My review of the HTC 7 Surround and Windows Phone 7

[howard]

I was a little surprised by the Surround's heft. This isn't a bad thing as phones can sometimes feel cheap if they're too light.



The display is adequate. While it doesn't have a terrible viewing angle I wish it was a bit better for when I'm showing friend's photos and videos.



The speakers are easily the loudest and best sounding speakers I have ever heard on a phone. The problem with the speakers is that they sound muffled if you don't slide them out. There's a spring loaded stand that can pop out if you slide the screen out.

Like the Galaxy S and iPhone 4 the Surround has a 5 megapixel camera. Unlike the Galaxy S and iP4 the Surround's camera is terrible. It's noisy, the auto focus doesn't work and pictures are usually much worse looking than it's competitors. There is a dedicated camera button - a feature I miss on my Galaxy S and iPhone 4.

Despite the heft there is no microSD card slot. There is around 15GB of space for your stuff.



On the right side are volume buttons and a camera button. On top are a 3.5mm headphone jack plus a power button. In front there are 3 capacitive buttons (back, windows and search).

RF performance was similar to my Blackberry Torch - it's respectable.

Sound quality is also about average.

Software:

The first thing that jumps out is that the user interface has very, very smooth transitions. It's nice at first but I found them them a little exaggerated. It got tiring watching them over and over again. Mind you this is a very minor complaint.

The built in keyboard is really really good. It's very accurate, makes the right kind of sounds and it's fast. It's also easy to use, I was typing fast on it right away. I'd say it's just as good as the iPhone's keyboard and better than Android's built in, Blackberry, etc.

There is no copy and paste which is a real shame. At the Windows Phone 7 launch they announced that C&P is supposed to be coming in early 2011 to ALL Windows Phone 7 devices.

There is also no multi-tasking - just like older versions of the iPhone's OS. So to switch to a different program you have to press the windows key (that takes you back to the main menu) and then choose it. While not ideal it's not as bad as it sounds - that said Microsoft needs to get multi-tasking ASAP.

Pressing the Windows button will bring you back to the main menu (Microsoft calls it the Start). Pressing and holding the windows button will bring up voice recognition. The voice recognition happens in the clouds (as opposed to on device) so it's pretty accurate.

The start is split into blocks. By default you have programs like phone, people, messaging, internet explorer, xBox live, calendar, pictures, music & videos, marketplace, me, etc. What I like about the start is that you can take a lot of different things (pictures, webpages, programs, etc) and pin it to the start. There is an arrow on the right side of the display that you can press to view all a list of programs on all the Surround. Personally I like the minimalism of the main screen though the list of programs feels kind of dated.

Instead of a phonebook you use the program 'People'. Besides your address book it also integrates with Facebook. Normally I store my phonebook on Google. I also have a couple of contacts on Hotmail plus some Facebook friends. When I first setup the Surround I configured my Gmail. That automatically downloaded my contact list. When I setup my hotmail it also grabbed those contacts and the same as when I setup my Facebook. If there are multiple entries across the different services the Surround will try to link them or give you the option to link them. This is all good but I didn't want my Hotmail contacts on my device and couldn't find an option to exclude my Hotmail contacts.

When viewing a contact you can also view their Facebook updates. It's a good work flow.

While I'm talking about Hotmail and Google I should point out that there is no support for Windows Live Messenger. While Messenger isn't that popular these days I was very disappointed that there's no option for it out of the box.

The program messaging should be called text messaging. It's not a unified inbox like you'd find on a Windows Mobile 6.5 device.

Like I mentioned before I setup my Gmail and Hotmail on the Surround. Unlike the Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows Phone 7 just treats as separate accounts rather than having a unified inbox. I also also disappointed by this as I'd like to have the option to now have to switch between 2 programs to check my emails.

Internet explorer is completely different from the IE you get on WM 6.5. This version doesn't suck. It's fast, supports pinch zooming and has tabbed browsing. Speed wise it's similar to the browser on my Galaxy S or iPhone 4. One feature I liked is that you can pin a webpage to the main menu.

With XBOX live you can do stuff like edit your XBOX live avatar and play games. The games you play on the Surround can add to your XBL gamer score. You can download games from the Marketplace. I tried the Sims 3 trial. IT seemed okay though I thought the load times were unacceptably long - this is exacerbated by the fact that the Surround doesn't multitask.

Speaking of the Marketplace I didn't do a count but I was surprised that it looked quite busy.

While most Windows Mobile 6.5 devices all had a custom user interface Windows Phone 7 all use the stock Microsoft UI. Since HTC can't have their own UI they HTC which has links to download some HTC specific apps including: Sound Enhancer, Stocks Photo Enhancer, Notes, Converter, Flashlight, and Love. Love is a 'he loves me, he loves me not flower pedal pulling app'. Photo Enhancer is not a photo editor, rather it 14 filters that you can apply to your photos. Sound Enhancer lets you turn access the equalizer (for use with headphones or external speakers only) as well as turn on the Dolby Mobile and SRS sound processing.

When viewing your pictures besides looking at the pics you've captured with the built in camera the Surround also goes out and grabs your Facebook photos plus you can also view your friend's Facebook albums.

The Music and Videos programs handles music, videos, podcasts plus FM radio. One feature I liked is that you can control the music player if you press and hold the volume down button.

You can use plugins like a YouTube one that lets you view your YouTube videos in the Music and Videos program. I like how it allows you to see a history of stuff from a variety of sources like music, videos, radio and YouTube.

To add music to the Surround you have to download Microsoft's Zune software. I wasn't thrilled that a) I had to download software to connect the Surround b) I have to connect my phone whenever I want to put music on it. I did notice that the Zune software can transcode some video files into Windows Phone 7 friendly formats.

While Windows Mobile 6.5 was a very mature OS with many programs it was really starting to show it's age. From the web browser down everything about it needed to be updated.

So all in all I'm pleased that Microsoft is starting from scratch with Windows Phone 7. In many aspects it's well thought out with some interesting ideas (like the ability to view someone's Facebook from the phonebook) that aren't just copying what the competition is doing.

That said a lot of work remains to be done. There's no multitasking, no copy and paste, no tethering, it can't be used as a portable drive when you connect it to your computer, etc. In some aspects it reminds me of the iPhone when it first came out (no multitasking or copy and paste). As the iPhone matured it gained those features. The problem with Windows Phone 7 is that the iPhone has a head start of a few years. Still, there is a lot of room for growth in the Smartphone market.

As a platform, Windows Phone 7 is off to a good start but they need to kick it into high gear.

[DP102288]

Great review. I am going on after launch to play around with some devices. The more I hear about them, the more I'm liking.

[Drillbit]

Viewing Facebook updates via the phone book ain't new. Among the phones doing it, most Android handsets, with Motoblur, Touchwiz 3 like the Samsung Galaxy S or any smartphone with HTC Sense including Android 1.5, WM 6.5 (HD2) or the HTC Smart.

[Tofs]

At the moment Froyo is killing Windows Phone 7. Not sure why they didn't include copy and paste right away. Also mo multi-tasking is a deal breaker for most people.