It sounds like a recipe for success: take the surprisingly popular HTC HD2, shrink it down some, and offer it as a more pocketable alternative. Yet out of the three devices HTC announced at Mobile World Congress in February, the HTC HD mini has prompted the least interest. The HD mini has to convince prospective buyers not only of its own merits but that it’s worth buying into an ageing OS that’s just months away from replacement. Can it deliver? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
At its launch, HTC told us that the HD mini embodies their new “Hidden Power” design ethos, where the structural form of a device is embraced by its aesthetic rather than hidden away. Most obvious are the four exposed screw heads that emerge through the rubbery back cover, being not just decorative but what’s actually holding the whole phone together. The front, meanwhile, is a single pane of glass, with a 3.2-inch HVGA 320 x 480 capacitive touchscreen and five touch-sensitive buttons for Call, Home, Start, Back and End. On the side there’s a volume rocker while up top a small power button doubles as the lock key; on the very bottom there’s a microUSB port.
Take off the rubberised back plate and you’ll find HTC have finished the entire rear of the phone with a bright yellow finish, complete with matching battery. It’s eye-catching, certainly, but we can’t help but wish you could see it without having to open the whole thing up. HTC expect transparent or colored aftermarket cases to show up shortly after the HD mini launches, but they’ll need to be more than just silicone skins since the antenna is embedded into the lower section of the cover. It remains to be seen whether HTC’s business market will see the appeal.
HTC HD mini unboxing:
Inside, where the HD2 gets Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon chipset, the HD mini makes do with a more mundane 600MHz processor such as you’d find in the HTC Legend. That’s paired with a Europe/Asia-Pacific friendly dualband HSPA/WCDMA 900/2100MHz radio (with quadband GSM/EDGE), WiFi b/g, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and GPS. So far there’s no talk of a US version, so if you decide you’re desperate to use the phone in North America then you won’t get 3G speeds. ROM is 512MB and RAM 384MB, and there’s a microSD slot content with up to 32GB cards. Overall performance proved nothing to write home about, with the CPU running out of breath when trying to deal with data-heavy apps.
As for that ageing OS, the HD mini is HTC’s latest Windows Mobile 6.5 device, toting the HTC Sense interface on top. As is common knowledge now, Windows Mobile is due to be replaced by Windows Phone 7 by the end of 2010, with handsets running the new platform expected to be on sale in time for the holiday shopping season. Lacking sufficient screen resolution, processor grunt and physical controls, there’s pretty much zero chance that the HD mini will see an official Windows Phone 7 upgrade option, though of course there’ll be plenty of unofficial hacked ROMs if that’s the path owners want to take.
Windows Mobile 6.5 has been well criticised, and it’s certainly not the most pleasing OS on the market today. It does have a few strengths, however, not least the decent baked in Exchange support which makes hooking the HD mini up to a corporate network an indecently simple proposal. As for usability, just as we’ve seen on the HD2, HTC’s Sense system goes a long way in improving matters. The regular homescreen is replaced by a finger-friendly UI that allows you to flick between different task-specific tabs, such as the preloaded Opera browser, Footprints GPS photo-tagging app and HTC’s own Peep Twitter client. It also does a decent job of hiding some of Windows Mobile’s less attractive dialog boxes and settings pages.
Nonetheless, in comparison to the flexibility of Android or the intuitive nature of webOS, Windows Mobile 6.5 feels clunky. Sense might pull in Facebook, Flickr and other information into your contacts, and link together different communication records – all emails, SMS, calls and other contact – per individual, but other platforms simply do a slicker job of it. The HVGA display also falls short, and while it’s color-rich it’s also noticeably grainy in comparison to the (WVGA) screen on the HD2. That undermines media playback, and it makes for frustrating web-browsing too, demanding plenty of panning and zooming if you want text to to be readable. The onscreen keyboard, meanwhile, does a decent job of auto-correcting errors and predicting words, but we prefer the experience on the Legend which, despite having the same size and resolution display, we found we were more accurate on.
Photos from the HD mini’s 5-megapixel autofocus camera are passable, if nothing outstanding. There’s no hardware shortcut, just as on most HTC phones, but at least when you finally get to the camera app it loads relatively quickly. Images demand more light than we’ve found on other recent handsets from the company, and there’s no LED flash (though, to be fair, we generally aren’t impressed with their performance anyway). Once you’ve snapped a shot you can upload it with relative ease to Facebook or Flickr.
As a phone, we experienced some issues with the HD mini’s call quality. Both us and the people we were calling experienced static and audio drop-outs, and the audio performance generally fell short of what we’ve come to expect from HTC devices. We weren’t alone in our disappointment, either; we know other reviewers who have found the HD mini falls short in this department. Hopefully this is a pre-production flaw that will be ironed out by the time the handset ships.
Battery life, meanwhile, was certainly enough to get through a full day, even with push email turned on and regular Twitter polling. HTC reckon you’ll see up to 435 minutes of GSM talktime from the 1,200mAh battery, or alternatively up to 500hrs WCDMA standby (340hrs GSM), up to 8hrs video playback, or up to 12hrs audio playback. With more casual use we reckon you could see your way through a couple of days, in fact, which given we’re used to nightly recharges (or even mid-evening top-ups for some greedier devices) is a serious plus for the HD mini. HTC preload their excellent WiFi Router app – which allows you to share the phone’s 3G connection with WiFi devices like a netbook or iPad – but be warned that sucks down power considerably.
There’s no disguising that we’ve been impressed with the recent HTC smartphones to cross our desk, but we need a little extra convincing with the HD mini. It’s not so much that it’s a bad device – though we hope the call quality issues are addressed before production models go on sale – but rather that it lacks that all-important spark. Where the HD2 has enough hardware-wow – the speedy processor, the huge display and the fulsome multimedia handling – to offset the lacking appeal of Windows Mobile 6.5, the HD mini’s more mundane specs can’t quite manage the same.
If you’re wedded to a particular app that demands the current Microsoft smartphone platform – and it’s worth noting that Windows Phone 7 breaks backward compatibility with Windows Mobile 6.5 titles – or you want their solid Exchange support, the HD mini might still appeal; we’d point you to the company’s own HD2, however, which while more expensive offers a far more impressive user experience. Had HTC released the phone this time last year, the outlook for the handset could be very different; faced with a significantly more appealing OS right around the corner, and a wealth of tempting rivals running different platforms on shelves today, the HTC HD mini doesn’t offer enough to warrant buying into Windows Mobile 6.5.
It’s the last of HTC’s trio of devices from MWC 2010 and, dare we say it, it’s perhaps the least anticipated. Still, the HTC HD mini has the potential to make a fair few fans, with the capacitive touch technology of the wildly popular HD2 shrunk down into a far more pocket-friendly package. Check out our video unboxing, some comparison shots with the HD2, and a few first-impressions after the cut.
Video unboxing after the cut
Windows Mobile 6.5 – even with HTC’s Sense UI – doesn’t get much attention these days, especially with Windows Phone 7 on the horizon, and it’s worth remembering that there’s no chance of an official WP7 upgrade for the HD mini. Not only does its 600MHz processor and 3.2-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen fall short of the minimum requirements, it has the wrong buttons too. Still, Sense does make WinMo a more comfortable place to be in, and the HD mini is certainly easier to control single-handed than the broad, flat HD2.
Build quality is high, with the slightly-flexible rubber backing plate (hiding a vivid yellow paint-job) meaning the HD mini doesn’t slip around the desk or your hand. The HVGA display, mind, is a disappointment when put next to the HD2’s screen, looking grainy in places and meaning that any webpage viewed in the browser has to be zoomed into if you want to stand a chance at reading text. Menu bars at the bottom seem to occupy more space than ever before, as does the on-screen keyboard, though they at least disappear in the browser when left untouched.
Despite not having the 1GHz Snapdragon processor of its bigger brother, the HD mini seems reasonably speedy and nips between apps without lag. We’ll see if that stays the case when it’s loaded down with email, media and messages, of course, for the full review. Still, if you’re looking for a compact business device with excellent baked-in Exchange support and HTC’s gloss, then the HD mini looks like it could be your best bet. The full SlashGear review will be up soon, but until then enjoy the video unboxing and hands-on gallery below.
Windows Phone 7 may be just around the corner, but we’re still expecting a few new handsets based on the outgoing version of Windows Mobile to be launched in the intervening months. Acer’s neoTouch P300 was announced at MWC 2010 back in February, a WinMo 6.5.3 device with a hardware keyboard and European 3G. Check out our full review after the cut.
Based on Qualcomm’s MSM7225 528MHz processor, the neoTouch P300 has a 3.2-inch WQVGA resistive touchscreen, 256MB of RAM and 512MB ROM, together with a microSD card slot and slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Connectivity includes quadband GSM and 2100MHz HSDPA, along with WiFi b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 and a 3.5mm headphone socket, plus there’s A-GPS and a 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera. The whole thing measures in at a reasonably compact 110 x 55 x 15.1 mm and weighs 130.6g with the 1010mAh battery.
To be honest, none of the specifications particularly stand out – the CPU, for instance, can be found powering numerous Windows Phones from the past few years – and the resistive touchscreen (complete with stylus) seems deeply unfashionable in comparison to other devices on the market today. Physical design of the P300 is sober but neat, with three buttons running along the lower front panel – call, Windows and hang-up – together with a hardware ringer switch that doubles as a volume control and a camera shortcut on the right-hand side. Up top there’s a power/lock button, a 3.5mm headphone socket, and a flap covering the microUSB port and microSD card slot. On the bottom there’s the speaker and a tricky-to-remove stylus.
Slide the display section across, and the QWERTY keyboard is revealed. The keys are moulded plastic and have little travel, in fact they reminded us of the ‘board you’d find on the old Samsung F700. As for layout, it’s generally good but the offset spacebar is shunted across to the left by the Mail and @-symbol keys, whereas if we’re forced to have an offset button we’d rather it fall under our right thumb. Opening the phone automatically rotates the display, though there’s a little lag in the process.
In the hand, the P300 feels like a reasonably budget device, the plain, plasticky back cover being particularly uninspiring. Still, the slide section feels sturdy, and the keyboard is backlit, which is useful for pecking out late-night messages. The display, meanwhile, is underwhelming, its low resolution leading to blocky text. Trying to view SlashGear in Internet Explorer Mobile, we had to zoom in (in portrait orientation) at least once before article text was readable. The Windows Mobile 6.5.3 menus are more forgiving, however, and Microsoft’s attempts to accommodate stylus-free navigation are reasonably finger-friendly. Most dialogs and menus could be travelled without having to resort to the stylus, though sometimes we had to resort to a fingernail.
While 6.5.3 may be ageing in comparison to Android, iPhone OS and other platforms currently on the market, it still does some things well. If you use a Microsoft Exchange server for your email, calendar and contacts then the straightforward setup and automatic push-email means you’re up and running in no time at all, and it was simple to connect to a WiFi network. The Windows Mobile Facebook app is preloaded, together with a YouTube viewer; the latter works surprisingly well, automatically playing videos full-screen, and while there’s insufficient pixels for YouTube HD content, standard definition looks acceptable and has the added benefit of streaming more quickly. Sound from the integrated speaker can be cranked up reasonably loudly, though it begins to distort at higher levels. Plugging in a set of headphones – there’s a basic wired hands-free kit in the box, but after a brief listen we bypassed that and used our own – gives better results.
Pressing and holding the camera shortcut for a few seconds loads up the photo app – it takes around 10 seconds in all – and there’s a decent amount of tweaking potential in Acer’s software. Up to 2048 x 1536 resolution pictures can be taken (or 320 x 240 video clips) with a choice of digital image stabilisation, low-light and outdoor modes, independent brightness/contrast/sharpness adjustment and various shooting modes and effects. The end results are passable but certainly nothing you’d abandon your point-and-shoot camera for, and the lack of even an LED flash means that – despite the nighttime profile – this is a camera designed for daytime use. We did find that, while the P300 should be able to save photos to its meagre onboard storage, trying to take shots without a memory card inserted seemed to crash the camera app altogether and kick us back into the main menu. The ability to slot in a microSD without having to remove the battery or even the back cover made a nice change, though.
Phone performance was decent, though there’s no noise cancellation or DSP like you’d find on more expensive smartphones. Still, both ends of the call reported little background hiss, while the speakerphone was loud and clear. Battery life from the 1010mAh pack is rated at up to 4hrs talktime or 400hrs standby, though with push-email enabled you won’t make it through two days back-to-back. As with most smartphones we see, this is something you’ll be recharging nightly if you’re making regular use of it.
Viewed in comparison to some of the more eye-catching smartphones we’ve reviewed lately, the Acer neoTouch P300 lacks the appeal of a fashionable OS and the hardware specs of a flagship like the HTC HD2. However, it also lacks the high-end price tag, too; Clove, who sent us this review unit, have the P300 listed at £269 plus VAT (£316), whereas the HD2 retails at £395 plus VAT (£464). We’re yet to see any of the European carriers offer the P300, but we’d imagine that it’d likely be priced from free with a relatively low cost monthly tariff.
Not much consumer attraction, then, but as a solid business device the P300 doesn’t break the bank or let you down in day to day functionality. It’s easy to become blinkered when faced with the latest and greatest cellphones day in, day out, and lose track of the fact that, for many buyers, basic features are all that’s really needed. Still, we’d probably look to budget Android devices ourselves; the HTC Hero may not have a hardware keyboard, but it’s only £20 (pre-tax) more. Our lasting concern is the longevity of Windows Mobile 6.5.3 – or, more accurately, the lack of it – since there’s no chance that the neoTouch P300 would see an upgrade to Windows Phone 7 later in the year. Nevertheless, even if superseded, the software will still do everything you asked of the P300 on the day you bought it, and there’s a considerable catalog of third-party apps available through the Windows Marketplace for Mobile that won’t run on a WP7 handset. We’d be happier if the P300 had a little more shaved off the price – a sub-£200 SIM-free smartphone would make for a decent argument – but if your ambitions are merely moderate and you’re dedicated to Exchange then the Acer is a reasonable no-frills budget buy.
Thanks to Clove for the loan of the Acer neoTouch P300. It will be available in late April 2010, priced at £269 plus VAT.
It’s the night before the iPad officially hits store shelves — actually, we’ll correct that. It’s the night before the iPad immediately sells out, and doesn’t see store shelves, and we imagine that many of you out there are probably reading this post from a line in front of an Apple Store. Patiently waiting for those doors to open bright and early, so you can run home and play with your new gadget. Or you’re not. Either case, we’re glad you could join us here for another edition of the Daily Slash. Tonight, we’ve got some update goodness for Windows Mobile 6.5.3. There’s a big announcement for TweetDeck, too. Some of the biggest games for the PlayStation 3 are getting a big update. If you’re sick of your iPhone and are looking for something bigger, T-Mobile USA has a plan for you. And finally, it looks like the iPad developer story can be put to rest.
Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 Gets Windows Mobile 6.5.3: Despite the fact that Microsoft has decided to give Windows Phone 7 a name change, we’re glad to see that the older devices out there aren’t being forgotten. Especially not devices like the Xperia X2 from Sony Ericsson. It looks like today marks the release date for Windows Mobile 6.5.3, and users should be able to download the update without much of an issue. If you’re willing to flash the device, that is. [via WMPoweruser]
TweetDeck Adds BlackBerry and Android to Mobile List: The iPhone has been loving the TweetDeck Twitter application for quite some time now, but for some reason the robust client hasn’t found its way to the other mobile Operating Systems. Until now. At least, as far as announcements are concerned. The company didn’t unveil a particular time frame, unfortunately, so it could be anywhere from now, until they decide to release it. Along with bringing the client to Android devices and BlackBerry handsets, the TweetDeck desktop client is getting a very large update as well. We’re excited to see what that means. [via @TweetDeck]
Several PlayStation 3 Titles Getting Upgraded to 3D: Are you excited to play 3D games? We hope so. Because if you own a PlayStation 3, it looks like Sony is going to try and make you play them. At least, they’re going to give you a few gentle shoves in the right direction, anyway. According to the latest episode of Qore, Killzone 2, Gran Turismo 5, Little Big Planet, WipeOut HD Fury, and Super Stardust HD, are all getting upgraded to 3D some time around June. We’re under the impression that you’re going to have to buy the upgraded games, whether or not you already own them, because that’s just the way it goes. Oh, and they’ll probably need to make up some of the cost, too. [via Pocket-Lint]
Want an HD2? Trade in your iPhone!: That’s right, it looks like select T-Mobile USA locations, along with 1-800-TMOBILE, and a few Business Direct Sales Representatives out there are willing to make a big trade in for your currently owned iPhone. If you’re willing to part ways with the Cupertino-based handset, you can earn up to $350 in monies towards your new HTC HD2. Of course, you’ll have to hope that the store has one, considering these things are selling like hot cakes, but if you’re willing to trade in your iPhone for the juggernaut of Windows Mobile, you can probably wait a little bit longer, right? [via Tmo News]
iPad Development Support is Growing Faster Than Android and BlackBerry: There’s been some definite confusion about whether or not the iPad is bringing in more developers, or pushing them away to other platforms. But, considering the device, and the opportunities it implies for developers, we find it hard to believe that developer support is waning in the least. Flurry is saying that iPad support is growing continuously, and it’s not dying off any time soon. At the launch of the iPad App Store, some 2,000 applications were available (which is well past the 1,000 Apple wanted to have), and we’d have to agree with the unsaid statement: development is booming. [via Mac Daily News]
It’s not just Sharp’s new IS01 that’s arriving in Japan sometime this year; carrier KDDI has also announced that it will be offering the Toshiba TG02 as the KDDI Toshiba IS02. First launched at Mobile World Congress last month, the IS02 is a Windows Mobile 6.5.3 smartphone with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 1GHz Snapdragon processor and 4.1-inch OLED touchscreen; unlike the GSM/UMTS versions demonstrated in Barcelona, however, the KDDI phone will have EVDO Rev.A.
There’s also a 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera, WiFi b/g and Bluetooth. It’ll be interesting to see whether this CDMA version makes it over to North America any faster than its GSM equivalent.
It’s not all good news, however. Akihabara went hands-on with the IS02 (which goes by the name K01 in the US) and found the experience to be distinctly sub-par. The phone turned out to be unstable and sluggish, and were yet to be optimized for speed. It seems Toshiba weren’t quite ready for KDDI’s launch; hopefully the production devices will do better.
It’s March 24th and that means – finally – the HTC HD2 arrives on T-Mobile USA’s network. It’s been a long time coming, and in a way it couldn’t have arrived at a worse point: HTC’s other 4.3-inch monster, the HTC EVO 4G, has made its splashy, WiMAX-toting debut on Sprint at CTIA Wireless this week, and the 3G-only HD2 could look a little plain in comparison.
Still, the HD2 has plenty of charms to bring to the table. HTC Sense makes its appearance, tidying up the underlying Windows Mobile 6.5.3 OS, and there’s WiFi b/g, 3G, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and that all-important 4.3-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen with HTC’s baked-in system wide multitouch support.
We’ll have our review of the T-Mobile specific HD2 up very soon, but as you might have guessed it differs very little from the European HTC HD2 we reviewed all the way back in November 2009. T-Mobile USA are offering their HD2 on an Even More plan for $199.99, or a contract-free Even More Plus plan for $449.99.
It’s not just HTC pushing out Windows Mobile 6.5.3 smartphones despite Windows Phone 7 being due at the end of the year. Details of a new LG handset, the LG VS750, have emerged, which will apparently launch on Verizon’s network come mid-April 2010. A touchscreen slider with a full QWERTY keyboard, the VS750 will support global roaming with EVDO Rev.A for use in the US and quadband GSM with UMTS/HSPA for when owners are abroad.
Windows Mobile runs on a 3.2-inch WVGA resistive touchscreen and there’s WiFi b/g, Bluetooth and a 3.2-megapixel camera with VGA video recording. Memory is 512MB flash and 256MB RAM, along with a microSD slot content with up to 16GB cards.
Verizon will apparently bundle the LG VS750 with a stylus, USB cable and a wall charger with interchangeable plugs for worldwide use. The whole thing measures in at 4.53 x 2.20 x 0.65 inches and weighs 5.36oz. No word on pricing nor anything official on Windows Phone 7 updates, but we’re guessing that – despite the buttons – the resistive screen technology and the low onboard storage will mean owners will have to make do with Windows Mobile 6.5.3.
Microsoft has caught some grief this past week over the latest stage of the copy & paste debacle, a meme that began when Apple omitted the functionality from the iPhone (and took two years to add it in) and was resurrected upon the admission that Windows Phone 7 series wouldn’t ship with the ability to snip text from one app and paste it into another. In fact, copy & paste is just one example of Microsoft locking down their new smartphone experience, slicing a great deal of OEM and user customisation out in the process. They’re not the only firm to do so, however; merely the latest to seemingly decide that users want delineated – perhaps even prescriptive – experiences rather than flexibility.
Poster-child, in fact, for this sort of tightly reined UX is the iPhone, and we can only imagine that there’s some snickering going on at Cupertino over their rival’s change of approach. Windows Mobile used to be the go-to guy for flexibility in smartphones: yes, it didn’t look that hot in its native state, but if you wanted to whip up an app that accessed – or merely wanted to play with – the core elements of the device then Microsoft made little attempt to stand in your way. It’s become a hotbed of ROM tinkering and modification, everything from changing LED blink patterns to completely reworked builds that streamline just about every element of the phone; the sort of things Android modders are doing now, their Windows Mobile counterparts were doing for years before.
Another good example is the iPad. As we’ve commented before, listening to the media reception of Apple’s imminent tablet, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was the first such device in the world, not the latest touchscreen device in a segment that goes back years. What seems to have commentators – and, judging by pre-sale estimates, would-be owners – excited is the though of what Apple can do to turn “another computer to maintain” into a headache-free appliance. If you already have a main computer – whether desktop or notebook – and maybe a netbook as well, the last thing you want is to add in another machine to look after, take care of with software updates and anti-spyware scans, coddle as anything more than, yes, an oversized iPod touch.
On the other side of the apparent divide are devices like Nokia’s N900, a handset that – out of the box – can border on the frustrating. The N900 lacks the instant-reward of other recent handsets, which bend over backward to offer the extent of their functionality within a finger’s reach. Instead, the Nokia is making a name for itself among those who want to experiment with their mobile devices, loading up non-standard platforms, hooking up unusual hardware and generally carrying across some of that desktop tinkering paradigm to the mobile space.
Of course, you can’t blame manufacturers for wanting to control their user experience. For all the good work HTC and others have done with modifying the Windows Mobile 6.x UI, Microsoft still catch grief from reviewers and owners alike for encouraging UX fragmentation. With Apple storming ahead in the smartphone segment it’s hard to criticise Microsoft for not following their example and locking down some of the areas which have previously turned round and bit them. Meanwhile the so-called flexible – challenging? – devices like the N900 are never expected to be a dramatic sales success.
There’s a common misconception that the tech-aware – the sort of people who read this site and who keep up with cutting-edge developments; the early-adopters, perhaps – are the audience for complex devices, simultaneously blinkered to the demands of the mainstream. It’s a false distinction: everyone is “guilty” of wanting a device that “just works”. Yes, some users might also want an extra degree of flexibility – to modify, tweak or generally step outside of the manufacturer’s expectations of what the device might be useful for – but there’s an assumption nonetheless that the core functionality will be rock solid.
Has that expectation forced devices to dumb-down? Perhaps – it’s certainly one way of ensuring the basics are addressed – but to be fair that seems to be the way many consumers prefer it. An application store packed with titles is all well and good, until one of them goes wrong and wipes out your address book. Developers are having to become cleverer at dealing with more rigid third-party software guidelines; sometimes that’s for good reasons, like sandboxing apps to prevent one crash bringing down the whole system, and sometimes for not so great reasons, like blanket limitations on background processes. There’s dumbed-down and there’s just plain dumb; it remains to be seen whether asking for a stable user experience has in fact left us with less choice overall.
I have been reading a lot of critiques of Microsoft’s mobile strategy lately, especially among those who think that breaking compatibility with older versions of Windows Mobile is a bad idea. Some of these opinions are just wrong, showing little knowledge of technical architectures. (If it’s CE based, how come I can’t run my old apps? Sheesh; CE was used in many different mobile devices, none of which could run Windows Mobile apps). For those that are dependent on some Windows Mobile app, Microsoft is wisely keeping the 6.5.x platform around for a while meaning folks can make a smooth transition as they need to.
First, to reiterate my view on the market, Microsoft isn’t doing nearly as badly in mobility as some think. I still think Windows Mobile to be vastly underrated in the market. But that’s not the point. As I’ve talked about over and over, nobody’s platform from last year is going to be good enough for next year. The key to Microsoft’s success in future mobility is exactly their willingness to break from the past and focus on the future. Windows Phone 7 Series devices should not run older applications. Microsoft needs to give developers incentive to get on board with something new, and more importantly to show how developers can leverage their code across multiple platforms, devices and do things they couldn’t do before.
We’ve learnt more about Windows Phone 7 at MIX10 this week, and Microsoft did the right thing kicking off the platform’s launch with some impressive demos showing how a game can be built with 90% shared code working on both an Xbox and a Windows Phone 7 device. That’s huge and something that’s going to appeal to a lot of developers.
Among the most glaring things missing from Microsoft’s consumer strategy was a cohesive message between diverse business units. There needed to be a clearly articulated message that recognizes that mobility features among products are interrelated. That means that Windows 7, Windows Phone, XBox, Xune etc all have to work together. It looks like Microsoft is finally getting that message and taking users to that place. Breaking compatibility with older Windows Mobile devices was a hard decision, but it was the right way how to get where they need to be. Sure, it means older stuff takes a hit but more importantly it means there will much more evangelism and excitement for developers who will be able to leverage Microsoft technologies such as Silverlight and XNA to develop across platforms.
If I were Microsoft, here’s what I would do to really drive Windows Phone 7 forward.
1. Clarify the mobility message but recognize there will be overlap between devices and functionality. Multiple Microsoft devices are good and they work together.
2. Ignore the backward compatibility grumbles (mostly coming from folks who said Windows Mobile wasn’t good anyhow) and focus on getting the new features done right and make them work seamlessly.
3. Maximize the experience of product ownership. If owning a Windows PC is good, a Windows PC and Windows Phone should be better. Add in an Xbox and it should be an even better experience. And so on.
The mobile age is really just starting as we move from the medium of voice communication as the core phone drive to the new age of mobile social context. It’s going to take a lot for Microsoft to get there and a good way to start is breaking with the past.
T-Mobile USA have finally confirmed pricing and availability for the HTC HD2, the Windows Mobile 6.5.3 smartphone that European users have been taunting their US counterparts with for several months now. The T-Mobile HD2 will arrive on March 24th priced at $199.99 with a new, two-year agreement.
T-Mobile have launched a new, HD2-specific mini site with more information about the smartphone. Still, most of the key specifications are well known by now: the 1GHz Snapdragon chipset, the 4.1-inch multitouch-capable capacitive touchscreen and the HTC Sense UI on top of the underlying Microsoft OS.
Some of the HD2’s sheen has been taken off in recent weeks with the news that owners won’t be able to update the device to Windows Phone 7 later in the year. Still, as we found in our review of the HD2, it’s a pretty impressive handset in its own right.
It’s not just HTC pushing out Windows Mobile 6.5.3 smartphones despite 
