HTC HD7 / HD7S
Phone Scoop Review
Nov 5, 2010 by Philip Berne
The HTC HD7 is the biggest Windows Phone 7 device to launch Microsoft's new mobile OS. With a huge, 4.3-inch display, and a kickstand for support, does it measure up to the others? read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Good......But not good enough
good phone. just has many problems
such as: needs charger ALOT. at least 5 times a day
Runs slow
Runs threw zune with music.
bad marketplace ( by bad i mean boring and inapproperiate.)
camera and flash sometimes freeze
the keypad sometimes go's wild and types whatever it wants . or types the letter like 5 times.
Microsoft doesn't work
texts take forever to send
sometimes doesn't get texts
sometimes doesn't get calls
not normal settings
no signature
screen saver has to be certain pictures not your own.
doesn't charge well.
NO TEMPLE RUN!! :(!
would i recamend this to anyone...sure just not anyone who have had previous smart phones. More for people who are used to flip phones.
Great phone
This phone is awesome.
The new operating system is so smooth and fast. I thought I always wanted an iPhone (and I have to admit that I do own an iPod Touch) but after using this phone for a week, I am a believer.
My primary uses are (1) calls (I hate smartphones with bad call quality), (2) texting, and (3) emails, and this device is great for all three.
I'm not big on internet on hand-held devices, so I can't really give my opinion on that. I try not to open the browser.
Everything else looks extremely elegant, clean and modern. You can't find a cleaner looking phone and operating system out there.
HD7 Review
Pros: Very fast and responsive phone. Quick and easy to use with very nice social networking integration and features. Very good speaker quality and call quality. Awesome picture. So far no crashes, looks like MS did a good job on this one.
Cons: Not as many apps, but quickly building the marketplace.
Carrier: Obviously, TMO.
Love your Music & Videos? Avoid this phone.
I must say, I am incredibly disappointed by the major shortcoming of this phone. Let's get to it right off the bat: The speaker on this phone is terrible. There is one small speaker in the back, with a tiny 2mm x 5mm opening. The 2 grills on the front of the phone, at the top and bottom, are just for show; they emit no sound.
With this speaker, you will find yourself struggling to enjoy any of your YouTube videos, movies, and especially music. It produces what I would describe as a "tinny", muffled, static sound on all of your content. I would equate the sound to tuning into a radio station in your car and being off by .2 or .4 frequency from the actual channel you are trying to dial into. The speaker is so weak and quiet, that it is literally impossible to actually distinguish what it is you are hearing at times. Even with the volume at 30 (max).
Hardware and Build Quality: 1.5 / 5
This seems to be an HTC HD2, with a few quick changes on the exterior. There is a kickstand in the back to help prop the phone up, which is nice. The power and camera buttons are poorly designed; they are so recessed into the body of the phone, that they are both hard to find, and hard to press/activate. The 3.5mm headphone jack is on the bottom of the phone (why?) and the nice 4.3" screen is collector of all fingerprints. On the back, there is a 1mm gap between the battery cover and the rest of the body (why?). Also, the horrible speaker. Compared to the rest of the WP7 lineup, I would say it's poorly designed.
OS and Software: 4.5 / 5
Windows Phone itself has a lot of potential. It is very quick, with smooth transitions, and sharp graphics. It is a great start, and Microsoft will be making major improvements with the OS over the next few years. There are a good selection of mainstream apps; Zune and Netflix integration is amazing, but again... The speaker prevents you from enjoying your content.
Overall: 2 /5 - Great Software, Terrible Hardware. Buy a WP7, just not this one.
AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! Give it a chance...former Android buff.
I think that this phone runs smoother than any other phone out there right now, hands down! I love everything about it...EXCEPT, wait for it, wait for it...the Battery only last me for one full day. (about 16 hours of continuous use) Which is not bad, considering I'm a heavy user. Other than that, the screen is amazing, the desktop is amazing, the applications for everyday use are so nice. ie
Email
pictures
Zune player
internet is ok, need another browser
Facebook
twitter
etc...its just that good!!!!!!
GO GET ONE. Just give it a chance, and stop worrying about windows mobile. Because this is a completely different OS...let it go, and get on board. With time, this will be a great OS...and will be able to compete with the big dog, ANDROID!!!!
1 Year review. Not a good phone.
We got this phone a year ago through T-Mobile, as new customers. My wife really liked the WP7 interface over the other phones available, so we went with it.
First, the pros:
-large screen makes typing easy
-seamless Exchange email/calendar integration
-decent battery life
-loud ringers
And now the cons, which are serious and resulted in us having to go Android.
-poor backup options for photos and contacts.
-Constant freezing (HTC startup screen). Only resolution is a cold restart, losing all settings. Not good for someone who relies on the phone 24x7 for work. Support forums on T-Mo and MS are rife with similar complaints with no resolution (HTC blaming MS and MS blaming HTC). Towards the end has been doing it every 1 - 2 weeks.
-lousy marketplace offerings
-new error is a bad SD memory card error. Since it's internal and not accessible, a new phone is the only fix. Again, common issue on the support boards.
-Zune. Clumsy software update tool. Why not OTA like the rest of the world?
It's too bad, because other HTC phones in my experience have been excellent.
nice phone, wish it did more.
I received the HTC HD7 as a gift, to replace a broken phone. The layout of the Windows Phone 7 OS was intriguing, and I was eager to try out something new.
Pros
-Decent Battery Life: More than a day if I use battery saver from a fresh charge
-Killer picture quality: Though the actual camera app is a little slower than I'm used to
-Gorgeous display: Often get questions/compliments from folks when they see my home screen
-Fast: Smooth transitions/animations in the OS, nothing comes off as 'laggy'
Cons (The first two have more to do with the OS than the actual device, but nonetheless...)
*App Market: Terrible app selection (Microsoft has apparantly made it very hard for developers to create decent apps for the Windows Phone platform)
*File management: There is no file storage system that can be managed by the user, this means no drag-drop functionality and photos/videos/music must be transferred through the clunky Zune software (get ready to manually change most of your MP3 tags if you use iTunes)
-File storage: No external storage, your stuck with 14.63GB internal storage (sufficient I suppose for the average user, but with HD Video capture external really should have been added...)
Speakers: The two speakers on either end of the device don't seem to be functional, since even when in landscape view sound plays from the same speaker in the back of the phone.
Summary
All in all, the phone is solid - but the OS still feels too experimental, there's a lot of missing functionality. Too bad these 7.x devices won't be updated once Windows Phone 8 drops... no backward compatibility.
Be Careful of Reviews (Hype or Fact)
I believed the hype. HD7 was a terrible phone, Win 7 was not good etc. I am an advocate Windows user. The Shadow was terrible, graduated to HTC Pro II because it was suppose to upgrade to WP7 (Hype, not Fact) but I was stuck in a 2 year contract. Pro II finally died and I was force fed the HD7 as the only T-mobile alternative for Windows. HD-7 with WP7 is indeed a very good phone and the features continue to improve thru the Market place, transition to Apps are smooth, fast and quick to access. Did loose Bing Turn by Turn & the annunciation of incoming Text Message and Email Hope they come back (WHY, WHY??) Bing found my sisters house and a top GPS didn't, until the phone lost the cell tower, 20 miles in the Country. Real good phone does need better speaker system and T-Mobile, more than one phone to choose from, Please. Really thought I needed a Keyboard, but I don't...
This is the review posted on the T-Mobile website two weeks before receiving the Mango update. Now I all I can say is Work WINDOWS, Work It!! Got back my incoming text msgs read, Bing Turn by Turn; Talk to text is the BOMB, Transitions are like greased lighting, and updates that I am still finding. Work Windows Work it. NOW T-Mobile you need to Work it with more phones running the Windows platform..
Leave it for the grownups
I am just like any regular 20 year old dude that likes the most updated and fanciest things in life, and this phone just didnt do it for me. I loved the hardware of the phone like the screen, the size of the phone and the overall outlook of it, but the software and the UI in my opinion was just too simple and boring. Being a prior Iphone and Android owner, windows UI just didnt do it for me. It was too strict I could barley customize anything. I just hated it. I tried and tried to like it and find pros for why I should keep it but the more and more i used it the more and more i hated it. This phone was made for business men and adults, deffinatly not your regular dude. If you were a previous Iphone or andriod user DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE YOU WILL REGRET IT TRUST ME !!!
Very nice phone, different.
Pros: Of course the large 4.3 inch display, kickstand, windows 7 OS is very fluid and has a lot of potential (I love the interface), nice large keyboard, live tiles and decent battery life.
Cons: Although the os is nice, it lacks a few things like multitasking( a big con for me), speakers aren't very good, camera is average.
I had the mytouch 4g , which I personally thing is the better phone, but I wanted to try a windows phone 7 and since I have mobile I went with the hd7. I don't regret it at all. I love that it syncs your Google mail, contacts and calendar as well as windows services obviously. I plan on getting a sensation 4g Android phone this summer but I will definitely keep the hd7 as my secondary phone because I wanna see how wp7 will grow this year as far as the OS goes. People should give it a try. I'm an Android guy but I like wp7 too. Peace
