HTC HD mini (Alternative 1)
Review Courtesy of WMPowerUser
The HD Mini is HTCs first WM6.5.5 device, and the difference between WM6.5 and WM6.5.5 is definitely noticeable. All of the little controls that looked fairly horrible in WM6.5 have been skinned, and now feel like part of HTC Sense.
First though, a quick look at the Sense interface.
Because of the limited resolution on the HD2, the amount of information displayed is less. The weather wallpapers are still there, as is the calendar, but gone are the shortcuts on the front screen. You can still flick up and get a screen of nine, but it’s slightly less convenient.
The email tab has had many of the additions that were seen on the latest T-Mobile US HD2 ROMs. The menu button has been extended, with deletion, replying and account options now displayed very simply, it’s now fairly easy to deal with most emails without having to drop in to the traditional inbox.
The internet tab has one addition, the ability to do a local search, which is best demonstrated with a video.
The browsing experience is pretty good overall, and if you absolutely must have flash, then IE has support for some things in browser. Opera Mobile 9.7 is also installed, and sports multiple tabs, text reflowing, and very good page rendering. Pages load surprisingly fast, so you’re never left too long without the page. Pinch to zoom is available in both Opera and IE, and does a fine job making pages easy to navigate.
The photos and videos, and the music tab have had landscape removed, probably because they require a lot of CPU time which the MSM7227 can’t provide, but the rest of the Sense interface is pretty much the same. This is a bit of a shame, as the landscape mode does look very nice, but in terms of functionality, it doesn’t add much.
The music tab is great, and has much smaller overheads than running a dedicated media player application, and can even download the album art for you! The music tab icons are a lot more colourful than they were in previous iterations of Sense, and look pretty good for it.
The HTC Album application allows quick uploading to Facebook, which is a very useful feature, and well implemented, with the uploading happening in the background with no need to wait for the upload to complete.
All of the settings pages that haven’t been replaced by HTC have the new friendly controls, skinned in HTC's style, and combined with a capacitive screen, the whole experience is excellent! Pinch to zoom still lets you zoom in on some older applications, though generally, there’s no need for it! Since this was one of the major criticisms of the HD2, it’s great to see it fixed.
Beneath Sense, you still get the full Windows Mobile OS, which even on the 600MHz processor runs very smoothly, multitasking brilliantly – I’ve yet to bother with the task manager. For when you do feel the need for the task manager, HTC have made access to it fairly simple, tapping on the reduced size title bar (which can get a little annoying) brings up quick access to quite a few things, including the Task Manager.
What makes the HD Mini different to most Windows Mobile devices is the fact it’s running the latest iteration (Windows Mobile 6.5.5), and the differences are quite obvious. It’s clear that WM6.5.5 was designed with capacitive touch screens in mind, the enlarged soft keys, and generally finger friendly experience really does make a difference to the ease of use. Multitouch seems to be supported at an OS level, rather than just being HTCs hack layered on top (though so far, only Internet Explorer uses this). Another alteration in WM6.5.5 is the way copy and paste works.
It’s now a lot easier than it was on devices like the HD2, where the lack of precision with capacitive screens really makes a difference. It’s not perfect and can at times be a little fiddly, but it’s a lot better than it could otherwise have been.
HTCs keyboard is brilliant (as they always have been), with the spell correction working brilliantly, and with keys that are large enough to hit without paying much attention. There’s a new addition to this keyboard though, and it lets you bring up a virtual d-pad, allowing somewhat easier placement of the cursor. The ability to select language is also now very obvious, though it can get in the way a little, and there’s also no way to turn off the spell correction should you want to.
The only annoyance I’ve run in to, is due to the fairly non standard screen resolution (HVGA) which as far as I know, is only on the HD Mini (though the iPhone and lots of Android devices share the same resolution). For some reason, Marketplace doesn’t have HVGA as a selectable resolution, so most applications are supposedly available. Things like SPB Keyboard (amongst others) fail to run correctly, and some applications look a little distorted. Hopefully Microsoft will add HVGA to the Marketplace submission forms, but until then it’s hit and miss as to whether an application will work.
Overall then, the software on the HD Mini is generally great, it’s fast, responsive and intuitive, and most of the little issues can most likely be worked out in future releases. With WP7 coming soon, devices like this may become less popular, but if you want the full multitasking available with WM6.X, but want a much improved interface, this is definitely a device to look at.
The HD Mini is according to HTC a smaller, but similarly featured compliment to the HTC HD2, and whilst things like Sense, and some of the design aspects are similar between the devices, to me, the HD Mini replaces the Diamond, rather than the HD2.
Specs wise, the comparison to the Diamond is also fairly good, with the HD Mini featuring:
Qualcomm MSM7227 600MHz Processor
512MB/384MB ROM/RAM
3.2” HVGA (320 x 480) Capacitive Touch Screen
1200 mAh Lithium-Ion battery
5MP camera
Bluetooth 2.1
WiFi 802.11 b/g
3.5mm headphone jack
microUSB
Whilst some of these specs may seem a little low (the most powerful devices feature upwards of 500MB of RAM, and 1GHz processors) the device is actually very capable, with processor power never being an issue.
In the box, you get the normal set of cables, adapters and booklets, though HTCs charging adapter seems to have changed a little, and is now a lot smaller (though that may just be my review device).
Around the device, there’s a fairly minimalist approach to connectors and buttons
The left hand side features a volume rocker.
The top has the power button and 3.5mm headphone jack, as well as a small slot to help remove the back cover.
The right hand side is completely devoid of any connectors.
The bottom has the microUSB port, as well as a microphone and space for a lanyard.
On the back of the device, there are four bolts which keep the handset together, and protrude through the back casing, making the whole device feel industrial and solid, whilst still looking understated. Removing the back cover changes the understated part, with a very bright yellow coating everywhere. It does look stunning, though I do prefer the matt black look when in polite company.
Size wise, the HD Mini is a little larger than the original Diamond, and considerably smaller than the HD2.
In hand, the device feels very comfortable, with the soft touch rubber coating, and curvy sides matching the had perfectly. The coating is also fairly fingerprint resistant (which is more than can be said for the screen) and provides ample grip to avoid dropping the phone. Because of the 3.2” touch screen (much smaller than the HD2s at 4.3”) the device fits in the hand entirely, and doesn’t look odd when held to the ear.
Oddly, the headphone socket is positioned in such a way that you can never plug the headphones in fully. This doesn’t seem to have an effect on the sound quality, but does look a little odd, and might prove a weak point in the future.
The screen is remarkably bright for an LCD, and blacks are deep and rich. The screen is also great for playing back films on, and colours look great on it. Unfortunately, on my device at least, whites appear very red, though after a few minutes, it looks perfectly natural.
The speaker on the back is fine at fairly low levels, but take the volume too high, and sound becomes very tinny and distorted, and you have to resort to the headphones. For a generally fairly media centric device, this is a little disappointing.
The 5MP camera is if anything better than the one on the HD2, as it doesn’t feature the odd red splodge in the middle of the screen. In good light levels, the camera performs great, with tap to focus happening very quickly, and shutter lag kept to a minimum. Video is similarly good, recording in VGA resolution at 25fps. In low light however, the camera is pretty bad, and would benefit greatly from a flash of some kinds.
If you want a device that does most of what the HD2 does, and doesn’t require as deep pockets (in both senses of the phrase) then the HD Mini is great. It’s compact, well featured and built, and is a great experience to use. There are no show stopping flaws, or any major faults, but the HD Mini does seem a little bit late to the market, with WP7 impending.
To see the review including photos and videos please visit WMPowerUser
