Our HTC HD2 arrived!

November 11, 2009 | By Surur

We finally have an HTC HD2 in our very own hands (thanks to a friendly neighbour!), and we can publish our first impressions.

The device is larger and heavier than expected, and dominated by the massive screen. The soft touch paint on the the back in combination with the aluminium cover feels excellent, and certainly conveys and impression if the expensive device it is.

The device launches with an extensive tutorial which will certainly reduce HTC’s return rate, but disappointingly it does not include Windows Live and Microsoft MyPhone setup, which I feel is an opportunity missed. Having my twitter and Youtube account and Exchange server set up from the get do, all within HTC’s finger-friendly UI is however very nice.

The location tracking feature is scarily accurate, down the the right suburb, and that’s without any SIM card or GPS, simply using WIFI.

The UI is excellent and extremely responsive.

We will post some more impressions once we have our data and applications transferred to the device.

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged htc hd2, htc leo, review

http://intensedebate.com/people/Foamy Foamy

I thought that reflection was a big crack on the screen for a second!

I've heard that it charges quickly so could you guys run it down to the point where it automatically turns off and then time how long it takes to charge to 100% with the mains charger?

Also how easy is it to identify the buttons without looking?

A test of the big speaker would also be cool.
http://intensedebate.com/people/mohsen7x8 mighty

congrats guys! waiting for more
http://intensedebate.com/people/Noonski Noonski

I saw Gears video, and the HD2 booted mighty quickly, can you get that timed?

http://intensedebate.com/people/wmpoweruser wmpoweruser

Bootup to desktop is 28 second, to the HTC Sense home screen 42. Extremely fast.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Strangerx Strangerx

is it difficult to put the HD2 into the pouch and get it out? i saw a video the other day where someone had a hard time putting it in and getting it out…

http://intensedebate.com/people/wmpoweruser wmpoweruser

Yes, its pretty hard to use the included leatherette pouch, to the degree that I don't think its really useful. Its much too tight.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Strangerx Strangerx

:S that pouch looked so nice, I hope it loosens up the tightness after using it for a while.

getz

yes, it does loossen up after a while. Mine is perfect now but it was tight at first….

Uncle Cracker

thats what she said.

shooters3242

battery drain tests please using video and/or music with cell radios on and brightness to a reasonable setting. please make sure to comment on how well the capacitive sensitivity is… compared to android and iphone
http://intensedebate.com/people/wmphone wmphone

… My Phone and Windows Live will both available trough Marketplace to use the update function of Marketplace -> if it would inside the rom you had no chance to be informed by a new version.

So i think its the better way. Hav fun with the Device … hope we get in germany the T-Mobile one soon.
manuelcalavera

please confirm USB-Host functionality

http://intensedebate.com/people/wmpoweruser wmpoweruser

We have ordered a miniUSB to female USB cable, but it will be a while before it arrives unfortunately.

coolkat

slashgear has some more impressions about hd2 here:http://www.slashgear.com/htc-hd2-what-winmo-can-d…
lyk13

Hi, I would like to know if the device is fine without a screen protector(until it's available)? It's unfortunate to read about the tightness of the pouch, but trying to find a 4.3" soft pouch may be a challenge, previously using moshi's.

http://intensedebate.com/people/wmpoweruser wmpoweruser

Well, the screen is glass, and we have seen video showing the screen being attacked with knives and surviving, so I do not think it’s that big a concern.

lyk13

Thank you, but would anyone still rush to get a screen protector nevertheless or lay back?

Also, any pouches in the market that fits HD2? Waiting for it to be released in Singapore. =)

Pranab

Hi… Yes there are lterntive pouch vilble in mrket. I m using one flipflop puch. Its original from HTC only. I am in singapore I bought it from Mustafa center

Who?

"The location tracking feature is scarily accurate, down the the right suburb, and that’s without any SIM card or GPS, simply using WIFI."

Isn't it easy to track where you are by your wifi connection? I'm surprised this was surprising to you.

Chris

Its very dependant on your ISP actually. Any tracking done to me by Wifi or internet varies greatly. Sometimes it gets the city right, sometimes its up to 150 miles out.

http://intensedebate.com/people/l3v5y l3v5y

Some mapping systems have a database of WiFi SSIDs and their GPS locations, so it's not just the ability to connect to the ISP.

MeWhoElse

Would it not be more likely that it actually uses the radio to trianglate your position using the cell location broadcast data (like you could have on the display with Nokia phones). This is not dependant on being able to connect to a particular telco for this information as it is broadcast to all. Bit like you can scan the area for the Telco's available in your area, you don't need to be with that service to see them.I can't see and ISP passing information of MAC addresses to another organization. Not very security conscience for that to happen!!! Try moving your modem router to a friends place (configured for them) in a different suburb and see!

http://intensedebate.com/people/mohsen7x8 mighty

Well It may not actually be the mac address information but the ISP's IP range. Some ISPs are dedicated to a certain city, some have specific IP ranges for each city, etc

http://intensedebate.com/people/Noonski Noonski

The whole idea of using Cell Ideas is an old one. It started from Symbian platforms and there was a Windows Mobile version to by the XDA sister site SPV-developers.com http://celltrack.spv-developers.com

The recent years Mac address location has been added to those databases and Google has amassed a lot of in formation on this to. When they introduced this service on Googlemaps, and even now they only gave a very wide range of your location but it has been very accurate for years. And has only gotten more accurate by the amount of information users have been sending back by using the service. It is one of the most underrated advertising products of the future.

There was a time Windows mobile users, the geeks of old, where worried about every piece of information our devices would be sending back. Disabling Service Quality Metrics, and User Feedback and error reports.

But now everyone just goes "Wow that is cool" and stupidly just hits yes on the confirmation screen that they agree to send their location to Google, the biggest advertising company on the internet.

It makes sense now, why years ago so many other companies invested millions into the Company.
We can all waver off the consequences of these developments, but Geo-locating Services on all mobile phones with consent of the users in two years is a very realistic view.

One that when someone told you about it ten yeas ago, you would probably find insane, and would find an immense breach of your privacy, it would never be possible you would argue and say it's all just a bunch of bullshit.

Navizon http://www.navizon.com/ (which i just found out wasn't online tonight) has a GeoLocation service that would act
as an intermediate GPS device is able to send al this information as usable data by GPS software.

And at http://www.skyhookwireless.com/ you can learn more about location you can trust.

And Microsoft has to follow suit, already building in support for Geo location services into Windows 7 and i wouldn't be surprised if Live Messenger for Windows Mobile 7 would also take use of these technologies.
http://www.jeffsplace.com Jeff R.

Who wrote this review? Whoever it was can't put a sentence together. I know it might have been a rushed post, but come on learn how to write.