HTC Touch HD and Nokia N85: A Quick Tease

I know it’s mean, but a tease is all you’re going to get from me at the moment!

The last couple of days have been absolutely amazing, as far as UPS deliveries go. On Monday I received a Nokia N85 loaner, and on Tuesday I got an HTC Touch HD loaner…

I can’t even begin to express the excitement I have felt for the last two days as I have opened the boxes and started exploring the phones. I mean, I can go months sometimes without having access to a truly exciting new mobile device. For two truly awesome phones like these to show up while I am still quite satisfied with the HTC S740 I’ve been using? Let’s just say that this has been an abnormal week. These are the times when being a gadget reviewer is so awesome that I can barely keep from doing a happy dance. Instead, I just stay up late at night configuring.

So what’s all the fuss about?

First up is the HTC Touch HD…

This is HTC’s brand new 3.8″ WVGA screen device (480 x 800, not the more common VGA which is 480 x 600), which although not yet available in the US is already causing severe gadget lust among many. Not since the days of the iPAQ 4800 series, the Dell Axim X50v, or yes…my old beloved HTC Universal has there been such a gorgeous and huge screen offered on a PDA, much less a PDA phone. Everyone seems to think that the largest screen we want on our PDA phones is under 3″, and I am not sure why. I am really glad to see HTC bucking the trend with a large-screened phone that still manages to remain pocketable.

We’ll just take a quick peek at the specifications, but I wanted to mention that included in the Touch HD’s box was an 8GB microSD. Sure, a 16GB would have been even nicer, but considering that I can remember paying $500+ for a 5GB PCMCIA drive in 2002, it boggles my mind to know that manufacturers are now throwing in an 8GB card like they used to do 128MB cards. Loves it!

HTC Touch HD Technical Specifications:

Model – HTC Touch HD™ T8282
Processor – Qualcomm® MSM 7201A™ 528 MHz
Operating System – Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
Memory – ROM: 512 MB; RAM: 288 MB
Dimensions – 115 mm x 62.8 mm x 12 mm or 4.358″ long x 2.4722″ wide x 0.47″ thick [Ed. note: it is very pocketable!]
Weight – 147 grams (5.185 ounces) with battery
Display – 3.8-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with 480 x 800 WVGA resolution
Network – HSDPA/WCDMA: Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz – Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds; Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: Europe/Asia: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz (Band frequency, HSUPA availability, and data speed are operator dependent.) [Ed. note: this is the European version which will not work on US 3G, but it works perfectly well on all GSM Edge networks]
Device Control – HTC TouchFLO™ 3D; Touch-sensitive front panel buttons
Connectivity – GPS; Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets; Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g; HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0)
Camera – Main: 5 megapixel color camera with auto focus; Second: VGA CMOS color camera
Audio – Built-in 3.5 mm audio jack, microphone, speaker, and FM radio; Ring tone formats:AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, QCP, MP3, WMA, WAV; 40 polyphonic and standard MIDI format 0 and 1 (SMF)/SP MIDI
Battery- Rechargeable 1350mAh Lithium-ion polymer battery; Talk time: Up to 420 minutes for WCDMA; Up to 480 minutes for GSM; Standby time: Up to 680 hours for WCDMA; Up to 440 hours for GSM; Video call time: Up to 140 minutes – (subject to network and phone usage.)
Expansion Slot – microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
AC Adapter – Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz; DC output: 5V and 1A
Special Features – FM Radio, G-Sensor

Included in the box are the HTC Touch HD, its battery, a USB sync & charge cable, a European wall charger, an HTC headset, an 8 GB microSD card, a microfiber protective pouch for the phone, a user guide on CD, a nearly 40 page “quick start guide” (heh!), a software CD, and an extra stylus.

Next is the Nokia N85, a device which my friend Vincent was carrying at CES and calling a nearly perfect phone. High praise indeed!

Worth noting is that while the HTC Touch HD and the Nokia N85 have very different features, they also have a few nice ones in common. For instance, they both sport 5 megapixel cameras, and they both came with 8GB microSDs.

Without having tried either camera, and based on past experience with the N95 and the N82, I feel confident that the Nokia’s camera will be much better; I also like that it has an LED flash. It will be interesting to see if HTC has improved their optics, or if the camera is just passable.

Before you read the Nokia’s specifications, be aware that they list nearly every single thing that the phone is capable of doing – and many of these are things that the Touch HD may also do, but HTC has chosen not to list all of the details on their specification page.

Nokia N85 Technical Specifications:

Form – Two-way slider with spring assistance mechanism
Dimensions – 103x50x16.0mm (4.06″ tall x 1.97″ wide x 0.63″ thick): Weight: 128g (4.51 ounces)
Screen – 2.6″; Resolution: 320 x 240 pixels (QVGA); Up to 16.7 million colours; Active Matrix OLED technology; Brightness control; Orientation sensor; Ambient light detector
Keys and Input Method – Numeric keypad; Cover keys (S60 keys, Multimedia key, Send/end keys); Short slide keys (media control/zoom/gaming); Navi™wheel; Dedicated media/zoom/game keys; Dedicated camera and volume keysCover keys; Multimedia key; Voice commands; Intelligent key illumination
Connectors – Micro-USB connector with mass storage class support; High-Speed USB 2.0; 3.5 mm AV connector
Power – BL-5K 1200 mAh Li-Ion battery; Talk time (maximum) – GSM 6.9h; WCDMA 4.5h; VoIP 9 h; Standby time (maximum) – GSM 363 h; WCDMA 363 h; WLAN 172 h; Browsing time with packet data (maximum): 5 h 42 min; Video playback time (maximum): 7 h; Video recording time (maximum): 2 h 54 min; Video call time (maximum): 2 h 42 min; Music playback time (maximum): 30 h; Gaming time (maximum): 7 h
Memory – microSD memory card slot, hot swappable, max. 8 GB [Ed. note - the one FAIL I can immediately see, but I will test with a 16GB just to be sure]; 74 MB internal dynamic memory; 78 MB internal NAND flash memory
Operating frequency – Quad-band EGSM 850/900/1800/1900; Automatic switching between GSM bands; Flight mode; CSD; HSCSD, maximum speed 43.2 kbps; GPRS class A, multislot class 32, maximum speed 107/64.2 kbps (DL/UL); EDGE class B, multislot class 32, maximum speed 296/177.6 kbps (DL/UL); WCDMA 900/1900/2100, maximum speed PS 384/384 kbps (UL/DL); HSDPA, maximum speed 3.6 Mbps (DL); WLAN 802.11b, 802.11g; WLAN Security: WPA2-Enterprise, WPA2-Personal, WPA-Enterprise, WPA-Personal, WEP; WLAN Quality of Service: WMM, U-APSD; WLAN wizard; TCP/IP support; Capability to serve as data modem
Local connectivity and synchronization – Bluetooth version 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate; Bluetooth profiles: Dial Up Networking Profile (Gateway), Object Push Profile (Server and Client), File Transfer Profile (Server), Hands Free Profile (Audio Gateway), Headset Profile (Audio Gateway), Basic Imaging Profile (Image Push Responder and Initiator), Remote SIM Access Profile (Server), Device Identification Profile, Phone Book Access Profile (Server); Stereo Audio Streaming: Generic Audio/Video Distribution Profile, Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (A/V Remote Control Target), Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (Audio Source)
Messaging – SMS with support for concatenated SMS for long messages; Multiple SMS deletion; Text-to-speech message reader; MMS version 1.2; Message size up to 600kb; Automatic resizing of images for MMS; Common inbox for SMS and MMS messages; Distribution lists for messaging; “Windows Live support (requires download of Windows Live Messenger application)”; Cell broadcast
E-mail – Supported protocols: IMAP, POP3, SMTP; Support for e-mail attachments; Support for e-mail with filtering; OMA e-mail notification support; IMAP IDLE support; Support for Nokia Intellisync Wireless Email; Support for Nokia Mobile VPN
Web browsing – Supported markup languages: HTML, XHTML MP, WML, CSS; Supported protocols: HTTP v.1.1, WAP; TCP/IP support; Nokia Web Browser with Mini Map; Nokia Mobile Search
GPS and Navigation – Integrated and separate GPS, A-GPS, and Cell based; Nokia Maps 2.0 application
Photography – 5 megapixel camera (2584 x 1938 pixels); Image formats: JPEG, Exif; CMOS sensor, Carl Zeiss optics, Tessar™ lens; 20 x digital zoom; Autofocus with assist light and two stage capture key; Focal length: 5.45 mm; Focus range: 10 cm to infinity; Macro focus: 10-50 cm; Dual LED flash; Flash modes: On, off, automatic, red-eye reduction; Flash operating range: 3 m; White balance modes: automatic, daylight, cloudy, incandescent, fluorescent; Center weighted auto exposure; exposure compensation: +2 ~ -2EV at 0.33 step; Capture modes: still, sequence, self-timer, video; Scene modes: automatic, user defined, close-up, portrait, landscape, sport, night; Color tone modes: normal, sepia, black & white, vivid, negative; Light sensitivity modes: high, medium, low, automatic; Full-screen viewfinder
Video – Main camera: Video recording at up to 640 x 480 pixels (VGA) and up to 30fps; Up to 8x digital video zoom; Front camera: Video recording at up to 352 x 288 pixels (CIF) and up to 15 fps; Up to 2x digital video zoom; Video recording file formats: .mp4, .3gp; codecs: H.263, H.264; Audio recording formats: AMR, AAC stereo
Music and Audio Playback – Nokia Nseries digital music player: Playlists; Equalizer; Selection by artist, album, composers and genre; Album graphics display; Skins; Music playback file formats: .mp3, .wma, .aac, eAAC, eAAC+; Audio streaming; UPnP music streaming; FM radio 87.5-108 MHz with RDS support; FM transmitter 88.1 – 108 MHz; 3.5 mm stereo headphone plug; Ring tones: mp3, aac, AAC+ 64-tone polyphonic, AMR, WMA; 3D sound effect stereo speaker; Integrated stereo speakers
Voice and audio recording – Voice commands; Voice dialing; Voice recorder; Audio recording formats: AMR, AAC stereo and WMP; FR, EFR, WCDMA, and GSM AMR; Digital stereo microphone; Text-to-speech
Personalization (profiles, themes, ring tones) – Customizable profiles; Ring tones: mp3, aac, AAC+ 64-tone polyphonic, AMR, WMA; Video ring tones (3 built-in tones); Themes: wallpapers, screensavers, ring tones, pre-installed themes, changeable colour themes
Software – S60 3rd edition, Feature Pack 2; Symbian OS version 9.3; Active standby; Voice commands; FOTA (Firmware update Over The Air); Multimedia menu; Navi™ wheel support; Automatic UI rotation
Personal information management (PIM) (contacts, clock, calendar etc.) – Dynamic memory; Advanced contacts database: multiple number and e-mail details per contact, contacts with images; Support for assigning images to contacts; Support for contact groups; Closed user group support; Fixed Dialing Number support; Clock: analog and digital, world clock; Alarm clock with radio as alarm sound; Reminders; Calculator; Calendar with day, week and month view, up to 1500 entries; Converter; Written notes; Voice notes; Active notes; To-do list; Personal Information Management, Calendar, Contacts, to do lists support; PIM information viewable during call
Applications – Java™ : CLDC 1.1, MIDP 2.1, PDA (JSR 75), Java APIs for Bluetooth (JSR 82), Mobile Media API 1.1 (JSR 135), Mobile 3D Graphics API for J2ME 1.1 (JSR 184), Wireless Messaging API 2.0 (JSR 205), Scalable 2D Vector Graphics API for J2ME (JSR 226), J2ME Web Services Specification (JSR 172), Security and Trust Services API for J2ME (JSR 177), Location API for J2ME (JSR 179), SIP API for J2ME (JSR 180), Advanced Multimedia Supplements (JSR 234), Nokia UI API, Adobe Flash Lite 3.0

Included in the box are the Nokia N85, its battery, a wall charger, a USB sync & charge cable, A/V connector cables, a Nokia music headset, an 8 GB microSD card , a user guide, and a quick start guide.

Whew!

I’ll be doing hardware walk-around posts on each in the next few days, and I’ll have their separate reviews ready in about a month; after all, I need some time to really get to know each of these beauties.

Can you see why my head is spinning, and I am not even sure which phone I want to use first?

Related posts:

Nokia of America Exec Says ‘Plenty of Life Left’ for Lumia 900, Do You Agree? The Nokia N85′s Killer App Nikon to Nokia – a photographer’s journey A Quick Look at the HTC Verizon 4G LTE ThunderBolt My Experience with the Nokia E71′s Signal Windows Phone Advertising – Doing Better By Pretending it Doesn’t Exist? Unboxing the HTC Advantage 7510 Hermes Teasers

Tags: HTC, Microsoft Windows Phone Devices, Mobile Phones, Nokia