Category: Maxis 10: HTC HD7 Review

Apparently I’m not done with this review yet HAHAHA! Just realized I forgot about this radio feature but I promise you this is my last post for this Maxis10 review and today is also the last day of the review. I don’t want to return the phone!!!! ;p

I’ve been looking high and low for the radio function when I heard of it but I couldn’t seem to find it hmm… It’s in the Music+Videos tile duh~ How come I never notice? ;p

You need to use the earphone as it serves as the antenna for the radio. The earphone is quite big for my ear LOL.

Anyway, as you can see in the photos, see the second one? The numbers are blur. It’s because I took the photo while it’s tuning. Too bad… Max only reach 90.0FM… That’s the down side. The only station that I managed to get is 89.9FM.

One last post to end the review. Read the summary here…

Enjoy your weekend!!

In this post, I’m going to summarize everything about the good and bad features of the phone to conclude this round of review. As usual, just sharing my experience, from tech noob point of views and as a first-time smart phone user.

There are some people that did not like the remarks I made about how I could make the phone as my makeup mirror and also seeing myself in the reflection, I’m so gonna annoy you even more in this post! Hahaha… That’s my experience, that’s the fact, it’s really that reflective and it really can be used as an emergency mirror when one needs one. How so? Here you go… See how clear I can see myself in the reflection?

What I like (in no particular order)

• Huge screen!!!
• Office Hub. Great for people like me who hate printing documents especially when it is not necessary to be printed.
• Good sound quality.
• Can arrange the tiles based on your usage for Start Screen.
• Battery life is quite lasting. Could last more than 12 hours with on and off streaming videos and songs, play some games, couple of calls and SMSes, web browsing, photo taking and etc.
• Huge “keypad”, easy typing/messaging.
• Easy navigation with sensitive touch screen.
• Kickstand for hands-free viewing.
• Clean interface design.
• Huge font.
• Voice search even though sometimes it’s not accurate.
• One touch Search.
• Xbox Live! Can play console-quality video games!!
• Camera function isn’t so bad with good lighting. Video function isn’t bad too and from others review, it’s doing quite good under low light condition.
• So easy to use, even tech noob like me knows how.
• Design is quite sleek.

What I don’t QUITE like (in no particular order)

• The camera button is hard to press, can cause blur photo or shaky video. Hard to camwhore with it.
• Photos quality in low light isn’t impressive.
• It couldn’t remember my last setting of the camera but I heard such problem in other phones too.
• No copy and paste function.
• As big as my palm!!! I need to use two hands. Once got used to it, it’s fine actually. Just something that you might want to consider if you have small hands like me.
• Lack of application from HTC but can always find extras in the marketplace.
• Always accidentally pressed on the back or search button. Could be due to my small hand.
• It’s not comfortable putting the phone to the ear when answering or making calls because of the size and due to the ultra sensitive screen, my cheekbone will touch it and trigger the vibration. It surprised me a little because it suddenly vibrated hahaha…
• Can’t transfer Office files directly to the phone using cable and Zune.
• No “Malaysia” in the country list when you set up your phone with your Windows Live account.
• When people call and the phone is locked, you have to slide up to find button to answer the phone. Quite inconvenient.
• Can’t customize own ringtone and theme.
• The alarm cannot be used when the phone is off. I usually rely on my phone as my alarm to wake me up and I’m not the kind that will have my phone on 24/7. I’ll off my phone when I sleep. I almost overslept once because I didn’t know about this -.-“
• Can’t input Chinese character using pin yin. Downloaded some applications but can’t support pin yin input because they’re develop by the Taiwanese whom does not use pin yin.
• Cannot support Adobe Flash Player and open PDF files.

That’s my take on HTC HD7 after using it for almost 2 weeks.

Overall, the phone serves me well enough. It’s not really that bad. Those issues I had encountered aren’t that bad, I can live with them once I got used to them. However, I think that investing RM2K+ for it is not a very wise decision to make since you can get other phones which have almost similar specs or are better than this.

Then again, if you are the kind that needs Office Hub, wants good gaming experience, has eyesight problem and big fingers, you can consider this phone. You don’t have to invest RM2K+ for it because you can always get it with cheaper price with Maxis. Sign up for a 24-month contract, it will only cost you RM1399 while with the 12-month contract, the phone costs RM1699.

I’m ending my review of HTC HD7 with this post. Thanks Maxis for giving me the opportunity to experience a smart phone and trust me with it.

So sad… The phone will need be returned real soon and I’ll be switching back to my faithful old Sony Ericsson K800i. LOL… I have the oldest phone at home, even my dad is using a more advanced phone than mine ;p Oh well… I just don’t see any reason for me to upgrade my phone. Besides, I’m jinxed when it comes to buying electronic gadgets(those of you who knows me definitely know my stories). It’s still serving me well, don’t see the need to change unless I get to keep HTC HD7 hahaha…

On the other note, I might have to change the phone soon because I experienced some issues with my Sony Ericsson when I tried to use it the other day. OH NO! No money to get new phone 🙁 *HINT HINT LOL*

If you would like to learn more about HTC HD7, you can visit these lucky reviewers of Maxis10 who are also reviewing this phone:
http://blog.saimatkong.com/
http://thebackpackr.com/
http://www.hanep.org/
http://cyrildason.com/
http://blog.flymenigel.com/
http://www.msxeroz.com/
http://azmanishak.com/
http://obefiend.blogspot.com/
http://saffawati.com/

So… Why is HTC HD7 so different from other phone? I’m not a smart phone user nor did I handle one before this. This post is posted based on what I heard from other smart phone users and also some research online. It might not be accurate but then again, I’m just sharing my virgin experience with you ;p

Dark to Light / Light to Dark
You can change your phone screen colour from the dark side(black background) to the light side(white background) and vice versa.

You can customize your Start screen and change the tiles’ colour. This is one feature you don’t get in most smart phones(or all? I don’t know…). It will be great if we can make our own background or have themes for it. It will be even more personalized.

Kickstand, Huge “Keypad”, Sensitive Screen
Taken from HTC official website: Just flip out the kickstand, kick back and catch all the magic of your favorite movies and videos.

The huge “keypad”, no more straining your eyes.

The screen is sensitive, no pressure required. Navigating around is so easy too. Sometimes, it’s too sensitive which annoyed me a bit but that’s just sometimes.

Microsoft Office and Weather App
You can view and edit the latest Office docs on your phone! Don’t have to print some of the documents that don’t have to be printed out. Save paper, save ink, save the environment. Very handy.

Weather app with rich 3D animation and great sound. Frankly, I found it very entertaining ;p

Voice Search and Picture Hub
Where can you find voice search? Even though sometimes it’s not accurate, still it’s fun to use it when your hands are occupied with other things.

Picture Hub does not only store your photos you had taken, you can even synced your photos in computer with the phone or view your friends’ latest photos in Facebook. You can also post a comment on the pictures your friends have posted on Facebook or Windows Live.

The background can be changed to your own preferred photo/picture.

Big Screen and XBox Live
The big 4.3″ high resolution screen is what makes it so different from other phone. I’m in love with screen!

Where can you find Xbox Live? Most of the games have great sound and graphics. At the same time, you can also collect award when playing and customize your avatar. Played Need for Speed with it, it was awesome!

Am I tempting you to get one? I heard the market price is RM2k+. WOW! I can buy a laptop with it!!! However, you can always get it with cheaper price with Maxis. Sign up for a 24-month contract, it will only cost you RM1399 while with the 12-month contract, the phone costs RM1699.

I showed you the overview of HTC Hub briefly in the video. Now, I’m going to share with you some of my favourite Hub. No video post for this part since I’ve covered the overview already. Besides, it will take me ages to do the production, not easy. Silly assignments come during the time we should be doing exam revision *smack head*, semester almost over then we get our assignments. How great is that?!?!

In fact, I did not understand what the HTC Hub is all about even after reading the getting started manual. From my exploration, well… To me… It’s just a place for you to download applications from HTC. The choices are limited. Then again, you can always go to Marketplace to download more applications.

The Weather App in Hub

This is the best animation of all! Even the sound effect was amazing!

Who says weather is boring? Man… I really love it, I would go in there just to see the rich 3D animation and the weather of other countries all over the world. I’m entertained by the animations.

You will need the Internet for this. This is where I got charged in the first place when I switched on the phone and entered the HTC Hub.

It’s great for planning your travel. Even though we can always find this weather forecast thing online easily but this one makes it really fun.

The Office Hub

This is what made me blurted, “I don’t want to return this phone!!!”.

I was surprised to find this! First thing that came into my mind, “I’ll have notes for class! YAY!”

I tried to transfer my files into the phone using Zune but it was a BUMMER! I couldn’t! The only way is to e-mail the documents to yourself and download to the phone. So troublesome. They should just let us sync it using Zune. This is one improvement that I hope we can see in the future. Lucky me, our lecturers sent our notes to our e-mails.

Temporarily, I’ll be using this when I attend classes. After the review period is over, this phone will be returned to Maxis. I will be going to class without any notes as usual *LOL* I hate printing notes!

The Game Hub

It’s cool! I could customize my Avatar. I could rotate it around. I could earn rewards playing XBox Live games.

The first thing that came to my mind when I got this phone was “I must download The Sims!”. Found the app, it’s not free. I haven’t download it to try *LOL* So far, I’m just playing the free games, nothing extreme. I’m kind of addicted to Flowerz. Simple game like this makes me happy enough.

I downloaded Bejeweled Live to try and the sound and graphic are awesome!

The Entertainment Hub

I guess the music+videos tile leads to entertainment hub. Sound was good! I’ve been listening to music with it. You need Zune to transfer music and videos to and fro your phone. You can watch YouTube here too but you have to download the application first.

The Search Hub

Shared this with you in the video too. It was funny. “Twitter” became “Pizza”, no matter how many times I tried. It’s quite fun to play with the voice search feature too. It’s pretty handy with the search button on the phone. Just pressed it and you will go to the search page.

Everyday, the search page will have different picture and you can learn interesting facts related to the picture of the day. I quite like it.

Applications

The phone is nothing if you don’t download any application. These are the applications that I usually use. Just go to the Marketplace.

If you are based in Malaysia, make sure you choose “Singapore” as your country when you set up your account, you need to have Windows Live ID to download applications into your phone.

I downloaded quite a number of applications and deleted quite a lot too because they were either just useless or not what I think they are.

That’s all about my favourite HTC Hub. I’m still thinking what to post for the next post. Hmmm… I have 2 more posts to do before returning this phone. I want to keep it, can??????????????

Yes! I’m a tech noob, I’m reviewing this phone from a tech noob perspective. I never claim that I’m a tech expert. *LOL* If a tech noob like me can use a sophisticated phone like HTC HD7, what’s more to say about the rest? Sure no problem.

Anyway, today, the approach is a bit different. The video review is only for the video functions.

This video is not edited. It’s right out from the phone. The format is MP4. This video was taken using the VGA format. I’m sure you can find other video formats(720P or QVGA) from other reviewers.

From this video, it seems like the video function is quite good. Even I could record my narration clearly compared to my Canon IXUS 80IS. I’m quite impress by it.

Sorry about some parts where I don’t think you could listen what I was talking about or sounded like I’m mumbling because my throat suddenly acted up. As some of you know that I’ve been suffering from cough for quite sometimes. It’s hard to get rid of the cough in a short period of time and it made me sound funny. Sigh…

Zune, you need it for photos or videos or music transfer. Cannot use bluetooth to transfer to your computer.

Now… Let’s go to the photo quality. I’m sure you’ve been hearing complains about the pink tint and the camera not doing well under low light condition. I hate that! It makes my food PINK!!! AIKS! The button is not easy to press, have to press it hard but once you get the hang of it, it shouldn’t be much of a problem. Still it requires a steady and strong hand. It does auto focus but once I pressed the button, the focus would be gone because my hand would shake! -.-”

Photos from the phone. All photos are straight out from the camera, no adjustment to the colour, only resized them.

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