Best Phone Blog

The all new HTC Wildfire is for those people who want great personalisation from the Android platform, but who’s budget doesn’t quite stretch to the £400+ that is required to get hold of a Desire. Yes the HTC Wildfire offers a more reasonably priced option and should be available for free on a contract priced between £15 and £20 per month. This is where we believe that HTC and Google can steal a march on their rivals, Apple. Apple has the premium marketplace all but sewn up, but we reckon that it is the budget handsets where the battle will be won and lost. You see there are an awful lot more users who can afford £100 on a handset that can afford £400+ and the more users that an operating system has, the more developers want to develop apps for it. I’m sure you can see where we are going with this, let’s just say that whoever wins the budget battle for OS supremacy, will win the overall APP battle and our reckoning is that Android may just take it in 2010.

There’s something that falls a little flat with the HTC Hero for us, which is a shame because it has a lot, a hell of a lot, going for it. It’s running Google’s Android OS, of course, meaning that its packed to bursting with all that Google goodness you know and love. It’s also doing so through HTC’s first genuine User Interface for Android, called HTC Sense, which is downright lovely as it goes. It’s got a 3.5mm jack socket (finally, HTC, you listened to us!). A decent camera. GPS. Etc. So on. And so forth. (Have a look at the product overview, or this HTC Hero review for a full specs download.)

But what then, we hear you bleat, is wrong with it? Well, just look at it. Right? Take a look at the video at the bottom of this post. Google some images of the thing. Zoom in. Then zoom out and blink a few times. Then reassure yourself that it’s okay, that you’re alright, it was just a bad dream. But then, it wasn’t. The HTC Hero really is that ugly. Maybe it’s just us, maybe there are plenty out there who want there phone to look like it’s just been punched in the jaw and disfigured. Or like it’s been left next to a roaring fire for a little bit too long and has gone all droopy. Not us though, unfortunately.

HTC claim that the weird bend at the bottom is to make talking on the thing more natural. Okay. But has any out there ever had trouble with straight phones? Do you find yourself straining your mouth to get it closer to the receiving mic to make yourself heard? No, us neither. And come on, are you supposed to expect us to put that thing in our pocket? Then travel around in public places with it there?! We’d get ourselves arrested for indecency in no time. Again.

So, sorry HTC, that bend/curve/lip/whateverthehellitis is not for us. But then who are we to talk.

We like phones with names. We don’t like phones with numbers. Would you rather tell someone, for example, that you’ve just become the proud owner of the i7500, or the Magic. No contest, right? Well, if only things were that simple. Because, although the HTC Magic is actually out now, ready and waiting for you to get your grimy hands over its glossy little body, we think you might just be better putting those hands back into trouser-pocket-fiddling mode and sit it out the month or so it’ll take for the i7500 to be released. And why is that? Well, three reasons.

1. The i7500 comes with 8GB of internal memory, while the Magic comes with… wait for it… 512MB. Yep, a stone age, media-hating, you-mocking 512MB. But but but microSD microSD we hear you chantering. Balls to those annoying little thing we chant back.

2. The i7500 comes with a 3.5mm socket for your headphones. But but… erm. Exactly, there’s not even an argument here.

3. The i7500 comes with the fantastic OLED screen that Samsung have been pushing big time recently. And it rocks. And the HTC Magic comes with, well, a nice enough screen, just not as good a screen.

And isn’t that enough? No? Well, the i7500 is also thinner, has a better battery, a better camera and is just plain sexier. Happy now? Oh, look what you’ve done, you’ve made us make HTC cry. Oh well, so it goes.

Check out this HTC Magic Review for a less bullying POV, or have a wander through the flashy HTC Official page instead.

Without trying to be too mean, we’re going to list a few stats about the Snap and a few comments next to them

• 528Mhz Qualcomm processor – not too shoddy, but other phones around it are already way ahead – the Toshiba TG01 has 1GB (and we know it’s a different kind of phone, but still)
• Runs on WinMo 6.1 – really not something to boast about. Still lots of annoying quirks in this version, and some soon-to-be-released phones will be running 6.5.
• Has a 2.4″ TFT LCD screen – fair enough, not that bad
• Supports 3G networks – right
• Has a BlackBerry Pearl-like trackball instead of the D-Pad of previous versions – about time too
• Also includes an enter button – shame the TAB button is where you think the ‘A’ should be so you keep hitting it accidentally
• A 1500mAh Li-Ion battery – okay, we’ll give you that one – that’s impressive
• 2MP digital camera with video – 2MP? The future’s here…

We should stop there… We don’t like being mean about phones as much as other people do. And there’s plenty to suggest that a lot of people are going to get some good old fashioned it’s-more-than-functional fun out of the HTC Snap. But we just like something a little special. Something that shows someone has cared for and looked after and made the Snap as good as it could possibly have been during development. And we just don’t see it here. 6 months ago this might have been that something a little bit more magic. Now, The HTC Snap looks slightly outdated even before it’s started shifting off the shelves.

Check out this rather noisy mobile phone conference demo if you don’t believe us. Or read an HTC Snap review here.

HTC Touch Cruise 09 is an awesome phone. It has GPS that helps you navigate around but that’s not all. Every time you click a picture with the phone the HTC Footprints automatically stores your location, now that’s something cool. This will help you keep a journal and if you want to visit a beautiful difficult- to- find place you visited a year back, there’s no need to worry anymore. Your HTC Touch Cruise 09 will have all the locations where you have ever taken pictures, stored away safely any time you want to revisit them.

This phone has a wonderful navigation system. And the new feature included is that this navigation system comes with a car kit holder. When you connect it to your car it automatically switches to NaviPanel mode. The software included in Touch Cruise 09 efficiently navigates, helping you find services like hospitals, service stations, etc and guides you to take route that will help you avoid traffic jams.

With a good 1100 mAh battery which gives a talk time of 400 minutes and a stand by time of two weeks take a look at this video is a reliable companion on the road. Using the TouchFLO finger swipe technology, HTC Touch Cruise 09 gives easy access to contacts, email, GPS and other applications.

It has a 2.8 inch QVGA which is large enough for comfortable viewing of the navigation maps and for emails and editing documents. It can be used as a mp3 player and it has a 3.15 mega pixel camera which also shoots video.

If you tend to go to a lot of wild rides in unmapped routes, then HTC mobile phones is what you should take along so you will always know where you are and remember where you have been.

If you are looking for network specific deals, follow the links below:
HTC Touch Cruise 09 on Orange
HTC Touch Cruise 09 on O2
HTC Touch Cruise 09 on T-Mobile
HTC Touch Cruise 09 on Vodafone
HTC Touch Cruise 09 on 3 Mobile
HTC Touch Cruise 09 on Virgin

With all the features of an iphone, and yet slimmer and more compact build at 51 x 102 x 11mm, the HTC Touch Diamond 2 is definitely a must have for those excited by the minimal. The HTC Touch Diamond 2 has a beautiful exterior, especially the prism-like back panel. It has a sharp 3.2-inch touch-sensitive screen with WVGA (480 X 800 pixel) resolution fitted seamlessly into a sleek black casing.

The Touch Diamond 2 is way more than just a pretty package. It supports 11 audio formats, including M4A, and a whopping 7 video formats. It supports SD cards, which technically means that you can have up to 4GB (and counting) of information – photos, music, videos, and other data – all on your cell phone.

What really appeals to me is the way the product overview speaks business and personal at the same time. It arranges all conversations by person so when you look at your contacts, you have a clear history of your interactions with that person – whether by email, text message, or phone call. This is innovative and very useful, at least to me. Now I have a record of each time I contacted my bank, my boyfriend, or my broker, all neatly arranged for me to view.

Another great feature of the cheap pay as you go mobile phones is the fact that I can have all my favourite webpages pre delivered to my phone, ready for me to browse at my convenience. This saves me so much time waiting for the news to load before I duck into the subway for a train. They call this feature push-internet, and I don’t think any other phone allows you to do this yet. Plus, the new zoom bar makes browsing easier than ever before. I’m not sure if I’ll ever use my computer again!

For network specific deals, follow the links below:
HTC Touch Diamond 2 on Orange
HTC Touch Diamond 2 on O2
HTC Touch Diamond 2 on T-Mobile
HTC Touch Diamond 2 on Vodafone
HTC Touch Diamond 2 on 3 Mobile
HTC Touch Diamond 2 on Virgin

Conference calling at its best. The HTC Touch Pro 2 is really a step up from other smartphones. The easy to use conference calling facility makes multi-party dialling effortless. It even lets you bridge back to base if you’re travelling. This feature paired with the Touch Pro 2 Straight Talk speakerphone innovation means that I can take my office anywhere. The technology enables great sound quality. It has a noise-cancelling microphone, and a loudspeaker to match any conference phone.

To make things even better, the TP2 has an inbuilt appointment reminder that will find the phone number and pin, ready to dial without any hassle. The phone is slowly becoming indispensable to my business, and is great for family calls too. It is wonderful to be able to talk to my parents and brother at the same time. Virtually a reunion, it spares us all the time and costs of flights when we need to share a few laughs or fights together. And I can be working on my important business presentations at the same time.

The Touch Pro 2
has other good features too. The 3.6-inch touch-sensitive screen with WVGA (480 X 800 pixel) resolution is clear and bright, and can be tilted to any angle. The slide-out 5-row QWERTY keyboard has well spaced keys so that I’m not constantly fumbling over emails. The official overview also has the option of being ale to call one of your email contacts right away – without having to go back into the address book. So sometimes when a message is urgent, and emails can’t be trusted, I just hit call. Another useful tool is the zoom bar at the bottom of the screen which is really helpful when I’m reading miniscule stock figures. The zoom bar works well for image viewing and Google maps too.

All in all, the HTC mobile phones is a great buy, for business or personal use – or both.

For network specific deals, follow the links below:
HTC Touch Pro 2 on Orange
HTC Touch Pro 2 on O2
HTC Touch Pro 2 on T-Mobile
HTC Touch Pro 2 on Vodafone
HTC Touch Pro 2 on 3 Mobile
HTC Touch Pro 2 on Virgin