The HTC HD7 is by far the biggest of them, with a Desire HD and HD2 matching 4.3-inch screen atop the near-identical hardware specs of its other WP7 brethren. In the hand it feels a bit gargantuan smaller hands might struggle to contain its heft, but luckily it feels thin enough to not give the impression of a small netbook in your pocket. The screen that just keeps on going meets the OS that refuses to fit on a single display. Yes, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7, like Windows Mobile 6.5 and Android before it, is getting treated with a 4.3-inch display from HTC for its launch party. The aptly titled HD7 is, by virtue of Microsoft’s stringent hardware requirements, mostly just a stretched-out version of its WP7 contemporaries: it offers the standard 800 x 480 res, 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon, 576MB of RAM, and a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with a 720p movie mode. So what sets it apart? HTC will have you believe its Hub enhances the buttery smooth WP7 software, while outside the shell there’s a handy kickstand for landscape lounging and you do of course benefit from an enlarged canvas for your finger inputs. Join us after the break to discover how much that matters in day-to-day use, along with the rest of our thoughts on the HTC HD7.
The phone features are pretty much what you would expect: quad-band world roaming, a speakerphone, call waiting, call forwarding, conference calling, voice dialing, and text and multimedia messaging. The HD7 doesn’t support T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network, but it is 3G-capable and has Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1, and GPS. As a limitation of Windows Phone 7, there is no tethering support right now.
Be aware that the HTC HD7 has 16GB of internal memory but no expansion slot. This should be enough for most people, but if you’ve got a huge multimedia library or like to load up your phone with apps and games, keep an eye on your available memory. One tip for freeing up storage while still being able to enjoy tunes is to stream music from services, such as Zune Pass, Slacker, and I Heart Radio, or use the Zune’s built-in radio.
The minimum camera requirement for Windows Phone 7 is 5 megapixels, and that’s exactly what you get with the HTC HD7. The camera has various settings, including six different resolutions, effects, scenes, and flicker adjustment. HTC also offers a free Photo Enhancer app–available as a free download from the HTC Hub or Windows Phone Marketplace–that allows you to touch up photos and add effects.
The HTC HD7 ships with a 1,230mAh lithium ion battery with a rated talk time of 6.5 hours and up to 14.5 days of standby time. It’s a smaller battery for a device of its stature, so that’s a bit disappointing. We certainly noticed an effect on battery life when we played games and watched video. However, the smartphone did meet its rated talk time in our battery drain tests. According to FCC radiation tests, the HD7 has a digital SAR rating of 1.15 watts per kilogram.
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