HTC Leo Windows Mobile 6.5 slate is capacitive? (update: video!)
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Sep 18th 2009 8:31AM
posted Sep 18th 2009 8:31AM
Update: Video showing Leo's very snappy, finger-centric UI added after the break.
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Wow just think about this beast + android + sense = EPIC!!
Why HTC why oh why....
Ok i am just going put it all on one post so nobody else has to:
-Android.
-Apple/iPhone
-Zune HD
-Windows Mobile.
-Resistive.
-Tegra.
OK. Now nobody else has to mention those.
I'd buy this in a heartbeat if it had android. Huge screen, great processor... why screw it up with WinMo? Plus it's like htc made android devices are 1-2 years behind htc's winmo devices hardwarewise, why is that? Android still wins though.
- Capacitive
-Android.
-Apple/iPhone
-Zune HD
-Windows Mobile.
-Resistive.
-Tegra.
Beautiful phone! Thank goodness they didn't ruin it with android.
@applegate: if only it had a keyboard. And a 2000mah battery. And a tilting screen. And a stylus (you may have thought you covered that, but you didn't).
i dont mind the OS.
i just wanna know which carrier will have this. anyone knows???
Agree. WTF HTC is thinking. Why wasting effort on the junk OS?
It's capacitive, the video pretty much confirms it, so you can take off the question mark at the end of your sentence now Thomas
HTC is having slow sales in the recent quarter and yet they don't seem to get it.
They ought to realize people are moving away from Windows Mobile.
Who's the sade wanna-be singing in the video?
- Does it run Linux?
Homina Homina, me wannama!
Yo AT&T, get with the program already!
Looks Monstrous next to the Diamond 2. Hopefully the battery will allow for a few hours of watching video on that beast.
The diamond is actually a very small phone, its just a bit shorter than the iphone and considerably thinner.
The Leo is still big though.
I can't imagine surviving on a 3.2" screen. TP2's 3.6" is so small I can only put up with it because the resolution is so much higher than past devices, but it's at the absolute bottom of my tiny screen tolerance.
4" is comfy. 4.3" sounds nice, though despite other comments, I could live with even less bezel.
Also, I at least vaguely recall reading about it packing a 1350mah battery somewhere. That doesn't sound promising.
The damn thing is a beast, it's alos got a TV-out and Digital compass: http://www.mobiletechworld.com/2009/09/18/the-htc-leo-has-a-digital-compass-and-tv-out/
4.3"... that's not a pocket-sized phone really, is it?
yeah this phone isn't for metrosexuals.. you're gonna need pants with actual pocket room.
So iPhone users are out.
hahaha LOL your comment reminds me of the Southpark's episode
Whats with the lorem ipsum placeholder text..did the designer forget to remove before sending his 3d model to HTC or is it fro network rebranding?!
If this phone isn't for metrosexuals, what's with the music in the video?
Your comment reminds me of that Simpsons episode. No wait, it was that Seinfeld episode. Hilarious!
Of course it's for metrosexuals. We wear man purses with plenty of room for a large phone.
It looks as slim as the diamond so im sure its pocketable as long you dont wear skinny jeans like justin long.He looks gay
You need 4.3" so you can hit things with your fingers on WinMo.
@Jason
That's only if your metrosexual has evolved into metro-hipsterwannabe-sexual. Gains "subway car scent attack" as well as "cycling like an idiot without a helmet in traffic with one gear".
Now that's one sexy device..
But under the hood is WinMo which is quite UGLY. :)
Hardware is worthless without software. Another word, WinMo device is worthless. ;)
Why low rank for WinMo haters?
I just quit WinMo for good. Wouldn't go back if you paid me.
Of course the demo looks good but I predict it's going to start dragging just as soon as you install some apps and start using them.
Maybe WinMo haters seriously just need to shut up?
How are you supposed to navigate through the elements of windows mobile that do require the occasional use of stylus like the check boxes or the drop down menu etc on windows? HTC has never really covered those with the TouchFlo3D.
HTC is diving deeper into skinning window mobile in terms of settings and all, but I still find the need to go through the windows UI every now and then, like setting the time zone where I live because the city is not included in the list of cities TF3D provides.
That won't be a problem on a 4.3" screen. I have a hx4700 with a 4" screen and you really don't need a stylus for WinMo on a large screen. The only thing that can be difficult to touch is the scrollbar but that's no longer an issue with WinMo 6.5.
It's all been skinned since TouchFLO 3D 2.5. THe Stylus is no longer need for anything (especially with the latest WM6.5 builds)
Your points are well taken. This explains why Windows Mobile has become
a thing of the past.
Lots of applications and OS UI elements for WinMo do require a stylus... however, HTC recently filed a patent for a magnetic stylus said to work with capacitive displays. Possibly this could ship with the Leo?
patent info:
http://wmpoweruser.com/?p=6842
I don't think the Leo comes with any type of stylus though.
ah, my touch hd is still stuck with TF3D 2.1 and a cooked ROM. Havnt gotten around to flashing it with a 6.5 ROM, but apparently its a good idea. I should get on it tonight.
@y3k Checkboxes and drop menus aren't exactly exclusive to winmo, do really think that those things will be a problem on this phone. I know winmo can be tricky with its fancy "checkboxes and drop menus' but I'm pretty sure you'll handleit just as well with this capacitative screen. The Iphone pops out a scrolling menu for the when you touch the drop menu. And for checkboxes you can use this tool called a finger.
Typical winmo user.
@edu
If you have ever used any 3rd party file explorer applications or registry editing applications on WinMo, you will see it is just not possible to use those without a stylus, even on a 3.8 inch screen with a 800 X 480 resolution.
Its not just the boxes like that, its the multitude of applications available for the platform that were designed to be used with a stylus. This might have potential problems for many such applications.
Also, what about charecter and hand writing recognition? I love that about my phone. There nothing like quickly jotting down a note or someones phone number by writing it on the screen instead of going through a keyboard
I haven't used the stylus on my HTC Titan/P4000 in probably a year other than to do the screen calibration after reflashing a custom ROM. It has a 3.2" screen I think. The resistive touchscreen is sensitive enough to use your finger for the tiny scroll bars and drop down menus.
Install FTouchFlo and you can scroll with your finger which even makes Total Commander mobile easily usable without a stylus.
@y3k, You should watch the video. It's pretty f**ing awesome.
I got a new UI skin for my XV6800 when I had it, and i rarely used the stylus, even on a 2.5" screen. So if they skin it right, you shouldn't need a stylus especially on a huge screen like that!
I've used the stylus on the Touch Pro 2 only twice.. Both times to pick shit out of my teeth.
I'm recently put Mighty Mike's WinMo 6.5 ROM on my Touch Pro and I haven't pulled out my stylus in weeks. This phone will have WinMo 6.5 when it launches so I doubt there'll be much need if any for a stylus.
the least amount of screen bezel I've ever seen ! nice !
it's really not much smaller than that of the diamond2, but it looks much smaller with the huge screen.
I'm not 100% on the capacitive thing for WinMo. It works for the iphone. It works for the Storm. It works on Android. WinMo, ESPECIALLY with HTC tweaks etc, have extensive use of pressure sensitivity, especially with Manila 2.0+ I'm not ruling it out or anything, but I'm definitely wary.
However, I've been an HTC owner for quite some time, and it's BEAUTIFUL to see an HTC phone not gimped out with another shitty Qualcomm based mess. I can't wait to see what a real chip in these WinMo phones can do in the hands of HTC, capacitive or not.
FYI the SnapDragon SOC is made by.....Qualcomm
LOL, no shit really? I didn't know that. Well.. the Qualcomm chips in my last 3 devices (Apache, Titan, Touch Pro) have all been pretty blah, it's been the exorbitant amounts of RAM that have saved them I guess.
Yea, I'm the same way. If we have anything in WinMo I wish they would license the Storm 2's screen technology (if they would even consider doing that).
Although if Windows Mobile is getting the some heavy reworkings that is rumored it might not be so bad.
OH-MY-FUCKIN-GOD! I so want this beast!
WHEN IS IT COMING OUT?!
And I recently bought Touch Diamond 2 :/ ah well... we live only once! ;D
Don't worry, considering the amount of time it usually takes any good phone to come to the US, you'll probably be out of contract by the time Engadget gets a blurry screenshot of the first US models...carrier exlusivity FTL
Thankfully for me, I don't live in the US, I'm from Central Europe :)
Far too big, and for that reason, I'm out.
are you a dragon?
That's what she said!!! >=)
On a serious note, yeh the phone is huge, but i'd still get it xD
you turn your back and you're dead to me.
Size is about perfect. Tiny wasted bezel space and killer screen. 90%+ of my voice usage is with my Jawbone BT headset. Tiny phones are not a must.
huge phone is huge
I can't imagine trying to put this in my pocket and trying to pull it out again
well, considering how small the bezel is around the screen, the phone might not be much physically bigger than an iphone which has 3.5" with bigger bezel
That's what she said.
Huge, so huge!
Typical Engadget Tech-Nerd, for some reason, I highly doubt that...
That guy has huge hands in the video. My iPhone has the same proportions in my smaller than average hands.
Give me the "Touch Pro" version with slide out keyboard
Amen brah.
But generally speaking, all of HTC's major phones have qwerty and non-qwerty equivalents.
Still, I don't understand why anybody would *not* want the qwerty version of any of their phones. I guess if you've never had a qwerty phone before, you might not know what you're missing. But it's amazing that nobody will buy a tablet PC without a keyboard, but they will happily buy a smartphone without one even when there's a keyboard version that's more or less exactly the same otherwise.
What I dont understand is why is it labeled as the "Pro" version when there is no keyboard?? Doesnt make sense to me.
You anti-WinMo guys have your panties in a bunch over nothing. So how about this:
-Pocket Office
-Works with my Stowaway
That's all you need to know. I will buy this monster, and work/play/type etc. on it like it is my main machine. It's called convergence, people.
Now, back to your basements.
What a gorgeous device! TouchFlo 2.5 looks amazing, and I am pleased to see that both tethering and the program which converts the phone into a HSDPA-WiFi router are present as well. The latter is absolutely essential.
I just hope it is announced on the 6th of October and available in the U.K. shortly after.
Agreed. I'm looking for a phone with a large touchscreen before the end of the year so I can use it for SatNav for my Xmas holiday. This would be perfect if it comes out soon and the latest version of TomTom works on it.
This screen is absolutely HUGE, but the question asked, is how big is too big? Would this be something I'd have to worry about every time I sit down because of the large screen? Otherwise it looks totally awesome!
Do you carry your phone in your back pocket???? If not there is no need to worry...
No HDMI is a downside
I came.
Toshiba TG01 which have similar hardware is 129 x 70 x 9.9 mm and have a battery life of 276 h stand by / 5h 3G talk time.
Closest device to my dream phone yet. Too bad I am on Sprint and this will be GSM. Still, $70 unlimited plan can't be beat here in the US. And before everyone starts arguing about reception, in NYC all carriers receive great, or at least decent, reception.
THIS is what Windows Mobile can do when it isn't running on an MSM7200 processor.
Not again, platform (flame)wars in discussions. Same old story over and over again.
10 years ago it was EPOC vs. POS,
5 years ago it was POS vs. WM,
now it's WM vs. Android.
Not to mention other platforms thrown in the mix from time to time.
The certainly positive thing is that it's got a great large screen (remember the market flooded by tiny 2.8" devices just two years ago?). HTC may well create a trend as Apple have already done. Look, love or hate iPhone again, but it has played its role in establishing an edge-to-edge screen trend. HTC was fast to response with Touch HD etc., and now we see something more internet tablet-like with even bigger displays.
Competition is great. If people really need 4.3" (and some certainly do), we'll see devices with them coming in different flavours pretty soon. Don't worry guys, you'll have Android and even a horse covered in chocolate if you want. WM is still not the worst choice with HTC's graphical shells, and aside from that, I simply do not understand people bashing this OS now when they were shouting "Palm is rubbish, go Windows" just two or three years ago.
Oh yes, Engadget, whether its screen is capacitive or resistive, I couldn't care less be it a responsive one first of all.
Palm was outdated 2 or 3 years ago, and now WinMo (even 6.5) is outdated. It's time that Microsoft moves on to 7, hopefully it's good.
What is in that video is most definitely not outdated.
WinMo 6.5 is hardly outdated. It stacks up well against Android and the iPhone from a UI perspective.
Anyone else see at 5.49 it says CDMA privacy???
PLEASE SPRINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Damn, that's a huge bi*tch. Nice big screen, look's great, I'll take one. Thanks
An OLED Capacitive Touch Screen would be amazing.. when will that happen?
@ Vishnu
The Samsung i8910 has a capacitive OLED 3.7 inch screen thats very good.
But yeh this phone is looking very nice, slightly on the big side though.
I think in the future you'll be able to choose what OS you want on your phone just like what we do with PCs.
too bad they ruined it with a capacitive screen. now you get to deal with accidental brushes of the finger making full on gestures. I much prefer having to press a little to engage the screen
I own HTC HD with 3.8" screen and I'm telling you ... I do not use stylus at all. It is not a problem with those new big screens. But watching this video makes me wonder if this is really capacitive. Because this guy have problems navigating menus and items. Many times he has to click/slide twice to make it work. Overall impression ... it does not look smoother with this capacitive (?) screen than with my current resistive on HTC HD :(
I tried iPhone several times and navigation through items on screen is much smoother. I wish this video shows Google Maps and more browsing.
No the guys must have missed the memo: triple taping doesn't work on WinMo (that's what he does several times to open stuff) and the rom is obviously messed up (btw you can see all the debug apps when he browses the progams menu)
I love the writings on the back (including the lorem ipsum placeholder), I wish they would keep that for the retail version...
Also the interface looks nice and all, but what if you start an application? Won't it be WinMo 6.5 again? I wish they would release this with Android. (yes, I know I'll be downvoted for this... but come on, please, could we get a modern OS on such a phone?)
This looks great! I'm thinking this will replace my TP2 if it ever comes to the US. I'll probably miss the awesome keyboard on the TP2, but this screen size should be more than enough to make up for that. Also, the 4.3" screen is the same size as my GPS in my car, and I've pocketed that around just fine - which is probably thicker than this phone as well.
What happened to the sites that were making posts about the white spots on the screen?
Off the topic, do anybody know the song played in the video, it is very relaxing.
Do you have one of those cell phones with the Music ID program? Hold it up to your speakers and see if it ID's it.
anyone know what the name of the song is?
Already tried using one of those music ID apps, no use. Comes
up with weird crap.
i see a disturbing correlation..... capacitive touchscreen users have ridiculously tiny fingernails or meaty fingertips.... :(
or maybe it's a western thing? which sort of explains why they hate resistive touchscreens.... :(
i hate capacitive touchscreens.... :(