The HTC HD Mini was part of an all-conquering triumvirate at this year’s Mobile World Congress, alongside the HTC Desire and HTC Legend. But while the latter pair strut their stuff with Google Android under the hood, the bargain-basement HD Mini kicks it with the now old-school Windows Mobile 6.5 under the hood. Does this cramp its style? Or is it a touchscreen titan? Read our complete HTC HD Mini review now and find out.
Read the rest of our HTC HD Mini review:
HTC HD Mini review: design and build
HTC HD Mini review: screen
HTC HD Mini review: user interface
The HTC HD2 caused a huge stir amongst hardcore mobile fanatics with its massive screen and natty use of HTC Sense. The HTC HD Mini is essentially a small time, cheaper reworking of that, but with some major specs going on inside. We’re talking HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, full audio file support and a five megapixel camera.
The big deal though is the 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen. Of course, it doesn’t quite size up like its bigger bro’, but it still looks gorgeous when you sling through video. Colours are lush and there’s detail galore when watching back clips.
It’s a shame that the same can’t be said for web browsing. Using Opera and Internet Explorer, both of which arrive already on board, images appear nastily low res and blocky, and very poor by comparison to the similarly sized HTC Legend. It’s a massive letdown when you use the HTC HD Mini after sampling the delights of the Taiwanese giant’s Android offerings.
Similarly, HTC Sense just doesn’t look or feel as sharp and well realised as it does on HTC’s Android phones. Windows Mobile 6.5 is a creaking platform and its ageing fonts and awkward style mean Sense is let down majorly. There are still plenty of easy to access, swipeable homescreens, with Twitter, weather, contacts, HTC Footprints for geotagging and mail all accessible just by flicking across the panel.
Footprints and Twitter are the standout feature, the latter for being a nice and straightforward access point for your tweets, the former because of its powerful geotagging skill, as seen on the Legend and the Desire. Other features have been ported over too, with the ability to turn the phone over to mute working just dandy here, as on the Legend.
There are though, some annoying misses. There’s no Leap feature for spying all your homescreens at once and Friend Stream, the social networking aggregator, is notable for its absence.
The touchscreen itself bares up well under examination, picking out your prods with aplomb. However, it’s majorly let down by the keyboard. This is one of the standout features on both the Legend and the Desire, but Windows Mobile 6.5 just doesn’t allow for any kind of assured tip tapping. Instead you’ll find yourself making frequent errors with the pad just not responding in the way you want.
At the heart of the HTC HD Mini’s problems is Windows Mobile 6.5. It’s an OS on its last legs, with Windows Phone 7 hurtling towards us. Thankfully HTC has modded Microsoft’s mobile OS to within an inch of its life. But it still feels sluggish and nasty on the eye, a million miles from the gorgeous skills of the HTC Legend. If you want an HTC phone that’s pared down yet still skillful, we recommend the latter over this.
Read the rest of our HTC HD Mini review:
HTC HD Mini review: design and build
HTC HD Mini review: screen
HTC HD Mini review: user interface
