T-Mobile's HTC HD2 gets purchased and unboxed early (video)
By Darren Murph 
posted March 21st 2010 12:21PM
posted March 21st 2010 12:21PM
[Thanks, Andrew]
Update: Windows Mobile Nation got one as well (also from Walmart), and has hosted up a nice gallery of shots here.
Most enthusiasts (including myself) will definitely prefer this phone to run running Windows Phone 7 Series. Windows Mobile 6.5.X is, and will remain for some time, the most tweakable and power-user friendly mobile OS, and the hardware on this beast is second to none.
@ScienceProUSAcom
prefer this phone **to one** running Windows Phone 7 Series.
Sorry for the typo.
@ScienceProUSAcom
and when Windows Mobile 6.5 time is up for the hard core windows mobile fans looking for a fully customizable device that lets you change almost everything on your device, only android is an option
@ScienceProUSAcom Welcome to 2009.
@ScienceProUSAcom While I tweak the bejesus out of my old vogue and have it running WM 6.5.5 - I look forward to WP7S for some things - multiple exchange e-mail account sync would be HUGE! If you look at the e-mail app on WP7s it does a much more friendly job of reading through your e-mails as well.
I will be sorry to see some of the apps I had go away - in particular SPB Pocket plus and SPB phone suite as they made my home screen extremely efficient for quickly getting info I need and to keep apps without having to swipe my phone just to get to items I use frequently.
I do hope that Voice Command is included in WP7S as that next to e-mail is the most important thing. I'm surprised with all the effort states are making to get people to use BT headsets that voice dialing isn't a bigger concern for all phone OS manufacturers.
@ScienceProUSAcom I had this phone, for 3 months now. But I desperately want to sell it and go back to my HTC magic with android (which is POS compared to HD2 hardware-wise).
@boe Pretty sure voice dialing was in the unlocked emulator.
@ScienceProUSAcom
Yeah... for hobbyist-types. Those who just want to use their mobility device, without the need for tweaking to make it usable, will stick with or wait for better options.
6 months to a year from now when the formal updates are no longer issued by T-Mobile or HTC for the HD2, it'll become obsolete. Won't be to long before the only people who know what device this is are those who got one...
@ScienceProUSAcom Im sure someone will manage to get Phone 7 Series on there.
@ScienceProUSAcom @ScienceProUSAcom Man...I so wanted this phone until they announced WP7. I love WinMo6.5 for its openness and its customizable options. My only fear with this device is that it'll get outdated (which it already is) as soon as WP7 is launched, developers will stop making apps for this (which most have done right now I think).
Android on the other hand gives 'almost' everything WM6.5 did with better UI. But Sense on that sexy 4.3" screen kills everything on the market.
I think I'll get a Nexus One. I'm divided between HD2 and N1.
@viditbhargava If you're on Sprint then wait to decide to get the N1 or the Supersonic. I have a Blackberry Curve 8330 right now and I can't wait to get that POS out of my hands lol
@ScienceProUSAcom
Dude in the video: guy, US and Canada have the same wall socket plug.
@ScienceProUSAcom SAY IT!!!
@stridermt2k anyone else hear him say it was in vancouver? whats up with this?
@Dreezie Dreeze
Vancouver WA, right across the Columbia River from me.
@Svenson I would be will g to take the hd2 off your hands, for the right price... Let me know!
@benjitek weirdest part is it is usable without being tweaked. And everyone will know what this device is, it is the best piece of hardware you can have for a phone. Don't you know that? Don't be shy about it. You know it, that is why you wish everyone else forgot about it.
@ScienceProUSAcom Thanks, for a moment there I thought it was opposite day
@ScienceProUSAcom
Darren Murph - All this talk of "pain" that it won't be "upgradeable" to WPS7 needs to stop. You obviously know very little about what makes WinMo tick and you've made that abundantly clear.
WPS7 is quite a step BACKWARDS fromm WinMo 6.5 into iphone territory. Now I understand that something like that works for feeble minds, but please don't assume that the entire world shares that feeble mind. Consider that some of us are perhaps a little bit smarter and don't really trail of in the middle of our sentences with something like "ooooh shiny!"
@WindowsPhone7Series
You can't map the extra keys. Isn't that what old school WinMo does? Even if there were 2 dead buttons it would hardly be the end of the world.
@ScienceProUSAcom Yes, sadly the wp7 didn't materialize to this device for some undisclosed reasons. As for the post, i think its the same with the first review on HD2. Reactions: http://bit.ly/htc-hd2-first-concepts
@ScienceProUSAcom agreed!! I'd take 6.5 over 7 any day!
@OCEAN CLAK
Sad but completely true, i was excited for winpho 7 when it was announced and even though it looks awesome it doesn't seem like its for power users- looks like Android ftw in 2010!
@Svenson 3 letters everyone, XDA. Android will be on this phone before the Supersonic is released with the Supersonic's ROM.
Had em in the UK for ages...
You're not missing anything, the os brings the hardware down from what I've seen :(
Was a little depressing using the browser too tbh...
@sshole Just wait for the xda guys to run android on this baby, and you've got a dualbooting 4.3 inch snapdragon monster!
@sshole
assume forum name. I wish I thought of it.
@sshole
Had mine for about 6 months, nice device but stays at home mostly as a screen extender to my laptop and couch surfing. Expected it to be retired when that Dell comes out.
My E71 still rules the road for me.
@sshole
*awesome. WTF is my problem, man? I spell like an @sshole.
@sshole
yes, but doesn't that mean it just allows them to get the phone up to spec through firmware updates? You can't release something that doesn't need to be upgraded, it's just bad business.
I'm digging this thing so far and i'm seriously considering getting one to keep my iPwn company.
@sshole
I have had this phone for about 8 months now and it is TEH best phone money can buy bar none (OK I've never handled a N1 ) on it I have 4 push e-mail accounts (outlook, Gmail, WinMail and one from private server) , at XDA devs is downloadable a PERFECT voice dialing app for it (among other useful things, great cam /vidcam, ass beating vide and multimedia player, great browser, and Sense UI which makes the miracle of making Winmob, a joy to use.
I also have had an Hero (to be substituted in 2 weeks time by a pre ordered HTC Desire) since last september, and while I think that android is the best all round OS , mainly because of the app market (therefore I ordered the Desire) at the moment the HD2 is the best phone by a long long shot.
It has less apps but it's much better at doing what it can do.
Soon when My Desire will arrive you'll find my Hero on ebay, but I'm gonna hold tight to my HD2 for a long while still (I guess) coz I'm convinced that the first gen of phones with w7s will all be somewhat inferior and much buggyer than this little jewel. (although I certainly hope to be surprised and deadly wrong about this)
@Plexus I'm not really dissing WiMo 6.5 as a whole.. It seemed to be nice, but I found considerable lag when very little was running (during an albeit brief time to play)..
I tried loading engadget.com (full, not mobile) up on it and it did render properly, just didn't do it very gracefully..
It is one of the nicest pieces of hardware that i've ever seen (nicer than the iPhone, and I say that as an iPhone owner..) I just wasn't impressed with the performance of an OS from a company who could have made it so much slicker...
That said I'm geeking out about WiMo 7.. if its properly smooth and light on its toes (we know it looks good.. we don't know how it'll perform) then it'll be awesome.
Also, I'm aware since its more open than iPhone (currently.. not sure on how Microsoft will deal with app applications) that a really good browser could actually be developed.
@sshole
Don't use mobile IE. Try Opera Mobile for much better web rendering. I love WinMo but IE absolutely sucks on the phone platform.
@Plexus
"I also have had an Hero (to be substituted in 2 weeks time by a pre ordered HTC Desire)"
I love how you refer to your Hero as "an Hero".
@Exbloder im really hoping xda will have a few ROM's for this device, but as of now they are talking like its gonna be too hard and they dont wanna do it. im sure there will be someone out there that wants it bad enough to make a working rom for it.
@Plexus "I have had this phone for about 8 months now "
The phone has only been out for 4 months (November release in Europe) and yet you claim you've had it for 8..
@Plexus Yo how could u have had the phone for 8 months when it only came out about 5 months ago i think?
...were u a tester btw?
@Plexus
I've had it for four months now and can't really faulty it. I live 6.5 and have recently flashed a new ROM which gives me an eReader tab which I use a lot. Sense is great and occasionally dipping a toe into wm6.5 really isn't a problem.
@r00tcause
Ok , I was not very precise in counting the months, still I have had it for more than 4 months, almost 7 I would say.
I live in the frigid kingdom of Denmark where Klingtech supplied me with one of the first HD2 to arrive here, in the end of september 2009 .
That makes it 6 months and some weeks.
man STOP moving you hands !!!
He looks sad... He wants Series 7. Poor guy... Hustled by Ballms.
Useless phones that with super specs and tiny battery life.
@barac
Would you prefer average specs and tiny battery life instead?
@barac
useless hardware because of a useless outdated os and UI
@west10r
nothing wrong with the UI dipsh!t, sense UI looks pretty good!
''HTC HD2 gets purchased and unboxed early'' in Europe and asia last year
USA is very behind in getting new technology exclude the OS
@OCEAN CLAK
First with iPhone, first with an Android phone, first with a 4G network, first with Nexus One.
Plus, most of these phones run on chips made and designed in the US. So yeah, the US really is "behind".
@scoobydooby
Every single HTC and Samsung (and LG, etc..) phone is released in europe and asia 6 months ahead of USA...and first to have 4g? May wanna check your facts on that one -- I am not positive but I think a european country had the first ever comercially available 4g network for consumers. And most of these phones run on chips designed in the US? LOL! ALL of these phones run chips based on ARM instruction sets, which is a British company, and chances are 99% of all the parts and silicon themselves are made in asia.
@scoobydooby
Well for some technology made from asia,
for technology you mentioned are all from US based companys google, apple etc
@scoobydooby we are behind on most phones..... dont take it offensivly we just are, no big deal. if you think otherwise go google it.