US$ 742 US$ 545.00

I have been waiting for this for so long! HTC was quite busy in the second half of 2008 and the HTC Touch HD (also known as T8282) is probably the finest phone from HTC. Featuring a killer spec of 3.8” WVGA (480 x 800) screen (largest, most pixel-rich currently), fastest CPU from Qualcomm, behemoth-like 288MB ram, 5MP auto-focus camera and HSDPA connection, is it worth every penny on its price tag? I can’t wait to find out now.

HTC is quite generous with the package, the box itself is cool and we get a pouch and an extra stylus. The “commons” include the phone, battery, charger, handsfree, USB cable, 2 stylus (1 extra), screen protector, 2 CD-ROM and 1 user’s guide.

On its first start-up, the bundled programs are installed and configured. There is no need to do any manual installation yourself. You don’t even need to use the bundled CD-ROM.

That’s all the keys we have on the phone. Besides the usual Answer/Reject, there is also a home screen that brings back the TouchFLO 3D and a back key for going to the previous page.

Traditionally HTC uses a USB-to-3.5mm adapter for handsfree. To make it more music-friendly HTC threw in a 3.5mm jack for our favorite earphone. The power button can toggle the power-save mode and the full function mode.

The mini-USB port is here, although it looks a bit different than the standard mini-USB port you can use standard cable with no problem. The stylus on the bottom right corner is magnetized so that it “clips on” the phone automatically at close proximity. Pulling out the stylus also wakes up the phone from power-save mode.

The Qualcomm 7201A CPU is no longer the fastest CPU out there. The Marvell CPU found on the Samsung i900 Omnia is the new speed champion. Rumor has it that the TouchFLO 3D is customized for the Qualcomm CPU and that it would be hard to switch to Marvel. Anyways, you shouldn’t notice the speed difference in most cases and the HTC Touch HD is very responsive most of the time.

The bundled application suite is quite nice. You can open PDF files, zip files, and made long voice recording without hunting for 3rd party software.

The keyboard is a pain! While it enlarges the key after each press like the iPhone 3G, the crowdedness of the keys make it very easy to mistype. Luckily there are 3rd party input methods like TouchPal and Tengo that can bring back the speed in typing on the HTC Touch HD.

The TouchFLO 3D interface also serves as a photo-viewing tool. The speed is acceptable but I would rather use the bundled Pictures and Videos software for any serious viewing.

By rotating the screen by 90 degree you can view the photos in landscape mode.

Microsoft owes a great deal to Opera for its excellent Opera Browser. It is a fast and reliable Internet browser that supports zooming and iPhone-like operation. It is just as good as the Safari browser found on the iPhone and I am glad to know that HTC included it for free.

The “G-Sensor” is an accelerometer that can detect the orientation of the phone. Here’s the calibration screen for it.

Since its internal storage is only 512MB, using a microSD card is unavoidable. The slot is hidden beneath the battery so you need to turn it off, change it, wait about 1 minute before you can access the content. Just this time only, I think HTC made a correct choice. I wouldn’t want to find a microSD card slot on the gorgeous, one-piece body.

The HTC Touch HD comes very close to perfection. The screen is simply beautiful, TouchFLO 3D is finally smooth enough to use, 3.5mm jack is a belated but welcomed move, thickness is well controlled at 12mm and the 5MP, auto-focus camera is great. Minor glitches include difficulty in changing card, lack of flash and slow auto-focus speed, but they are not serious enough to prevent from being the WM phone champion.

HTC Touch HD Video Review