEDs and illuminate when touched. All of the buttons when pressed serve to 'wake' the HD2 and bring up the WM6.5 unlock screen. As standard on WM6.5 the 'unlock' gadget can be slid left or right to unlock the device or tapped to reveal what the notifications actually are - more on this later.

The buttons carry out (from left to right) the functions of:

TALK/SEND - Press to answer an incoming call or dial a number. During a call, press and hold to toggle the speaker phone on and off. Press and hold to use Voice Speed Dial.
HOME - Press to return to the Home screen.
WINDOWS - Press to bring up the WM6.5 application launcher.
BACK - Press to return to the previous screen.
END - Press to end a call or return to the Home screen. Press and hold to bring up the Power off / Lock Device / Set Vibrate / Terminate data Connection screen.
At the top of the device is the recessed speaker grill, where on the left is the power LED which glows orange while charging and green when charged. There is no notification LED for alerts such as new messages or alarms. To the right of the speaker is the ambient light sensor.

There is also no front facing VGA CMOS colour camera for video calls, which is surprising as this was present on the Ignito and the original Touch HD. This may have been removed due to space constraints within the housing.

The corners of the HD2 are gently rounded which facilitates comfort when held in the hand, no sharp edges here to impinge into the flesh of the palm!

TOP AND BOTTOM

As mentioned earlier the HD2 is sparse in a lot of areas with respect to the design and that is evident looking at the top and bottom of the device. The top contains nothing at all and the bottom of the machine holds only the micro-USB port and the 3.5mm jack for connecting the headphones.

The more astute among us would really have spotted one possible design flaw here as if one wishes to use the headset (for music playback, listening to the radio, etc) and one uses a belt pouch holster then to there is a problem. The device would have to be either holstered upside down or an additional port made in the case to allow the headset to exit the holder. HTC should really have engineered the HD2 with the 3.5mm port on the top of the device!

THE SIDES AND BATTERY COVER

The left hand side of the HD2 contains only the single inset rocker button which acts as a volume control, allowing one to either raise or lower the volume. This button is surrounded by the battery cover 'grip'.

The right hand side of the HD2 is completely blank, with no controls at all, the difference here is that there is a 'fingernail notch' in the side of the battery cover to aid with removal.

The prising of the cover away from the main body housing is still somewhat difficult to achieve using that notch and it is easier to accomplish removal by sliding a fingernail into the gap between the body and the cover.

The cover is held in place purely by 'spring' effect and despite this does seem to lock onto the housing well with no looseness at all.

Taking into account that the cover has to be removed to insert the SIM card, access the micro-SD card or hit the reset button then removing the cover in time could either result in a looser fit or wear to the plastic coated body.

THE BACK FACE

The back of the HD2 is once again sparse, containing the battery cover which bears the HTC logo along with 'WITH HTC SENSE' at the base of the cover.

To the right hand side of the battery cover can be seen the rear speaker piercings and below that the raised portion which contains the 5 MPixel camera, and below that the dual LED flash. One assumes that the camera module is raised to ensure good sound volume transfer out of the HD2 when sitting face up on the desk.

Once the battery cover is removed the inside of the housing is revealed showing the compartment to take the battery, and below that the slot into which the SIM card is inserted. It's worth noting that once the battery is in place it holds the SIM card firmly in position with no room for it to work loose.

To the left hand side of the SIM card is a connector showing within it three copper terminals. Evidently these are for connecting to the optional car kit. This kit reportedly comes with a special replacement back panel for the HD2 which connects to the car mount magnetically. The car mount evidently can be placed on any car surface - curved or windscreen! Another HTC innovation? We'll have to see!

At the far lower left can be found the micro-SD card slot, which at this time can hold up to a 32Mb micro-SD card. Below this can be seen the small red 'dot' which is the reset button. The button is sized at around 2mm across and is in a recess - perfect for use with a stylus, but of course there is no stylus with the HD2 - so keep a pen or paperclip handy if you need to reset. For myself I find it easier to remove the battery for a second or two!

BATTERY

The battery supplied with the HD2 is rechargeable Lithium-ion cell with a capacity of 1230 mAh.

With prior Windows Mobile devices this would have been considered a large capacity battery, but with the HD2 having a 1Ghz processor it should be considered average.

Battery Life

The following battery life usage figures were calculated based on two weeks of monitoring usage whilst at work.

Working day: 07:40 to 16:40. Typical daily tasks; 2 phone calls, an hours eBook reading, numerous references to calendar, consulting Sense for weather, looking up contacts.

Minimal Use - Push E-mail on for Exchange, Hourly checking of Googlemail, Hotmail, Locational Weather on.

Medium Use - Add in Latitude reporting in Google Maps, Facebook updating in 'People' on.

High Use - Add in Wi-Fi all day except during lunch (45 minutes)

Some variation occurred over the days that battery life was monitored, this variance is indicated by the differing colours of green shading on the graph.

SIZE MATTERS

The HD2 has that awesome screen which serves well for a great number of activities like eBook reading, playing back videos or sharing photographs with friends and colleagues, but there is a price for having that feature - size..

The screen on the HD2 is 4.3 inches across diagonally (57mm wide x 94mm tall) and this means that it has to have a larger body housing to hold the screen along with the controls. This gives the HD2 an overall height and width of 120.5mm by 67.0mm, large by most PDA standards, but nowhere near as large as the Xda Exec (HTC Universal) at 127.7mm by 84mm and that was loved by many users the world over.

Good design by HTC and developments in technology have however mitigated the large frontal impact by producing a machine which is only 11.0mm thick - the thinnest HTC device I've used.

Taking into account the tapered edges of the main body housing this means that the HD2 is only somewhat ungainly in use when one wishes to try and use it one handed and needs to reach the opposite top corner from where the machine is held in the palm. This is not as horrendous as one may think as with the buttons mounted on the bottom front of the machine, and the notification bar being activated at any position to the right of the 'start' menu a stretched finger can reach all the areas of control one needs.

In the photographs here we compare the HD2 with (left to right):

HTC Touch Pro 2
HTC Touch HD
HTC HD2
Apple iPhone 3G
HTC Touch Diamond 2

As you can see the HD2 is large from the from but amazingly tiny from side on, thinner even then the svelte iPhone!

THE SCREEN

As has been stated previously the HD2 has a capacitive screen which has resulted in a slightly thinner (in my opinion) touch matrix on the surface of the device. This in conjunction with changes in technology gives the machine a bright colour rich display that is visible in most lighting conditions. However as the display is not OLED based there are still some readability issues in bright sunlight. The screen is however readable and can be used without any problems, which is an improvement on older WM machines.

One winning feature of the iPhone was that of its clear bright display. The HD2's screen is brighter and better than that on the iPhone, and of course a much higher resolution (800 x 480 compared to 480 x 320 pixels).

The capacitive nature of the screen coupled with the large resolution and the customisation of the OS by HTC (HTC Sense) mean that finger operation works well and the lack of a stylus is not a problem with the operation of the machine.

TOUCH FLO3D v WINDOWS MOBILE 6.5

Of course there are those who may not want to use the HTC Sense system with the modified 'Today' screen and this is where the HD2 scores again as underneath the HTC customisation it is a pure Windows Mobile 6.5 device. This means that one can alter the today settings and uncheck' HTC Sense' and check 'Windows Default' to get to the WM6.5 'Titanium' interface. As we now move onto the software part of the review we'll look at HTC Sense, TouchFlo3D, and Titanium in some detail.

All images have been processed using the superb SnagIt from TechSmith

HARDWARE CONCLUSIONS

In my opinion the HD2 is a very nicely styled and designed PDA / Phone with a great deal of work being put into the design by HTC's engineers to produce a machine that looks good, sits well in the hand and is comfortable to use. As an avid reader of eBooks the thinness of the device coupled with the large capacitive screen make it a joy to use - giving a great deal of text on screen and ease of control in flipping pages. It's not just about the styling though, the device is very well made and construction and quality control seem to be of the highest level. There are some design changes I wish had been incorporated like the position of the headset jack plug and the reset button being too small, but these to me are minor issues that one can live with.

At this time it is unknown how well the optional car mount will work in operation. I trust HTCs engineers will hold good to their claim that it can mount to a windscreen or curved surface, but I'm not convinced that mounting via a magnetic fastener to the car mount is a good idea. Only time will tell if the design will work or whether we'll be recommending that one purchases a third party Brodit mount as these will likely be available shortly after release of the HD2.

To end on a positive point the specification does include 'Keep support Multi-Touch capability for WM7 Chassis 1' which means that the HD2 has been designed to be compliant with Windows Mobile 7 and therefore should be upgradeable to it - if HTC do release a ROM upgrade of course!

OOBE (Out of Box Experience)

HTC have gone a long way to make the HD2 something special and this can even be seen as soon as the machine is charged and turned on as at this point you have your first experience with the finger friendliness of OOBE or the 'Out of Box Experience'.

When the machine first boots the Windows Mobile operating system initialises and then the status of the SIM card is checked.

Then once the PIN code for the SIM is entered the status is checked once more......

and then the connection set up is completed. This means you are live with a GPRS (or better connection straight away).

This is then followed by a tutorial that takes you through how to use the Onscreen keyboard with the areas covered being: auto correction and entering accented characters.

The HD2 then looks around for any Wi-Fi networks and offers you the chance to connect to one of then to speed up the connection process (i.e. linking to an Exchange E-Mail server).

You are then presented with the 'Google Location' terms of service whereby you are advised that your new HD2 can use your current location within certain applications - for example weather, and geolocational systems such as Twitter and Footprints (geotagged pictures).

Set up accounts - in this modern era of connectivity and communications E-Mail has become more and more important so this wizard gives you the opportunity to set up popular e-mail account types:

Outlook (Exchange)
Google Mail
AOL Mail
Other Mail Accounts (POP3 mailboxes)

The other side of the coin to E-Mail which is private in nature is of course Social Networking and the HD2 supports:

Facebook - whereby folk's updates can be seen within the People application and their published photos within the Album
YouTube - which allows you to upload your videos and view your content
Twitter - Allows you to read your subscribed Tweets and post your updates.

The HD2 then looks at the GPRS network it is connected to and tries to ascertain the correct local time. Unfortunately the time signal is not broadcast by O2 and the option to Set the Local Time must be chosen.

This screen also allows you the option of downloading weather forecast data automatically - with the usual proviso that additional data charges may well be applicable.

The dialog control for setting the local time on the HD2 is easy to use
with sub-config screens for selecting the nearest city to where you live selecting the current calendar date - once that is done you use the up / down arrows to enter the time.

The Synchronise screen recommends that you follow a link to the Microsoft site to find out how to synchronise additional data such as Outlook Contacts, E-mail, Music, Photos, etc.

Finally HTC recommend that you visit their web site at : http://www.htc.com/www/product/hd2/ to learn more about useful features such as:

Personalizing your Home screen and tabs
Staying connected to your friends with the People application
Sharing photos and videos
Pinching to zoom into content

And finally once that screen has been passed by you end up at the beautiful blue / black O2 Sense 'Today' screen.

Benchmarks

The HD2 has been benchmarked against the following models:

HTC Touch HD - The prior HD machine
Toshiba TG01 - Possibly its closest competitor

As can be clearly seen the HD2 has the highest Spb Benchmark index compared to the other machines. The difference between it and the original HD incarnation is nothing short of staggering but considering we have moved on another year in the development of technology this is not surprising.

However the closest comparison is obviously with the Toshiba TG01 after it has been upgraded to Windows Mobile 6.5. In pure hardware power the TG01 beats the HD2 hands down as the CPU index CPU and memory tests all come out ahead of the HD2. GAPI graphics are ahead to as is reading data from WM internal databases. The HD2 pulls back however on the manipulation of files, and these reading and copying figures can make a difference - especially when reading and working with the files that create the Sense environment.

As the TG01 shows when we compare the WM6.1 and the WM6.5 figures for that machine the operating system and ROM itself can make a great difference.

The benchmarks were run four times in total and an average figure obtained on which the above comments have been made.

Memory Usage

As you should be aware now by reading the specifications the HD2 comes with a massive 512Mb/448Mb of ROM/RAM which after allowances are made for internal OS usage one has left:

188Mb of internal storage
337Mb of program memory for running applications

This is then decreased both by pre-loaded applications and program memory used up by background and foreground applications which are run after boot (system applications and items like HTC Sense).

As can be seen Sense itself takes up around 37Mb of application memory, a goodly chunk indeed but the benefits of it replacing many third party applications probably out weigh that large footprint.
It should be noted though that to get the full use out of the HD2 one may well want to activate Exchange (or other e-mail / data synchronisation) as well as Social Networking (Facebook and Twittter in the main), a secondary e-mail account, weather and stock data updating, etc. If this is done then storage memory can reduce to around 106Mb and free program memory down to 175Mb.

If a few third party applications are installed to mSD card (in the case here: MobiPocket, updated MyPhone, eWallet, and CorePlayer) then additional internal memory is used to support these programs. This reduced the free resources to 82 and 165Mb respectively. However considering that previous WM devices only had from between 35-50Mb of program memory free without loading any third party applications the HD2 is in good stead indeed.

HTC have made sure that the memory architecture is decent enough to give you plenty of storage space internally for loading applications and certainly enough memory for running them.

Finally also remember that the HD (unlike some other competing machines) the storage is expandable via mSD card, which currently gives up to 16Gb but will support 32gb of additional storage - enough for anyone!

SENSE, APPLICATIONS AND SETTINGS

HTC Sense

The HD2 uses HTC's innovative 'Sense' user interface similar to that seen on the recently released HTC Hero (Android OS) and this latest incarnation doesn't disappoint. The Home screen displays everything you need to access easily. From top to bottom you have the time, weather, calendar, alarms, agenda for appointments and the Quick Link tabs, where you can easily add your favourite applications, contacts or bookmarks.

The menu button at the bottom right gives you more customisation options for the Home screen. The following sections give more details on how each part of the Home screen works, the various tabbed menus in the slide bar will be shown in detail later on.

It is worth mentioning that the Weather Data shown on the Sense today screen ties back to which ever city you have set as your current city in the World Clock configuration. If that configuration is set to 'My Location' then the weather forecast is based on your geographic location, the GPS fix being obtained both through network cell triangulation and or GPS fix. This means that if your location changes while on a journey the next time the weather updates it will be updated based on your current location!

‘Quick Link’ is an easy to use shortcut application that gives you the option to add or remove your favourite programs, contacts or bookmarks to or from the boxes on the bottom half of the Home screen, and there are plenty of choices! Three of the boxes are permanently on show, but with an upward slide of the finger all nine boxes are revealed.

To add to one of the boxes is simplicity itself, tap on an empty box, choose from the three options and pick whatever you want to add from the revealed lists. Removal is easy too, tap on the menu tab then tap on ‘Remove Quick Link’, this will show all installed Quick Links with an ‘X’ on them, tap to remove the shortcut that isn’t required, which you can now replace with another Quick Link or leave it empty, the choice is yours.

Time and Alarms

Tap the clock on the Home screen and a ‘World Clock’ menu pops up, tap the ‘Add City’ tab, you can then add most locations around the world then see that city in real time; particularly handy if you need to make a call to one of these countries and you are unsure of the local time.

Once you have finished setting customising the ‘World Clock’ to suit your needs, hit the alarm clock tab and surprise, surprise, up pops the ‘Alarm Clock’ menu, this is now unbelievably finger friendly on the HD2 and makes navigation a breeze. Tap on any of the 24hr clocks and you are presented with a huge ‘Set Alarm’ screen where the alarm can be set for the time and day or days of the week no matter how big your fingers are! There’s also the option of adding an alarm text description. The HD2 is provided with a large selection of alarm sounds to wake you from your slumber.

Start Menu

As you can see the O2 HD2 Start menu contains all installed programs, plus folders containing specific applications related to the folders title names, which are Multimedia, Tools, Outlook, Messaging and Calls. Most applications are standard Windows Mobile fare, but if you look closely there are some interesting new applications such as Marketplace, Search Widget and Peep, which is in reality Twitter.

To make life easier for users to gain access to their favourite applications in the Start menu, any chosen application or folder can be moved to the top of the screen, this is achieved by tapping and holding until a pop up shows asking if you want to move it to the top. With some juggling around you can change the Start menu order to whatever suits you.

Weather

One of the most commonly discussed topics of conversation in the UK, if not the world, is that of the weather, and the HD2 caters for that need. The weather tab within Sense allows one to view the current weather. The large display clearly shows the current weather forecast as the large central animated image along with information (top left) as to the current temperature and the anticipated high and low temperature figures.

Smaller displays at the bottom of the screen show the forecast for the forthcoming four days. Top right of the display is a refresh indicator which shows the time the weather data was last refreshed.

Below the main forecast image is displayed the current location of the weather being viewed. For most cities this will be a name selected from the forecast database, but there is also the special weather forecast for ‘My Location’. The HD2 uses carrier cell triangulation information and the in built GPS system to determine your current location. Once that has been obtained it goes on line to locate the nearest city to you and then retrieves that weather forecast for that location. Once it has been updated the ‘My Location’ description is replaced with the name of that city and the forecast duly displayed. At the side of the ‘My Location’ city name is shown a small GPS compass indicator so you know that this is not just a standard weather location.

Whichever location has been set as your home city within the world Clock application is then used as the forecast which is then displayed on the main ‘Home’ Sense screen along with the time.

The soft menu keys at the bottom of the screen allow you to update the forecast manually or to access the options. Options include:

Adding locations
Removing Locations
Rearranging locations
Updating the forecast
Changing between Fahrenheit or Centigrade temperatures
Or entering the settings where one can set the update frequency and whether to update when roaming

A maximum of 14 cities can be added into the weather system, and it is simple to switch between each one – the screen can be flicked upwards or downwards to move up or down through the list of cities.

Initially the weather is populated with the following locations:

Taipei
Barcelona
London
Seattle
Paris
Tokyo

Calendar

The ‘Calendar’ on any mobile device is a very important tool for many people including business users, and it has to reliably remind them of important meetings, schedules and appointments, as well as running daily agendas. The ‘Calendar’ on the O2 HTC HD2 is superbly executed and is of course totally finger friendly, with everything you could need and more only a finger swipe or tap away. The ‘Calendar’ menu system is a breeze to navigate, and is a vast improvement over its Windows Mobile 6.1 predecessor.

The calendar itself comprises a number of different views:

Week View - giving a graphical overview of forthcoming appointments
Agenda View - a list of up and coming appointments
Month View - shows the entire month with indicators showing days with events or appointments
Day View - showing a list of todays appointments (with the current weather)
Year view - detailing the complete years calendar

People

At first glance the People tab appears just to be a screen of shortcuts that can be set for favourite contacts, and while this is true this tab offers so much more.

When a favourite is to be added the contact selector is opened and a contact chosen, the options is then given to select what should be assigned to that shortcut; Mobile number, Work Number, Home Number, Message, E-mail 1 or E-mail 2. Once the favourite has been assigned the icon shows the contact photo (if it exists) or a generic avatar with a small icon bottom right indicating the type of shortcut, with the contacts first name underneath the icon. This also serves to add the contact to the HTC favourites category within Outlook.

The soft keys at the bottom of the screen allow you to choose ‘All People’ or the ‘Menu’ option (which allows you to add or remove shortcuts).

The ‘All People’ option takes you into the main ‘People’ centric application designed by HTC which comprises a number of tabs at the bottom of the screen. These tabs are:

All – Allows you to view all contacts either alphabetically or find a specific contact via a search
Favourites - Shows the contacts assigned as shortcuts on the People tab in Sense
Groups – Shows the different categories assigned to your contacts and allows you to send group messages or e-mail
Updates and Events – If Facebook linking has been configured this tab shows both up and coming birthdays and anniversaries of contacts (from Outlook) as well as any updates posted on Facebook. If an anniversary or birthday is tapped upon the system offers you the option of sending a birthday greeting message or open the contact card. If a Facebook update is tapped on the recent updates are shown in full.
Call History (all) – Shows the complete list of all calls made

It should be noted that if a new e-mail or SMS has been received from a contact a green indication icon will appear next to a contacts icon, both on the People tab itself or next to that contact within any of the tabs. Useful!

On entering a contacts record this is again subdivided into tabs applying to that contact , these are:

Contact details – phone numbers, address information (with options to show the location on a map), e-mail, open Facebook album, and details of anniversaries, birthdays, and category groups
Messages – shows any SMS or MMS messages from that contact
Mail – Shows any e-mails from that contact
Updates and Events – Shows any forthcoming birthdays and anniversaries as well as Facebook updates
Call history – shows the personal call history for that contact.

Each tab contains a tab specific soft key menu which allows you to interact with that tab, whether it be refreshing updates or sending new messages, etc.

HTC have really put some work into this application making it truly people centric and allowing you to get the best of communicating with your contacts in a smooth and simple manner.

Messages

The Messages tab allows you to view any incoming Text Messages (SMS / MMS) as they arrive as well as create new ones.

To move through the various messages you simply swipe the finger up or down the screen or touch the arrows above or below the counter icon. Replying to the message is simple: you just tap upon it which will then open the message on screen for you to reply to. The new message icon can be tapped (top right) to create a new message.

The SMS messaging system is fully threaded so you can see the flow and history of any conversations.

The 'All Messages' soft button allows you to access all text, picture and video messages on the HD2 in the various Inbox folders.

Copy and Paste

This completely new ability to copy and paste the whole, or sections of a received / sent / composed SMS text in this way hasn’t been seen before on a Windows mobile device. It will prove so very handy for message forwarding where you don’t want to pass on the whole message, or when you wish to save a section in ‘Notes’ for future reference.

Copying and pasting of SMS text is very straightforward to use too, tap and hold anywhere on the selected text, a pop up consisting of two sliding tab bars appear along with the highlighted text. Now you can move the two tabs until the text you want to copy is highlighted, now tap copy and you can now paste the text to wherever you wish, such as another SMS / MMS, Word Mobile, Notes or a text document.

Mail

The Mail tab allows you to receive, preview and send e-mail messages. A maximum of four e-mail accounts can be added to this tab. Each e-mail account has it's own e-mail counter so you can instantly see how many e-mails are unread in each mail account. The counter can be tapped upon to switch between accounts.

For the active mail account the large 'e-mail page' is displayed which details the name of the account and mail counter (bottom right) and shows a preview of the messages in that account. Swiping up / down the screen serves to switch between the e-mails being previewed.

If you tap on the previewed e-mail it will open in the Inbox application and you can then read or reply to that e-mail using the standard e-mail editor. Touching the New E-mail icon (top right) opens a new e-mail in the Inbox immediately. All the expected e-mail options are available - all made finger friendly by HTC.

The 'Menu' soft button allows you the options of 'New / Add Account / Account Settings / Send and Receive'.

It's worth noting that swiping the screen sideways while in the main Inbox also moves you between the different e-mail accounts.

The accelerometer comes into use once more within the e-mail application and turning the HD2 on it's side results in the e-mail messages displayed in Landscape format.

This also serves to change the SIP (Soft Input Program) into a larger landscape based version which has even more room to allow you to type quickly and smoothly.

It is worth noting that the capacitive screen on the HD2 works well indeed and there is no lack of functionality with the loss of the stylus. As a default the XT9 recognition is turned on as standard and it looks like HTC have engineered the same intelligence into the SIP as is found on the HTC Hero, text recognition is good and any typo's engendered by slight finger misplacement on the keyboard are auto corrected with few errors.

The typing speed compared to the Hero is significantly higher as the larger screen allows you more of a comfort factor when typing aiming the finger tips at the on-screen keys. This means to me that I can type as fast (if not faster than I can on the iPhone keyboard). The keyboard is single touch only which works to avoid double thumb tapping and ensures a 'clean' typing experience and maintain accuracy. The landscape keyboard in conjunction with the flat surface screen and the minimal thickness of the HD2 blend together to give a very good comfortable typing experience, on par with or better than hardware QWERTY keyboards as found on the Xda Serra (Touch Diamond Pro)

The accuracy seen within the keyboard is echoed within other applications like Excel, and a finger touch is easy enough to use to select or re-size cells in a spreadsheet. Again the stylus is not missed at all.
The auto-landscape orientation changes have been noted to work in the following applications:

Album
E-mail
Opera
Internet Explorer
Music
CoPilot
SMS / MMS

Internet

The Internet tab allows you to tap the globe and launch the Opera Mobile browser which is installed on the HD2 as a superior replacement to Pocket Internet Explorer. As an alternative to that you may swipe up / down the tab to reveal your bookmarked favourites and tap on any one of those to go directly to that site. Once a bookmark has been opened and 'viewed' a thumbnail of the screen is shown within each graphical bookmark.

You can tap the left hand soft key to manage your favourites. Once Opera has loaded a web site you can zoom in or out of areas of interest via double tapping the screen or by using a two finger pinch and move gesture, spreading the fingers wider to zoom in, or pinching closer together to zoom out. Once in zoomed mode you can navigate round the screen via simply dragging the page with your finger. The Opera Browser supports Java script and seemed happy with any of my regular web sites.

And of course the browsing experience is enhanced by turning the HD2 on it's side as the accelerometer sensor detects the move and put the browser into landscape mode for wide screen browsing.

There are a few caveats with the browser however, by nature it is multi-tabbed which is good news, but in the interests of either speed, stability or memory use it seems that no more than four tabs can be opened at once. It does however offer a decent speed of operation with pages rendering swiftly with few of the delays seen on earlier machines when a page is being rendered. Once a page has completed loading if the HD2 is turned into landscape mode the page transitions into the different view in less than a second, and again similar times are shown when returning into portrait mode - wwww.4winmobile.com (which does not support any reduced specification page for mobiles) was used as a test site.

Stocks

The ‘Stocks’ tab is an excellent way of keeping an eye on your stocks portfolio, and so simple to use too. To add a stock tap on the ‘Menu’ tab at the bottom of the screen, you are then presented with a search bar where you can enter the stock name or symbol you wish to add. If you wish to delete stock (or stocks) then again tap on the ‘Menu’ tab and delete from the list shown. The other ‘Menu’ options are ‘Rearrange’ which speaks for itself, and ‘Settings’ where you can set the frequency of stock updates. There is one more change you can make in ‘Settings’ and quite a nifty one too, whereas you can set the colour to green or red for a stock price rise. There is also an ‘Update’ tab at the bottom of the ‘Stocks’ screen which again is self explanatory.

Now onto my favourite options in ‘Stocks’, if you tap on one of the stocks in the list you are then presented with a page showing the selected stock’s performance. You can view its current price and also its high and low price, there’s also a tabbed bar at the bottom where it is possible to pick a time span of between one day and two years to see in graph form how that stock has performed over the selected time span.

Album

There are two ways to access ‘Albums’ on the HD2, through the ‘Start’ menu or through the ‘Sense UI’ ‘Photos & Videos’ tab. Either way the first screen you see is ‘Camera Shots’ where you can view all jpeg photos and MP4 videos stored on your device, whether on the storage card or on the device itself, the HD2 can also be rotated to view in landscape mode.

If you select ‘Albums’ at the bottom left of the ‘Camera Shots’ screen this will show all images of all file types stored on your device, there is also a tab at the bottom of the screen that gives the option for sharing where you can upload selected images to Facebook.

The ‘Menu’ tab on the bottom right of the ‘Camera Shots’ screen gives the options shown in the screen shot on the left, the same menu is also shown when selecting any image from ‘Albums’.

Tap on the selected photo or video you wish to view and it is then shown full screen in landscape mode. If you wish to zoom in on a photo spread two fingers from the middle of the screen outwards, or ‘pinch’ the screen inwards between two fingers to zoom out. The zoom speed is instant, and the capacitive screen shows photos in fantastic detail, the zoom function doesn’t work on videos though obviously.

The various menu options while viewing a photo are as follows:

Mail - Send via Emil
Messages - Send via MMS
Facebook - Upload to Facebook Mobile Pictures Album
Set as Contact Icon
Save Screen Image
Delete
Set as Footprints - Add it to the Footprints system

And for video they are:

Mail - Send via E-mail
Messages - Send via MMS
YouTube - Upload to YouTube
Delete
Properties

If you turn the HD2 sideways whilst on the ‘Photos and Videos’ tab in ‘Sense UI’ the view instantly transitions into a flow effect cinemascape view. You can view all your pictures and videos at speed with the flow effect from either left to right, or right to left using a swipe of a finger, it is a veritable visual treat. Select and tap on whichever photo or video you wish to view and it then opens that picture in full screen view.

All available options remain the same in landscape mode as they are in portrait mode, as described above. There are two tabs at the bottom of the screen, the left takes you to ‘Camera Shots’, the right takes you to ‘Options’, both of which are viewable in landscape mode.

Music

Open the ‘Music’ tab and you are presented with a lush looking player that has a plethora of options to play your favourite sounds, the main screen has your albums displayed showing the album art and random tracks from each album. Flick your finger up or down to scan through the albums and tracks on display, and tap to play the track of choice. Stroke your finger over the track length bar to fast forward or rewind the track you are listening to.

The ‘Play’, next track back or forwards buttons are large and easily accessible. At the top of the screen on the right there are symbols that can be tapped that represent ‘Shuffle’ and ‘Repeat’, and on left top you have the option to download the latest updated album art over the air to your device.

The bottom ‘Menu’ tab has one very notable option which is ‘Shop Music Store’, after tapping on it I found the HD2 connected to the Internet via Opera and went straight to Amazon online, where the album that is in my play window was on display with the full album details and the option to purchase, just a shame it was in dollars and I already own it! Amazon does give other similar purchase options though.

The options in the ‘Menu’ tab are:

Repeat
Shuffle
Add to Playlist
Shop Music Store
Update Album Art
Audio Booster
Properties

Tap the bottom left ‘Library’ tab and all the important options for playing your sounds back in the order you prefer appear; ‘Now Playing’ shows the tracks that are listed as playing in the ‘Music’ player; ‘Artists’ gives a list of all current installed album or single artists; ‘Albums’ is a list of installed albums; ‘Playlists’ gives you the option for you to compose and title your own playlists; ‘All Songs’ lists every available track installed on your device; ‘Genres’ gives a list of music styles, e.g. Rock, Pop or Dance, perfect for finding an album to suit your mood; ‘Composers’ this lists........ yes you guessed correctly! The last tab is ‘Purchased’ this shows which albums you have recently purchased online. Each of these tabs except ‘Playlists’ (which has its own menu option) has the option to return to the ‘Now Playing’ screen in one easy tap.

Landscape mode is my favourite way of playing music, turn the HD2 on its side and you have the albums laid out just as the photos and videos are in landscape mode, and wonderfully impressive it looks too, this is where the fun starts!

Choose the album of choice, and either tap on the album itself or the album listing symbol on the bottom left of the screen. The album being viewed slides across the screen and the album track listing appears on the left of the screen. You are then able to finger swipe the track listing from top to bottom, tap and choose any track and play the album from the selected track.

If you want to see the lists of tracks on other albums you can do this too by scrolling the albums left or right, the track listings then show up for you, all while still playing the tracks you have just chosen! Turn the device back into portrait view and the album you are currently playing continues to play, swipe the album up and down to go to the next or previous track, or choose other options that suit you.

I really believe this to be the best incarnation of a standard music player that I’ve seen on a Windows Mobile device; it’s so versatile and superbly presented. Every option you could need is available, and there is nothing clunky or cumbersome about it at all, and it’s poetry in motion to watch on the large capacitive screen.

Twitter

Once you have configured the social networking system to log into your Twitter account then accessing this tab will show you the recent Tweets of the folks that you elect to follow. This is complete with their avatar and their Twitter name.

The top portion of the screen offers a text input box where you can post your latest Tweet to the world, and also shows the last time the Tweets were updated.

The right soft key menu offers you the choice of:

Update now – to refresh the Tweets
New Tweet – to use the full Peep environment for posting a tweet
New Message – to send a message to someone you are following
Update location – Use the GPS system to update your location – if you wish to geolocate your Tweets (not always recommended)
My Profile – Loads your profile from Twitter for viewing only (including the number of following/followers you have) , and allows you to update your photo. Your recent Tweet history is also shown
Settings – Allows you to change your account name, configure the number of Tweets downloaded and the refresh frequency. You can also specify the Photo Host and URL shortening host used.
Notification settings for direct messages, mentions and updates can also be configured as well as the notification tone and vibrate settings.
Search – Allows you to search the world of Twitter

The ‘All Tweets’ left menu soft key allows you to enter the main Peep application whereby tabs at the bottom of the screen allow you access to:

All Tweets
Mentions
Direct Messages
Favourite Tweets

When you choose to send a Tweet using Peep a large full screen editor opens giving you plenty of room to write your tweet, with buttons at the bottom which allow you to post a photograph from an album into a tweet or include your location obtained via the GPS system.

Gotchas: At the moment the tweet retrieval frequency seems to be ignored and the notification system does not always sound.

Footprints

Footprints is a geotagging application which allows you to take a photograph of a location you wish to retain as a memory and attach to it additional data such as it’s Geographic location. On entering the Footprints tab you are presented with a list of pre-configured Footprints containing locations of:

Big Ben
Eiffel Tower
Collosseum
Statue of Liberty

As with other Sense applications you can swipe up and down the screen so move between the different Footprints. Each Footprint will show the large photograph of the location and underneath it the description and date the print was made. An index number at the bottom right of the screen shows the current number of the print and the total number you have stored.

Top right of the screen is a ‘+footprint’ icon which allows you to invoke the camera and take a new footprint. Once the footprint viewfinder opens one has the opportunity to take the picture straight away or wait for the GPS system to initialise and thereby geotag the footprint. If one does not allow the GPS system time to kick in you are presented with a screen offering:

Find on map
Continue GPS Search
Stop GPS Search

You are then taken to the main Footprint application which will show the photograph with 5 icons underneath:

Camera – Retake the photograph
Compass – Add / Edit the GPS location
Pin – Tap and hold a pin point location in Google Maps
Speaker – Record a voice note
Note – Edit the Footprint

The editor allows you to modify:

Category
Location description
Phone number
URL
Geo Location via GPS or latitude / longitude
Voice note
Text note

Once you have finished with the Footprint you can hit either the ‘Done’ soft-key to leave the editor ‘or ‘Delete’ to remove the footprint. On returning to the main Footprint application you can either use the ‘back’ soft-key to return to the Sense Footprint interface or use the ‘Menu’ soft-key which offers:

Edit
Show on Map
Digital Compass
Export
Delete

The Export function is particularly useful as you can then Export the footprint to SD card as a .kmz file – which can then be archived, swapped with friends or copied on to a PC for viewing with the Google Maps application.

Personalisation

‘Personalize’ in settings is the place to go if you want to customise your HD2 to suit your personal taste. The screen shot on the left shows the options available under ‘Personalize’.

‘Home Tab Wallpaper’: Leads to two options, ‘Weather Wallpaper’ where you can select one of the pre-installed backgrounds, and ‘Animated Wallpaper’ where you can choose an animated wallpaper for your ‘Home’ screen, how cool is that! You can also choose one of your own image files for both of these options which will sit as the background to these animated screens.
‘Lock Screen Wallpaper’: Again you can choose one of the pre-installed wallpapers or you own images to display on the ‘Lock Screen’.
‘Home Screen Tabs’: Allows you the choice of unticking or ticking the tab, or tabs you want to display along the bottom of ‘Sense UI’.
‘Font’: Alter the default font size to suit your needs.
‘Vibrate’: Decide whether you want the HD2 to vibrate or not when tapping the buttons in HTC Sense, phone dialler, keyboard, YouTube or any other supported applications.

NaviPanel

This is a very useful application for those that are planning on purchasing the forthcoming HTC car mount for the HD2. Basically, there is some magnetic trickery between the HD2 and the mount whereby, whenever you place the HD2 in the mount, a piece of software (the NaviPanel) automatically launches.

This panel has six huge buttons, designed to be easy to press whilst in the car, and provides easy access to common GPS related functions. Clock-Wise from the top-left you have Footprints, allowing you to enter the Footprints sub-menu which allows you to enter all Footprint categories. Strangely enough there is no option to record a new Footprint!

The 'Make A Call' icon allows you to make a (handsfree) call either via the dialler, via your stored favourites, or via the recent calls list.

The 'Go Home' button loads CPL8 with your home address already defined as the destination. 'Address' loads CPL8 and takes you straight into the address selection wizard. The 'Recent' icon again loads CPL8 and takes you to your list of recent destinations. 'Navigation' just loads CPL8 without and pre-defined action taking place.

The auto-launching of the panel can be de-activated from within the options but I've found it to be hugely useful so it has remained active in my car. One suggested improvement here would be if the panel could have additional options allowing a different GPS application to be launched but alas such is not available.

Settings / All Settings

The ‘Settings’ menu is accessed by going to the very last tab on the ‘Sense UI’, you then have the option to use the onscreen menu system to access the categorised list of settings, or you can tap on menu to access the tab ‘All Settings’ which has every setting available on the HD2. The settings list is vast so we have decided to describe a few at random that may pique your interest.

‘Sound & Display’: The menu has a vast array of options for phone profiles, ringer and system volume, rings and notifications, the back light display and G-sensor. There are two quirky settings that I like, the first is ‘Quiet ring on pick-up’ whereas the ring volume can be set to reduce once the phone is picked up or moved. The second is ‘Pocket Mode’ if this is set to on then the phone will increase the ring volume while in a pocket or a bag.

‘Location’: This setting screen lets the user decide whether or not to allow the collection of data for the locations services available on the HD2 such as the weather or Google maps. Just remember though, if you turn off the location data collection the weather won’t update automatically when you travel to a different location.

‘Text Input Settings’: As well as the usual settings for input and the XT9 spell correction and word completion there is an extra option added in ‘Others’, this is ‘Tutorial’ which allows to learn and practice auto-correction and tap and hold on the new easy to use HTC keyboard.

Teeter

There is only one game provided on the HD2 - Teeter. It is a Labyrinth-type maze game. On loading Teeter starts up and a silver ball bearing appears on a dark table with black holes, walls, and a single green exit hole. The object of the game is to get the silver ball into the green hole without vanishing into any of the black holes and disappearing. The challenge is that you navigate the ball around the screen by holding the HD2 parallel to the ground and tilting the device to move the ball.

The sensors are very sensitive and you can even move along the edges of the black holes without falling in. It also picks up how much you tilt the device and the ball will accelerate/decelerate depending on your angle.

The real surprise though, is what happens when the ball hits a wall/side. You physically feel the strike in the actual area where the ball hits the wall. Plus, the vibration/feedback varies by how far the ball travels before it hits the wall/side.

At the end of each level you will are presented with a score as to your performance and then given an even more complex and challenging table to navigate and complete. Tapping the screen during game play gives you the option of exiting the game or resuming. On reloading the game you are allowed to either resume the last game or start afresh.

Notifications and Wireless control

When a notification appears in the top 'bar' of the HD2 this can be tapped upon to open the 'Notifications' screen on which any new notification is displayed. Again this is finger friendly and each notification entry can be tapped upon to take you to the relevant 'Sense' application. That is if an e-mail notification is tapped you will be taken to the E-mail tab within Sense.

There is of course the option to either close the screen or dismiss any displayed notifications.

If the top icon is tapped (signal strength) then this acts as a shortcut to the Wireless Controls screen making it very easy to change any wireless functionality as required.

Long Press End Key

If the 'End Call' Key is depressed the Quick List screen pops into view which offers you the choices of:

Powering the device off completely
Locking the device
Turning it into vibration or silent mode
Terminating any running data connections

Interestingly there is no applet in the settings at all that allow this functionality to be changed. In fact the button configuration program has all button settings removed from the applet meaning that you cannot customise the functionality of any of the buttons on the HD2 without using a third party application.

Compass

Following the current vogue for GPS / magnometer based applications (as seen on the iPhone 3GS and the HTC Hero) the HD comes supplied with a Compass application. This uses both GPS and a magnometer to detect both your current location and the direction of magnetic north.

When first run the application will ask you to move the HD2 in a figure of eight so it can auto-configure the sensors within.

Once configured the main compass screen is displayed with clear and highly visible indicators of the cardinal points of the compass. There is an option to change between Imperial and Metric units but currently this seems to have no effect of the data displayed.

Finally the 'destination' button may tapped which loads the Google Maps application which then allows you to tap the screen to choose a datum point. Once this has been done the GPS kicks into operation and the current GPS position is shown along with the distance to the destination with a green dot on the bezel of the compass indicating its direction.

Glitch - The Compass does not always return the exact same 'North' position, it varies by around 10 degrees.

Google Maps

Google Maps on the HD2 makes it easy to:

Determine your current location with GPS
Get driving and transit directions
Get phone numbers and addresses for local businesses
Use the Google Latitude system to keep up to date with the location of friends and family
Use the traffic layer to be warned of congested traffic areas

Phone

The whole of the phone UI has been thoughtfully overhauled on the HD2, and I must say what an excellent job HTC have made of it. The settings and options available are numerous, and the whole layout is very easy to navigate via scrolling menus. There are three tabs at the bottom of the screen; from left to right they are ‘All People’, ‘Keypad’ and ‘Menu’

Once you tap on ‘All people’ a tabbed sliding bar is revealed at the bottom of the screen with the following options, some of which are self explanatory.

‘Contacts’:- Sub Menus: New Contact, Delete Contacts, View, Import SIM Contacts, SIM manager. ‘Favourites’:- Sub Menu: Add Menu.
‘Groups’; Sub menu: New Group.
‘Updates and Events’; Link to Facebook and Login to get updates. Sub Menu: Settings.
‘Call History (All)’; Sub Menus: Filter, Delete.

The ‘Keypad’ tab removes or restores the phone keypad for easier viewing of calls and contacts.

Lastly the ‘Menu’ tab opens up the following options:

Open Contact
Call History
Speed Dial
Save to Notes
Send Text Message
Paste
Options
View
Conference Mode

There is also a downward sliding finger friendly keypad cover when in a call that will give you access to the applications showing underneath, which are ‘Hold’, ‘Add Call’, ‘Note’, ‘Speaker’, ‘Mute’ and ‘Calendar’.

The HD2 still has more tricks up its sleeve once you make a call and put the phone against your ear, the screen turns itself off, and if you take the phone away from your ear the screen turns itself back on! Absolutely brilliant and it saves accidentally starting other applications with a touch of your ear on the screen, something users have bemoaned for some time on touch screen devices.

FM Radio

One useful feature of recent HTC / Xda machines was the FM radio which has also been included in the HD2. Once again for this to function the wired headset must be in place and as this has a secondary function as an FM antenna.

The first time the application is run it will automatically scan for the available FM channels in your area, save them as presets, then play the first FM station found.

Full control of the radio is allowed with options / features of:

Switch between Mono and Stereo modes
Switch between speaker and headset output
Search the FM band for the next lower / higher FM channel
Volume adjustment
RDS Station name display
Preset saving and adjustment
Sleep function so that the radio will turn off after a defined period

CoPilot 8 Live

This is a fully featured turn-by-turn SatNav application and, certainly within the UK market, is the main rival TomTom. It's inclusion with the HD2 follows through on O2 UK's previous GPS policy as various incarnations of CPL have been included on the Serra, Ignito and Guide machines.

To provide a full description of CoPilot would be a review in itself and is outside the scope of this review.

The copy provided includes a 15 day trial license so you can test out the software fully before deciding whether to purchase it or not.

YouTube

The YouTube application allows you to connect to the YouTube servers and download videos for viewing. You may look through what is available via various view filters; All Videos, Top Rated, Featured, Most Viewed, Search for any videos, and view the history of what you have viewed.

Be warned though that this application is very data intensive so you either need a an unlimited 3G account or to use WiFi to download the videos. It does the job, the videos look good on screen, and search and navigation are a doddle. It's just a simple little app that works with no fuss.

Marketplace

‘Marketplace’ is Windows Mobile’s brand new phone application store where you can download free and paid for applications through a wireless or data connection, and is installed as standard on all official Windows Mobile 6.5 devices and ROMs.

To activate ‘Marketplace’ on the HD2 tap the icon in the Start menu to install the application before you can use it. The applications you choose for free or purchase, are then installed directly onto your device. Most applications can be previewed before downloading; the list shown on the left gives an obvious explanation of the categories available.

My Phone

The HD2 comes complete with one of Microsofts newest applications - My Phone - this allows you to:

Back-up information to a password-protected web site hosted by Microsoft
Send photos to your PC and favourite social networking sites
Find your lost phone - the My Phone service can show you the last known location of your phone on a map
Access your contacts, text messages and more online via the My Phone web portal

This works well in helping you save, back-up and archive your data, all wirelessly and in the background.

Phone Search

The search facility built into earlier incarnations on Widows Mobile has been greatly enhanced and no serves to look through:

All Data
Calendar
Contacts
Excel Mobile
Help
Larger than 64Kb
Messaging
Notes
Outlook Mobile
Tasks
Word Mobile

Searches are carried out within a few seconds which is much faster than seen on prior machines, now becoming a functionality that can be used and appreciated.

WorldCard Mobile

WorldCard Mobile is one of those applications that you come across and wonder whether it will be useful, and then you try it and find it is very useful indeed. It is simple enough in concept - use the camera to capture an image of a business card, perform a bit of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to input the text, allow any errors to be edited and then add to your contacts. It may take a few attempts to be proficient with positioning the business card, but once you get used to working with the application it can be very useful. It can certainly save a lot of typing!

Voice Recorder

The ‘Voice Recorder’ can be accessed via ‘Start’ then ‘Tools’ folder, and is very straightforward to use. Tap on the red button or ‘Record’ tab to record, and the black button or ‘Stop’ tab to stop recording. While recording it is also possible to pause and resume the recording using the ‘Pause’ and ‘Resume’ tabs that are visible during recording or pausing. Tap on a saved file to play back that file.

The options available from the ‘Menu’ tab are:

Rename/Move
Delete
Create Copy
Select All
Send
Set as Ringtone
Options, which gives a choice of saving to the main memory or storage card.
About

The options available when tapping and holding on one of the saved ‘Voice Recorder’ files are:

Send via Bluetooth
Rename/Move
Delete
Create Copy
Select All
Send
Set as Ringtone

Quick GPS

Quick GPS can speed up the amount of time for determining GPS positioning by downloading the latest satellite information via an Internet connection such as GPRS, ActiveSync, etc). Quick GPS will work with any installed GPS application such as Co Pilot which is preinstalled on the O2 HTC HD2. Most helpful if you can’t get a GPS satellite lock as quickly as you would like.

Titanium

‘Titanium’ is the naked, bare bones user interface of Windows Mobile 6.5, and can be seen once you untick the ‘Sense UI’ from start> settings> Today> items. There were doubters that thought that the ‘Sense UI’ couldn’t be disabled from the operating system, but I can assure you it can be!

Again ‘Titanium’ is very user friendly if you want to run it as your choice of user interface on the HD2, but not at all as comprehensive as the ‘Sense UI’ which is the star of the show. Scroll up and down with your finger to see the whole list, or tap on the application you wish to view. All listed applications on the ‘Titanium’ screen can be disabled one by one if you so wish in settings.

Lock Screen and Notification Tabs

When the screen on the HD2 is locked you are presented with the now standard WM6.5 lock screen, which holds a button showing a padlock icon. This icon is then slid to the right or left on screen to unlock the machine.

When system notifications arrive such as missed calls, new e-mail or new SMS, that sliding button gains a number which totals the number of events.

If that lock button is tapped other buttons pop out downwards to show each type of event. These in turn can then be swiped sideways to take you directly into the relevant application!

Screen Readability

The large 4.3 inch (diagonal) 800 x 480 screen on the HD2 is surely one of its most striking features and comes in to it's own when working with documents like PDF files and eBooks. The brightness level is good and the lettering is clear and crisp (even though cleartype is not enabled as a default) in all documents. eBooks can be easily read with the font reduced in size - that in conjunction with the large screen give a reading experience on par with that of a full size book as far as content is concerned.

The brightness level across the screen is completely even and there are no areas of inconsistent brightness, colour levels are accurate and there is no harshness seen in any colour. This means that whether reading an eBook, or sharing your recent holiday photos with a friend you will not be disappointed.

The only slight niggle with the screen is the matter of fingerprints. Yes the screen surface is wonderfully smooth but as it undergoes extensive contact with the finger tips then grease does tend to build up while in use and finger marks are evident. However the screen appears to have been coated in some manner an it is a simple matter to give the screen a quick wipe with a soft cloth (or even a shirt) to regain a clean fingerprint free working surface.

After two months use the screen remains free from scratches and flaws (even without a screen protector) and unlike some competing machines appears to be fully durable and able to withstand constant operation.

Bluetooth

I needed to test the AD2P stereo audio quality so this was a good excuse to give the HD2’s Bluetooth a workout with my Motorola S9 Stereo Bluetooth headset. Pairing was a breeze, firstly I switched on the S9s, then went to the main Bluetooth menu on the HD2 through the 'Start' menu where I was straight away presented with the option to turn on Bluetooth, which I did.

The next step was to tap the ‘Add’ tab to search for Bluetooth devices in range, which the HD2 did in no time at all, finding my PC and the S9 headset, there’s also a ‘Menu’ tab at the bottom in this screen that gives options to search again or cancel. I then tapped on the shown Motorola S9 headset to pair them up with the HD2, the password was entered, I tapped ‘OK’ and the pairing was then complete, with the confirmation that the S9s were able to be used in stereo audio, and as a hands-free set, so not too painful at all!

Now I’m all paired up I can try the Motorola S9 headset in anger, streaming audio content straight from the HD2. I first tried the ‘Sense UI’ music player, playing a varied genre of tracks through rock to pop to give a balanced view, and I was more than happy with the results. I found the audio quality was top notch at high or low volume levels, without any noticeable distortion at higher volume levels.

I also tested the stereo headset’s audio capabilities by playing a video file I have of Batman Begins through the latest version of Core Player on the HD2. The beginning of the film is graphically intense when thousands of bats are flying across the screen, but the HD2 coped with ease and the video (no stutter) or audio didn’t degrade whatsoever, the whole of the film wasn’t a problem to watch or listen to at all.

I would say Bluetooth stereo audio quality through the Motorola S9 headset on the HD2 is better than any previous Windows Phone I have tried by some distance. I’m pretty sure the HD2 must be using new and improved Bluetooth drivers, as I haven’t seen a loss of connection between the device and headset when the HD2 is in your pocket while streaming music, which used to happen quite often with previous HTC devices.

There are three tabs at the top of the Bluetooth main screen, the centre ‘Pairing’ tab being the one used to set up a pairing with my headset. The top left tab is for ‘Settings’ and you can see in the screen shots there are many options listed, tap on ‘Advanced’ in the list to open up a further list of in depth settings.

The third top tab is ‘Tools’ and the menus and sub menus are listed below:

‘Print Images’: Tap to reveal ‘Bluetooth printing’ showing a list of images available for printing via Bluetooth. The ‘Menu’ button at the bottom in ‘Bluetooth Printing’ reveals Select All, Clear All, Refresh and Exit.
‘Network Manager’: Tap to reveal ‘Bluetooth Network Manager’ there is a drop down list showing Create a Private Network, Share Internet Connection and Access Internet through remote device. You need to tap continue once your choice is made.
‘Business Card Exchange’: Tap to reveal ‘Business Card Exchange’ with a list showing Request Business Card, Send Business Card and Exchange Business cards. There is a settings tab at the bottom of the screen for each shown the list.
‘BT Send Object’: Tap to reveal ‘Outlook E-mail’ there is a menu tab at the bottom of the screen that gives the option to Change Type or Exit. Tap the Change Type tab to reveal a list of objects that can be sent via Bluetooth, these are Outlook E-mail, Contacts, Tasks, Notes, Calendar Items, Audio, Ring Tones, Images and videos.

I am very impressed by the new Bluetooth layout and the navigation within, it does make life easier when you want to connect and send or share files and information.

Keyboard

The inbuilt onscreen keyboard is just the right size and a breeze to use, it covers half of the screen, and as the screen on the HD2 is large and crystal clear anyway this makes typing with accuracy very easy. Type as fast as you wish and there is no lag or slowdown when using the onscreen keyboard whatsoever. The keyboard itself is very straightforward to use and all the necessary keys for capitals, numbers, symbols and smilies are only a couple of taps away. The built in predictive text which is optional to use works well, and has the ability to store your words in its memory.

O2 Customisation or Branding

In days of yore O2 were renowned on their 'Xda' range of products for adding those extra touches; whether this was a few extra applications, or a customised Touch FLO experience. Now it seems those days have indeed passed. On the O2 variant of the HD2 the customisation is limited to the O2 style wallpaper and lock screen. That's it. Nada

The Camera

The camera software included is the latest incarnation of the HTC program which replaces the camera part of the 'Pictures and Videos' application. This offers a one screen display consisting of a central view finder with controls surrounding it, these are:

Advanced Options (bottom right)
Shutter icon (centre right)
Auto flash / on / off (top right)

When actuated the screen becomes the viewfinder for the camera and taking a photograph is simple, you hold the HD2 and point it at what you wish to photograph, within seconds the focus guide auto-focuses on the viewfinder, locking the focus and then you tap the shutter icon which takes the picture.

You are then given time (default 10 seconds) to preview the image with the options to send the picture (upload to Facebook, save to Footprints, send via MMS or send via e-mail), delete it, view it in the album, or return to the camera to take the next shot.

If the Advanced Options icon is tapped more control icons appear for around six seconds before vanishing. These are:

Left hand side - Digital zoom slider
Bottom left - Load album
Bottom centre - Capture mode (Photo, video, panorama, MMS video, or contacts picture)
Bottom right of centre - Additional quick controls (white balance, brightness, ISO, storage, self timer and advanced)

The advanced control panel offers you the following:

Resolution - 5M (2592 x 1552)
Widescreen - on / off
Touch Focus - on / off
Review duration (no review, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, no limit)
Quality (basic, normal, fine, superfine)
Capture format - JPEG only
Time stamp - on / off
Keep backlight - on / off
Shutter sound - on / off
Image properties (Contrast +3, Saturation +3, Sharpness +3)
Effect (none, greyscale, sepia, negative)
Metering mode - spot
Prefix - default
Counter (current number or reset)
Flicker adjustment (Auto, 50Hz, 60Hz)
Grid - on / off
Help
About

The options strangely are reduced compared to prior models like the Xda Guide which incorporated features like:

Themed picture
GPS picture (replaced by Footprints?)
Multi-resolutions
Other metering modes (Average)
Date or Date / Time prefixes

So in both camera quality and features this application although easier to control via a better icon interface seems somewhat lacking in features.

EXAMPLE PHOTOS AND VIDEO

These are a set of typical photographs taken with the HD2 camera on default settings whilst travelling around in Scotland on a recent holiday.

Decent weather on the trip up towards the highlands
Loch Nan Uamh in all its glory

Both photographs exhibited slightly false colouration with a pink tinge being visible throughout, the focus seemed slightly inaccurate resulting in a lack of detail when viewed close up.

Loch Nan Uamh towards the headland
Loch Nan Uamh towards the sea

Once again the pink tingle and lack of focus are much evident with this being more evident when faced with the bright light levels as the focus moves towards the sun. The colours start to bleed together somewhat towards the right hand side of the picture and the lack of white balance adjustment is evident.

The legendary silver sands of Morar
The road from Mallaig

Again we see more evidence of unnatural colour tinting, in real life the silver sands were the clean white / grey of silica sand as can be seen towards the left hand side of the photograph. The center of the picture shows yet again tinges of orange and pink discolouration. The green vegetation around Mallaig looks much too verdant and bright compared to the actual conditions.

Typical video footage

Taken on the way up to the Highlands at a brief rest spot. The same problems encountered whilst taking still photographs are also evident in the video, although the focus seems somewhat improved.

EXIF Data

This is an example of the EXIF data held within a typical photograph taken with the HD2's camera at default settings. As you can see the default setting is for a 2592 x 1552 image with auto-focus and white balance. Unfortunately going through the camera settings reveals that using the standard camera no GPS data is embedded within the photograph.
GENERAL ASPECTS

SatNav lock times - during the course of the review the HD2 has been hard reset five or six times which has the side effect of clearing the GPS cache. Each time, after the reset, the Sat Nav system was initialised and times taken to achieve a first and secondary lock. First lock times were around one minute and secondary locks were achieved almost within around 10-12 seconds with QuickGPS data downloaded. The only GPS issue seen on rare occasions is where the Locational Weather system failed to gain a solid enough lock, or a lock was achieved but no forecast was available. Apart from that the GPS or cell triangulation system worked very well within CPL8, Weather, and the Latitude system within Google Maps. There have been no instances of GPS fade where the signal would be lost requiring an application reload or a device reset. The GPS system is fast and solid in operation.

Bluetooth - It is worth mentioning that the Bluetooth system included within ROM supports the Bluetooth 2.0 specification. I've successfully linked the HD2 to the native Bluetooth system within my 307CC without any problems. Re other SAP car kits (for of VW, Audi, Skoda, Mercedes, and Jaguar)- O2 have confirmed it works with these cars, although there are issues with kits that generate random PIN codes.

E-mail - As the HD2 is a fully converged device, benefiting from an always on GPRS / HSDPA connection, Push E-mail, e-mail handling is an absolute pleasure - you are always in contact and in touch. Those features, along with the people centric connectivity engendered within the Sense system make the HD2 almost a perfect device for communicating both with friends and work colleagues.

Social Networking - With support for Facebook via the Mobile Picture upload facility, the Facebook application supplied on the device, and the Facebook integration within the People application keeping up to date with friends is not a problem and becomes a positive pleasure. Add to that the ability to upload any videos to YouTube and with Peep taking you into the world of Twitter and Tweeting everything is covered. Of course the HD2 supports SMS and MMS messaging as well as Live Messenger for communicating using somewhat older technologies so you are covered for all Social Networking needs.

Signal Strength / Radio - Typically at work using most HTC Windows Mobile devices I get around one bar of signal (GPRS only) and at work I get three to four bars of full 3G connectivity. Needless to say using the HD2 as this was manufactured by HTC I expected a similar result. I was pleasantly surprised when I found that the HD2 would get a full five bars of signal at home with an occasional single bar of goodly 3G. At work needless to say a full five bar 3G connection is available. As a comparison the HTC Hero usually gets around 3/4 of full signal strength at home and the iPhone around 3 bars of signal. Phone call sound quality is generally good although an occasional distortion has been observed with the voice quality when moving to areas of poor signal strength - i.e. rooms surrounded by a lot of steel work, but that is common with most phones I've used.

Volume and Speaker Quality - One of the things I look for in a phone is a decent volume level, important to me as my devices are usually holstered in a thick leather pouch on my belt (Vega Holster). The volume on the HD2 is loud enough that a notification can be heard at all times (and I usually have the volume set to around the 60% mark). Audio quality whether listening to music, playing back a video or during a phone call. Comparing the sound system to that of the HD Diamond 2 I'd estimate that the audio quality is maybe two notches better and volume around 25% louder. This is however still less than the volume on the HTC Hero which truly does have a loud audio system. Calls have been made and maintained with no issues with the speaker phone turned on whilst accessing data in a spreadsheet, word and within People - no glitches or problems were found during the processes.

Speaker Niceties - The HD2 has a couple of nice features built into the speaker / audio system. The first is the option of a 'in pocket' mode, whereby if this is turned on the HD2 will detect that it is in a pocket (or I assume any dark area) add the audio will be boosted to compensate. Secondly if a notification or ring tone is playing while the machine is static on the desk when you pick up the HD2 it detects this (and knows you are aware of the audio signal) and then lowers the volume of the notification by some 30%. Cool! HTC have also included the muting facility seen on earlier machines whereby if the phone rings and the device is turned upside down then the ring tone will be muted.

Video Playback - As is expected videos recorded on the HD2 natively in MP4 format playback easily with no lag or lip sync issues. To further test video performance Core Player was loaded onto the HD2 and a selection of AVI videos played back, some of these were in 720p HD format. Playback was again equally good with no judder and the sound was in sync with the video. Standard sound without the headset plugged in was loud enough to be audible in a busy restaurant and if the headset was brought into operation was impressively loud (in fact the volume had to be decreased to be comfortable) with good stereo separation of the audio streams.

TV Out and USB Host - Various sources around the Internet have stated that the HD2 supports both TV Out and USB Host connectivity. The official specifications from HTC do not list such items and the HD2 is not supplied with any micro-USB adaptor cables to link to a video system or connect USB devices. O2 have also confirmed this functionality is NOT present.

Magnifier - One useful and somewhat novel inclusion within the WM6.5 operating system is that of the Magnifier. If you are in an application like the File Manager and you pinch / zoom in on the screen a then the entire screen magnifies and a preview window opens above the SIP allowing you to pan around the screen. This appears to work in most standard WM applications where the SIP is present.

Third Party Applications - With the Sense applications and Social Networking built into the HD2 as standard I'm now using minimal third party applications. For the HD2 to be truly useful to me I've only had to add:

Core Player - For playback of videos in various formats
MobiPocket Reader - For reading eBooks
Pocket Controller Pro - for taking screen shots
SyncTime - to ensure the clock is up to date
eWallet - for carrying my personal data around
Spb Mobile Shell -
Palringo 2 - For multiple IM handling

Each and everyone of them worked perfectly without any issues bar one application - Spb Shell 3.5. I had thought it was fast of the Touch Diamond 2 but on the HD2 the speed is absolutely incredible! The only problem is for Shell to fully work you have to disable the Sense today plugin, and even then if you drop back and use the WM6.5 launcher (Start) some applets (like settings) will not run. I think here that Spb need to do some WM6.5 compatibility improvements!

CONCLUSION

Windows - I've been honoured to have the HD2 in daily use for the last six weeks (thanks O2) and I'm very impressed with all aspects of its design and function - The Sense tabs that replace the Titanium interface work beautifully well and the deeper integration that HTC have done to hide the somewhat finger unfriendly WM6.5 interface make the device a joy to use - and yes I can say that the stylus has not been missed at all.

The speed of the HD2 has to be seen to be believed (videos to follow) everything feels fast and smooth from the transitional tab navigation in the Sense screen to the speed of scanning photos in flow mode, or flicking through large pictures in the Album itself. Transitions from portrait to landscape modes in applications is nigh on instant and the same can be said when zooming in and out of photographs using the two finger pinch system. At one point I actually found I had fourteen applications loaded in the background (including heavyweight items like the Album) and there was no slow down in operation and no applications had auto-closed in the background. During the time I've used the HD2 there have been no problems with the device heating up or behaving in an adverse manner in any way.

Dislikes - There is only one annoyance I have with the HD2. This is the removal of the ability to customise the functions of the buttons on the front or the HD2. The only application that really suffers on the HD2 is the native Notes application, it is fine entering text using the keyboard, but trying to draw any freehand graphics is nigh on impossible as you have to use a finger tip, not even a fingernail can be used and the results are not good, accuracy goes completely out of the window!

Personal Final Words - The HD2 is awesomely fast and smooth both in operation and looks, the large glorious capacitive screen works wonderfully well and the thin form factor with the functionality of the Sense system make it for me at least the best WindowsPhone so far. Go and buy one, you'll not be disappointed.

Boz - Firstly I would like to echo Daron’s comments and thank O2 for generously letting me have use of an HD2 too. I have enjoyed every minute with it so far without any problems at all, and helping out with this review certainly helped me to learn every aspect of the O2 HD2 at a very rapid rate, and all without the use of a stylus!

Looks wise there’s no escaping the fact that the HD2 oozes class in every respect, from its exquisite build quality that makes the device look the part, to its wonderful large pin sharp capacitive screen, and software that does its job in a very understated way. There is so much to admire about the HD2 too, the ‘Sense UI’ is excellent, and the ability to update the weather using the built in location software to wherever you are, is simply brilliant. The music player that’s standard is in my view the best I have seen on a Windows Mobile device, and is a pleasure to use rather than a chore like Windows Media Player.

Windows Mobile 6.5 has been given a fantastic makeover by HTC, and there are many clever touches on the HD2. One of my favourites is the screen turning off when placing the phone against your ear while making a call, then turning itself back on when the phone is taken away from your ear which saves accidently setting off other applications. The HD2 isn’t just about quirky ideas that work well though, it’s all about speed and overall performance as a whole, and running a 1GHz processor it doesn’t disappoint, its lightening fast at everything it does, and running a host of applications in the background doesn’t drag it to its knees at all. There’s no clunkiness or sticking when scrolling, zooming, flicking or when changing from portrait to landscape mode, and the whole operating system feels and looks perfect in use.

I do have a few gripes though, I dislike having to search for the task manager to close applications, having been used to ending a program by tapping ‘X’ in the top corner on previous HTC devices. I’m also not keen on having to use the magnifier in a few applications to tick boxes or scroll drop down menus, but I suppose that is a legacy from Windows Mobile 6.1, and I’m sure in future ROM updates this will be history.

There isn’t any obvious way to add your ‘Owner’ details, however this seems to me added automatically when you complete your 'Contact Card' details.

Freehand writing or drawing in notes isn’t easy at all, but it isn’t something I use anyway so isn’t a major problem for me, and is the only application that doesn’t work as it should. Believe it or not I do miss the XDA branding and O2’s applications that used to be. The name XDA was synonymous with O2 and was the symbol of their high end Windows Mobile devices, but times change I suppose.

In my view the O2 HD2 is a fantastic device and one well worth considering, it does everything really well at supersonic speeds, and I can’t see how you could possibly be disappointed with it, I find it hard to put mine down!

Pros And Cons:

Pros:

Fast 1Ghz processor
Build quality, appearance and feel
4.3 inch hires WVGA screen
Bright, sharp and large capacitive screen
Large ROM and RAM memory
Fast boot times
OOBE
Inbuilt GPS
Fast GPS lock and GPS signal strength
Locational Weather System
WM6.5 operating system
HTC Sense today screen
HTC Sense finger friendliness
HTC’s WM 6.5 makeover
Strong metallic housing
FM Radio
Removable battery
micro-USB (now industry standard connector)
No stylus required
Fast portrait / landscape transitions
Supports up to 32Gb microSD storage cards
Comfortable in the hand
Non-slip housing
Enhanced headset
Good battery life
CPL8 included in ROM
Good phone signal strength
Great battery life
Installed software
The variety of settings
Ease of customisation
Overall device speed
3.5mm headset jack socket
Lock screen
Auto screen shut off and switch on when making or ending a call
Bluetooth System
Sense UI music player

Cons:

No button customisation
No Xda branding and the loss of O2s added applications
Notes application is impossible to use for free hand drawing
Having to use the screen magnifier in a few programs
Slightly inaccurate Compass application
Twitter application does not always update as per the schedule

This review is brought to you by Windows with assistance from Boz!

O2 XDA Venn Review - A week in my life!

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:26:46 +0000

O2 XDA Venn Review - A week in my life! Introduction

It's been a pretty barren year if you're a Windows Mobile fan and a customer of O2. While the market in general has excited us with impressive new devices featuring the state of the art Snapdragon chipset and awesome sequels like the Diamond2 and Touch Pro 2 there has been very little to get excited about from Telefonica's UK SP. It was then, with high hopes of a WM6.5 device tidal wave, we looked to the Autumn and almost missed the XDA Venn as it stealthily krept into O2's product catalogue. The reason for such a low key debut is unclear, but then the device itself seems a slightly eccentric selection for a company that typically brings us Windows Mobile's big guns. Being a fan of the Windows Mobile Standard platform (Smartphone to us regular Joes) I decided we needed to see first hand why so little noise has been made about what looks like it could be a cracking little messager. Read on to find out!

Thanks go out to O2 for providing us with a review sample.
For more information on the O2 XDA Venn go to the O2 website at http://xda.o2.co.uk

As is the new trend with these reviews I'll produce a day by day commentary of a week’s use of the O2 XDA Venn along with photos/screen grabs and my thoughts as I go along. Feel free to ask questions, I'll endeavour to satisfy your need for detail. I'll use this for a more formally structured review you're all used to once the week is through.

Day 1: Unboxing & First Impressions

After I'd wrestled for several minutes to break into the courier branded, child unfriendly, impossible to open plastic bag I finally rescued the Venn box from within. If you've owned an XDA Zest you'll recognise the packaging as it's very similar. For those of you that haven't seen it before there's a simple (compared to O2's exotic secret drawer boxes of old) gatefold type box which is nicely decorated with O2's electric blue and black livery.
The box inside is split into 3 sections with the device on the left, the 3 piece adapter on the right and the USB lead, headset and pouch in the middle. The Warranty card, Quick start guide and software CD sit on top of the centre and right sections.
The software and documentation is a little lighter than we are used to, but lets face it does anyone actually read any of it? No? I thought not. The software comes on a single CD and it's interesting to note that without it I couldn't install my Venn to sync to my PC. None of my machines automatically discovered the device or started WMDC until the software was loaded so don't sling the CD out just yet!
The accessories themselves are reasonably standard fare, but are at the better end of the scale. The headset and USB cable seem of a slightly higher standard than usual, and the pouch is a nice soft affair not unlike something you'd put a pair of glasses into. I'm guessing the soft fluffy outer is designed to double as a screen cleaner and wiping of those pesky fingerprints that attach so easily to shiney devices. The power adapter too is better than the bricks of old and as you can see comes with both UK and European folding attachments to a USB block.
Going back to the USB charger and the headset, you can see from a closer look at the charge and sync socket that it is a non standard proprietary socket. At first I thought it was the first device with the new Micro USB standard connector on, but sadly this is not the case. As I said previously the USB cable and headset are of a slightly height standard than usual, with the USB cable sporting a spring loaded clip mechanism to ensure there are no unwarranted disconnections. The headset is not that unusual for a bundled accessory but it is nice none the less.
Ok, that's all the packaging gumph out the way let's get down to it. When you first open the box the first thing you'll notice about the Venn is the paint job. The term "High Gloss" was designed to describe this device. I think it's without a doubt the shiniest device I've ever seen. As the light changes and the gloss dims you'll notice the beautiful metallic blue/green finish. It's almost turquoise when the light hits it just right and the flecks in the paint sparkle. Very nice indeed.
The device feels solid enough in the hand, but not overly heavy. The Venn isn't small by Smartphone standards, it's relatively short but very thick. It's not heavy, but then you couldn't call it light either. I think solid is as good a description as I can conjure without you having held the device itself.
The real draw of the Venn for most of it's suitors is going to be the combination of both keyboard and keypad. The two way slide that exposes the keyboard or the keypad (but not both at the same time) feels very sturdy which ever way it slides. I'd have no worries about it getting sloppy. The keys on the keyboard have a good travel distance and a nice solid click. My first impressions of device use are very positive in keyboard mode but not so for the keypad mode. Again the slide that reveals the keypad is nice but the actual keypad itself I'm not so fond of. Again there's a good travel and click but the keys themselves are not separated. This feels a bit strange to me. I'll keep you posted as the review goes on with respect to this but at the moment I'm loving the keyboard and am relatively non-plussed by the keypad.
Build quality of the Venn is generally very good. As I've said the slide mechanism seems sturdy and the front hardware and keyboard buttons have a good solid click. The dpad also seems to have a good travel distance although I'm unsure as to why it's round. I'd have preferred a square dpad. I like the way the all the external ports are covered. There's nothing worse than keeping your phone in your pocket and having to clear out fluff before you can charge it!
To finish this first day’s commentary I think I need to say something about the O2 XDA Venn's name. I think most of us who've followed the XDA range over the years have wondered by what process the devices are issued with their XDA moniker, but Venn? For me, Venn conjures images of an old Geography Teacher (Mr. Venn) and Venn diagrams, a mathematical excuse to use a Spiro graph! What happened to exciting sounding names like Stellar, Ignito and Zest? Venn indeed.......

Day 2: Powering up and setting up!

Ok, with all the boxy stuff out the way we'll get onto the real meat of things. At the risk of getting off to a bad start, I haven't got past powering the device up, and already I have a gripe. It's the location of the power button that I have issue with, or rather what it' replacing. Ordinarily the power toggle has it's own hardware but on the Venn it shares it's functionality with that of the end call (red phone) button. Now, usually the end call button long press function is used to lock the device. Happy days, except not this time. "It's a slider" I hear you cry, surely the slide will lock and unlock the device won't it? Well, no actually it doesn't. It's criminal but the lock feature is tagged onto the record button on the left hand side. Oh well, things can only get better.
Hmmm... I've powered the device on and it's not getting better, rather it's getting worse. As the O2 "bubbles" logo is being displayed the worst, most awful jingle in the world ever is played. It sounds out of tune and too slow. It's about the worst first impression of a device I've ever had. Seriously O2, on future ROM versions the start-up jingle (and the shutdown one for that matter, it's just as bad) has to be dropped.
I'll take a little step backwards at this point and point out a couple of the good things I've noticed today as well. To start with, when you do first power up the device the screen leaps out at you. Although it's only QVGA the brightness and clarity is excellent, even if the resolution is a little under par compared to what we've become accustomed to.
The next thing you'll notice is the sliding panel interface that signifies you're looking at a Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard operating system. There are a lot of people who find the Standard (Smartphone) operating system too restrictive compared to the Professional (Pocket PC) OS. Personally although I agree it is less impressive from an aesthetic and functional perspective the easy to use dpad control system can be a godsend if you're not looking to customise your device too much. You can still tweak the OS but some of the really nice graphical front ends we've come to love on Professional like TouchFlo and SpB Mobile Shell are not available. That you do get is a real no messing back to basics OS that has changed very little since the Smartphone OS's inception. Having effectively said it's simplicity is one of it's strengths, and being a personal fan of Standard even I have to admit the 6.1 sliding panel facelift struggles to disguise the dated OS beneath.
If you've ever set up a Windows Smartphone before there will be very few surprises in store for you when it comes to configuring the Venn. The menu system is the same as it always was, so whether you're configuring and exchange email account it's all through the same old keypad friendly settings applet. The main bonus the Venn offers is that you get the ease of navigating through the settings menu with the keypad and then when it comes to entering text for say the Exchange settings you again have the advantage of using the keyboard. It's really this initial setup process where you'll be "exposed" to the raw Windows Mobile Standard OS the most and to be honest it's not inspirational stuff but it should be over quite quickly.
I've always been on for saving the best til last and today it's no difference. For me, an average days device use is about 20 minutes worth of calls, EAS with about 40 or 50 emails, 30 minutes of music using a Bluetooth stereo headset and 20 minutes or so of browsing. It's been two days now since I've charged the XDA Venn and the battery is still showing between 50% and 60%. Just in case you missed that the first time that's a Windows Mobile device with a projected battery life of 5 days from a single charge. 5 DAYS! That's just unprecedented. Wow. Oh, there's something I forgot to mention, that's 5 days with HSDPA enabled and connected too. To be honest, I'm not sure I believe it myself. I wonder if the charging fairies have been about...... I'm not sure about you folks but I'm getting quite interested to find out how far this bad boy will go on a single charge. Tune in tomorrow to find out!

Day 3: General thoughts on usage.

Now everything’s up and running I can finally get on with using the Venn in anger. Looking at the Homescreen for the first time and you can instantly see the pros and cons of the sliding panel layout. For most of us you have all the real-time information you need right there. Time, date, number of missed calls, SMS, emails, appointments and active profile, phew. It's all right there in front of you. The animation of the sliding panels offers a little eye candy but realistically it's all about function with only an after thought given to form. This in itself will divide opinion on the device as other than a half hearted attempt by HTC to bring their HTC home to the Standard OS there's really no other Homescreen options. If you like all your information right there than this isn't going to matter, but if you like it a little more aesthetically appealing then you'll be left wanting.
There is one little tweak that would give one last statistic that is important to a lot of people, and also make the clock panel a touch prettier, the weather. There are several weather panels available from different software houses but it's worth taking a look at, NRG MiniWeather which is available from XDA-Developers here NRG MiniWeather differs from the other weather options as you can see by adding the current weather into the clock panel. Very cool.
I've mentioned already that the device feels a little "chunky", but how does it compare to other devices? I've taken a few images to compare the Venn to some of the equivalent devices in it's class. To represent the Venn's competitors past and present we have the HTC S710 (In my opinion the best Smartphone ever) and the latest contender to the throne, HTC's S740. For the obligatory "device everyone knows the size of" category we have the Touch Diamond2.
As you can see from the profile shot all the devices wielding keyboards are significantly thicker than the Diamond2. Not shocks there, but from this angle you can see not only that the two HTC Smartphones are roughly the same thickness but also you can see the layers of hardware that make up the Venn. As you can see the extra width is from having the two middle layers represent both the keypad and keyboard as opposed to just one of them.
Disregarding the Diamond2 and focussing on the keyboards you can see the Venn is a very similar size and shape to the excellent S710 keyboard although the Venn has less space between the top row of keys and the screen than the HTC devices. Interestingly, from my own perspective I'd put the keyboards in order of merit going from the S710 as being the best, the Venn a touch behind it because of not having the gap between the screen and top row of keys or the Cap/FN indicators, and finally the S740 because I just find it nasty to use. I don't like keyboards with no space between the keys ordinarily (The Touch Pro is the exception to the rule). Another thing worth mentioning is that the keyboard has changed screen sides from the S710 to the S730 and Pantech have gone along with the newer configuration too. I'm not sure what prompted this change of direction but I'm currently finding it a little tricky to get used to.
Getting back to daily use experience I think we'll look at the communications aspect now. I found the call quality on the Venn to be pretty good and the volume levels across the whole device is better than average. You'll not be sleeping through these alarms! As far as Windows Mobile devices go it's one of the better devices for making and receiving calls. The vertical sliding action means that you get a good size and shape "phone mode" to hold to your ear which coupled with the keypad for physically punching in numbers not in your contacts makes outgoing calls a pleasure. While Pantech held off on a slide to unlock facility there is a slide to answer/hang up option which again adds to the calling experience by making it easier to accept and terminate calls.
With a device containing WM6.1 and a hardware keyboard you'd expect the messaging side of things to be pretty spot on and the Venn doesn't disappoint. If there's one thing that the Smartphone OS is good at it's email. The coupled with Exchange Active Sync on the software side of things the hardware keyboard as I've already mentioned is one of the better ones on the market and after just a few days training I'm finding myself rattling off emails left, right and centre. The number pad takes a little getting used to at first, as does the soft key position (left and right top corner of the keyboard), and I'd like a bit more space between the screen and keyboard. The keys are very nicely spaced however and give a nice reassuring click and feel when pressed. It's also much more natural to use the dpad with your right hand than your left too, in my opinion.
Finally for Day 3 another battery update. As I pointed out last time the battery use on the Venn has been exceptional so far. The first two days use depleted approximately 20% of the battery per day and this third day is no different. I continue to be amazed by the performance here to the point that after 3 whole days without so much as a sniff of a power source I'm looking at between 30% and 40% battery remaining. I'm not sure we're going to reach the 5th day but still, Kudos to the Venn for making it past the 2 day mark. The Venn has a 1320mAh battery which is pretty big compared to the HTC devices we've looked at in comparison, just a measly 1000mAh for the HTC S740 and a slightly better 1050mAh for the HTC S710. More tomorrow!

Day 4 - Media

Well, half way through day four now and it looks like I'm finally going to have to charge the battery. 4 and a half days from a Windows Mobile device, Standard or otherwise is exemplary. I'm not quite sure what Pantech/O2 have done to get this kind of performance from the device but it's certainly impressive. The battery is bigger than normal at 1320mAh and is more like the capacity you'd expect from a Professional (Touch screen) device than a Standard device. Even so, compare just about 2 days usage from something like the s740 and it's 1000mAh or so battery and the Venn is still something special.
I thought for this fourth day I'd concentrate on media and internet use from the device. The newer Professional devices that are on the market now and forthcoming with the launch of WM6.5 are very much media focussed. The Smartphone form factor generally with it's smaller, lower res, non touch screen is not so well suited to media use. I've always found the hardware keyboards make entering complex web addresses a breeze but the QVGA screen really lets down the device from a surfing perspective. If you really want to use the Venn to surf the web then you're basically stuck with Pocket Internet Explorer (PIE) from the standard ROM although obviously you can choose to download a third party browser. PIE is ok, but to be honest it struggles with anything bar mobile formatted web pages. In my opinion you're probably looking at emergency internet usage only with the Venn.
The camera on Windows Mobile devices is typically less than spectacular. That said, I've seen some decent images captured on devices like the S710 and the Venn has an almost identically spec'ed camera. It's only 2 megapixel, but as we all know, it's not just about megapixels. In the case of the Venn though, I don't think you're going to get any shocks using the onboard camera. It works, it'll give you and emergency snap of your mate falling in a river or something, but you're not going to be blowing up anything and hanging it on your living room wall. It's probably a little better than the HTC equivalent, but as with the web browsing, I'd chalk this up to emergency use only. As with a lot of WM Standard devices there's no LED flash included either so you're essentially limited to well lit outdoor shots only.
While we're on the subject of internet access and browsing, I think it's a good time to examine one of the features we take for granted these days that Pantech have not included in the Venn. It might even be the devices relatively poor internet performance that there is no WiFi facility. It's interesting however that while there is no WiFi, there is HSDPA. I'd have thought the high speed access and WiFi go hand in hand. Maybe Pantech decided it was an either or situation? Either way, there's no WiFi. Personally I've never really found lack of WiFi an issue on a Standard device compared with a Professional one as I tend not to use internet much with them. That said, it is quite unusual for a device to not have WiFi these days. I think you'd need to assess this omission for yourself, but to me it's no big deal.
From an audio perspective I found the Venn to tick pretty much all the boxes. I use my Windows Mobile devices to listen to music quite a lot, about an hour a day on average. I cycle to work and back so my headphones of choice are Motorola S9's, which are Bluetooth audio compatible. Being wire free is a distinct advantage when you're on a bike, no cables to restrict your movement or get wrapped around anything. One of the first things I noticed was the Venn uses the Widcomm stack and software. Typically this means good volume, but not the best integration with WMP. As expected my music came through the headset loud and clear and retained much of the AVRCP functionality too. Good stuff. The Bluetooth signal was nice and strong as well so I had no pauses or break-ups to spoil my enjoyment either. The Venn has a standard MicroSDHC slot on the bottom of it so you can cram a lovely 32GB of musical madness onto your device should that be your wish.
While I'm on the subject of the MicroSD slot there's a couple of points I'd like to bring to your attention. Firstly, I love the location of the MicroSD slot. It's situated on the bottom edge of the device just below the call buttons. There's a cover over the slot too, which matches the lovely paintwork and will keep out any dust or dirt nasty’s from the device internals. On the down side I did find the slot a little tricky to use the first couple of times. It's the push in and click and then push to eject type mechanism that you just have to have fingernails for. If you're a bit of a closet nail chomper then getting the card in and out can be a bit of a game. You can try using the stylus but it's a skill that takes a while to master.
In this day and age you kind of expect all WM devices to come equipped with high speed internet access in one form or another. We've already noted that there's a lack of WiFi on the Venn but it does pack HSDPA should you require that little extra speed GSM can't offer. As I already pointed out, the web experience on this device is not exceptional so the HSDPA may be a little lost there. One feature the Venn would be very good at that uses HSDPA is for tethering a laptop. For this feature alone it would be superb.
In all honesty there are very few features that distinguish the Venn from many other WM Standard devices other than the dual slider and GPS. There are not many Standard devices on the market that have GPs, but then as I've recently found, there are not many Standard compatible GPS navigation programs either. In some cases you can use a mouse pointer type app with a regular PPC app, but this is really just a hack. I've eventually settled on just trying the GPS with Google Maps and Latitude to see how well it works. It didn't. I waited 30 minutes and didn't get a lock. Ok, I thought, I'll try ZorroGPS, but this didn't install on the device for some reason. I'll keep trying to find a GPS program to test it, but in the meantime we'll have to put this one down as a maybe.

Day 5 - Summary and Conclusions

I really like the XDA Venn. Although I think it personifies all that is bad with Windows Mobile Standard it also highlights the benefits very well too. The battery life and dual sliding keyboard make it the perfect messaging device and coming from a smaller manufacturer like Pantech it has a real "unique" appeal to it. Unfortunately, I think the Windows Mobile Standard OS (Smartphone) has had it's day, and it was a while ago. The GUI is looking very tired now and it's just too dated to offer any real challenge to the market's big guns in this modern era of WM Touch devices, iPhones and Androids. That said, while the size of the niche market the Venn will appeal to is diminishing it's still very much alive at the moment. For an Enterprise messenger, or a "going out phone" the Smartphone OS is easy to use and the non touch screen form factor is a lot more hardy than your, 1Ghz, Snapdragon packing, big screen, all in one powerhouse. The Venn isn't perfect, O2 have to do something about those jingles for a start, and I'm still not keen on the implementation of the keypad. I can't fathom whether there is GPS in there and whether it's enabled or not and the web surfing experience is not exactly state of the art. Having said all that it's nice looking and functionally it's spot on. Everyone will love the dual slider from both a gadget and practical perspective. The bottom line is there's a lot to like about the O2 XDA Venn if you're looking for a tool as opposed to a toy.

Pros and Cons

Beautiful metallic high gloss turquoise finish
Very nice keyboard
Solid feeling 2 way slide
Good selection of hardware buttons
All ports are covered
Keypad a bit plasticky but better than nothing
Awesome battery life even with HSDPA
Bright, Clear screen
Windows Mobile 6.1
Big battery
Loud volume throughout
Good call quality
Excellent Bluetooth range and quality (A2DP)
External MicroSD slot, but sticky
Voice Commander installed
Full WM Smartphone app set
HSDPA
Better than average camera

No slide to lock/unlock
Only QVGA
Very thick, generally not small
Proprietary Charge/Sync connector
Font too big on email
Slightly tricky lock mechanism
No WiFi
GPS seems poorly implemented

Detailed Specifications

From PDADB.net

Brand: O2
Manufacturer: Pantech Curitel
Hardware Designer: Pantech Curitel
Project Codename: Pantech Mustang 2
Release Date: July, 2009
Predecessor Model: Pantech DUO C810 (Pantech Mustang)

Physical_Attributes

Dimensions
(width x height x depth): 51 x 106 x 21.6 millimetres - 2 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
Bounding Volume: 116.8 cubecentimetres
Mass: 151 grams (battery included)

Software Environment

Embedded Operating System: Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard
Operating System Kernel: Windows CE 5.2.19581

Microprocessor Chipset

CPU Clock: 528 MHz
CPU: Qualcomm MSM7201A
Width of Machine Word: 32 bit
CPU Core: ARM1136EJ-S
Instruction Set: ARMv6
Memory, Storage capacity
RAM type: SDRAM
RAM capacity: 128 MiB, 68MiB accessible
ROM type: Flash EEPROM
ROM capacity: 256 MiB

Graphical subsystem

Display Type: color transflective TFT display
Display Color Depth: 18 bit/pixel (262144 scales)
Display Diagonal: 2.4 " (61 millimetres)
Display Resolution: 240 x 320 (76800 pixels)
Viewable DisplaySize: 1.44 " x 1.92 " (36.6 x 48.8 millimetres)
Dot Pitch: 166.6 pixel/inch (0.1525 millimetre/pixel)

Audio:Subsystem

Audio Channel(s): stereo sound
Digital/Analog Converter
(Playing): 16 bit resolution
44100 Hz holding frequency
Microphone(s): mono sound
Loudspeaker(s): mono sound
Audio Output: Proprietary plug

Cellular Phone

Cellular Networks: GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS2100
Cellular Data Links: CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA
Cellular Antenna: Internal antenna
Call Alert: 64 -chord melody (polyphonic)
Vibrating Alert: Supported
Speakerphone : Supported
Phone Controller: Qualcomm MSM7201A (QDSP4000, QDSP5000)
SAR (head) GSM850: 0.467 W/kg
SAR (body) GSM850: 1.12 W/kg

Control Peripherals

Positioning Device: Not supported
Primary Keyboard: Slide-out QWERTY-type keyboard, 35 keys
Automatic keyboard backlight (upon press of any key)
Secondary Keyboard: Slide-out numeric phone keyboard, 12 keys
Automatic keyboard backlight (upon press of any key)
Directional Pad: Four-way (with action button)
Scroll Wheel: Rotary full area roller

Interfaces

Expansion Interfaces: microSD, microSDHC, TransFlash, SDIO
Supports High Capacity (SD 2.0/HC) memory cards with capacity of up to 32GB
USB: USB 2.0 client, Full-Speed (12Mbit/s)
Proprietary connector
Bluetooth (802.15): Bluetooth 2.0, Internal antenna
Wireless LAN/Wi-Fi (802.11): Not supported
Infrared Gate: Not supported

Multimedia Broadcast

Analog Radio: Not supported
Digital Media Broadcast: Not supported
Satellite Navigation
Built-in GPS module: Supported
GPS Protocol: NMEA 0183
GPS Antenna: Internal antenna
Complementary GPS Services: Assisted GPS
Navigation Chip(set): Qualcomm MSM7201A gpsOne

Built in Digital Camera

Sensor Type: CMOS sensor
Resolution: 1600 x1200 pixels (1.92MP)
Autofocus_(AF): Not supported
Optical Zoom: 1 x
Macro Mode: Not supported
Built-in Flash: Not supported
Camcorder: 320x240 pixels
Recordable Image Formats: JPG
Recordable Video Formats: 3GP, MPEG4

Power Supply

Battery Technology: Lithium-ion battery
Battery Build: removable
Battery Capacity: 1320 mAh
Additional Details
Additional Features:

* GPRS Class 10
* Bluetooth stereo audio profile (A2DP)
* 3.5mm audio jack adapter included

Related-Page: http://xda.o2.co.uk/...es/xda_venn.jsp

Review: Panoramic Software Phone Genius

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:42:13 +0000

http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_icon.jpg We have been looking at some of the programs offered by Panoramic Software over the last couple of months, and have already reviewed their excellent Launchpad program.

We have now had the opportunity to look at Phone Genius, a software suite designed to improve the usability of the Phone application on Windows Mobile devices.

Can it continue the high standard set by LaunchPad? Read on to find out!

Product:
Panoramic Phone Genius

Supplier:
Panoramic Software

Platform:
Windows Mobile 5 onwards; Touchscreen devices

Price:
$19.95. 4 day trial version available.

Device used for review:
HTC Touch Diamond/ Windows Mobile 6.1 and 6.5

With thanks to Patrick Abadi of Panoramic Software for supplying the software.

Please excuse my extensive use of blocking in the screenshots; this is to preserve the anonymity of my contacts!

Introduction

Phone Genius is a phone suite comprising three separate applications, two of which can be bought as stand alone programs if required. The components are:

Call Genius: This program handles in-call and post-call functions, such as Caller ID, ring tones, call rejection and profiles. It also has a useful Today screen plug-in. This part of the suite cannot be purchased on its own

Area Code Genius: This intercepts incoming calls and shows information relating to the caller's Area Code, or Country. It can be purchased on its own in which case it integrates with the default Windows Mobile phone screens. It can also be used to look up area and country code information. Area codes are currently included for UK, USA, Canada and New Zealand.

Contacts Genius: This part of the program handles the Contacts on the device and can be used to initiate phone calls, or to view 'conversation' histories of both voice and text messages for each contact. It can be set to take over from the default Contacts application, or run as a stand alone application. This can be purchased on its own for $9.95.

I shall base this review on using all the components as an integrated suite, but can answer module specific questions in the review thread, or our dedicated Panoramic Software forum if required.

Installation

Phone Genius can be downloaded as a four day trial, or purchased from a link to Handango from Panoramic Software's web site. Once purchased, the user downloads and installs a new fully registered file. Updates are available from Panoramic's web site and can be downloaded as local or PC based installers. Running the updated file overwrites the existing version while maintaining a valid registration.

The installed file size of Phone Genius is 2.7MB. It needs to be installed into main device memory as it is a system application and is required during startup. Once loaded and running, Phone Genius requires about 8MB of Program Memory which may leave some of the lower memory devices a little short.

During the installation or update process, the user is given the option of enabling or disabling some of the features. These can be modified within the program's settings later if required. A soft reset is not required after installation unless the Contacts module has been assigned to the right side Soft Key.

The installation process adds a Phone Genius sub folder to the Programs folder, allowing access to individual components or to the main Options screen for the program.

Using Phone Genius

We will assume for the purposes of this review that all the default actions are set, and that Phone Genius is the handler for all its functions. I'll go through some of the more advanced features later. Users will most likely first interface with Phone Genius while placing or answering a phone call or looking up contact details.

The Contacts Application

Tap the right soft key to open Panoramic Contacts. There are three screens available- Favorites, Contacts and History.

Favorites is a grid of icons which can be 3*3, 4*4 or 5*5. There is a slider at the top of the screen (or on right side in Landscape mode) for accessing a second grid, thus there can be a total of 18, 32 or 50 favorite contacts defined.

To add a contact to this screen, tap the '+' on a vacant tile, and an alphabetical list of contacts opens. This can be dragged up or down, or the scrollbar can be dragged. Also, the scrollbar is proportional to the list of contacts so, for example, tapping the scrollbar halfway down will take you to halfway down the contact list. Tapping an entry adds it to the selected favorite tile. Once a tile is associated with a contact, tapping it opens the main contact detail screen, from where a new voice call, SMS or e-mail can be initiated. Existing tiles can be dragged to new locations if desired.

A further tap on the Favorites icon opens a context menu for:

Remove Contact: Removes the contact from the Favorites list. This does not actually delete the contact itself.
Set Contact Picture: Associate the contact with an existing picture
Set Contact Ringtone: Associate the contact with a specific ringtone
Take Picture of Contact: Opens the device's camera application and allows a photo to be taken, which is then associated with the contact.
Lock Items: Locks all tiles in their current positions
Options: Opens the main Options screen for Contacts
Help: Opens the standard Windows Mobile help system with comprehensive help on most aspects of the program.
About: Displays the version number of the program.

Contacts shows an alphabetical list of all contacts with a small vertical A-Z bar to the right hand side. The list can be sorted by Last Name, First Name, e-mail address or Company Name, and SIM contacts can be displayed if required. Navigation is by swiping the list up or down, or by touching or swiping to the relevant index letter. If animation is turned on, the list scrolls to the selected letter, otherwise it moves there directly. Keyboard equipped devices can use the keyboard to access the required contact. There is no facility for direct contact search for non keyboard devices, and even with the keyboard, there is no pattern matching across multiple fields so if you don't know the exact name of the contact you are searching for, locating the correct one in a large database can be difficult. This is I feel, a significant omission for those with large contact lists, though it is mitigated by the ability to have up to fifty entries on the favorites screens.

Tapping any contact entry opens the contact details page showing all the relevant contact data, a contact photo if present, and a More Info button to a further detail screen showing the address, categories, web site address and birthday for the contact.

Within the first details screen is a menu showing:

Edit Contact: This opens the standard Windows Mobile Contacts application to edit the contact details
Set Contact Picture: Associate the contact with an existing picture
Set Contact Ringtone: Associate the contact with a specific ringtone
Take Picture of Contact: Opens the device's camera application and allows a photo to be taken, which is then associated with the contact.
Conversation History: Shows a list of all SMS and voice calls associated with the contact. Tapping any of these entries shows either the message or call details and has a menu allowing a reply or to place a voice call.

Tapping the Contacts icon opens a menu with:

New Contact: Opens the standard Windows Mobile contacts application with an empty record.
Edit Contact: Allows editing of the currently highlighted contact
Delete Contact: Deletes the selected contact, after showing a confirmation screen.
Options, Help and About as in the Favorites section.

History shows a list of all recent voice and text messages. Touching the small down arrow at the top of the screen allows the entries to be filtered by five parameters: SMS in, SMS out, Voice in, Voice out and missed calls. Tapping any of the entries shows details of the call type, duration and status of voice calls, or the text of the incoming or outgoing SMS message. This screen has a menu for Call, SMS Reply or Contact Details.

From the History screen, SMS messages can be read on an integral message content page. This page has a menu at the bottom right for replying, which opens up the standard Messaging/SMS program with the 'Reply to' details filled in, to place a voice call to the number, or to open the contact details for the sender if in the contact list.

Tapping the History icon opens a menu allowing:

Add to Contacts: This only appears if the highlighted entry is not already in the contacts list, and opens a new contact entry in the default Contacts application
SMS Reply: If the highlighted entry is a text message this opens Messaging/SMS at the Reply screen.
Call: Make a voice call to the current contact
Compose SMS: Opens Messaging/SMS at a blank new message screen.
Conversation History: Shows the whole SMS and voice call history for the contact
Mark All as Read: As it says!
Delete: Opens a sub menu allowing the deletion of the current entry, all SMS entries, all Voice entries or All entries. There is no option for selective message deletion. Each delete action prompts a confirmation screen. Deleting all SMS or Voice entries occurs regardless of the state of the filtered display (so, even if sent SMS messages are not displayed, electing to delete All SMS will remove them.)
Options, Help and About as in the Favorites section.

Aside from the lack of any ability to search with non keyboard devices, the organisation and integration of the Contacts screens works very well. Managing contact information and communication history is easy to achieve and returning calls or text messages easy to do. The interface is pleasing (to me at least) and most actions can be executed without resorting to the stylus. I would like to see the ability to tag messages for deletion rather than the current all or nothing approach.

Outgoing Calls

Whether initiated via the Contacts application, or direct from the Phone application, outgoing calls use the default Windows Mobile dialler. Once the call connects however, Phone Genius opens the 'Cheek Guard' screen. This is a full page screen showing from the top:

Signal strength and battery meters and the phone operator.
Connection status, call timer and the called number (and name if in the contacts list)
Contact picture if the called number has a picture assigned.
Information from Area Code Genius which shows a small globe with a highlight centred on the country called
The country or area code to which the call is connected and the local time there.
The Cheek Guard slider

This is a passive screen which will remain in place until the Cheek Guard slider is activated, and prevents unwanted screen presses if the phone is pressed to the face, or turns on when in a pocket or bag.

The Area Codes Genius component can be set to show the region associated with the called number, or the country details. Area Codes Genius includes databases for UK, Australia, New Zealand and North America; the user's default country is set in the main Options screen. If set to 'World' then the country rather than the area details are displayed.

Once the Cheek Guard is deactivated, the default phone dialler returns to focus until the call is ended, at which point it shows the Call Ended screen.

The Post Call screen shows Call Ended at the top followed by the caller's details if available. If the caller is already stored in contacts, there will also be a More Info button to open the contact details. Below this is an Options pane. In this case the only option is Call Back which will redial the caller's number.{br}{br}At the base of the screen is a slider for 'Block Caller'. If activated, the caller's number will be added to the blocked call list, and further incoming calls from that number will be rejected. At this point the slider changes name to 'Unblock Caller' in case the caller was blocked accidentally. The Quit button closes the screen. Blocked callers can be managed from the main options screen. This screen is the same as the 'Missed Call' screen except for the window title. The image is of the Missed Call screen.

Incoming Calls

An incoming call immediately opens the Incoming Call screen. This is exactly the same as the Cheek Guard screen detailed above, except in place of the 'Slide to Unlock' function at the base of the screen, there are Answer and Ignore buttons.

Answer: the call is answered and the Cheek Guard screen opens as for outgoing calls. Terminating the call will show the Post Call screen as for outgoing calls.

Ignore: the call is diverted to voicemail or aborted, depending on the user's settings, and the Post Call screen is displayed. In this case it will show 'Missed Call' at the top as shown above.

The Today Screen Plug-in

Phone Genius includes a useful Today plug-in which is able to display the time, status indicators for e-mail, SMS, Phone calls and voicemail messages, a simple profile switcher and icons for launching programs or settings or dialling contacts.

Each status icon will become highlighted if new items are present and show a number indicator for the number of items. Tapping the icon opens the relevant messaging application; tapping the Voicemail icon opens a screen asking for confirmation of a call to voicemail and also allowing the voicemail access number to be edited; tapping the missed call indicator opens the Contact history list as detailed in the Contacts section.

The icon on the left controls Profiles and is a simple phone profile switcher with various options for ring volume, a 2 hour timed 'ringer off' option and a Flight Mode switch. The sound switching does not affect system sounds so if you set a silent profile, you will still hear any incoming message alerts, which may or may not suit you, but cannot be altered within this program.

Tapping/holding any icon will open the program's context menu with options for Remove Item, Lock all Items or Add/Remove items. Tapping the time display opens the default Windows Mobile Date and Time screen.

The Add/Remove screen shows a list of currently selected items with large buttons for Add Item or Remove. Selecting the Add button shows a list of items which may be added- Add Contact, Add Program or Add Setting. There are also options for showing a large or small Date/Time display.

There is no effective limit to the number of items that can be added. Once a row of five icons is complete, a new row is created. Once the whole screen is filled, the list will show the normal today screen scrollbar to access items below the bottom of the screen.

Area Codes Genius

I've already mentioned how this integrates with the incoming and outgoing call functions. It can also be opened as a stand alone program. In this guise, it opens a screen showing a small input panel, a globe, 'Search' parameters and a numeric pad.

The 'Search by' line has a drop down box allowing the selection of World or Country codes. Countries listed are currently UK, New Zealand, Australia, and North America. Selecting the World option will display details for the country of origin for connected calls in the In-Call screen. Selecting a country will allow the area details of the country to be displayed.

Within the Area Codes application itself, country or area codes can be entered into the input box; clicking Locate will find details of the relevant entry. If World is selected as the current search listing, the entering the country code will show the approximate location of the country on the globe, with basic details such as Language, Capital, Currency and Population listed in the main frame.

If a country is set as the search parameter, then entering an area code will display local details. For example, if UK is selected, entering the area code will show the main location for that code followed by the demographic details for the country as before. This feature can be quite useful in approximately locating the origin of an unrecognised phone number.

The right soft key is called 'List' and tapping this opens an alphabetic list of the entries for the selected search option.

The left soft key is titled Menu and has entries for Help, About and Quit.

Options

There are two sets of Options within the Phone Genius program- those relating to the Contacts part of the suite and those controlling the Phone functions.

Contacts options are accessed from the context menu of any of the Contacts pages. The settings are in four groups:

General controls the colour scheme, whether to replace the default Contacts application with Contacts Genius, setting the right soft key to Contacts and turning menu and search animation on or off. There do seem to be a few screens that do not conform to the selected colour scheme. Please note though that some of my screenshots were taken with a Green scheme selected.
Favorites controls whether to show just the icon, or the name and icon, the picture size (small, medium or large, which determines the number of available tiles) and the titles of the two favorites screens.
Contacts controls how the list is sorted (first name, last name, e-mail address or company name), the inclusion of SIM contacts and whether each contact is displayed in detailed mode.
History controls how far back to include items (one month, 100 or 200 items), which calls to display (any combination of incoming, outgoing or missed calls) and which SMS to display (all, incoming or outgoing)

Phone Options are accessed via the Programs/Phone Genius menu and comprises five option groups plus help. The option groups are:
General Options: Show incoming call screen, Show cheek guard, Show post call screen, set Lookup region for Area Codes Genius, Enable ring tone handling (Yes/No- details are set later if Yes), Phone Profile (shows current profile and can switch to a different profile if the Today plugin is not active)

Phone Block List: Allows calls from selected contacts or incoming number patterns to be rejected. Currently this seems set up for US number patterns only- for example setting a block for UK area code 01279 actually saves as (012). Likewise, blocking specific numbers only works for US style 10 digit numbers. Blocked numbers appear in the list, and can be unblocked with the Remove option.

Calling Rules: Sets up specific actions for incoming calls by various parameters including times when appointments have busy status active, block by contact name or category, always allow by contact name or category, reject callers not in the contacts list and turn ringer off for specified times. Caller rejection is essentially the same as for Phone Block as above

Ring tones: If Phone Genius is set to handle ring tones in General Options, this section allows the setting of the default ring tone, plus specified ring tones and ring types for selected contacts or categories. Each selected ring tone can be previewed direct from the settings screen. Each item specified appears in the main list and can be edited or removed if desired.

Today Screen: Allows the Phone Genius Today screen to be added and also items displayed to be added or removed.
Help: Opens the Windows Mobile help application at topics relating to Call Genius. The help texts are useful and fairly comprehensive. Each element of the Phone Genius interface is explained in detail.

Pros

Comprehensive features
Integration of the various components
Good user interface
Responsiveness of developer to bugs and requests
Configuration options

Cons

Lack of Contact search
Colour options don't apply to all screens
Some remaining glitches in UK phone numbers in the 'Block Caller' function
Sound profiles only apply to phone rings not to system sounds
No 'in application' editing- need to drop out to Windows Mobile interface.

Conclusion

I have enjoyed using Phone Genius though this review has taken a little longer than I was anticipating. This is partly due to the developer releasing a series of updates aimed at improving the way it works for UK users, especially in the Area Codes section. I have been gratified by the responsiveness and quick action they have taken to rectify problems. Phone Genius aims to replace and enhance the whole Windows Mobile phone call and contact handling functions and it largely succeeds. Each component can be turned on or off at will to suit specific tastes and the components can be set to replace or retain the default Windows Mobile counterparts. There are still some things in my wish list- the greatest amongst these is to introduce some sort of search capability into the contacts application, preferably with pattern matching. Those with very large contacts lists will find the ability to only go to the start of a letter group a bit limiting. It would also be nice to incorporate e-mail messages into the Contact conversation history when an e-mail address is defined for a contact, with a reply option as in the SMS function.

For my own use, I have set up Phone Genius with all its default features turned on, and with both TouchFlo3D and Titanium turned off in favour of the Phone Genius today plug-in (in association with Panoramic LaunchPad. as previously reviewed!) and it suits my purposes very well. At a price of $19.95 for the whole suite it does represent good value for money for a Windows Mobile program.

U2o iWalk 5400mAh Emergency Battery Charger - mixing Windows Mobile and a motorcycle!

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:18:23 +0000

U2o iWalk 5400mAh Emergency Battery Charger - mixing Windows Mobile and a motorcycle!

I had a small project in mind to test the U2o iWalk 5400mAh emergency battery charger for it's strengths and possible weaknesses, it involved coupling the rechargeable battery with a Windows Mobile device and a motorcycle! When the rechargable battery and the other items I needed for this review arrived quickly, safely and well packaged, I couldn't wait to start on my project.

For your delectation photographs are thumbnails which may be clicked on to load a larger image.

Many thanks to Craig at www.u2o-uk.co.uk who provided 4WM with the review samples.

The u2o-uk.co.uk U2o iWalk 5400mAh Emergency Battery Charger can be found on their site here.

The emergency battery is available in black, white and pink, I chose the black which looks very high tech in it's high gloss finish. Also included in the box was a UK mains charger, a retractable USB to DC cable, an Apple iPhone retractable cable, a warranty card and user manual. There was also an array of tips for the retractable USB cable that will fit many devices including a mini USB for Windows mobile devices, and other tips for Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and the iPhone - iPod series.

Technical specifications:

Features

Based on Apple iPhone
Standby Time: up to 750 hours
Audio Playback : up to 72 hours
Talk Time: up to 24 hours
Video Playback: up to 21 hours
Internet use: up to 18 hours
Keep that important phone call going

Technical

Input Voltage：DC13.8V
Output Voltage：DC5.3V/8.4V
Size：L106×W40×H24mm
Weight：148g

Scope

Ideal for outdoor activities including
Hiking
Camping
Festivals
Motorcycle touring
Wildlife photography
Wildlife watching

Introduction:

I desperately wanted sat nav on my Yamaha R1 not only for directions, but also for the speed camera warnings because I was getting paranoid with the police seemingly lurking everywhere I went, and it only takes one small blip of the throttle to get them jumping up and down with joy, three points or worse on my license and perhaps a large fine to be paid, which is money better spent on my bike instead. So I needed some kind of peace of mind, or insurance if you like!

I didn’t want TomTom Rider or similar stand alone GPS devices, as they are bulky and hard to fit on my R1 sports bike due to lack of space under the fairing screen, and a ruddy great Ohlins steering damper and fittings across my petrol tank. Not only that but dedicated on bike satellite navigation systems only have one obvious function, yep you guessed it, satellite navigation!

I wanted more than just sat nav and thought, “why can’t I have what many people have in a car?”, for example visual and audible sat nav with speed camera warnings, being able to make or take a phone call, or play a choice of music if I want to, but all in a small form factor for my R1, and all achieved by the press of a button while riding or stationary, but totally legal and safe of course.

The solution:

I am lucky enough to have the choice of a few Windows Mobile powered phones with built in GPS for satellite navigation and decided I needed one that was compact with a large enough screen, yet powerful enough to run the applications I wanted without stuttering or freezing up. Without boring you too much with the technical stuff my choice was the O2 XDA Diamond powered by a 528mhz processor which has a crystal clear VGA screen. This device can comfortably cope with TomTom Navigator 7, Bluetooth, media playback and phone calls, all at the same time if I want to!

My first problem was a power supply to the phone, as running these applications with the screen brightness at full tilt (so that it can be seen in bright sunshine) will quickly drain the 900mAh onboard battery. I decided not to go with the obvious auxiliary / cigarette lighter type socket and plug, instead sticking with my mobile theme and going with the portable mains rechargeable U2o 5400mAh power pack instead, so there is no worry about having a discharged phone battery on a lengthy journey.

Other parts needed:

Now I have the device I want to use and the power supply sorted, it left me with a phone mounting solution, a USB to mini USB charging lead to connect the power pack and phone, and of course a Bluetooth stereo helmet kit to tie everything together. After some careful measuring and guesswork I decided I needed the following to make it all work:

1- A flexible gooseneck cycle mount (yes cycle mount!) to hold the phone safely, these are used on mountain bikes so I know it is sturdy, well made and vibration free.
2- An HTC Diamond specific phone holder.
3- A 1.8m USB to mini USB charging lead to connect the phone and battery.
4- A Bluetooth stereo helmet kit with microphone, I managed to get my hands on one but is still under testing so isn’t commercially available yet, but is very similar to the Scala Rider kits you can buy in the way it fits into, and onto the helmet itself.
A big thanks to GPSForless who came to the rescue with the necessary parts which I have listed at the end of the review.

Fitting:

The fitting of the components needed was quite straight forward, the obvious place to start was with the phone mount and holder, which click to together easily, and just needed mounting on the main stay inside the fairing, this required no dismantling of the bike at all. I had to bend the gooseneck mount around with the phone and USB lead installed just to be sure it wouldn’t snag on anything when turning the handlebars, and also to be sure I could still read the bikes speedometer without it being obstructed from view while riding.

The USB to mini USB lead installation was quite easy, I ran the lead from the phone mount to the back of the bike through the fairing and frame along the main wiring harnesses, securing it where necessary with cable ties until it came out at the back of the bike under the passenger seat. I had to remove the front fairing inserts, petrol tank and riders seat to achieve this, but no big deal really.

Now I have the mount and cable installed it was just a case of fixing the 5400mAh rechargeable battery under the passenger seat, but it had to be removable for charging but this was easily overcome using sticky backed Velcro.

The Bluetooth helmet kit wasn’t any hassle to fit, and I managed to install the stereo speakers right over my ears inside my AGV GP Pro helmet, with the microphone sitting comfortably behind the front right over my mouth, the wiring is safely tucked away behind the various linings, as I said earlier the fitting principle should be the same for most of these kits. Now it was just a case of pairing the phone and Bluetooth helmet kit together to start using it in anger on the road.

So there you have it, an affordable and viable solution to other motorcycle mounted stand alone GPS devices such as Tomtom Rider using your own phone. Not only that but you haven’t got the bulk of a purpose made motorcycle GPS system to carry around with you when you’re out and about as your phone will be kept in your pocket or elsewhere anyway. My phone should also stay fairly dry under the fairing too in wet conditions, although I am sure a wrapping of Clingfilm should help if not!

Test Results:

There isn't that much you can test with a rechargeable battery, and I found my test results near enough mirrored those given in the technical specifications at the top of the page for the iPhone. As an example of my useage I found the U2o iWalk 5400mAh Emergency Battery Charger gave at least six, and nearly seven full charges to my O2 XDA Diamond, which was ample for my needs.

Put it this way I could probably run from Lands End to John O'Groats, stop off at hotels for a couple of nights while the battery is in standby, and still have some charge left in reserve once I reach John O'Groats!

Conclusions:

I have been using this setup for a while now and it works superbly for all my needs, and the U2o battery seems to last forever! It is comforting to hear the audible speed camera warning through my headset when I am riding on roads that are new to me. I can slow down and take a call on the move without having to stop and remove my helmet, or listen to music if I want to (I prefer the sound of my bike though!), and all this achievable by a press of a button on my Bluetooth headset, I love it! I can now ride around feeling less stressed about speed cameras as I have access to all known camera locations of all types which are updated and downloadable every week or so, it is just the unknown random ones I have to look out for............. Oh no!!

Don't forget the U2o iWalk 5400mAh Emergency Battery Charger isn't just for mobile phones, it can be used for any device you might have that charges with a 5 Volt input, this will include camcorders, cameras, MP3 players and portable pocket gaming machines.

The excellent U2o iWalk 5400mAh Emergency Battery Charger is available from one of www.u2o-uk.co.uk resellers for what I think is the very reasonable price of £44.95.

At the time of writing this review there is an on site discount of 10% for this product!

Links to other products used:

Gooseneck bike mount: http://www.gpsforles...ils.php?id=4640

HTC Diamond phone holder: http://www.gpsforless.co.uk/product_...s.php?id=14438

Navrider Bluetooth headset intercom: http://www.ultimate-travelgear.co.uk...ider___130.htm

Review: Panoramic Software LaunchPad

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:02:49 +0000

http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/panoramic/lp/lp_logo.jpgOnce in a while you probably find yourself looking for an application to fit a specific niche. Just occasionally you find something that fits that niche so perfectly that you heave a sigh of relief!

A few days ago I was playing with a new Windows Mobile 6.5 build for my HTC Diamond. Although a nice looking interface, it lacks any means of quickly accessing a favourite program, let alone frequently used settings or files. Application launchers available for the main WM6.5 interface are poor to say the least, and the new 'Start' menu needs repeated scrolling to access some items due to the loss of the scroll bar and recent programs list.

A quick Google search brought up a few program launch applications but most were either incompatible with WM6.5, or added little to the default system. One program that did catch my eye was LaunchPad by Panoramic Software. This was released in May 2009 and the features chart specifically mentioned WM6.5 compatibility. One quick trial download later and I had it installed and operational. So, does it have that 'sigh of relief' factor? Read on to find out!

Supplier:
Panoramic Software

Product:
LaunchPad

Platform:
Windows Mobile 5 onwards; Touchsreen devices at all resolutions.

Price:
$4.95. Free 2 day trial available.

Devices used for review:
HTC Touch Diamond (WM6.5) & O2 XDA Flint (WM6.1).

With thanks to Patrick Abadi of Panoramic Software for supplying the software.

Introduction

The purpose of Launchpad is simply to provide a quick and easy method of opening your frequently used applications, settings and files. By default it takes over the Start button at the top left of the Taskbar and on opening presents the user with a grid of definable Shortcut icon hotspots. A slider at the bottom of the screen also allows the user to select from a list of programs and settings, and also to exit the program. The Favorites section also has a slider in its top bar, allowing a second screenful of shortcuts to be accessed.

Installation

The installation file size is about 700KB, and it has to be installed via a PC installer over an Activesync link. The end user agreement is accepted on the PC and again after installation on the device. The two day trial can be download as a PC or CAB file installer.

Although the installer gives the option for the program's location, this is a system program so it is essential to install it to the device's Main Memory. Once installed, the normal Start menu icon is replaced by a PC Windows type icon though this can be reversed in the settings and the program loaded from Programs or assigned to a hardware button. There is also an option to link LaunchPad to the left Soft Key. No soft reset is required after installation unless a soft key link has been selected.

Once the Favorites buttons have been defined, Launchpad uses about 5MB of progam memory. Launchpad runs equally well in Portait or Landscape modes; in the latter, the menu icons are on the left side and the scrollbar or screen select slider on the right.

If the program is purchased after a trial, the developer provides a new fully registered copy of the program that can be installed over the trial version. Currently Handango only supply a PC based installer, though the developer provides them with a CAB installation file as well.

Program updates are installed by downloading a new copy of the program via an Update link on the product page of the developer's website. This can be downloaded as a CAB file or for installation via a PC. The updated file simply overwrites the existing installation though there is currently a small error which returns some of the settings to their default state. This is being addressed by the developer. Edit: Version 1.3.0 of LaunchPad, which is now available on Panoramic's website has fixed this issue, though it will only be operative from this version onwards.

Using LaunchPad for the First Time

Once installed, the first job is likely to be assigning shortcuts to the Favorites screen, but one can simply use the lower icons to access Programs and Settings directly. The icons are very well designed and are finger friendly. You can tap or drag to select which icon you want, and the animations are smooth and fast. The Programs and Settings screens are presented as a scrolling list which can be navigated in four ways:

Kinetic scrolling, where a finger drag will move the list proportional to the speed and direction of the dragging.
Dragging the Scrollbar: As normal, the list can be dragged with the scrollbar, or the upper and lower arrows can be tapped to move the list by three items at a time.
Touching the Scrollbar: The height of the Scrollbar is proportional to the total list of items, thus touching the bar in the middle will immediately access the midpoint of the list, and so on. I found this to be very effective when populating my Favouites screens as I found myself able to get pretty close to the item I was after with a little practice.
Keyboard input: This only works in devices with a hardware keyboard, as LaunchPad does not have a Soft Input Panel. When a list screen is open, tapping a letter (or sequence) with the keyboard displays a ghosted image of the letter in the centre of the screen, and the nearest matching item on the list is located.

Once the desired item is visible on screen, a tap selects it.

The Favorites Screens

On first use, the Favorites screens are simply presented as a grid of '+' icons. The grid can be 3*3, 4*4 or 5*5 depending on your preference and is selected in the program Options. (If you use an early version of WM6.5 I would advise choosing your grid size at the outset, and keeping to it as I encountered a few glitches when trying to resize the grid after assigning many of my shortcuts, which required a removal/reinstallation of the program. This has not occurred since I updated to a later build of WM6.5.) With the two available Favorites screens there is thus a total of 18, 32 or 50 possible shortcut locations. Each of the two favorites screens can be assigned a title from a list of eleven options.

To assign a shortcut, the simplest method is to tap the '+' sign on the required square. You can also tap the Favorites icon on the bottom bar to spawn a context menu including the option to add a link. The Add Favorite options are:

Add program link: this opens the Programs list which is navigated as explained above. tapping the required item assigns it to the selected icon. The top item in this list is a Today link which allows a quick return to the Today home screen, as seen in the middle screenshot above.
Add setting link: this opens the Settings list and operates in exactly the same way as for programs.
Add file/folder link: this opens up a folder tree view, and allows any folder, or individual file to be selected.

Managing Items

If there is a spare location on the Favorites screen, existing icons can be dragged to a new location. There is no facility for dragging to the other screen. Items can be removed by selecting the icon using the device's direction pad, or simply tapping and holding the icon for 1 second. Once the desired icon is selected, tapping the Favorites icon opens a menu allowing its removal. Once all items are in place, they can be locked by tapping the Favorites icon and selecting Lock Items which places a tick against the Lock Items menu entry.

Options
The Options screen is accessed by tapping the currently active section icon and tapping 'Options' . The Options screen is laid out in sections and allows a fair degree of customisation.

General: Here the overall colour scheme can be changed, the Start Menu icon can be selected as one of three options and the binding to the Start Menu and to the left Soft Key (a little ambiguously called 'set today screen menu') configured.
Favorites: Settings for icon size, top slider labels and whether to display the item's name on it's icon.
Settings: Simply a toggle allowing the Settings screen to display as a full alphabetical list, or to retain the standard Windows Mobile sections.

The only other context menu item is 'Help'. Somewhat unusually these days, Panoramic includes a good local help function, which integrates with the standard Windows Mobile help system.

Pros

Excellent functionality

Price

Flexibility

Appearance

WM6.5 compatibility

Cons

No CAB file installation for the full version

Requires 5-6MB of Program Memory

Conclusion

I asked at the start of this review if LaunchPad provided me with that 'sigh of relief' feeling at finding an application that did exactly what I wanted. The answer is an emphatic YES. Despite a couple of small quibbles, which I'm sure will be addressed by the developer before long, LaunchPad does what it sets out to do an an excellent manner. It's price of $4.95 and its comprehensive device support make this a program that could be installed on pretty much any touchscreen device. For me, it has changed WM6.5 from being unusable due to its poor program launching methods, to being a joy to use, and is equally at home on my WM6.1 XDA Flint.