HTC HD7 (T-Mobile) review

Jason Tsay Jul 11, 2011 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Exclusive, Gadgets, Hardware, Mobile, Okay Geek Review, Reviews, Smartphones

We know we’re a bit late to the game with this one but recent advancements in the world of Windows Phone 7 really sparked our interest in the platform again. We looked at our hardware options and realized that the 8 month old HTC HD7 was still one of the best WP7 devices on the market. Since the phone isn’t exactly new, we’re going to have to take a slightly different approach in testing it.

Features

• Windows Phone 7
• 4.3” 800 x 480 WVGA LCD 
• 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 processor
• 576 MB RAM and 16 GB storage
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera w/ dual LED flash
• 1300 mAh lithium-ion battery 
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and 802.11 (b/g/n) WiFi

Our Impressions

Hardware

The HD7 comes in a relatively simple rectangular box. The top layer holds the phone and below that are a charger, microUSB cable, headset, and a couple of manuals. The included headset is pretty terrible. It’s uncomfortable and sounds bad, even as far as bundled headphones go, which is a shame since the HD7 features SRS Sound and Dolby Mobile support (but we’ll get into that later).

The phone itself is a very handsome and imposing beast. The first thing that strikes you is just how big the screen is. Although we originally anticipated the phone to be too large for our liking, it actually ended up being pretty easy to use. We’ve been using the iPhone’s 3.5” display for years so the larger screen on the HTC is really a breath of fresh air. That said, the display on the HD7 is only an LCD and one that isn’t particularly excellent either.

Viewing angles are not as good as we’d like and color reproduction is not the most vibrant. The larger 800 x 480 screen also sacrifices in pixel density, meaning items such as text won’t appear as sharp as they would on a smaller display at the same resolution. Usually, viewing angles aren’t all that important to us but the HD7 features a kickstand for watching video, so you won’t be looking at the screen straight on at all times. Overall, we didn’t have that many issues actually using the screen (in fact, we absolutely loved the larger size) but from an objective standpoint, the HD7 does not have the best display out there. We’re not sure if the screen is covered by Gorilla Glass but it’s supposed to be scratch resistant. Our friends at T-Mobile probably would not appreciate our testing of this feature but we didn’t notice any issues with scratching in our every day use.

In terms of design, the HD7 is one of the better looking phones on the market. The soft-touch plastic back is nicely curved so the phone is nice and comfortable in the hand. And at 162 grams, it isn’t too heavy either. The phone feels very sold but we did experience some creaking issuses with the build quality. Below the screen are 3 illuminated capacitive touch buttons - back, Windows, and search (These are nicely spaced and provide solid vibrational feedback). At the top and bottom are stereo speaker griles with the earpiece at the top. An LED is concealed under the top mesh and the HTC and T-Mobile logos are stenciled on either sides of the top. A metalic band circles around the phone, with a slightly recessed power button at the top right, a long volume up/down rocker and a 2-stage camera shutter key on the right.

The 3.5mm headphone jack bulges out next to the microUSB port and microphone at the very bottom. The power button is a little hard to press since it doesn’t exactly give a firm click but the volume rocker is just fine, thanks to its size. To be honest, the shutter key is pretty bad. The second stage is rather hard to activate so you’ll have to hold the phone very steady to prevent motion blur in your photo. Even without the shutter key issues, the camera didn’t especially impress us. An area on the back allows you to slide your fingernail under the thin rear shell and pry it off to access the battery and SIM card. The kickstand on the rear is actually integrated into a rather curious spot - around the camera. The large metal leg is quite sturdy and has no problem propping up the device even though it’s so far to one side.

As an actual phone, the HD7 is rather decent. The earpiece is loud and clear while we found the speakers to be slightly lacking in quality. 

Battery life on the HD7 is not amazing. 8 hours fully juices up the device and that’ll get you through a day of light to moderate use but don’t expect much more. You’ll find yourself plugging into the wall at least once a day which is somewhat standard with most smartphones these days with the exception of the iPhone 4. We would have expected the larger phone to have a battery with greater capacity but that simply isn’t the case here. It might just be a defect with our review unit but the bottom part of the HD7 got piping hot after minutes of basic use doing simple tasks. Usually this sort of thing occurs while charging but even checking our mail produced this curious effect. 

Software

Since this is mostly a review of the HD7’s hardware, we’re just going to briefly touch on the software aspect. We originally wrote a mini review of Windows Phone 7 here but decided it would be more relevant if we talked about the software that’s different from other WP7 phones. T-Mobile bundles in a couple of apps - Family Room, HTC Hub, Netflix, Slacker, Telenav GPS, and T-Mobile TV. - which most people will find useful. If you don’t like them, you’re free to easily remove them as you would any other app.  

Through HTC Hub you can install some special apps such as MyAccount (check T-Mobile account), HTC YouTube, Stocks, Sound Enhancer (equalizer, Dolby/SRS toggles), Photo Enhancer, Compass, Notes (physical sticky notes you can move around on a bulletin board), Converter, Flashlight (uses dual LED flash), Love (shows a picture of a flower), Lists (you can actually cross out items as you complete them), Calculator (much worse than stock app), and Attentive Phone. And of course HTC Hub is where you’ll find those crazy weather animations of the Sense UI we know and love. Moving onto the actual OS… it’s very simple and responsive (almost as fast as iOS 4). 

We definitely like where Microsoft is going with Windows Phone 7 but it just feels really incomplete to us right now - it lacks the polish of iOS and the openness of Android. At the same time, it brings some new ideas and UI interactions to the table. It’s a pleasure to use but we can’t really see ourselves switching to this OS for our primary day-to-day phone.  

Network

This is where we’d do a couple of network speed tests but the HD7 doesn’t support T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network so there isn’t much to evaluate. T-Mobile’s coverage is pretty mediocre in my area but when on the occasion that I was able to get a couple of bars, I didn’t feel that speeds were lacking in any way. Heck, we couldn’t even find the Speedtest.net app in the Marketplace to benchmark with. 

Overall

It’s 8 months after the initial wave of Windows Phone 7 devices and we’re still not sure when new ones will arrive. You’re probably wondering why we’re even giving this a “recommended” rating. The matter of fact is, if you’re in need for a smartphone right now and you’ve made up your mind to go with Windows Phone 7, the HD7 is obviously your best choice. It’s large screen works smoothly with the OS and the 1 GHz processor, although a last gen single core matter, propels the OS along quite gracefully. Although the software feels a bit unfinished, the upcoming updates will hopefully alleviate some of the hiccups we had. Realistically speaking, the real recommendation is to wait for the second wave of Windows Phone 7 or more strongly consider the other options on T-Mobile.

Pro’s

• Large display 
• Snappy and responsive
• Kickstand

Con’s

• Screen quality is not the best
• Build quality issues
• Windows Phone 7 feels incomplete

Where to buy

T-Mobile / Amazon — MSRP: $49.99 (w / 2 year contract)

///4///

All opinions expressed in this review are those of Okay Geek. The HD7 and wireless service were provided by T-Mobile free of charge for a 2 week review period.