HTC Desire HD vs HTC HD7

HTC HD7, the first Windows Phone 7 device, has now officially arrived in India. But is there room at the top, along side Apple and Android, for the upcoming Windows Phone 7 devices? Well, considering the support it has received from manufacturers – HTC, Samsung, LG and Dell have all confirmed devices. It would certainly seem so.

But how would a high-end Windows Phone 7 device stack up against arguably the best Android device around at the moment? It's certainly a tantalising thought. So to find out we take a look at the HTC HD7 and the HTC Desire HD to find out which looks best, and why.

Build quality and Measurements
Both devices are made by HTC, so you'd assume they'd be of a similar build quality. In this instance, you'd be right as both devices are built to a very high standard.

The HTC HD7 has metallic 'gunmetal' edging around it and a brushed metal kickstand located round the back. The chassis is made up of hard matte plastic but it's the 4.3-inch display that really takes centre stage with very little else on the front apart from three virtual keys.

On the HTC Desire HD, the chassis is made of aluminium and sports four virtual navigation keys instead of the HD7's three. There's also no kickstand present, but this shouldn’t really bother too many users.

Size wise, the Desire HD at 164g (123mm x 68mm x 11.2mm) is 2g heavier than the 162g Windows Phone 7-powered (122 x 68 x 11.2mm) HTC HD7.

All in all, we think that both devices are good-looking, well built and have a nice weight to them. But after seeing and using both we have to give the HTC Desire HD favour in this instance, simply because it has an aluminium body – something we always prefer over plastic. Sure, the HD7 is lighter and has a kickstand, but this still doesn't make up for its plasticky in-hand feel – it’s like the Galaxy S all over again.

Winner – HTC Desire HD

Displays
As we said, both devices have 4.3-inch (800 x 480-pixel resolution) displays, which means both are perfect for web browsing, watching videos and generally looking pretty damn impressive when handled in front of anyone that doesn't really know what a smartphone is.

But aside from the screen real estate what, if anything, separates the two device's displays?

The Desire HD uses a Super LCD display and the HD7 uses an LCD one. Obviously, the 'super' version sounds a lot better but this could just as easily be 'sales-talk' for another silly gimmick that doesn't really make any actual difference. So, what does the 'Super' actually entail when found in front of 'LCD' and, more importantly, does it make much difference?

Put simply, the answer is a resounding yes. Super LCD is a lot better than normal LCD. Why? Simple: Super LCD has about five times better power management than earlier versions of the technology and has vastly improved viewing angles, meaning there’s less colour degradation when you view the screen from anything but straight on. Couple this with the fact that there’s less colour saturation on Super LCD than AMOLED and you're on to a winner.

Winner – HTC Desire HD

Storage
Storage is important. You always want to have as much media as possible on your device – be it music, video or pictures. To do so you need either lots of onboard storage, MicroSD cards or some sort of integration with the Cloud.

The Desire HD, when compared with the HD7, has a very little onboard storage – a paltry 1.5GB, believe it or not – and the HD7 will ship with 8GB. Nonetheless, the Desire HD has microSD support and can be upgraded to 32GB via this, but you’ll have to cough up for the memory card, though.

In this respect then, the Desire HD has a lot more potential space on it – providing you cough up for that memory card – than the HD 7. That said, all Windows Phone 7 devices will have access to SkyDrive, the cloud-based storage service, pre-built into the UI, meaning you can select an item and send it to SkyDrive with a single tap – plus, you get 25GB of storage for free on this service, too.

SkyDrive in itself is an awesome service. It's easy-to-use, free and well integrated into the new Windows Phone 7 platform so you can send pictures, documents, films and music to it.

All of which are very good things, as we’re sure you’ll agree. But there is one big smelly elephant in the room: Data – and the fact that you will need access to it to use the service.

Plus, 25GB on the cloud and 8GB on the device.

Winner – HTC HD7

<< Previous 1 2 Next>>