HTC MOBILE: 2012

Friday 17 August 2012

HTC JAMin / Prophet

The JAMin is a very small and compact Pocket PC. The JAMin does not have a slide keyboard or numeric keypad. The casing of the phone feels like metal and not plastic like similar devices. The front panel of the phone has an excellent design. Under the touch screen display is the left and right soft-key, the talk and end button which are raised higher than the other buttons to make it easier to press. Under the talk/end buttons is the windows and ok button. The windows and ok button are very important to navigate Windows phones and were not seen on HTC phones before this. The stylus is located at the top right hand corner of the phone and is very secure. Beside the stylus is the power button which turns the display on/off. On top of the phone is the SD card slot. It is nice to see that this phone has SD expansion and not mini SD or micro SD which cost more and have less capacity. On the bottom side of the phone is the 2.5mm headphone jack, mini USB port and the reset button. On the left hand side of the phone we have the camera button, comm manager and volume control. There are two LED’s located on the front speaker. One LED is blue for Bluetooth status and the other is orange for missed calls and other notifications. When the phone is done charging the LED will be green.

HTC JAMin / Prophet

Wednesday 15 August 2012

HTC TyTN 8525

We were pleasantly surprised with the AT&T 8525's design. Pocket PC phones are typically clunky and unwieldy, so we were expecting the same of the 8525, but we found the smart phone's design to be quite manageable. At 4.4x2.2x0.8 inches, the 8525 certainly isn't compact by any means, but it's thinner than the AT&T 8125 and fits comfortably in the hand. The 8525 is attractive, with a polished, charcoal-gray color scheme, and also has solid construction. Our only complaint is the device is on the heavier side at 6.2 ounces, so you may grow tired of holding it up to your ear after a while (Bluetooth headset, anyone?). It'll also add some weight if you're carrying it in your purse, and it makes for a tight fit in a pants pocket. On the other hand, it's no bigger than other Pocket PC phones out there, including the Palm Treo 700wx(5.1x2.3x0.9 inches; 6.4 ounces) and the HP iPaq hw6925 (4.6x2.8x0.7 inches; 6.3 ounces).

A 2.8-inch diagonal touch screen dominates the face of the AT&T 8525 and displays 65,536 hues at a 320x240 pixel resolution. Colors are vibrant and rich, and text and images are sharp--all of which contribute to a great viewing experience, whether you're looking at Web pages, videos, or documents. While you can navigate the menus and input information via the touch screen, the 8525 also is adorned with other controls and shortcuts for operating the smart phone.

HTC TyTN 8525

HTC MTeoR

The MTeoR is the latest in a long line of Windows Mobile Smartphones, (as opposed to PDA phones), but it is the first to support 3G. As well as UMTS, it also offers quad band and EDGE support. It appears courtesy of manufacturer HTC.

In June, HTC announced that it would start to sell devices under its own name but stated that it would while continuing to also supply network operators with kit for them to brand.

Along with the HTC TyTN, its Windows Mobile connected Pocket PC, the MTeoR may well turn up in due course as a network operator branded device. For the moment though, your only chance to get hold of it is SIM free or bundled with a contract from a supplier other than a network operator. On its own, the MTeoR is quite expensive, so you might want to hold out.

As a 3G handset, the MTeoR can only ever be a partial success because it lacks a front facing camera. Clearly if video calls are not what you want 3G for this won’t matter, but I think that any 3G handset lacking a front camera lets its users down from the start. As it is, the MTeoR is a 3G data device.

HTC MTeoR

HTC 3125 / Smartflip

Entertainment on the Star Trek is amazing because you can do a lot more than a normal flip phone. The Star Trek has Windows Media Player 10 built in which is great when listening to mp3’s. The best part about Windows Media Player on the Star Trek is that when the phone is flipped closed but Media Player is open you can access everything with the external display. If you want to go one step further and watch all types of videos you can download a free program call TCPMP for Smart phone. You can also download awesome games made especially for Windows Mobile Smartphone or play regular Java games with the built in Java midlet application.

The HTC Star Trek does not have Wifi built in. Although it would be great, it would not be practical with a low resolution screen and no QWERTY keyboard. The Star Trek does have GPRS and EDGE so it is capable of going on the internet. The Star Trek’s OS has Internet Explorer Smartphone Edition which is an excellent web browsing tool. With Internet Explorer you can save favorites and have options to warn you when changing to an unsecure page, warn you when the page content is blocked by security settings and whether or not to allow cookies.

HTC 3125 / Smartflip

Monday 13 August 2012

HTC Dash / Excalibur

One point we want to make up front is that the Dash does not have a touch screen. Like the Q, the Dash runs Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone Edition, which doesn't support this functionality, so navigating the mobile's menus and registering commands are handled via the external controls. It's not difficult, but we also appreciate the convenience of a touch screen, and if you've previously owned a smart phone with this feature, using the Dash may take some acclimation--you may even find it doesn't suit you. All that said, the Dash has a brilliant, 2.4-inch TFT screen. It's just slightly smaller than the Q's 2.5-inch screen but displays the same 65,536 colors and 320x240-pixel resolution. As such, colors are vibrant and images and text are sharp--great for viewing Web pages and video. And more good news, the display is still readable in direct sunlight. You can customize the home screen with preinstalled or personal background images, change the backlight time, color theme, and font size. There are two status LEDs above the display that blink different colors for wireless connections, messages, and battery status.

HTC Dash / Excalibur