REVIEWS / SMARTPHONES / HTC INDIA PVT. LTD.

HTC Touch Dual

28 Jun, 2008, 5:42 pm IST | Laiq Qureshi | Smartphones Smartphones

Multimedia
Some improvements will be well-appreciated, such as the music player. The sound quality has been improved too, and you will like the set of earphones provided with the phone. I wouldn't suggest that you buy this phone only for this reason, for there are plenty of good music player phones in the market. FM radio is still missing. Watching movies is not advised due to the low screen resolution.


You can play your music using Windows Media Player or the Audio Manager application. Audio booster, which is basically EQ settings etc, can only be accessed once earphones are plugged in.

Connectivity
Wi-Fi is absent, which is a serious blow. Instead, HTC has tried to compensate by offering 3G HSPDA on 2100 MHz. For the Indian market this is absurd, for we don't have 3G. Moreover, I expected HTC to include GPS, but no such luck. It does supports an external GPS unit though.


For those like me who use BPL (indeed, for many non-Vodafone/Airtel users) activating GPRS is still a problem. Ideally, it should be as simple as choosing the service provider, and the phone is expected to automatically downloads the settings for you. Unfortunately, BPL subscribers have to go through a rather extensive procedure.

Camera and Battery
One wouldn't have thought it a waste to include a flash with the new launch. Apparently, HTC didn't think so. There is no flash, and the 2MP camera is mediocre. It has a host of settings though, from color balance to frames. The front VGA camera gives you an option to view yourself in mirror mode or actual mode. This means you can have a true-to-life view or a mirror view once you switch it on.


Pictures looked overly dull and hazy. Colors weren't accurate and there was noise in each picture. At first I thought it was due to dust on the lens. But it wasn't! However, the advantage of owning a phone like this is that you can immediately upload pictures on to the web.


The phone makes use of a Li-Ion 1120 mAh battery that is super hungry. For business users, it makes sense to offer either a portable charger, like Motorola does with certain phones, or simply offer better battery life. If you check your email often – which means using GPRS – you can't appreciate much music, for fear that your phone will die on you. Daily charging is a must. And power users are advised to keep a spare charger at work.

Would you buy it?




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