The HTC Titan is like nothing we have seen before with 4.7″ of pure Windows Phone 7 Mango-ness. We have managed to get our hands on this “hero” phone for the Windows Phone line and the first thing we thought of before Mango was the readers. We wanted to let the readers know our impression of HTCs forthcoming (some countries already have it) device and if this would make a good development device. We definitely put the HTC Titan through its paces and you can find the results after the break.
Hardware
We are so impressed with this sexy and sleek device we are unsure of where to begin. We should probably start at the beginning of the amazing 4.7″ scratch resistant screen which has soft buttons for home, back and Bing search. Most would think that the size of the screen would deter from the experience but we found that the very slim form factor (W2.78″ x H5.18″ x D0.39″) lent itself very well to the size of the device, thus making the screen size just right. Although sporting a 480×800 display resolution we found the tiles to be slightly bigger than expected. This resolution is best for developers testing their applications on the 4.7″ screen as any minor flaws or unexpected behaviors will be brought to light. Coming standard now with all Windows Phone 7.5 Mango phones are both the Gyroscope and Digital Compass. These are still important devices for developers as they make location based apps and games possible and enhance the users experience. When starting up the phone we also noticed how much more snappy it was to attend to our speed crazed needs. We found that the Second Gen 1.5GHz Scorpion SoC processor or also known as a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor (MSM8255T) really did the trick. With the 512Mb of ram also included in the device and paired with a beastly CPU, multitasking became a breeze as we flipped through our 10 email accounts, posted to Twitter/Facebook/Google+ and LinkedIn and listened to some music without ever missing a beat. The hardware on this device is bar setting and other phones should aspire to match and improve upon these specifications.
Software
We found that the software like all of Microsoft products, is to be desired. The interface is made that much better when combined with the HTC Titan‘s 4.7″ screen and its 480×800 display resolution. Things like not being able to read text on Windows Phone is a thing of the past as well as trying to find the right characters to test in your applications to see if it will crash. We loved SkyDrive integration with our office documents and it came in extremely useful more times than we could count. Having messenger integrated right into the text messages was also very handy as we could chat via Facebook and when the person went mobile we just switched to text, keeping all of our messages from Facebook and text in the same window. There are countless times when we have been driving and need to search for a place, and lets face it talking to your phone and having it do the things you tell it verbally to do is pretty AWESOME. The best thing we found so far was the Voice to text commands, hands down. HTC has also made the Titan as well as all of its new Windows Phones unique with Locations installed right off the bat.
Camera
This is an exciting time for Windows Phones as the specifications for the Mango devices are to also now include a front facing camera. This is quite a leap forward, especially with the Microsoft/Skype acquisition earlier this year. Now many manufacturers would go ahead and pop a VGA camera in the front to satisfy specs but we enjoy a company who is willing to go that extra bit further. HTC really shines in this aspect with a 1.3MP front facing camera instead of a stock VGA for the HTC Titan. Now for the rear facing camera which is also impressive. The rear facing camera is an 8MP and other than the newly announced Nokia Lumia 800 and the HTC Mozart is the only 8MP camera hosting a Windows Phone OS on it. This is quite a leap forward considering the trend in increased AR (Augmented Reality) apps being developed. The 8MP camera is also capable of 720p video which is still surprisingly good considering the contention that has gone one between 720p and 1080p video display and whether it makes a difference in the long run. With the clarity and vibrant colors coming from the shots taken on this amazing camera it will make those 5MP camera seem like yesterdays news. Check out some of the shots we took to display how awesome the pictures turned out below:
Connectivity
This is usually an issue for all of us at Binary Wasteland as we value our call quality in both not having a call dropped and the clarity of the call. Well, we will say that we are impressed. When browsing the settings menu we found the “Attentive Phone” menu that gives users the quality phone services that HTC includes in all of their smartphones. With options like “Ring louder when in pocket or bag” or “Flip for speaker” which will turn the speakerphone on when the phone is turned face down on a table there is no question that these features should be standard on all phones, not just HTC devices.
Battery Life
Battery life on the HTC Titan is in a word; Amazing. As a developer we can not think of how many times we have taken our location based apps into the field to be tested and have the battery drain like it was going out of style. Even though the Titan houses just a 1600 mAh battery it challenges the Blackberry for battery life. With a standby of 15 days and a talk time of 11.83 hours this phone definitly deserves the name it has been given. We managed to get through the whole day, starting at 5:00am and taking us all the way to 8:00pm later that day with all ten of our email accounts, Twitter/Facebook/Google+, and checking into everywhere we went with FourSquare going on.
Conclusion
When you have a 4.7″ screen, coupled with a Second Gen 1.5GHz processor and topping the whole package off with an 8MP camera we are not sure what a developer wouldn’t love. Having a chance to use the device, walking around with it in our pants for a day is a real eye opener, in the sense that having a big screen doesn’t have to mean bulky as HTC has proven. This is truly a developers phone, packed with the latest and greatest in hardware specifications, making testing applications on the device easier than trying to find Narnia. Below is a list of all of the amazing specifications laid out in an easy to read list. With the specifications of a real Titan it is tough to compete with a device like this. Until the next review, Happy Hacking!
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