Entelligence: The HTC HD2 and the future of Windows Mobile
By Michael Gartenberg 
posted October 6th 2009 7:30PM
posted October 6th 2009 7:30PM
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.
Despite Steve Ballmer himself apologizing for the delay of Window Mobile 7 a few days ago, there's a lot in WinMo 6.5 that Microsoft should be proud of. Overall the OS itself has been tweaked a lot for performance -- I've tried devices that were running WM 6.1 and were upgraded to 6.5 and there's a dramatic difference in speed. Microsoft has also worked hard to make the new OS much more finger friendly, with UI elements that really required a stylus in the past much more usable with a finger instead. There's also some nice integration with new services such at the marketplace for mobile applications and MyPhone synchronization.
That's all well and good, but it's one device that I've had the chance to use for just a few minutes that's really affirmed my view of Windows Mobile viability, and it has me very excited about the platform. It's the new standard for Windows Phones and it's pretty much the device that every other Windows-powered phone is going to need to live up to. It's called the HTC HD2 (code named Leo) and it's a game changer in my opinion.
What makes the HD2 special? Two things: a capacitive screen, which is new on a Windows Mobile device, and the new 1GHz Snapdragon processor under the hood. The HD2 is a slate machine, with a large and gorgeous capacitive 4.3-inch touchscreen that's meant
If you're dismissive of Windows Phones and Windows Mobile 6.5, you're not looking at the whole picture, and you're certainly not looking at the HTC HD2. |
I only used a pre-production device for a few minutes but I was blown away. Everything about this device was fast, smooth, and fluid. Moving from photo to photo was as seamless as any device I've used and HTC also tossed in multitouch to zoom and in out. The onscreen keyboard is an HTC design and I had no problems typing quickly and accurately. I don't mean this as a full review but it does show what the OS is capable of in the right hands.
What does this all mean? Well, despite apologies from Microsoft's executives, there's a lot of viability in this platform. Features ranging from Exchange integration to media support and services can appeal to both business users and consumers. That's important in an age where users have needs in both of those worlds and want to move seamlessly between them, especially when they're mobile. Second. It's not about Windows Mobile 7 or whatever Microsoft decides to call the next version of their mobile OS platform. It's about what vendors are capable of doing with the current OS to create powerful and relevant phones for today's market. Bottom line? If you're dismissive of Windows Phones and Windows Mobile 6.5, you're not looking at the whole picture, and you're certainly not looking at the HD2.
Michael Gartenberg is vice president of strategy and analysis at Interpret, LLC. His weblog can be found at gartenblog.net, and he can be emailed at gartenberg AT gmail DOT com. Views expressed here are his own.
wow, this thing is very nice. it makes we want to see winmo 7 now. and also own it.
I don't think anyone is dismissing windows mobile. But the thing is, it takes flash and pizzaz to capture the buyer's attention. Now that buyers are more educated on porducts than ever before, we don't get hyped about stuff as easily. if Windows mobile had better features than iPhone and people really want it, then it will outsell iPhone. That's the free market right?
Problem is, Apple is making a mockery of the other cellular phones and no other cellularphone company is seeing major gains cause iPhone damn near cornered the market globally.
i know i'm gonna get downranked, but I'm not pushing the iPhone. I'm just sayint that we should let the free market and the invisible hand do its thing. And in this case, the invisible hand has multitouch.
Quantumphysics@
I'd say WinMo is much worse than Palm OS if you ask me. The only reason WinMo hasn't faded
away as fast as Palm OS is because WinMo is from Microsoft. Sure MS will try to improve WinMo
but there is one thing the author has failed to mention - that is the competitors aren't standing still.
MS moves one step and the competitors move two steps so people can see what the crystal ball
looks like going forward. Yes, people are looking at the WHOLE picture which includes the
competitors.
"Now that buyers are more educated on porducts than ever before, we don't get hyped about stuff as easily."
I doubt this very much. Tech blog readers might do research and ignore (some) hype, but tech blog readers are not most people.
I agree with pyrthas. Educated buyers would ignore the flare and the pizzaz. It's about what Apple has been trying to sell for years, that it just works. For me, that works, is not the i-thing everyone talks about. Sorry, there's something about not having a keyboard that really irks me. I guess I could get used to it, but whereas I could hit a key and know I hit the right one and move on--even if I do end up typing faster than the phones can keep up--I don't have that kind of trust with a slate. The move to a capacitive is a definite good move, but I'm still waiting for a multitouch resistive (though it'll cost me an arm and a leg). And educated people wouldn't buy a phone purely because they can buy an app where you shake a phone for restaurants (okay, I lie that's a huge selling point to me).
Either way, good things will come this way from MS. MS, for some reason, loves to fail with an offering before releasing something amazing (first Zune vs Zune HD, first XBox vs 360--yes even with the RRoD, and from Vista vs Windows 7). Others might see an MS failure as crap, I see it as technological fertilizer.
Anyways if consumers were that much more educated some of us wouldn't be raped by our horrible phone plans and subsidies.
An OS needs to appeal to two categories of people - user and the developer.
More importantly it the OS should satisfy the developer first, so that we can create good phones and associated apps for the user.
The core features provided by Windows Mobile OS are really good and much better in many aspects compared to competitive environments.
But when it comes to graphics, animation centric to building a good UI experience, Windows Mobile provides next to nothing to the developer. What HTC has done on windows mobile is really really mind blowing, but it doesn't provide anything to 3rd party developers. The 3rd party apps that will be put up on the Market-place for example will not benefit from HTC's modification. Every 3rd party developer will need to create their own rich-UI framework.
Whereas on competitive OS 3rd party developers are able to utilize the standard frameworks provided by Apple, google etc. to provide a consistent rich UI experience.
I am a windows mobile apps developer for last 3 years. From a developers stand point I see more returns to my efforts on iPhone or Android.
If this trend continues a lot of developers will shift their attentions towards other platforms, and a smart phone is defined by the kind of apps available on it.
@Quantumphysics.
The problem with comparing any phone to the iPhone is that there are multiple cell phone manufacturers worldwide making various types of phones for various types of people. Not everyone wants nor likes the big touchscreen that Apple or other form-alike phones offer. My wife for one. She hates both touch screens and big phones. Go figure. When people talk about an iPhone killer it makes no sense, because Apple has introduced an iconic product - which they're very good at, whether you like the product or features. There's no "flip" version of the iPhone - no "slider" - no "push to talk." While there are a couple of different levels of iPhone -- conceptually, there's only "iPhone." I don't think HTC or any other company will kill the iPhone (whatever definition of "kill" you have) because HTC and others are in the business of making phones. That means new designs, new products, smart phones, feature phones, etc. Globally, Apple is just a blip on the mobile phone radar. But it's a big blip because iPhone is iconic. I don't have numbers, but I imagine Motorola or HTC or Nokia or nearly any other maker sells more cell phones in various form factors than Apple could ever hope to.
Regionto, the problem is there are not many educated buyers. 90% (at least) of the cell phone buyers out there buy whatever is "cool." That is why any Apple product has a line out the door before anyone has read one review. The iPhone is "cool." Are there other phones that do things better? Sure, but they're not "cool." And when it comes down to it, most consumers will succumb to vanity. It's like a chick buying running shoes because they're cute instead of because of how they feel.
Well, I disagree with this article. HTC HD2 is so modified, it's no longer a Windows Mobile experience, it's a HTC experience. While this phone might be better at it's core functions than it's resistive/slow processor predecessors - it will never benefit from a modern OS kernel, app store, or accessory market. So in the near term, OEM's will drop WinMo 6.5 for Android (especially because it's free). The WinMo fanboys should acknowledge the huge mistake Microsoft made, and put all their eggs in the WinMo 7 basket. Every argument for WinMo compared to the iphone is null and void when compared to Android - so stop making this just an iPhone vs WinMo debate. I want someone to explain how WinMo 6.5 is better than Android (and worth $30 to the OEM)? Sense is much better than touchflow on the same hardware. If I got HD2, I would wipe it and install Android w/ Sense.
@Girish: Holy crap man you've hit the nail right on. It has taken inmense efforts for HTC to bring the sense UI to where they have it now and for the rest of developers - especially smaller ones - it must be a real challenge to match that. What that means I guess is that app variety may not be that good and many applications will show the ugly face of 6.5 :(
...On the other hands there are the rest of benefits for the user like multitasking, proper exchange support, not having to use crapTunes... ETC.
I don't care, I love this phone and I WILL buy it :)
@Dogtown: WinMo's biggest advantage is it's Windows and Exchange integration. Android might license EAS from Microsoft but that doesn't mean they do as good a job of the integration as Microsoft do. Interestingly, the closest that any Android phone comes to WinMo on this front is the HTC Hero and that's largely because of HTC's modifications rather than Google's.
Any word on this coming to Sprint? I would use Windows Mobile if it was running on this beast.
I don't understand how nice hardware can make a case for an OS... apples and oranges, anybody?!
Phone OSes are often restricted to certain devices. Particularly iPhone OS, WebOS, and RimOS, as they are only available on devices from a specific manufacturer (WebOS has the possibility to break free). Symbian is not completely restricted to Nokia, but it might as well be. Windows Mobile and Android are the only two that really give a good, broad choice of manufacturers, although Android is currently a bit limited (but that is quickly changing).
Basically, the point is, your OS choice is going to limit your hardware choice. And that is where Windows Mobile can actually shine right now. It's pretty much agreed that it's the crappiest Phone OS for the average user (Proud TP2 owner here), but you have a much better choice of hardware available in different form factors. Want a slider Blackberry? iPhone with a keyboard? All touchscreen WebOS device? Windows Mobile has all those options...and that's just form factor.
*facepalm*
That's it, I'm done.
I'll go and like, get some nachos.
Kamokazi explained it well. Do you own a computer? Is it a PC? If it is a PC, did you just go out and buy the first one you saw with whatever OS you were looking for? Or did you look for a smaller/bigger one, one with a good battery, one that had more RAM, bigger processor, etc?
If it's a Mac, then it really doesn't matter because you only have a couple choices anyway. One of the main reasons I'm not interested in MacBooks is because they're too big. I love my 11.1" Vaio.
I think you are both missing the point:
Who cares if the OS is being "fast, smooth, and fluid" on a 1GHz processor? I do think one does have to make the distinction between OS and hardware - especially if the OS is NOT wed to the hardware, the phone ecosystem should only play a minor role in an article about the future of WinMobile as a whole. That's like me claiming to be an awesome football player because I bribe myself onto the Pittsburgh Steelers (or whatever other pro football team one may root for)... This is also the reason why your (Chris) example doesn't work. It's not Mac and Windows you need to compare but Linux and Windows, both of which are not married to their hardware. And I do think you made the choice (for whatever reason) of NOT installing Linux on your computer.
The thing is that the iPhone and the Pre are completely vertically integrated. Apple and Palm have the luxury of controlling their hardware AND their software to ensure a smooth experience. No one is really a fan of the iPhone OS, even though it is pretty fly. All the users are fans of the iPhone. The HD2 seems to show that WinMo doesn't have to suck. Would people feel differently about WinMo if no one else had ever released a shitty, slow implementation without a good user interface overlay and the HTC HD2 was WinMo the way the iPhone is the iPhone OS?
Both Android and Windows Mobile have been held back by underpowered hardware that results in a lackluster experience. As a result, especially for Windows Mobile, people have been dogging on the OS.
The way the hardware can make the case for an OS is because once the OS is paired with good enough hardware to make it shine, then it can allow one to make a fair evaluation of the OS.
Put another way, imagine it's 1995 again, only this time both Windows 95 and Windows 7 are being released that year. With the hardware that was available back then, Windows 95 would seem to have many advantages. Fast forward to the present, and Windows 7 wins in every category.
@meister
That's a poor analogy. You really don't have a choice to put a different OS on a phone in most cases (practically speaking, it's possible a lot of the time but usually the experience is poor). Hardware and OS are very closely tied as it stands now. You *should* include hardware when comparing OSes, as it is very much a part of it. It doesn't have to be, but it is. And not because Microsoft bribed their way through it, if that was what you were implying with that Steelers comment. That's a foolish idea and you should feel dumb for having it...it makes almost no sense for both companies to do that.
C'mon guys - you don't want to understand me. Windows mobile is far from being a windows7 in 1995. It's behind it's time if anything, even Steve Ballmer agrees with me here. And neither did I mean to say that Microsoft bribed anybody to get on the HTC HD2 - what I meant was that anybody can shine if they are in a fantastic environment. But it does not mean that they themselves are any good. And yet, that seems to be what the article is implying.
We understand you fine, in fact I said myself it was the crappiest smartphone OS.
What you don't understand is that you need to consider hardware as a part of the platform when looking at mobile phones. You can't install Android on a WinMo device like you can install Ubuntu on a computer. Until that time comes, the hardware needs to be considered. You could make the perfect OS, and then only make it available on a candybar with no touchscreen and numeric keypad, and it would be garbage.
Really that's the biggest complaint about WebOS right now...the keyboard on the Pre sucks, and the portrait slider isn't the greatest form factor in the world. And how many people bitch about the iPhone lacking a keyboard?
"The onscreen keyboard is an HTC design and I had no problems typing quickly and accurately...it does show what the OS is capable of in the right hands." The right hands being Michael's, of course.
I'd love the HD2, but the capacitive screen limits the kind of software I can run on it, as far as I understand. Too bad. OK, HTC, please bring out your stylus for capacitive screens!
You can buy a stylus for capacitive screens from ebay right now friend.
Try the Pogo Stylus or Pogo Sketch. You can get it for $10 and it's made specifically to work with cap touch screens.
I would be sincerely interested in this (coming from a TP2 and Pre) if it weren't so huge... The thing makes the Iphone look relatively small.... and that's saying something.
What I really want to see is a "Zune Phone". Same dimensions as the ZuneHD (which is amazing btw) but in a phone version.
Err, I think the draw of this particular phone is the it IS so huge. There are many smaller ones. If it is the capacitive screen part, then I'm sure you'll see any number of 2.8, 3.2, and 3.6 inch slates coming in the near future. In the meantime, I for one am VERY excited to have an option with a screen this size.
hi man, i have an iphone with a protector case, and belive it or not the iphone with the case and this htc have the same size.
I still want a keyboard. I don't care how fast you are on the virt keyboard. I can still run rings around most people thumbing it on a physical one. And as for the complains about wahhhh its to thick. Sorry I don't care if my phone is two CD Jewel cases thick instead of one. Its still pretty damn thin and frankly phones have started to become too small. My hands aren't troll sized however they aren't tiny either. I want something substantial in my hand when I'm talking and typing. My G1 doesn't really feel solid and substantial enough IMHO. This thing or the rumored HTC Dragon most defiantly would.
"I don't care how fast you are on the virt keyboard. I can still run rings around most people thumbing it on a physical one."
mobiletypingtest.com Prove it!
33 WPM, 1 typo on my TP2.
20-24 on my Palm Pre (did it like 6 times to get the range). Not a very fast mobile typist.
The little things they have you type are pretty funny.
first try got 26 wpm with 3rd party SOFTWARE keyboard (touchpal) on touch diamond.
42 wpm on an iphone 3G in landscape, who needs a physical keyboard?
I'm shocked at the level of honesty on this site. I'd personally enjoy a youtube video of M.'s 42 wpm (using real words and real grammar). It'd be a shining beacon on how fast people can virtualtype without errors. Or, it'd be yet another reason why fanboi's are so tiresome.
Here's a screenshot of mu second attempt, I used the double spacebar tap do end the line with dot but it recognised it as an error. Second attempt 38 wpm on an iPhone 3G + I'm no fanboy I just like my iPhone.
http://twitpic.com/kjpve
48WPM on TouchPro / Opera9.5 (Perfectly, 8 words in 10.022sec). Odd it didn't give me a chance to enter high score though.
I'd assume the biggest difference between the physical / nonphysical keyboards in terms of speed will come out when you have to drop in special characters. How long does it take you to type:
"I bought my phone for $400.00, then got a F$%&N $200 rebate!!!"
I'm guessing physical keyboards, especially the 5-row ones with your special characters all where you expect them to be and shift keys that act like they do on a regular computer are gonna win that one hands down, especially against the tap-and-hold special characters (HTC On-screen keyboards, for example)
Also, I can touch type on a physical keyboard. I don't care how much practice you have, you'll never touchtype on an onscreen keyboard, you'll always have to stare at your thumbs and give up screen real estate to type.
36wpm on i8910 virtual keyboard. Typing is really not hard on a big capacitive screen.
First try on my pre, one mistake ("bet" instead of "best") and I got 45 wpm.
After 5 few tries (with 3 of the tries being some totally weird BS going on where it would type the first letter in the field and then suddenly decided I wanted to do a google search on what I was typing) I got this. And ironically, yes that was the sentence it gave me.
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/2402/browser20090610202947.png
50 wpm.
@ Ben
I don't know what you're talking about. i touch type on my iPhone all the time.
sure i make mistakes but with the correction software on the iPhone and how trained it is as to how i type, it corrects everything to exactly how i want it.
so you sir, are wrong.
Maybe this will shut all the android and rachel fanboys up.
Nope still wish it ran Android :-)
Well it won't. Eat it =D
But the Dragon will.
Glad to see WinMo 6.5 is a decent improvement over 6.1. I wasn't a fan of 6.1. This phone looks awesome.
I just realised where your picture is from.
+1
Well, we finally have someone spilling golden beans this time around.
That's a good thing.
Windows mobile is trash. It took a 1GHz processor and HEAVY skinning to replicate on Windows Mobile what has been possible for a few years now on the alternatives.
The TouchPro2 should have had a snapdragon processor in it too. Im currently using one from sprint but this whole fiasco with 6.5 and the perpetual delays with wm7 just is so depressing. I bought the TP2 because by this time next year sprint will get around to releasing the next generation devices which may or may not have WM7.. if they dont, im abandoning WM for android.. but even that doesnt fill my needs. I would like a device like the Zune HD as my phone.. please whats wrong with that??
You will never get Wmo 7 on a touch pro 2.
According to Conflipper a well known wmo haxor
For CDMA Users it is fail time!
"any CDMA device that we have right now WILL NOT support WM7.
Needs to be Snapdragon chipset, or OMAP V3 or V4, no Qualcom chipset that is 7xxx series. they will not work with it at all.
Will they get hacked to work. NO
What will be needed? Bootloader, Kernal, XIP, everythingl. So that TP2 that you just bought last week. It will not run WM7 at all. and 6.5 End of Life is in February. So you have 5 months of upgrades on your new device"
"HTC Leo, HTC Qilin, Asus Galaxy can all run WM7 right now, they have the proper stuff from the manufactures to run and support it."
Source: http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showpost.php?p=1177823&postcount=8007
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showpost.php?p=1186192&postcount=19
No.
Nonononononononono.
We live in the world of iPhone OS, Android, webOS, and (occasionally) a Blackberry (Bold and Tour are some examples).
NOT WinMo. WinMo is way behind in the race, like.. really behind. You know the Tortoise and Hare? Well, WinMo is the Tortoise, but it doesn't win.
Hate me if you're a WinMo person, but an OS that doesn't even have an okay browser is just a no go.