HTC HD2 - Initial thoughts

[miffed]

My HD2 arrived yesterday. Obviously its early days , and I have been busy with other things , but here are my initial experiences

Many cues have been taken from Apple and the iPhone , and the first one that strikes you is the Box , Just about big enough to fit everything in seems to be the norm now , whereas Pre-iphone it was not unusual to get a box the size of a small shoe box , all that has changed now , and you get a nice , slim box

I was pleased to note that the box was a standard HTC affair , green and white , and NOT T-mobile pink - this is a good sign !!! , Turns out there is no external branding on the phone whatsoever (Well done for resisting T-mobile !)

Inside the box I note that , again , following Apple's cue (AFAIK) you no longer get a seperate charger and data cable - rather a Micro USB lead and a mains plug with a USB socket. I actually prefer this to having to hoards of chargers and leads. the idea Micro USB being an industry standard will simplify this even further , I look forward to it !
The HD2 itself is lovely , You really do feel like you are holding a piece of quality engineering here , and pretty much all of the device is screen , and a very nice screen at that ! , all the review I saw gave the impression that the HD2's screen was dull and pale , but that couldn't be further from the truth , the colours are vibrant and the contrast is amazing , photos look (dare I say) much better than the iPhone , really , really nice screen , and the "feel" of the capacitive touchscreen is very much the same as the iPhone's

HTC have done a brilliant job of skinning Windows Mobile , A bit of a shame that this is needed in the first place , but the overall experience does feel fine , it doesn't feel like the UI is an "Add on" as seen in previous HTC devices.
That said , there are some areas where I have strayed off the HTC Sense UI , for example when setting up Googlesync I had some problems (more on that later) , I "opted out" of Sense , thinking that I'd be better "talking" to the OS directly ! , and I must say that WM seems a lot more fluid than it ever did before (my last device was an MDA Vario III )

The Camera is great , really quick and takes great shots in decent light , but I have noticed some dodgy pink areas in low light , I believe there is a fix for this on HTC's site , but I have not got around to using it yet

I realise a few will roll there eyes when I draw comparison to the iPhone (well , actually just one person , but I don't want him to feel lonely)
, But seeing as the iPhone has been my main device since 2007 it is going to happen. ..... The HD2 lacks the "plug in and play" aspect of the iPhone , part of the iPhone magic is that it simply does what it is supposed to , in an obvious fashion - Whereas the HD2 is BRILLIANT , but does need to be messed around with , and experimented with to get the best out of it - no good for most , but for me this was EXACTLY what I wanted from a device at this moment , so its all good !

As mentioned earlier , the HD2 had no external branding , but pressing the power button subjects you to the usual Magneta T-mobile experience , Fortunately it appears to be limited to the splashscreen , and then Opera is branded as "Web & Walk" on the Apps page - TBH I don't like that , so last night I set about Flashing to an unbranded ROM , entire procedure took (from looking up what to do on XDA DEV , to a flashed phone ) less than 30 minutes , and was a piece of cake ! , had it been a even a little complicated I'd have bottled out , what with it being a brand new device and that - but it was so simple I had to do it .

Example of this messing around I spoke of earlier is Googlesync - I love the fact that I can simply chuck in my log-in details and all my stuff is on my new phone in seconds , worked instantly on the iPhone , and Android , but on the HD2 , for some reason the sync failed every time - I then discover that if I choose to just sync Calender and contacts (not mail) then it works fine ... Hmmm
.... So I set up Gmail via Imap , works fine , but then I notice that I can only get mail over Wi-fi !! Grrrr ! , doesn't work over the network !

After a bit of googleing , I discover that , for some reason , T-mobiles settings include a proxy (for some reason) - this triggers my memory a little and I remember that way back on my Ameo I had this trouble ! I simply uncheck the "Use this Proxy" box , and all works fine ! Push or IMAP !!



But then as I said .... this tinkering is half the reason I bought this device in the first place !!