Ok, all you iPhone users, I have had a pocketpc phone since 2001, and you guys are just now getting around to touchscreen mobile pc’s? HA! And all the times someone said to me,”wow-that’s a big phone” can suck it!
I refuse to be JAILED by Apple-limiting what can be put on the phone, not allowing SD cards, etc. So I waited it out.
I had been seeing the commercials for the HD2 from HTC and drooling when they said “biggest screen on the market” and “windows-based” touchscreen. (insert angels singing here) I flinched at the price tag- $449 for the phone straight out with a month-to-month plan, or $199 for a contract. I was with MetroPCS simply to not have a contract and for the cheap service.
My issues with MetroPCS have been limited, but big in my book. If you hire customer service people in the USA, they NEED to be able to speak English-and speak it WELL. This goes for ebonics, spanish, southern… any person in a speaking, customer service job should speak English without a heavy accent or dialect.
Another issue with MetroPCS is their menu when you call. If you’re on the highway, you do NOT want to wade through layers of voice commands (and end up lying as to what you’re calling about) just to get to someone who can barely understand you and vise-versa. You should be able to say “operator” one time and get someone.
So, back to the HD2.
I LOVE IT!
The screen is bright and their custom overlay (over Windows) is beautiful! Black and sleek. And when you want to get to the Windows section, it’s easy and even Windows has a new sleek look to it.
There are the typical games (try teeter-it’s what I used to see how sensitive the motion aspect of the phone was), and the device is GPS-enabled (bing and google maps included-I haven’t tried the turn-by-turn yet) and it worked like a charm!
The browser lets you zoom in and out with multi-touch-that pinching thing. (By the way, I think Microsoft’s “Surface” was around before iphone…)
Contacts let you put a picture up and custom ringtones. Easy typing-it even comes with that Swype thing that lets you move from one letter to the next without taking your finger off the keyboard. (I tried it once and decided I would rather touch each key separately.)
Mine came with both Transformers 1 and 2 already on the 16GB(!) SD card. I really didn’t have a desire to watch them, but I wanted to see how the video looked on the device and I started playing it and it was smooth and gorgeous! I actually think I will watch those sometime (for the graphics).
The only trouble I had with the phone thus far was the weather thing, but I found out how to change the default location (see my other post on how to change that).
The “MarketPlace” “app” (apple has given the word “app” a bad name) had some decent stuff, mostly for $1.99, $4.99, etc. There were a few free programs there. The free Roulette game made my phone stay in landscape mode. What you have to remember is that Microsoft has been making mobile phone operating systems for a LONG time, so there are A LOT of programs you can install. And you can usually find most of them FREE.
By the way… most “apps” from iPhone are nothing more than anything that you can find on a webpage. Colbert app? The same stuff is on his website. You’re already paying for access to the internet-why use your phone’s storage space? Just so you can click on a large icon to get to it?
Here’s a biggie:
YOU CAN RUN MORE THAN ONE THING AT A TIME ON WINDOWS SMARTPHONES!!!!
When you get tired of your iToy, come over to the HD2 and see how adults do it!
Manual:
