HTC Panache (MyTouch 4G/Glacier - Canadian version)
Feel & Build
The Panache is a well-built machine. It’s hefty, weighing more than my recently owned Touch Pro 2, Snap and Motorola Spice devices. The metal plate that covers the battery adds a solid feeling to the phone. It’s not too big, I can type on the screen with one hand, but I can also use both hands as well. The phone is heavier than a lot of phones, at 141 ounces (just shy of 0.33 pounds)
Sound & Display
The display on the HTC Panache is a SuperLCD 3.8-inch 800x480 capacitive touchscreen. It is a bit larger than the Apple iPhone 4 (3.5 inches), and Motorola Spice (3”), but smaller than the Samsung Nexus S (4.0”) and the Sony Xperia X10i. (4.0”) It is highly responsive and quite crisp and (luckily for me) not washed out at extreme angles.
Taking & Making Calls
Making calls is simple and easy. Once the call starts to dial, you can tap the screen to switch between Bluetooth (if connected), speaker and holding the phone to your ear. Also, by placing the phone face down, it’ll turn on the speaker phone as well.
Web Surfing & Internet Stuff
The web browsing experience is nothing to write home about. I’m not fond of the built in browser and thus, I downloaded Opera almost immediately. Using Mobilicity’s unlimited internet is fantastic. Fast and quick. I was able to hit a 2516kbs down and 932kbs upload (which is 10x better than the Motorola Spice.)
Using the Wi-Fi Hotspot program, was quick and simple. My laptop was connected, and using the Mobilcity internet at the same speeds.
Cameras & Camcorder
The Panache as a rear facing 5MP camera with an LED flash and takes 720p HD video. It also has a front-facing camera that lets you do face-to-face video chat over either Wi-Fi or the Mobilicity’s network. I don’t use Skype or other video chatting programs, so have no opinion on that.
The camera was great, fast, and had nice colours. Better than my previous HTC devices (Touch Pro 2 and Snap) and Motorola Spice in speed and abilities. The flash comes in very handy when in a darker room, but the aperture is able to absorb a lot of light from the surrounding area, and thus the flash isn’t often needed.
I haven’t yet used the video feature, and can’t comment on that either. The controls are fairly basic, but well laid out, and easy to figure out.
Keyboard
The huge display makes typing on a virtual keyboard a breeze (my previous touch screen only phone was the 2.8” 240x320 original HTC Touch.) The extra inch and 480x800 resolution REALLY adds a lot of real estate state, and makes it darn easy to use the keyboard.
Using the phone was simple, and easy, as is most Android usage. The screens are snappy and quick to change. Gingerbread (2.3.3) is a huge improvement over 2.1 and Windows Mobile.
As always, there are various discussions on various websites as to whether or not Sense UI is better or worse than Stock settings, or other company’s user interfaces. For me, I don’t like it, and I installed Launcher Pro (FREE) and that allows for a higher level of customization (I’ve installed “Fancy Widget” clock, and “Jorte” calendar for widgets on the main panel.)
There are 5 physical buttons on the phone – the centre optical track pad/enter button, than left to right Home, Menu, Back and Search. All are the same for all other devices, and nothing special, but nice to have. Some people have said the buttons are ‘too flush’ but, I found they were just perfect, and the Menu button had a nub on the left, and the back a nub on the right, for ‘blind finding’ of the buttons.
Storage & Rooting
The HTC Panache comes with 4GB of onboard memory and an 8GB microSD card (expandable to 32GB), which should be plenty for most people. Unfortunately, there is plenty of bloat crap installed, and a ton of stuff that just won’t stop or come back (even though I use Advanced Task Killer).
Another problem, is that it’s currently (as of May 27, 2011) not easy to root. I’ve tried z4root and Visionary and had no luck. The good people at XDA are, I’m sure, working on creating a simple and fast way to root.
Some ‘annoying’ problems I’ve noticed so far with the phone are: Cyberon Voice Commander – it loads at the boot, and refuses to close down. I have to Force Close the program from the “Running Services” menu. Maps – Another, seemingly unclosable application. I can hit “Kill Selected App” 1000 times in ATK and it’ll still come back. I can “Force Close” it 1000 times, and it starts again. If I want the maps, I’ll open it myself!
Battery life
I am happy with the battery life on the Panache. It’ll last me 8-10 hours between charges, with an hour of web surfing, a dozen or so calls, a few pops into Facebook and Gmail and playing games or reading books. Micro USB chargers and cables are less than $10 now, so it’s not hard to find one cheaply.
Extras
The HTC Panache has several extra features built in. A flashlight (via the LED camera flash) can be uses on three intensities. Mirror allows you to use the front facing camera to ‘check your makeup’ etc. (The girls will appreciate this.) You can download various applications – bubble for example – that take advantage of the accelerometer, or a compass that makes use of the digital compass that’s in the phone.
Pricing & availability
The HTC Panache is available at Mobilicity for $499 and you own it outright. It’s available at Videotron for $169 on a 3 year plan, and $479 out right.
Mobilicity doesn’t require you to have data, but why wouldn’t you, when it’s unlimited for $10?
I don’t know Videotron’s rules, so check their website for more info on their plans.
Should you buy it?
After 24 hours, I love the Panache. It has a lot of features that I use and many I won’t use daily. It’s fast – blazingly so, compared to the Motorola Spice. If you need a phone that has an excellent screen, and is fast, check out the Panache.
Rating
4.5/5 stars
Talk and Standby Time: Up to 6.7 hours talk time, up to 11.9 days standby OS: Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) Weight: 5 ounces (141 grams) Dimensions: 4.8” x 2.44” x 0.43” Battery: 1400 mAh Display: 3.8” SuperLCD WVGA LCD (480 x 800) Video: 720p HD video recording Camera: 5.0 megapixel, Digital Zoom, Auto Focus, flash Front-facing camera: Yes (VGA, 0.3mp) Processor: 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 Processor Memory: 1 GB on-board, 8 GB microSD card included (expandable to 32 GB) Wi-FI: 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi Hotspot: Yes
More: http://www.gsmarena.com/t_mobile_mytouch_4g-3520.php
I'm really interested in the phone as I found my Moto Spice to be a waste of the $170 i spent and looking to upgrade.
I found on the Spice, that during a call, my ear would toggle the call into HOLD... does this phone do that too?
Also, the speaker function - Spice was so quiet on speaker. How is this phone?
HTC Panache (MyTouch 4G/Glacier - Canadian version)
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