HTC HD7 Windows Phone (T-Mobile) Reviews

Average Customer Rating - 23 Reviews


5.0 out of 5 stars great phone!, November 10, 2010
I got this phone from tmobile store on release day (11/08/10) and I can't stop looking at it or stop using the new Windows Phone 7. It is just so freaking smoothing and fast!

some cons about this phone:

1. the battery doesn't full charge itself until you discharge/drain the battery 3 or 4 times. if this isn't done, the phone will never be fully charge
2. the camera, when shooting white background such as snow, you see a purple haze which is captured in the final output. Some people got it bad and some people, like myself, only see a bit of it, mostly in the center.
3. doesn't have HSPA+.

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Impressed, November 12, 2010
Ok I was originally skeptical about how this OS would turn out. But I have to say MS did a great job here. There is much to love with this 1.0 version of the OS. Some skeptics were saying it was too late to play catch up. Well they are wrong and all i can say is that the OS is beautiful and flows like a dream from one transition to the next. I find myself just flowing along as I check my facebook, email and news feeds etc. The live tiles are an excellent addition and make the phone feel truelly alive like a personal assistant rather than a device you make work for you. Initial claims by some tech sites that apps load too slow and that the OS is buggy are false. There are so many features here I could go on and on about how it all works together to make all of your services feel as one. At least take my advice and play around with one for a bit you will walk away with a good feeling for the product.

As for the hardware ,I think pretty good the large screen works well here and the phone feels pretty sturdy.

There are some things that need to be fixed as it is with any new OS but I can see what is in the near future for this phone. For one some apps will not run while the phone is locked. MS said they are now allowing 3rd party apps to do this as long as they demonstrate that it will not overconsume the battery..which I think is a good thing. I like how ou can get to past apps using the back button but there also needs to be some kind of fast app switching.

All in all I am extremely happy with my phone and OS. Take my advice, at least take a look at this OS first hand with an open mind before forming an opinion.

3.0 out of 5 stars It will only get better!, November 14, 2010
Overall I really like the phone and Windows Phone 7. Provided Microsoft doesn't add a lot of bloat with future releases and updates, it will get much better.

Pros:
Clean, uncluttered interface
Very responsive
Extremely stable (not one freeze or slowdown in 4 days)
16gb of onboard memory
Multiple MS Exchange server accounts allowed
Call quality (clarity) is decent
Screen colors are natural though a bit washed out
Email and SMS are excellent and work well with the contacts list
Combined calendar and contacts for all Exchange accounts
No checkerboard pattern in the browser; it's usable even while the page is loading

Cons:
Non-removable memory
Battery life is bad (OK, I am pushing 3 email accounts)
Picture quality is less than expected
The camera shutter button is too stiff; you really have to mash it
No "4G" service, only 3G
Too many key presses for some functions
Build quality...the volume rocker is already loose
Reception is poor; my former always 3G service is now mostly EDGE
The hard plastic ridge at the top of the phone rubs against my ear
The battery icon shows partially charged even when the phone is fully charged
Earpiece volume is low; speakerphone volume is even worse


Windows Mobile 7 issues:
Must use Zune to load media on the phone
Must email documents to oneself or use Sharepoint to add them to the phone
A lot of DRM-secured media cannot be added to the phone; Zune ignores it
No real task manager; multitasking is limited and cumbersome
No cut and paste
App Marketplace searches done from the phone bring up everything, including music

Summary:
Despite its issues, I do like the phone and the OS. Having said that, however, if the Dell Venue Pro becomes available during my 14 day trial period, I will return the HTC and buy the Dell. Either way, Windows Phone 7 is a winner.

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Phone!, November 12, 2010
I've been eyeing this OS for a long time (over a year), and I had an unlimited Blackberry thru work, so I really had no pressing need for a new phone, but WOW...what a difference. This found is simply amazing from both the hardware side, and the software side. I can rave about the OS to no end, but it does have a few glitches and areas needed for improvement. On the hardware front, this thing is super impressive, and I've found no major cause for compliant since getting mine on launch day from T-Mobile. Well, one actually, and it's the lack of accessories for the phone. The plastic case was $30 bucks, and they didn't even have screen covers, so I ordered a HD2 online, and will return this case when it arrives.

Pros:
- Super fast, Sleek and Powerful OS and Phone.
- Great Sounds and the Camera is pretty nice as well
- Unlimited plan for data rocks!
- Great amount of apps to start off
- Xbox Live integration is superb, and for any serious Xbox gamers, you have to consider this OS.

Cons:
- More Apps are needed, great start, but Microsoft needed to keep pushing this angle very hard.
- Battery life - but I'll use the tip provided be another reviewer to wear down my battery 3-4 times for a stronger charge.
- The opening tile screen is sleek, new and a great way to outlay functions, but the follow on screen for apps sucks. Once you have A LOT, it is going to be a pain to navigate thru them all. This needs to be fixed in the first update.

Windows Phone 7 is the real deal, and while I can't speak for the service or devices on AT&T, I can say that this HTC HD7 is as good as anything I've seen, and I've played around with IPhones, Nexus and Evo extensively.

5.0 out of 5 stars Got my HD7 on the UK launch day! You will not be disappointed!, October 25, 2010
Had this phone for a few days now, not going to blab on in too much detail, all I will say is don't listen to all the bad reviews out there; try it for yourself!

I'll split a few of my favourite things up into bullet points:

- The phone is incredibly quick booting.

- The UI is beautiful and so smooth to use in comparison to other smartphones.

- The build quality is solid and it feels like a good phone in your hand with the metal surround instead of cheap plastic.

- The apps already on the store are of good quality and run very well on the phone, expecting a load more on the US release.

- Skydrive integration with the Office Hub and your photo's is very useful allowing super quick upload to the cloud.

- The one touch camera launch from the lock screen is very handy & the flash is super bright with double LED.

A few people have mentioned it doesn't have an AMOLED screen but for me the screen seems very good quality and is very nice to use with it being 4.3" it gives plenty to look at but this is just my preference.

Only real bad points at the moment are the lack of apps which should be fixed by the US launch as mentioned above and a few little buggy issues but nothing major as im guessing these will be fixed ASAP.

Liam

5.0 out of 5 stars Great phone. Give it a chance, November 14, 2010
I bought the HTC HD7 yesterday (11/13/10) at my local t mobile store. I've already put all my old photos and videos on it using zune(really easy to sign up and get started). Right now I'm listening to slacker radio. I watched a netflix show yesterday.
I've got my insight and yahoo emails pinned to my home page, as well as the columbus metropolitan library website. You can pin almost anything to the home page. The tiled homepage is awesome. You can customize the color of the tiles & how you want them arranged.
The phone is really, really, really fast. I can't say enough about this phone. The more I explore, the more things I find. I don't use it for work or to write papers so the inabilty to cut & paste doesn't bother me.
I guess you just have to read the reviews to see if it's the right phone for you. There are lots of web sites that will tell you exactly what the phone can & can't do. For me, the inability to have customized ring tones is outweighed by all the things it can do. If you are interested in this windows phone, don't let the bad things people are saying disuade you. Read and learn for yourself to see if it's the phone for you. I'm very glad I didn't listen to the nay sayers.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent phone, November 21, 2010
I have had my HD7 since the day it was released in the US, November 8, 2010. My previous phone was a T-mobile Dash running Windows Mobile Smartphone 6. I must say, the new Windows Phone 7 is simply fantastic. I have used my sister's iPhone 3G and I have used my brother's HTC Incredible which are both really nice phones. But the HD7 simply beats both of them. I love the 4.3" screen. It makes viewing easier and typing is much more accurate and a better experience than I expected, especcially when flipped horizontally, but even vertically the keyboard is good. The touchscreen keyboard was probably my biggest concern, but I must say, Microsoft did a fantastic job with that. I like the simple interface. Connecting to my work's secure WiFi network was a breeze, and the phone is very snappy (compared to my older, slower phone). While the app store is small, it is adding new apps every day and all of the apps I am personally interested in are there. What is missing is a good astronomy app, but I'm sure one will show up soon enough. :-)
Overall, Microsoft has done a fantastic job with the OS on the first release and it will only improve and get better. And HTC has put together a decent first release device. Of course, some upgrades I would love to see in the future to a similar device would be: a little better camera (although this one is much better than my Dash) and more memory (I could use more than 16 gigs). Microsoft for its part needs to add as soon as possible: multi-tasking, more apps (whatever it can do to encourage more app writing), and a fix to a problem I discovered related to synching your Outlook email with an Exchange 2003 SP2 server (you can't connect to the Global Address List).

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceeded my high expectations, November 26, 2010
I've had the HD7 for about 10 days, now, and am extremely pleased. My previous smartphone was a Blackberry Curve, which was a great phone when I bought it, but it had gotten pretty out-of-date. But my university has a contract with ATT, and my RIM was with T-Mobile, and we never got the Blackberry to sync with the Exchange server. So I decided that my next phone would be a Windows phone, but held out for WP7.

I'm thrilled with the easy integration with the Exchange server. All I had to do was enter my network ID and password, and the Exchange server name, and it immediately synchronized. You do this by choosing manual configuration. The phone also keeps track of my Hotmail and Gmail accounts, but allows me to keep them separate, which is good. My Outlook calendar has its own hub on the start page, and when I come out of stand-by the phone automatically displays my next appointment on Outlook. You don't have to sync with Exchange on you desktop or laptop, the phone syncs automatically over the phone network.

I really like the People Hub. It synchronizes my contacts across Facebook, Twitter and my Outlook address book. I've pinned my wife's icon to the start page, and with one click I can choose between calls to her cell, to home, text to the cell, email, or checking her last Facebook posting. Same for my kids.

There are great Facebook and Twitter apps available that do everything I want very easily. Also very satisfied with the weather, news, and tech news apps I've downloded. I've also added a really cool flashlight app that has my friends with iPhones jealous.

I was surprised to find an Office hub. It has mobile versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. I can open all the attachments I receive by email, and can even edit them and email them. There is an Adobe reader, as well, for PDF. The PowerPoint slides are very clear, and you can zoom them, as well. Haven't tried to connect to an external display, but the output port is micro USB, so it should be easy.

The Pictures hub is really interesting. Not only can I use the Zune software interface on my PC to move pictures from my PC to the phone, but the hub also consolidates pictures from Facebook and I can browse my friends Facebook pictures from it, as well.

The phone comes with IE as the browser, but I have no complaints. It's quite fast, though it doesn't support flash, yet. Click on the hardware search button and if I'm on the start screen I go to Bing, but if I'm on the web it goes to Google. I've also added a Google search app that I've pinned to the start page.

The maps are beautiful and well integrated with the GPS, so it's easy to locate yourself on a map of where ever your are, with good search options for local search. Much superior to the map/search integration on my old Blackberry Curve.

I'm not a gamer, but had no trouble finding Tetris, Solitare and Blockbreaker apps.

Overall, I give the phone 5 stars. It was worth the wait. It does everything I had hoped and has even exceeded by highest expectations. I'm looking forward to the first upgrades, as I do miss the cut-and-paste and Flash. But I'm quite happy with the phone and will gladly wait.


4.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous screen and elegant presentation with some hiccups, December 18, 2010
I switch to Windows Phone 7 (WP7) from BlackBerry Bold (BB). The 4.3" screen size is big and gorgeous, slightly larger than ATT Galaxy S or Verizon Droid X. WP7 is rich in animation and smooth screen transitions (sometimes I think it is too much). It is completely a different experience from BB. However, I have the following aggravations and complaints about WP7 and HTC HD7:
(1) poor battery performance
(2) weak quality of speaker phone
(3) does not support T-mobile UMA network (a shame!). I brought my BB overseas and called home via the hotel wi-fi network with no international charge. No need to use Skype or third party app because T-mobile supports UMA network.
(4) I cannot use my own MP3/WMA/midi file as ringtones. It is such an embarrassment that WP7 does not support custom ringtones. (Microsoft states it's not currently possible to add ringtones to your Windows Phone 7. Read the online how-to help)
(5) bare-bone features and built-in apps. Connection Manager is missing. There is not much customization in WP7.

One of the beauties of BB is the real keyboard. Obviously HTC HD7 does not have it. I program each key in the BB keyboard to speed dial. I just hold the key then the phone dials the programmed number. There is a dedicated button to enable speaker phone. I miss those features. I can do the same thing in WP7 with more clicks and taps. There is no "one-touch" speed dial like BB. The virtual keyboard of WP7 is not bad. I need to familiarize it.

To copy pictures and media files from PC to WP7, I use Zune Software. Anyway, I already install it to synch with Zune media player. The syncing procedure is much simpler than Microsoft Active Sync (for Windows Mobile 6.5 or earlier). Zune is also useful for download and install apps from Marketplace. I prefer to shop for apps and install the apps into WP7 from Zune software. If I use WP7 to listen music, there is a silent gap for a few seconds between one track to the next one. It is annoying, because some music expects uninterrupted transition to the next track. Zune media player does not have such silent gap. It is a WP7 bug.

Internet and email interfaces are excellent and much better than stylus-oriented Windows Mobile 6.5, but I can customize the font size, enable Java Script, browser profile, user agent, etc and much much more with BB. I can't with WP7. People question why it takes 3 years for Microsoft to develop Windows Phone platform after the launch of iPhone. I think Microsoft releases WP7 is "rush" mode and sacrifices customizations and numerous features. When should I wait for the copy-paste feature?

WP7 is very promising. It is not the best phone now, but it will. I gave it 4 stars.

5.0 out of 5 stars This Phone's Screen Keyboard Kicks Competition Out of the Water!!, November 17, 2010
After years of messing with friends' smart phones, and dealing with my outdated cell, I decided it was time for me to upgrade to a smartphone. While I wasn't very keen on the HD7's screen keyboard, I was pleasantly surprised with how easily and accurately I could type. In the past, my experiences with on screen keyboards have been frustrating, slow, and inaccurate - the iPhone's touch keyboard in particular comes to mind. Even my boyfriend who swears against touchscreen keyboards was amazed with how easily he could type without having the wrong keys pressed.

Navigating around the phone is fast and intuitive - not to mention colorful! I love the vertical scrolling tiles much more than pages of icons like other smart phones use.

Once you hook up your email/facebook accounts, and load in your old phone's contacts, the phone finds matches between them, loads their facebook pictures, and makes navigating through social networking while on the go very convenient.

Since the phone is new and still "bare bones" it does lack a lot of customization that its competition has (like being able to have custom ringtones), Microsoft has already addressed that there will be a patch in early January, which will give the Windows Phones much more customizability than they currently offer. I love being able to personalize all my gadgets, so I was really disappointed when I found out I couldn't give certain people specific ring tones yet. Another downside of being so new is the lack of apps other smart phones like iPhones and Androids have, but more apps are available on the marketplace each day. Compared to other v1.0 smartphones, the windows phone excels at being a smartphone.


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