Review: HTC Surround with Windows Phone 7
Browser
The new WP7 browser borrow elements from IE7 and IE8 and is easily the best browser available on a Windows mobile device. It feels a lot more like the Safari and Android browsers, though it doesn't quite succeed at matching those browsers in elegance and usability.
It supports must-have features, such as pinch-to-zoom, and full HTML as well as mobile web sites. Double-tapping zooms in and out quickly. Web pages for the most part loaded quickly over AT&T's 3G network. Over Wi-Fi, the browser was extremely fast. The full HTML version of the NYTimes loaded in under 5 seconds, for example.
it is easy to add open tabs, add favorites, search for items on the page and so on. I really had trouble with the address bar, though. When you want to go to an entirely new site, activating and selecting text in the address bar so you can type a URL is just a pain in the behind. It is often easier to simply open a new tab and start with a fresh address bar.
In total, though, the browser is really quite good, and such an improvement that any Windows Mobile user will think it is the bomb.
Customize
Windows Phone 7 offers a typical set of features that can be customized. The tiles can be recolored, rearranged, deleted, and otherwise organized how the user might prefer. The main menu is stuck in the list view, however. Being able to pin apps, shortcuts, web pages, etc., to the home page is a nice touch and makes up for the lack of widgets (a little bit).
Each of the applications has its own little list of settings that can be adjusted to control behavior. None of them is out of the norm. It's all pretty expected. I mean, ringtones, wallpapers, screensavers and such are completely old hat at this point.
Users can also adjust the background color (white or black) as well as the color of the majority of the tiles. Blue is the default, I chose red.
Windows Phone 7: Hands-On
HTC Surround
