Wednesday, April 29, 2009

HTC Touch HD in da house!

Yes, I finally did it! I bought a HTC Touch HD, a beast of a Windows Mobile device. But why?
I admit, I really like the Nokia 5800 Musci Express, which I've been using for the past three months, day and night. But slowly but surely I began to miss the WM operating system, which is so tweakable, and so easy to use (for me). So, when the Youch Diamond 2 was released, I began to think about going back to WM. The TD2 is a very good device, with everything on board to keep you happy for a long time. But, when I did take a good look at the device, I decided it wasn't that different from a TD, or, for that matter, the Nokia 5800.
Then, on a wednesday evening, I went to the Mediamarkt, and could compare several devices, like the Touch HD, the Diamond 2 and the Touch Cruise 2. I was immediately blown away by the screen of the Touch HD! Wow. And the TF3D performed very, very good.
But to be honest, the TD2 was also a very nice device. Still, I really liked the Touch HD with its 3,8" 800x4800 screen. The decision was made...
The next day I ordered it for 509 euro and got it on friday the 24th of april.



First impressions
- Again, the screen blows you away: gorgious!
- the device feel very sturdy, no creeking. That makes a world of differences with the Nokia 5800, which has a plastic feel and poor build quality.
- TF3D runs smoothly, now you can turn off or replace the tabs (I removed the stocks tab, don't need that).
- I read about issues with TomTom 6, that would not work. So I installed Route 66 Navigator 7 (yes, quite outdated) and it worked like a charm. So I have navigation throughout Europe on my HD.
Note: Nokia Maps is free and covers about the whole world. I installed it locally, so didn't need an online connection to use the maps. But... I really did not like the license policy of Nokia. I tried navigation for a month, it was ok, but I think the costs for navigation are way to high. For 90 or 100 euros I can buy navigation across Europe which I can use for many years. No map updates, but no navigation fees too.
- all the software I installed (memmaid, total commander. eWallet, listpro etc) works without any problems.
- battery duration cannot match that of the Nokia 5800, but is not as bad as the original battery of the Diamond. I think you can compare it to the extended battery of the TD. You can make it through one day, that's all I'm asking for.
- haptic feedback. I like it on the Nokia, I like it on the HD.
- bigger screen = bigger icons and list items = finger friendly.
- MicroSD instead of fixed 4GB (on TD), and, like the Nokia, it comes with an 8GB MicroSD card.
- better on/off button than the TD, but I really miss the on/off switch of the Nokia!
- 3.5mm headphone jack. No more ExtUSB hassle. Just plugin your favorite headphone and you're done.
- 5MP camera. No flash. Nice pictures, but then again: if you want quality pictures, use a real digital camera. No dedicated shutter button, which is bad. But tap on the screen to specify where the focus must be set.
- speaker: much louder than on the TD, but not as loud as on the Nokia.

1 comment:

Jason said...

Good decision to switch from Nokia 5800. I was comparing Nokia 5800 to Nokia E63 and decided to go for E63.

I have not used Nokia's product for a long long time as I am on WinMo too. Currently I am using Samsung i780.

I was walking by a shop one day and saw the E63 & E71 and decided to give Symbian a try.

No regret, but my WinMo phone is still my primary phone.

By the way, I also have the same UMPC as yours. Very seldom using it, I was trying to look for a bluetooth keyboard for it but it's difficult to find and expensive too. At the end, I bought a Lenovo netbook, sigh!!!