Windows Mobile without touchscreens

Look and feel: 8/10
Quality design and build. Sleek, stylish matt slate-grey finish looks professional; comfortable to use, feels sturdy (relatively heavy, but not overly so).

Externals: 8/10
Voice and camera buttons on right side, left has jogwheel for volume and for moving through currently active options (duplicates joystick up/down) plus microSD card slot. Camera lens on rear with speaker, USB/power socket on base.

Keyboard: 7/10
Clean, clear layout. Keys are well spaced and rubber-capped – easy to locate, very positive response in use. Aiming for the soft keys (outside on the top strip of four narrow keys) can mean Send or Receive keys (directly below them) get pressed accidentally. Keypad backlighting is weak, no backlighting for joystick.

Display: 7/10
Good portrait-mode 64K-colour screen—text displays well, contrast means display is pretty well visible in sunlight.

Memory: 8/10
64MB shared memory, plus hot-swappable microSD memory card.

Camera: 6/10
1.3mp with few extras—no flash, no macro mode, few effects – and no separate video-call camera. Photos are ok (but no better than that).

Connectivity: 8/10
3G (but not HSDPA) and infrared. Bluetooth and USB are both v1.

Phone: 9/10
No problems with reception or call quality. Phonebook is excellent.

For business: 7/10
Access to emails, calendar and contacts; view Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF documents .

In use: 8/10
Very comfortable, easy to use, email and internet browsing both work well. Battery life was a bit disappointing, but that’s 3G for you ...

WE LIKE …
• Ergonomics – feels good, inspires confidence
• 3G performance
• Keypad works well

WE DON’T LIKE:    
• No WiFi
• Underpowered camera functions (and no video call camera)
• Not many apps available for Smartphone version of Windows Mobile

Overall: 76%
HTC’s first 3G smartphone has been around for a few months now but is wearing well – a good, practical choice if you don’t want a touchscreen.


SAMSUNG i-320

Look and feel: 8/10
Classy, stylish. Looks wide, bit feels fine in the hand. And looks too thin, but doesn’t flex and feels very solid.

Externals: 7/10
Black plastic throughout, apart from silver on edge of navigation joypad. Volume rocker on left edge; on right edge are headset jack, charger/USB port, camera/voice notes key, key lock/Quick List key (quick access to useful functions like silent mode). Camera lens on rear, with two speakers.

Keyboard: 8/10
Packed keypad on front with joypad, two soft keys, Windows Home, back/clear and Send/ End keys. QWERTY keypad is crowded and keytops are tiny, but definition is good and fast typing is possible.

Display: 8/10
Good landscape-mode 64K-colour screen – crisp text display, perfectly adequate colour representation, excellent contrast and colour richness, visibility good in direct sunlight.

Memory: 8/10
128MB shared memory, plus non-hot-swappable microSD memory card.

Camera: 7/10
1.3mp with flash but no macro mode: photos are adequate only in bright daylight. Plenty of effects, though, and 320x240 video is surprisingly good.

Connectivity: 7/10
EDGE and GPRS, but nothing faster – and Bluetooth and USB are both v1.

Phone: 9/10
No problems with reception or call quality. Phonebook is excellent.

For business: 7/10
Windows Mobile 5 with Picsel viewer for viewing MS Office documents (but no editing text or spreadsheets). Converters, alarms etc.

In use: 8/10
Good sync capabilities (and can recharge from a USB connection while syncing). Useful spare battery provided.

WE LIKE …
• Physical characteristics—build quality, size, shape, weight
• QWERTY keypad works well, especially for email
• Good display (and very good video on it)

WE DON’T LIKE:    
• No WiFi, no 3G
• Non-standard USB
• Not many apps available for Smartphone version of Windows Mobile

Overall: 77%
We had to work had to find something to dislike here. A really good choice for phone/text/email use in business, though Windows for PocketPC has more software available.