We have waited long for this device, but finally it’s here. There were a lot of rumors about the HD2, also known as HTC Leo. Some people believed it would be a (killer) Android device and others told us that it would be the first HTC device with the 1 Gigahertz Snapdragon processor and a capacitive screen. The last party was right.

The HTC HD2 has been released to the public with a Snapdragon processor, a large 4,3″ capacitive touchscreen, lots of ROM and RAM and all this in a 11 mm tick housing. Currently there is no other phone with these impressive specifications and comparing it to an iPhone 3GS only reveals that HTC has done a very good job and beats the iPhone in every single way !

1.  First impressions

Let’s have a look at this new device and we’ll start as always with a first impression. Designers at HTC must have thought that you’ll never get a second chance for a first impression. So they added some exciting features to the HD2.

First, it is big ! Bigger than a Touch Pro2 and bigger than a normal HD. In fact it is close to the size of the HTC Universal. When thinking of the Universal, you are thinking about a bulky device, but the HD2 is only 11 millimeters thick ! That is only 1 millimeter less than the first HD, but devices tend to get smaller and smaller and the HD2 is a great example of this. With the size of the devices also comes the huge 4,3″ screen. There is only a small edge besides the screen so it looks like the complete front of the device is a screen.

The HD2 also features the new HTC Sense interface with Twitter integration and Footprints. All this runs on Windows Mobile 6.5 and with the help of a 1 Gigahertz Snapdragon processor, this device is a dream to work with ! There is absolutely no lag at all in any menu or when using the Sense interface. It feels snappier than ever !

The device furthermore features a 3,5″ headphone jack and instead of Mini-USB, there is a Micro-USB connector at the bottom of the HD2. On the backside you will find only the lens of the 5 Megapixel camera. Next to the lens there a two very bright LED’s that should give you sharp and well-lit pictures in the dark. All together, HTC did a great job by packing all these features in one device. There’s only one surprise: No stylus ! But you wont need it because of the capacitive screen. Now let’s get a bit more into detail and see what the exact specifications are.

2.  Specifications of HTC HD2

On the HTC HD2 product page you can find a detail overview with specifications, and you directly notice that this Windows Phone is a powerhouse:

3.  What is in the box ?

Although our HTC HD2 arrived in a white (review) box and only contained a charger, a synchronization cable and a headset, the contents of the retail package are the same with the addition of a manual, a warranty card, a quick start guide and a accessory guide.

You are probably also looking for a screen protector because every HTC device you bought in the past had one in the box, but you won’t find any in the box of your HTC HD2. The reason for this is probably that the screen of the HD2 is made of different material than a normal screen and should be unscratchable, just like the screen of the HTC Hero. Only time will tell if this is the correct assumption. A screen protector could also interfere with the capacitive display and your finger. Therefore it might not react as quick and smooth as without a screen protector.

Chris Davies, Editor from SlashGear, has compiled an unboxing video which provides an additional overview of what is in the HTC HD2 box.

4.  Functional hardware design

After the first impressions and an overview of the items which are included in the box it is time to strongly focus on the functional- and hardware design of the powerhouse.

4.1  Front side of HTC HD2

Of course the first thing everyone will notice is the massive 4.3″ VGA screen, based on capacitive screen technology. The HTC HD2 is, as far as I know, the first Windows Phone which is designed on this capacitive screen technology.

Steve Litchfield, Editor on All About Symbian.com, has written  the article: “Resistive vs Capacitive: the invisible tech war in which both opponents can win?” in which you can find a comparison chart of resistive an capacitive screen technology.

Just above the screen you find a grille behind which you have the front speaker and for example the charging LED. On the left of this grille you find two sensors just below the glass surface. At first the proximity sensor and second the back light sensor.

Below the screen you see one single row of five buttons, with the same layout as we have seen on the HTC Touch2. The front of the HTC HD2 is relatively “clean” compared to other windows phone or in other words a minimalistic design of buttons.

If you look on the screen from a side angle you can see that there is one single flat glass surface, except for the button row and the grille who stand out. However this is some excellent engineering work.

4.2  Right side of HTC HD2

If we have a look at the right side of the HTC HD2, you can see that there is no single button there. You can see how the metal battery cover “snaps” on the sides of the HTC HD2. In the metal battery cover you see a slit where you can put in your finger nail to remove the battery cover.

4.3  Bottom of HTC HD2

The picture above shows the bottom of the HTC HD2, where you can see both the Micro USB port and a 3.5 mm. headphone jack. Some time ago the following article was published: “Micro USB and 3.5 mm headphone jack to become mobile standards ?“, and in fact this is the first HTC device that features both of these standards. Some people might argue in favor of the Mini USB which powered almost every HTC device until the release of the HTC HD2.

4.4  Left side of HTC HD2

On the left side of the HTC HD2 you can just see the dedicated volume control buttons. I’m happy see these buttons in order to change the volume during a voice call, for example when you walk into a noisy environment.

Furthermore you can see that the metal battery cover also snaps around this side of the HTC HD2, but I would like to point you to a detail. The metal battery cover features a contour that perfectly fits/snaps onto the volume control buttons.

4.5  Top of HTC HD2

The picture above shows a perfectly clean topside of the HTC HD2 without any buttons. The topside used to be the place where you could find dedicated power buttons in the past.

4.6  Backside of HTC HD2

The backside of the HTC HD2 is mainly dominated with the brushed metal battery cover. In the upper part you notice a 5 Megapixel camera. Remarkable is the fact the camera lens sticks a few millimeters (+/- 2.5) out the surface of the backside. However there is a minor edge which protects the camera lens from scratching if you put the device on the table.

Furthermore you notice that on the right side of the camera lens, there is a dual LED flash which supports the camera is less light conditions. Despite you can’t compare the camera with a specialized SLR camera it is a nice addition of improvement.

On the left of the camera lens you see the grille of the speaker on the backside.

5.  Detailed look at HTC Sense

The HTC HD2 is the first Windows Phone with HTC Sense installed and has (just like other HTC devices) different tabs. The tabs available in HTC Sense are:  (1) Start, (2) Contacts, (3) Messages, (4) Mail, (5) Internet, (6) Calendar, (7) Stocks, (8) Pictures and Video’s, (9) Music, (10) Weather, (11) Twitter, (12) Footprints, (13) Settings.

All the tabs (except for Start and Settings) can be enabled or disabled, and apart from the Start-tab all the tabs can be re-ordered at your own will.

5.1  Start / Home

The Start Tab shows directly on the top the Carrier. Under the carrier-bar there are several widgets which can’t be turned off (like the Android Sense Widgets).

The most top widget is a widget which shows the current time, the current location and weather information about the current location. When you tab on this widget a separate application within sense opens with 2 tabs:

1. World-Clock application and
2. Alarm-clock application.

The world-clock application shows the time from different places around the world. Of course there is an option to add your own city here. Next to the world clock application there is the “Alarm” tab. The alarm tab has 3 alarms. Each alarm can be set to a specified time and day.

Below the “Time-widget” on the Start Tab there is another widget which shows the date, the next time the alarm will go and the next appointment. When you click on the date you can select an other date and timezone.

The alarm-button brings you to the same “Alarm”-tab described in the widget above. And when you click on the next appointment you go the the “Agenda-tab” of the HTC sense interface.
Below this widgets there are 3 widgets which can be used as a shortcut to an application, contact or a bookmark.

When you swipe your finger up, while you’re in the start-tab 6 more widgets which can be used as a shortcut are shown.

5.2  Contacts

The contacts tab, shows 9 directly access shortcuts to your popular contacts. If you scroll-up you’ll see 6 more shortcuts. So in total in the contacts tab there are 15 contacts which can be set a favorite.

5.3  Messages

The messages tab shows all the text messages. When you’re selecting a message, you’ll see the message tab from the “people-centric communication” like the HTC Touch Pro 2. In this view you get an overview of all the text messages sent from and to this contact.

The people centric communication has been reviewed in the HTC Touch Pro 2 review and is exactly the same on the HD2.

5.4  Mail

The mail tab show all the mailboxes you’ve configured. When you select a message you’ll see the complete message with some additional features, which again we first found in the HTC Diamond 2 and the Touch Pro2. You’re able to go to the people centric communication from the person who wrote you.

5.5  Internet

The Internet tab is different form the HTC Touch Pro2. There seems to be no push-internet available on the HD2. On the top of the internet tab there is a search-bar. In this bar you can enter a search term and push the search button. This will automatically open Google ad gives you the search results.

Under the search bar there is a large button to open the Internet Browser. On default this will open Opera (Although there is also Internet Explorer installed on the device).

Under the internet browser button there are 2 shortcut button in which you can add a favorite website. When you scroll up this tab you’ll find 8 more shortcut buttons to enter favorite websites.

5.6  Calendar

The calendar tab has five different views: Agenda, Day, Week, Month and Year.

The agenda view – gives you a chronological list of items in your agenda.The day-view shows you all the appointments on a specific day, and the weather of the location of you appointments, if these can be retrieved from the internet.
The week-view shows all days of the week, so you can have a good overview of your (work) week.
The month-view shows all the days of the month and shows a little icon on the days that have an appointment set. When you click on a specific day you go to the day-view of the selected day.
The year-view shows all the months. When you select a month, you’ll see the month-view of the selected month. Of course you can than select a day, which brings you to the day-view of the selected day.

5.7  Stocks

The stocks tab shows a list of all the stocks you’re interested in. Stocks can be added, removed or re-ordered.
In the settings of the stocks it is possible to automatically update the stock information with an interval from 5 minutes to 8 hours. It is also possible to select an option that lets you download stock-update information while you’re roaming. The last setting is the color of the stocks when the price of the stocks rise. This can be set to green or to red.

5.8  Pictures and Video’s

The pictures and video’s tab lets you go through the pictures and videos on the device. When you swipe your finger up you’ll see the next picture or video. The pictures and videos tab can be rotated. This view gives you a very nice sleek overview of the pictures and video’s on the HTC HD2.

5.9  Music

The music tab shows all the music on the device. When available the album-art of the device is also shown. In the music tab it is possible to play, pause, and go to the next and previous song. The music tab also has an landscape view. This shows a view very similar to the iPhone’s Coverflow. In the landscape view it is also possible to play and pause the song and skip to the previous and next song.

5.10  Weather

The weather application shows a full-screen overview of the weather. The top part shows the temperature high and low, and the temperature at the moment. Of course it also shows the nice animated weather information when it’s sunny, clouded or when it rains.

The bottom part shows the same information (temperature high, low, and a small picture of the expected weather forecast) for the next four days. When you swipe your finger up the weather of an other location is shown.

5.11  Twitter / HTC Peep

Twitter has grown very fast over the last couple of months. HTC made a decision to add a Twitter tab to their HTC Sense. When you have set your Twitter credentials in the Twitter tab you see your timeline in the tab. At the very top there is an input text field where you can enter a tweet and update your status. The 2 soft keys are “Menu” and “All tweets”. The menu has some shortcuts to the basic twitter functionalities. These menu items are “update timeline”, “new tweet”, “new message”, “update location”, “my profile”, “Settings” and “Search”
All these menu items are self explanatory.
At first it looked like there was no difference in the menu options “new tweet” and “new message”, but it turned out that the option “new message” has a extra input field and you have to add a recipient. The message is send as a Direct Message to the recipient. The twitter tab is strongly connected to the “Peep” application, which is also installed on the HTC HD2.
Also the soft key button “All tweets” brings you in the application called Peep.

Peep has 4 tabs

1) your twitter timeline
2) your @replies
3) your Direct Messages
4) your favorite tweets

The “Menu” soft key in Peep is exactly the same menu as in the Twitter tab.

5.12  Footprints

With footprints it is possible to add meta-data to photo’s. This meta-data includes a rating, Category, GPS-location, Phone number, web-address and more.

The tab Footprints let you flip through the footprints which you created in the past and lets you add new footprints. A particular nice feature of footprint is the integration with Google Maps and CoPilot. Google maps shows the street view (if available at that location) and CoPilot Live lets you navigate to that location.

5.13  Settings

The tab settings gives you a quick access to the most used setting. In this tab you can change the settings of HTC Sense itself but also other phone settings like  Wireless settings, Sound settings and other settings.

6.  Other software highlights

HTC has put a lot of efforts in the HTC Sense interface but there are a lot of additional (third party) applications included as well.

6.1  Wi-Fi-Router

The first highly interesting application, developed by HTC themselves, is the Wi-Fi-Router application. This is a simple one-click solution to turn your Windows Phone into a router. This can be a really helpful application since, in for example a project group working in an out-of-the-office-location can work on a project and stay in touch with the corporate infrastructure, in a simple way.

Windows Mobile was already known for its Internet Sharing application, in which the Windows Phone becomes the modem of your Windows powered notebook. However this Wi-Fi-Router application takes it one step further, and you can easily now share your cellular data connection with others as well.

6.2  WorldCard Mobile

I think the Wi-Fi-Router application already emphasizes that this a well balanced device that is perfectly suited for application in business as well (and I not only mean the Exchange ActiveSync).

HTC has included Worldcard Mobile from PenPower on the HTC HD2, which lets you easily take a picture of a business card via the build-in 5 Megapixel camera, and transforms the information into the details of an Outlook Contact. In other words, take a picture and the contact details are imported into your Windows Phone.

This application normally costs $25,– and is certainly a valuable addition to the HTC HD2.

6.3  JETCET PRINT 5

Another valuable application is the the JETCET PRINT application v5. With this application you can print documents stored on your HTC HD2 to a bluetooth or network printer. On the Westtek website you can read the following product description:

“Experience the best mobile printing solution on the market! JETCET PRINT lets you print documents, photos, email and much more from your Windows Mobile Pocket PC phone. Quickly add printers, browse to files and voila! Print! No more complicated configuration steps or additional software required.”

6.4  Adobe Reader LE

Probably not amazingly shocking is the availability of Adobe Reader LE version 2.5 on the HTC HD2. I must admit that I work a lot with pdf-files, since most of the scientific articles are available in pdf-format. However the massive and ultra clear 4.3″ screen of the HTC HD2 makes it possible to read pdf-files easily, and without hurting your eyes or scrolling like hell.

Again this is an example which shows the versatility of the HTC HD2 and the balance of work and life coming together in one device.

6.5  CoPilot

Also a 14-day trial of the CoPilot navigation software is included on the device, which was also the case on the HTC Touch2 and Touch Pro2.

6.6  Facebook

Some time ago Microsoft release a Facebook application for Windows Phones, to keep track of your Facebook page while on the go. This application is included with almost every Window Mobile 6.5 device, and you might want to check out our detailed review.

7.  Camera- and video use on the HTC HD2

At first I need to start with the remark that there is no dedicated hardware button for starting the camera application on the HTC HD2.

The main reason for this is probably the excellent integration into the HTC Sense GUI, in the pictures and video tab as you may have seen in section 5.8 – A detailed look on HTC Sense.

Furthermore HTC is working for some time on their own camera- and picture album software (to my knowledge from the time the HTC Touch and the HTC Touch dual were released). All these different applications are very well integrated including (shortcuts into) HTC Sense.

In the specification list you can see that the HTC HD2 has a 5 megapixel color camera with Auto focus and Dual LED flashlight. When you start the camera application you can see and hear the auto focus doing its job before taking the picture.

The dual LED flashlight does an “ok” job, because when you are to close to an object you get an overexposed picture. However for an overview picture from “a distance” the flashlight is ok. In fact the pictures in less light conditions are pretty well, but certainly not as good as on a digital SLR camera.

However for a mobile device certainly excellent, and the picture below gives an example of a picture taken outside (without the flash), and on the link below the picture you can open the original sized picture as well.

Click here for the original-sized version

8.  Multitouch on the HTC HD2

One of the new exciting features of the HTC HD2 is multitouch. Multitouch is one of the methods you can use to interact with the screen.

It allows you to use two or more fingers to interact with the HTC HD2 by placing them directly on the screen. Any movements you make with your fingers will create a gesture, which sends a command to the screen. Gestures can be used to rotate or to scale a photo or picture.

When you use the photo gallery on the HTC HD2, you can use your fingertip to browse through the pictures. When you move your finger from right to left across the screen, the next picture will be displayed.

If you see a picture that you want to scale, you can use multitouch, by placing 2 fingertips on the screen and slowly moving them away from each other. This causes the picture to be enlarged. You can reduce it by moving your fingertips in the opposite direction. You can also rotate a picture by placing your fingertip on the screen and slowly make a circle. This will cause the picture to rotate.

You can also use the scale or zoom function in the Opera browser to zoom in or out on web pages. This gives you the advantage to view a website in normal layout and if you want to read an article, just zoom in on that particular part.

Multitouch is a very handy feature on the HTC HD2 and I hope in the future this will enable users to use multitouch more to interact with the device.

9.  Haptic feedback, Proximity Sensor and G-Sensor

The HTC HD2 also features haptic feedback just like the Touch Pro2. This means that the device gives you tactile feedback when you press the screen within TouchFLO 3D. With every screentap you will feel a little vibration that confirms that you have touched the screen. It is enabled by default and cannot be turned off.

The HTC HD2 also features a Proximity Sensor. An extremely cool and useful feature of the HTC HD2. It senses whether the device is being held next to your ear. Once the device is raised up to your ear, the Proximity sensor immediately turns off the screen in order to save battery life. Moving the device away from your ear turns the screen turns on again. PDA screens by nature are one of the biggest battery drains, especially when a screen is as large and bright as this one.

The HTC HD2 has also a built-in G-Sensor. We have seen this feature before in other devices such as the Touch Pro  (2) and Diamond (2). The G-sensor automatically turns the screen to landscape when you turn the device over. This is very useful when you want to type a message in landscape.

However HTC has developed another cool application based on the sensors available in the device, which is a digital compas. A screenshot is shown above (right).

10.  Overall conclusion and wrap-up

In the concluding section of this review we would like to take a different approach and combine three (different) perspectives on the HTC HD2.

Mark Briggeman

Quietly brilliant. I would rather say quite brilliant. I was really impressed when I saw a pre-production version of this new HTC flagship. First I thought it would be to big for my hands, but it fits perfectly. The vivid capacitive 4,3″ screen reacts extremely fast and this is also due to the latest Snapdragon processor. I am more a hardware keyboard user, but a quick demonstration of the onscreen keyboard showed me that I might not need a hardware keybaord anymore.

I now use a Touch Pro2 and I was finding things to compare it with, but to be honest, there weren’t to many. The HD2 is bigger, faster, more stylish and packed with the latest HTC features like HTC Sense with Twitter integration and HTC Footprint. Multitouch is a great addition to this device and makes it even more usable.

HTC is showing again a great new device with a great design and I can’t wait to start using it !

Paul Willen

The HTC HD2 can be named the new flagship from the Windows Phones portfolio from HTC without a hardware keyboard.

The capacitive touchscreens works brilliantly. I think HTC set a new standard with this capacitive touchscreen. Due to the snapdragon chipset, the device is really fast. In fact it feels like it’s the fastest Windows Phone I’ve seen.

In my opinion there is only one thing missing on this device and that is a Large build-in storage. Of course there is a possibility to insert a Micro-SD card, but that needs to be purchased separately. 8 or 16GB internal memory would be great to store some music or video’s on.

Overall I would say this is really the best Windows Phone without a hardware keyboard currently on the market.

Remo Knops

Every mobile technology geek must be excited about this powerhouse fresh from the HTC factory, and so was I during the review process. I was very curious about the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor running at 1GHz. The experience is a blazing fast device, and we have done some comparison scenarios with the HTC Touch Pro2.

Furthermore the massive ultra clear 4.3″ capacitive WVGA screen is really awesome. With such an amazing screen you hope even for resolution larger than 800×400. You might recall the example where I could read an article in pdf-format without any problem, so this has really amazed me.

The capacitive technology works really well, and it’s the first Windows (touch) Phone without a stylus -a true milestone in Windows Mobile history. Also the onscreen keyboard, especially in landscape mode works fine, but in my opinion it can’t beat the HTC Snap hardware keyboard.

The HTC HD2 is a very well balanced Windows Phone for various usage scenarios, and with a bulk load of added value not only in terms of technology and hardware but also in terms of software innovations as well. HTC has done an amazing job and set the bars significantly higher.

Overall conclusion:         Quietly Brilliant !

A few short remarks:

At first we haven’t covered one important feature of the HTC HD2 which was announced, which would be the carkit for- and carkit mode on the HTC HD2. Chris Davies, Editor at SlashGear, had a similar experience:

“What we don’t have – and we hear won’t be available until December – is the HTC Car Kit for the HD2, which adds a powered windscreen/dashboard mount, new docking battery cover for the phone itself and automatically kicks it into navigation mode whenever it’s clicked into place.”

Second the received HTC HD2 has a localized Dutch ROM preloaded on the device, so therefore the screenshots consist of Dutch translations. However I honestly do hope that you will be able to get an idea of the device software and its functionality. We plan to exchange these with screenshots of a HTC HD2 with a WWE ROM in the upcoming future.

What we like about the HTC HD2 ?

• Huge screen
• Super fast processor
• HTC Sense
• 3,5″ headphone jack
• Design. Only five buttons on the front panel and a touchscreen is all you need

What we like a little less about the HTC HD2 ?

• Position of the camera lens.  I think the lens will damage quickly because the device rests on it when it is placed on it’s back.
• Again no camera hardware button. I really miss that.
• No Video-out.
• Not a real disadvantage, but switching to Micro-USB requires me to carry an extra cable to charge in the office or on the go. Until now I could perfectly manage that with one Mini-USB cable.

11.  Postscript

HTC’s Quietly Brilliant Campaign focused on HTC HD2

HTC Sense is based on three principles. Make it mine, stay close, and discover the unexpected.

Make It Mine

HTC HD2’s expansive display is like a canvas on which you create a phone that is just right for you. Customize the phone by prioritizing essential features like mail, calendar, messaging, browser and more. Next, with just a tap, put shortcuts to the most important people, favorite websites, or most used application right on the home screen. And if you feel like something is still missing, visit Windows® Marketplace for Mobile, and install fun and useful applications.Your phone doesn’t only reflect your personality; it also tunes into your location. The clock automatically updates to the local time wherever you are. You can see the outside temperature and weather at a glance. And, if you choose the weather wallpaper, you’ll get a brilliantly lifelike animation that lets you virtually feel the sun’s rays or the chill of the breeze without setting a foot outside.

Stay Close

With HTC HD2, communication is focused around people rather than applications, so all of your interactions like email, SMS, phone logs, and even updates from Facebook are all in one place. Right where your instinct tells you to look – next to the photo of the person with whom you want to stay in touch with.In business, a phone call often has the power to prevent a mile-long pile up of inconclusive emails. HTC HD2 makes it simple to go from reading an email to calling the sender. All it takes is a single tap on the large phone icon right from the email. And if you need to get everyone involved in the discussion – just tap next to the images of everyone to create an instant conference call.Forget the challenge of jumping from your calendar to your phone application while trying to find and memorize the number for your next conference call. On HTC HD2, conference call reminders conveniently appear with a big dial button ready for you to press, even the PIN is displayed, so you’ll never miss out on the latest strategy session.

Discover the Unexpected

Some design features of HTC HD2 are far better experienced than can be explained in mere words. Like the ringer volume level that immediately scales down when the phone detects that you have picked it up, or the display that automatically adjusts to the light level in your surroundings and turns off to prevent false screen touches during a call.HTC HD2 is built for pure finger touch control. Zoom in and out of documents, web pages, pictures or emails with just a simple pinch. Type up responses faster and more accurately on the large onscreen keyboard. The capacitive touch experience combined with an interface optimized for the spacious display, lets you easily adjust the settings, set up calendar appointments, browse through photos, and navigate through menus with only the touch of a finger.Carry the HTC HD2 in your pocket and you’ll never have to worry about finding a Wi-Fi access point for your laptop. Your phone simply connects to superfast 3.5G cellular networks and becomes your personal wireless access point – anytime, anywhere.HTC HD2 has you covered when it comes to taking and viewing pictures wherever you may be. The 5 megapixel auto-focus camera is perfect for capturing the beauty of the great outdoors; combined with the dual LED flash it’s also ideal for capturing images in dim conditions. And when you’re ready to move from behind the lens and start sharing your collection, you’ll dazzle your audience with the large beautifully displayed pictures in the new river-flow gallery.

About a week ago, we told you about the Quietly Brilliant campaign from HTC which involves YOU.
HTC has made some great commercials from which you can see one them below.