HTC 7 Mozart review

HTC has announced HTC 7 Mozart in India and the big question on everybody’s lips is this: can Microsoft change this current state of play with Windows Phone 7? We take a look at the Windows Phone 7-powered HTC Mozart to find out.

Our initial impression of the HTC Mozart as soon as we'd unboxed it and held it in our hand was that it looked quite a lot like the HTC Desire – or the Nexus One, and this is no bad thing.

The device itself measures in at 119 X 60.2 X 11.9 mm, has a 3.7-inch (480 x 800) LCD touchscreen and weighs 130g. Granted, this isn’t nearly as lightweight as some devices, but it is enough to beat the iPhone 4 (137g) and ensure that the Mozart feels both nimble in the hand and comfortable in the pocket.

In terms of connectivity, you've got Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n, EDGE, 3G and GPRS to play with. And connector wise, there’s Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP for wireless stereo headsets and a 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, as well as Standard micro-USB (5-pin micro-USB 2.0).

As with all Windows Phone 7 devices there are three navigation keys located just beneath the device's display: Back, Home (Windows key) and Search (Bing). On the top right of the device is a power key, which also doubles as a re-activation key too. There’s also a volume rocker and MicroUSB on the device’s left hand side.

The onboard Bing services (Maps and Search) are superbly implemented and were initially one of our favourite features. If you click the Search key you're taken to a well-presented Bing search application. Type you search criteria in and you’re presented with local, global and map options relating to your search term.

Pinch-to-Zoom is present within Bing Maps and when you zoom in to street level the map automatically refreshes to show you it in satellite view – something that impressed us no end.

HTC has also gone with an aluminum unibody for the Mozart, which gives it a robust feel and a stylish finish. There are, however, two stylized plastic body plates located round the back. The first is situated at the top of the device where the camera and flash are located and the other at the bottom and slips off so you can remove the battery and insert a SIM-card.

We don't usually like plastic on mobiles, especially high-end ones, but the two plastic body plates present in the Mozart are well implemented and add lots of grip where it’s needed, which does come in pretty handy – especially when gaming. In short, the Mozart's build quality is superb. We love the aluminum unibody and the plastic body plates add grip where it's needed. The dimensions of the device – specifically its size, weight and in-hand feel – are near enough perfect. Sure, it's a variation on an already winning formula (Desire/Nexus One) but who cares; it still works just as good now as it did then.

Looks aside though, there are a few 'hardware' issues that you might want to consider before taking the plunge with the HTC Mozart. For starters, you've only got 8GB of storage and there's no microSD card support. Microsoft has tried to get around this by integrating a cloud-based service (SkyDrive) into the Windows Phone 7 platform, which gives you 25GB of free storage once you’ve registered.

On the whole, Microsoft has done a seamless job of integrating SkyDrive into the Windows Phone 7 platform. To send something to the cloud you simply hold down on an item, wait for the options to appear and click "send to SkyDrive." Simple.

Nevertheless, you will need an internet connection to use this feature, which isn’t always possible, such as during a plane journey or when you’re out in the sticks. Then there’s the 'data issue' and how much SkyDrive will munch through whilst you transfer items between the device and the cloud.

We’re not saying it isn’t a good idea – it is, there are loads of potential applications for it – but Microsoft should have included MicroSD support as well. People like storage, especially if it affords them the ability to hot swap things like apps, games and music.

MicroSD support, according to reports, is coming to later versions of Windows Phone 7 but this doesn’t change the fact that it isn’t available on any of the launch devices – and this is something that may put off a lot of potential early adapters.

Storage grumbles aside, Microsoft promised us something special with Windows Phone 7 and, we’re pleased to say, it has really delivered something rather special.

The UI is extremely unique in that it isn’t attempting to be either iOS or Android. Instead, Microsoft has decided on a different and highly controversial strategy – it’s dared to try something original!

Instead of multiple homescreens, there is one homescreen and a Menu/Apps list page. These are your two core pages – that's it. It’s very simple and extremely customisable. For instance, the homescreen is made up of customisable 'Tiles' that can be arranged in whatever order you like.

To add applications to your homescreen you simply go into Menu/Apps list and hold down on the desired one. After a few moments the option: 'pin to start' appears, click it and you're done. Re-arranging the Tiles is very simple, you simply hold down on one, pause a moment, and all the tiles are unlocked and you can move them around as you see fit.

The UI is remarkably slick, there's no lag whatsoever and we were really taken with its overall simplicity. If we're honest, we weren't expecting much from Windows Phone 7 but the overall fluidity of the touchscreen combined with just how easy it is to do pretty much anything on the device combine to make a thoroughly satisfying user experience.

The onboard 8 megapixel camera with auto focus and Xenon flash is pretty decent and you can certainly get some decent shots out of it, even in low-lit conditions thanks to its Xenon Flash. That said, we did have a few issues with noise in a lot of the shots we took.

Consequently, the video recording aspect of the Mozart is a lot smoother and we experienced no issues with noise. The 720p quality video also looks great when played back on the Mozart’s S-LCD display too.

Once you've taken a shot it's saved to the device and is pushed to the side of the display so you can carry on shooting images. To preview the last image you simply drag the photo across into the viewfinder, which is a simple, yet effective touch.

Apps are always going to be the biggest bone of contention for any new platform. But thankfully, it seems that Microsoft has well and truly got it’s arse in gear. Not only is Zune and Xbox Live seamlessly integrated into the platform, but the early apps and games we tried are very impressive – especially Rocket Riot.

Nevertheless, to get the most out of the HTC Mozart you will need to register a Zune account and have a Windows Live login. Fortunately, doing so is very straight forward and there’s even the ability to sync the device with Apple Mac PCs thanks to the release of Windows Phone 7 Connector.

In addition to this, the new look Windows Marketplace is gorgeous and once it’s fully stocked (there’ll be 2000 apps by launch day, apparently) it’ll be one of the best looking and easiest to navigate market places on the market.

Everything is broken down into easy to navigate sections, such as: HTC apps, Games, Applications and Music. There’s also a 'featured' apps section as well, so you'll always know what's new on the market place. Plus – and this is a big plus – there's the ability to try apps before you buy them, which is a brilliant feature.

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