The HD2. A magnificant phone to ignore?
This a really a tale of two different phones.
The first is the new T-Mobile HD2.
It is an absolutely spectacular piece of hardware.
It’s made by HTC the producers of the Google Nexus One, the DROID Incredible and dozens of other top-line smartphones.
It sports a magnificent 4.3-inch (480×800 pixels) touch-sensitive screen.
That huge screen is simply the best display on any smartphone offered for sale in this country.
The HD2 also has:
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A speedy, 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.
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A 5-megapixel digital camera with dual flash.
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HTC’s Touch home screen system.
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The Barnes & Noble eBook reader software.
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Movies on Demand from Blockbuster.
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Guitar Hero
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Works on GSM/EDGE/HDPA world bands
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Bluetooth, Wi-fi and GPS
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Estimated talk time of more than 6 hours per battery charge.
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A 16GB microSD card and lots, lots more.
The other phone I’m discussing here is actually the same phone – the new T-Mobile HD2. Only this time I want to talk about the software inside.
This HD2 runs on the soon-to-be-outdated Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system.
In the scheme of life that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Windows Mobile 6.5 is greatly improved over older versions of the OS. And, even in updated form it’s way behind when you compare it to other modern-day operating systems like Google’s Android, Apple’s iPhone, Nokia’s Maemo and Palm’s WebOS.
What makes all of this worse is that Microsoft has announced their next OS, Windows Phone 7, coming later this year. And we’ve been told that the HD2 is not upgradable. This is not a good thing for potential HD2 buyers.
I’m sure there will be similar, new hardware running on “7” but at this point why would you spend a few hundred on a non-upgradable “6.5” phone when new handsets, loaded with a gazillion new features are coming soon? That just doesn’t make much sense.
On the other hand, the HD2 is a fantastic smartphone in its own right. Everyone – and I mean everyone – who has seen this phone falls in love with the design. The huge screen and the precision feel of all the controls makes this phone a winner. And if you buy one you’ll surely be able to get lots of great use and loads of enjoyment out of it. It is truly a beautiful piece of equipment and there’s even a chance that someone will figure out how to run Windows Phone 7 on them.
I guessing that the word is out and that sales, so far, have been well above expectations. T-Mobile is reportedly having trouble keeping HD2s in stock. When they did, they were charging $200 with a 2-year contract.
Overall, T-Mobile’s HD2 is an amazing piece of hardware with soon-to-be outdated software.
Bottom line: Would you buy one?