I've been using HTC's HD7 for a little while, now. I've found some pros and some cons with the phone and the new operating system from Microsoft.
Here are the system's pros:
1. The interface is initially pleasing. It's bright and clear.
2. The touchscreen is pretty flawless. It's no different from HTC's high-end Android phones. And that's good.
3. The battery life is surprisingly okay. This phone has a 4.3 inch screen, normally battery-drain hell. But the HD7 easily lasts a full day with moderate to heavy use.
4. It uses the standard Micro-USB charging system. That means that you can share chargers with loads o father people. No more emails around the office with: "does anyone have a skinny Nokia charger?" (Incredibly, Nokia has stuck with its own charger for the N8. Grrrrr.)
5. The photo and video quality is decent enough. The HD7 has high definition video recording. Increasingly, this makes a difference.
6. The operating system integrates your contacts really nicely. Facebook friends, for example, are added to the list.
Now here are some of the cons.
1. The number of apps available is lamentable. Going from an iPhone or an Android phone, this will hit you with a shock. No more Angry Birds when you're on the loo. No sharing files via Evernote.
2. Lack of content-sharing. On an iPhone or a Nokia, you're often able to instantly share photos, videos or other content to the most popular social networking services. Much less integration on Phone 7.
3. The Twitter apps are rubbish or non-existent. Twitter's own Phone 7 app is muck. It'll take you ages, for example, to work out where exactly the 'replies' section is. Okay, this is only important if you use Twitter. But I do.
4. The operating system can slow up. If you're trying to switch between apps or reverse your way out of an app, the HD7 is noticeable slower than either Android or iPhone. Okay, it's just a second or two. But still.
5. Xbox Live is limited. One of the great promises of this phone is its integration of your Xbox Live account. But when you try to use your account to download games, you'll find that loads aren't available 'for your territory' (Ireland). Booo.
For the purposes of this post, I've mixed in comments about the HD7 (the hardware) with Phone 7 (the operating system from Microsoft), as this is what you'll get when you go in to buy the phone.
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