Pixel Concept

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It’s been over three months since I wrote a post for this blog, but life just got in the way. Now that my schedule has opened up a bit, I finally set some time aside to catch up on a few posts. I’ve gotten a few devices in the past three months, three of which are new enough that I can get away with posting up some pictures and impressions on them. First up is the HTC HD2 aka the HTC Leo. As HTC shows you in the packaging, it is BIG. As much anticipation as there was for this device, I still was not prepared for the sheer massiveness of this phone. Check out the unboxing gallery for some comparison shots to the original HTC Touch HD and the iPhone 3G. I won’t promise a full review of the HD2 since there are already plenty out there (and even a good segment on TDL Mobile 019); but I will likely post some impressions on the sexy beast. Also, stay tuned for some shots of two other recent devices.

HTC HD2 Unboxing Gallery

It’s been about a month since the almighty Hero came to rescue me from the N97, yet the gadget lust has not worn off. That alone should give an idea of my first impressions of this device. I must say, I am impressed. Though the design may seem like a slimmed down version of the Dream, the build quality of the Hero really stands out. The device is solid and feels good in the hand. The teflon coating gives a bit of that soft-touch feel to the back, and does a great job at fending off dirt and fingerprints. I must admit, the reorganized button layout does not make much sense. The ‘Back’ button should be easily accessible at all time; unfortunately, this is not the case. Hitting the ‘Back’ button requires a very agile thumb, and just feels unnatural when reaching for it. It’s not impossible to reach, but it could be easier. Of course the true appeal of the Hero is HTC’s new Sense UI. In short, HTC has scored a homerun with Sense. The multitude of widgets and additional home screens make the Hero extremely customizable right out of the box. Many reviewers seemed frustrated with speed issues and overall system lag, but I have not experienced that. Every once in a rare while an app will hang up, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary and so far seems to be more of an app issue than a Sense UI issue. Overall I am very happy with the HTC Hero and only plan on switching phones when I receive the Nokia N900. I will be writing a full, in depth, review in the coming weeks of the HTC Hero, so stay tuned.

Although the HTC Magic has been overshadowed by its sibling, the HTC Hero, I still wanted to post up some first impressions on the device. There are plenty of full reviews out there so I will probably not be doing a full write up, but I figured some brief thoughts on the device couldn’t hurt. The first thing that I noticed about the Magic was that it finally looked like an HTC designed device. The Dream was a great first run at Android, but the hardware was sorely lacking. It didn’t have that HTC flare that the manufacturing giant has come to be known for. The Magic on the other hand, is sleek and solid. The back slides on like a traditional battery cover and is a lot more stable than the snap on back of the Dream. The chin still exists on the Magic, but it is a lot less pronounced than on the Dream. It has a nice rounded shape to it that adds to the design. The sleekness of the device can of course be attributed to the lack of a QWERTY keyboard; unfortunately, the virtual keyboard makes it noticeable. Of course that has more to do with Cupcake than with the device itself, but it is an aspect of Cupcake that needs improvement. Outside of the keyboard however, the OS runs well on the Magic. There is still the issue of slowness building over time. A stronger processor and more RAM could have alleviated this issue, but for some unknown reason, HTC decided to stick with the Qualcomm 528MHz processor. Even with those small caveats, the Magic is a solid device and first full touch-screen Android device. A great choice if the Hero is not available on your carrier.

The tech world has been waiting for someone to step up and take the lead on the possibilities that the Android OS holds. Even though HTC was the brand behind the first Android device, it seemed to be in name only since the hardware was not up to the standards that HTC had set for itself. The HTC Magic changed that a bit, with its HTC style looks, but the OS was still the same ol’ vanilla flavor. Enter the HTC Hero. An device with HTC sprinkled all over it; on both the hardware and the software. Though the unboxing gallery doesn’t show off HTC’s customized Android build, it does put on display HTC’s design prowess. Check out the gallery for some unboxing shots and stay tuned for first impressions and a full review.

HTC Hero Unboxing Gallery

Any time you attend a trade-show, seminar, or conference, you will usually leave with a bunch of swag. Sometimes it’s good swag, other times not so much. Well if you attended Google’s I/O developer conference this year, you were greeted with a great little gadget which, like any HTC manufactured device, has many names: The HTC Google I/O aka Google ION, aka HTC Magic, aka G2 aka HTC Sapphire aka T-Mobile myTouch 3G. Although the recent announcement of HTC’s Hero now has the spotlight, the official successor to the G1 has been long awaited. Click on for the unboxing of this limited edition smartphone.

HTC Google I/O Unboxing Gallery