Mobile Review

Published on April 7th, 2011 | by charliesaidthat

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HTC Desire HD Review

HTC Desire HD

This is my first experience of using a phone that isn’t a Blackberry in about 4 years, so bear with me. As a digital marketer, sticking with the Blackberry for so long has left me behind in the staggering rise of the mobile app. I needed to get involved and see what Android was all about. Vodafone were kind enough to supply a HTC Desire HD for me to play with, thanks!

Hardware

First things first, the overwhelming impression you get from the HTC Desire HD is the sheer size of it. It’s not bulky, in fact it’s deliciously slim and the big screen is aesthetically pleasing. But the size does mean jiggling the phone around a bit and feels a little awkward at first.

The functional buttons on this model look fantastic but are tricky to use. The power/lock button sits flush with the body of the phone meaning it’s frustratingly hard to use naturally, whilst the volume rocker is also sleek it has very little movement.

There is also the rather odd choice of plastic covers for the separate battery and SD and SIM card slots. They are a different look and feel from the rest of the phones smooth exterior making it feel somewhat flimsier.

Interface

The interface is robust and feels intuitive as you glide around the menus.  It seems a shame that you can’t add folders of apps though (unless I missed something in which case please teach me)..

Typing on a Touch Screen

The one thing that has always put me off moving on from my trusty (but dilapidated) Blackberry is typing on a touch screen. I just like buttons, OK! And Honestly? I still prefer buttons to write up emails on the move despite the touch screen being very easy and surprisingly quick to adapt to.

Writing messages and emails was alright – although watch out for the somewhat erratic predictive text. No really.

The other thing I have noticed whilst using a touch screen is that I will often hang up on people mid call, whilst resting the large handset against my cheek. An unexpected situation but one which happens far too frequently, it seems that adapting to the touchscreen is much more than just typing.

Internet

The browsing experience is a mixed one. For a mobile it is quick, super speedy but found myself scrolling through a site and then being taken off to a link I hadn’t meant to have clicked. This is probably much my own fault as opposed to a phone or interface problem, but frustrating nonetheless.

Camera

As expected the HTC Desire HD has fantastic quality photos for a phone with lots of fun settings to play around with. The one downside is that the size of the files makes it costly to keep uploading them through the internet and sharing on Twitter.

Battery Life

Is the one unforgiveable weakness. To keep the handset lasting all day you need to turn the brightness down and stop the phone auto-syncing to the internet and your emails.

Now, if I had a spidey sense for when my emails were coming into my inbox, or when I had a new tweet this wouldn’t be a negative at all – but I don’t (thankfully). It has ended up with me running the battery dry in 6 hours – without seriously heavy use (and you guys know how much I like to tweet, right?).

Summary

All in all the HTC Desire HD is a phone that is not ready for use straight out of the box. It requires a fair amount of time to set it up how you want it, download the apps you want and to get used to the size of the phone.

Once you have it set up just the way you like it, it is delightful. The user interface just makes sense an incredibly intuitive design. Visually the phone packs phenomenal punch, the large screen is brilliant (although iPlayer and Youtube videos suffer from pixilation when streaming).

Whilst I found browsing the internet to be a frustrating experience, pages actually loaded quickly and works well for a mobile. The real downside of the HTC Desire HD is its problematic battery life.

About the Author

charliesaidthat Hi I’m Charlie, a digital marketer with an interest in social media, SEO and understanding consumer behaviour. I enjoy creating conversation and finding ways to improve businesses through digital platforms. Feed me Cha Siu Bao. Connect with me on: Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | Linkedin | or just Email Me