Why oh why haven’t Microsoft got themselves in gear and sorted out the windows mobile platform?

Well, my best guess is that having spent years enjoying far too much market dominance, they now lack edge and creativeness. Classic economics. Great shame, but thanks Mr Jobs, we’d all be using this “Windows 3.1 like” platform now if it was for you! Bless HTC too, for pasting over the cracks with the interface.

We can only hope someone in Redmond has been working on Windows 7 Mobile or something!

I’ve been playing with one of these too, albeit only briefly.

It’s an ugly girl (or boy, if you’d prefer a trip back to the 70s) wearing stunning make-up. And as such it’s very attractive.

But as much as HTC has skillfully applies their Max Factor magic, there are going to be times when you’re exposed to the horror that is Windows Mobile (Sorry, Windows Phone) lurking underneath all that slap.

If you’re sitting there on a train quietly fingering an HD2, and the person sitting opposite is gently caressing a phone that has natural beauty – one with no need to mask their ugliness – I think you’ll start to feel pangs of jealousy.

Don’t get me wrong – HTC has done a brilliant job masking Windows Mobile. But is “they’ve hidden / overcome much of the bad stuff” *really* the best recommendation for a smartphone?

I think so long as its running Windows Mobile, it will be a bit of a duffer. I made the mistake of getting all 30 company phones users a “nice” HTC Touch Pro as I wasnt allowed to get Iphones. Worst buying descision ever – although they did improve once they were re-flashed without all the T-Mobile rubbish. Awkward to use, slow, battery hungry, useless camera and MP3 player and overly large. They seem to need resetting regularly, unsensitive radio and doesnt switch between 2G & 3G very well (important when T-mobile’s coverage is next to non existant in our rural part of the world) Nice keyboard and does sync with Exhange 2007 are about the only decent features.

@alan – did you not read the bit where I wrote “the horror that is Windows Mobile (Sorry, Windows Phone) lurking underneath all that slap”? I don;t think I was hiding anything in that post!

Get Android on it and it will fly!

Hi @James – I get loads of emails from readers of the Mobile & Wireless column every month, and although some agree with you, liking stylus based phone interfaces, they (and you) are in a very small minority. If I had to guess at numbers I’d say significantly less than 10%.

I suppose that 10% of the smart phone market would be an attractive proposition for a smaller player, but I really don’t believe that’s where Microsoft wants to be playing.

@ James Basset – sorry, I wasn’t very clear. I mean I can’t see how any review of a OS designed for stylus (small icons and spacing) but butchered to work with fingers could be better than an OS designed from the ground up for finger use.

Its really funny reading Iphone users comments, obviously they want to justify their expensive trophies and Im sure the iphone will still dominate the market due to its musical affiliations but please try and realise when a piece of hardware with a higher specification is released, then there will be some areas that a lower specd product will not be able to match.

I have the 3Gs and it’s a useful multimedia device, but any of my WM devices are far better communications devices.

Try and bring up the dialler of both and try and ring a contact, the workflow of WM is far better IMHO.

Next, view an email and try and call the sender of the email (I assume that he is already a contact), WM is one press of a button while iPhone is two presses.

I like the iPhone I have, but let’s be honest here, it’s not primarily a comms device. It’s very useful due to the app store, and has breathed new life into the Smartphone industry, but the HD2 is the new challenger.

HTC WM devices are the only competition for the iPhone, purely due to the work with Android. Apple need to look at what people are doing with their jailbroken devices and incorporate this functionality into the stock O/S.

Most people care little about the miniscule differences in speed and which OS is being used. Most care about what you can do with it and without the apps, this phone is going to lose… badly.
I have the previous Touch HD…. what a mistake!!!

I have a Hero with Android and my son has had an iPhone for over a year, that he traded for an H2 because the Windows interface was crap. He loves his iPhone but admits that my Hero is ‘getting there’. If only the android OS would sync properly with my Windows Calendar and Contacts I would be really happy not having to cope with the inferior Win’ Mobile OS. Android offers the greatest potential for app’s from the open marketplace and some of those available are really good. I would like to see more effort put into synchronisation and backup and hopefully, this will happen as the OS matures. Like the man says: ‘Put Android on the new HTC and it will fly’

Why a stylus, well on HTC phones you can use handwriting, and a stlus has just come out for the HD2. Try handwriting or doing accurate drawings on an iphone. HD2 can have two applications running at the same time, iphone can’t. HD2 can be used on any network and sim can be changed if going abroad, spare batteries can be carried in case you cannot get it charged up. Screen resolution and video playing on HD2 much better than iphone. I could go on, but I feel the negative views above are from people that spent a fortune on iphones and are now jealous of the HD2.

Hi,
I have just read all these reviews and i must say that they are intresting to say the least. I have had an iphone and was impressed but also it did let me down and it spent a lot of time going backwards and forwards to the shop being fixed as the phone kept crashing. I thought that it might have been that i had bought a dodge phone and that it might have been a one off but after speaking to a lot of phone shop managers and speaking to apple themselves they told me that they have had many complaints about the iphone and that they have had to recall lots due to software problems (not only this 2 of my friends who have the new version have just had theirs recalled due to software problems). As a result i demanded my money back and went on the hunt for a new phone, i then came across the Touch HD which is brilliant. It is very like the iphone but a windows version and i belive it is all about personaly preferances to what suits your needs. I feel that the iphone has now become more of a statement in saying you have one then really using it for what it can do unlike to HD which i have which i use as my business phone and use nearly all the apps and often i have seen other people with the same phone and they also are using it in the same way, unlike some people i have come across who couldnt even tell you how to use certain apps on the iphone like how to access the camera or even the internet and when i said whats the point in having the phone their respones was “but its an iphone and its cool”, like i said its more of a statment to have one.
After reading about the HD2 i am more then happy to go out and upgrade my phone for this as it sounds amazing and has everything i need for my day to day jobs. I would like to add to all those iphone owners, i admire your points and your fight to try and keep the iphone at the top of the market but all your comments sound a little like you are scared that there is another manufactor stepping on your feet and HTC may have just released a phone that will make the iphone shake a little in its boots, you may not agree with me but you have to admit that it won’t be long before HTC bring out something that will boul the iphone over and if its not HTC then another manufacter will.

Thanks

I had used the HTC HD2 for 3 days and now it is on its way back under my new contract.
The camera is 5 MP but it looks like 2MP and it is pink in the middle (even after downloading the patch).
The Video is poor and jittery as its just 25FPS for a phone that can support HD recording but HTC decided not to?.
Large bulge on the back of the phone is the GLASS camera lens it sticks out like a sore thumb no matter what case you use on the phone and will be damaged in no time at all.
the rubberised finish started to peel off at the sides.
Poor battery, the other HTC handset before this had a higher capacity battery so now they fit a lower capacity battery with the large screen ?>
Just a 2GB is supplied for memory (Micro SD)
the box it came in was cheap and nasty and the wall charger is cheap and nasty mind you it is madeIN china by 5 year old kids .
Bad phone but looks nice from the front a bit like my wife but turn it around….and you are in deep shock

You guys make me laugh, tit for tat all the way. I have an ITouch, wicked piece of kit, great for games or apps, i expect the same for the Iphone as its basically the same kit with a phone unit in it, BUT you have to remember that IPhone/Touch has a much lower resolution than these new breeds and of course the age old argument, No Multitasking of apps where as this product has a larger screen, a larger resolution and multitasking capabilities. So peeps give up on the IPhone praise, its good but old hat now! Its about time this benchmark crap got reset!

hate this phone returning tomorrow spastic browsers keyboard many sites incompatible i got sucked in by the hype anemic user manual ie sucks opera sucks i will deny i ever owned one

wow this is an awesome phone! i love the screen and it’s really easy to text and call on. i’m not so big on the buttons below the screen though. my kids like to steal it for the games and apps during long car rides. when it comes to unlocked phones the hd2 is really great. i would say it’s better than unlocked blackberry phones but not quite as good as unlocked iphones. i’d be interested to see what the evo is like! i got this one from gsmauthority.com. they have the evo too, so maybe that’ll be my next phone.

Tmobile sucks for selling us this crappy phone. It shuts down and drops calls for no reason. We have exchange the phone 3 times now and Tmobile refuses to let us switch phones. My wife has wasted 10 hours dealing with this crappy phone. I hate Tmobile!!