The smartphone world is really taking off at the moment and to be at the top of the tree a smartphone needs to have a large front screen, Wi-Fi, GPS, HSDPA and a few other bells and whistles.

HTC's Touch HD offers all of these ‘must have' features. It is a large format device whose 3.8-inch screen dominates the front fascia. At 480 x 800 pixels there is no denying its has a super resolution and the accelerometer helps a lot, as the screen reorients when you turn the Touch HD in your hand. The device really comes into its own for activities like Web browsing and looking at pictures.

Where the former is concerned the inclusion of Opera Mobile really helps things along, simply because it provides a more satisfactory Web browsing experience than Internet Explorer. With both HSDPA to 7.2Mbps and Wi-Fi, you can choose whether to use your network operator or a wireless network for data activities. And there is a front camera for two-way video calling.

A 5-megapixel main camera sounds like another top-notch feature, but in fact it isn't what it could be. The autofocus is welcome, but there is no flash and no self-portrait mirror and in general we found image quality to be average but no better.

The GPS lets you use the Touch HD with services like Google Maps, and again the large screen comes in handy here. We also really like the inclusion of a 3.5mm headset jack. As HTC is gunning for the iPhone fan with this handset it seems only sensible to have taken this route.

This being an HTC handset there is a version of the TouchFLO interface on board. You can use this to sweep and swipe at the screen to scroll through various elements of what the device has on offer. Moving through albums or photos is rewarding on the comparatively large screen.

The interface isn't always as slick as we'd have liked, though. The processor is speedy enough at 528MHz, but with TouchFLO sitting on top of Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional there is sometimes a pause before the desired action takes place. And inevitably you do get down to the less than stylish Windows Mobile look sooner or later. Even with the large screen you'll need to resort to the stylus to do things like enter new appointments or grab details from a new contact.

The 288MB of onboard memory can be augmented by microSD cards, and you slide the battery cover aside to get to the slot.

Like the iPhone this is a fairly large device - 115mm x 62.8mm x 12mm and 147g - so it is a lot of smartphone to carry around. And you should budget for daily charging, especially if you are keen on using the multimedia features.

Verdict
If your pockets can cope and you like multimedia on the move then the Touch HD is an alluring prospect. It is probably the best multimedia-friendly Windows Mobile device currently available.

Company: HTC

Contact: 0800 079 2000

Tags: iphone htc corporation opera mobile wi-fi touchflo windows mobile htc android