The feature would allow the users to get an access to a special part of the TouchFLO without the soft keys disappearing. This would be cool.

Anyways this feature cannot be called a day-to-day feature, I guess that’s the main reason it was removed.

Via: pocketnow.com

So what HD2 has that others don’t?

HTC HD2, just another breakthrough from Taiwan, can without any doubt be called “the greatest Windows Mobile phone in the world” (CNET). There were people who were sure that the smartphone will be a “killer” of Android devices, and it should be noted that at some point they were right. Today there is no other smartphone out there that will have the same impressive specifications.

HTC HD2 features a powerful 1GHz Snapdragon processor, large 4,3″ capacitive touchscreen, lots of ROM and RAM and all this in a 11 mm tick housing. The smartphone is the first Windows Mobile 6.5 phone that uses HTC’s Sense UI.

HD2 Quick Look

Designers at HTC have done a great job with HD2, by adding some exciting features to the smartphone. The first thing that you notice about HD2 is that it is big! In fact, it is bigger than the Touch Pro2 and bigger than its predecessor Touch HD. The dimensions of the device are 120.5x67x11 mm (4.74×2.64×0.42 inches), which means that its longer and broader than other devices of the same range. However, it is also thinner. If you compare the HD2 to Touch HD (115×62.8x12mm) and iPhone 3GS (115.5×62.1×12.3 mm), you will see that they are both a little shorter and narrower, as well as thicker than the HD2. On the other hand the device is a little heavier at 157g (5.54 oz) compared to the Touch HD’s 147g (5.185oz) and 3GS’ 135g (4.8oz).

The new HTC smartphone runs on Windows Mobile 6.5 and has a 1 Gigahertz Snapdragon processor. It comes with the HTC Sense user interface, which has Twitter integrated and also feautures like Footprints. Other features of the HD2 include a 3,5″ headphone jack and a Micro-USB connector at the bottom of the HD2, instead of Mini-USB, the 5 Megapixel camera with two very bright LED’s, that help you get sharp images in the dark. The device does not have a stylus, but the user will not need it because of the capacitive screen.

HD2 Specifications

• CPU Processing Speed: 1 GHz Snapdragon™ processor
• Memory: ROM: 512 MB, RAM: 448 MB
• Display: 4,3″ with Capacitive touch screen and 480 X 800 WVGA resolution
• Size: 67×120,5×11 mm
• Weight: 157 grams (5.54 ounces) with battery
• Expansion slot: microSD™ memory cards (SD 2.0 compatible)
• Talk time: WCDMA: Up to 320 mins, GSM: Up to 380 mins
• Standby time: WCDMA: Up to 390 hours, GSM: Up to 490 hours
• Camera: 5 megapixel color camera with Auto focus and Dual LED flashlight
• Battery type: Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery with 1230 mAh capacity
• Connectors: 3.5 mm stereo audio jack and Standard Micro-USB (5-pin micro-USB 2.0)
• Sensors: G-Sensor, Proximity sensor and Ambient light sensor
• Network speeds: 3G Up to 7.2 Mbps download speed and up to 2 Mbps upload speed  GPRS: Up to 114 kbps download speed EDGE: Up to 560 kbps download speed, Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 B/G
• Connectivity (Europe): HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz and GSM: 850/950/1800/1900 MHz
• Connectivity (Asia Pacific): HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz and GSM: 850/950/1800/1900 MHz
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 2.1 with Enhanced Data Rate
• Tethering: Internet Sharing through USB or Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Router
• Location-based aids: Internal GPS antenna and Digital Compass

HTC HD2 Design

The design of the HTC HD2 is very impressive and very very stylish.

All the front part of the device is occupied by the massive 4.3″ VGA screen, which is based on capacitive screen technology. By the way, the HTC HD2 is the first Windows Phone designed on the capacitive screen technology.
The a grille is located above the screen. Behind it you can see the front speaker and for example the charging LED. On the left of the grille are two sensors.

On the front part of the phone, just below the screen, there is a row of five buttons. There are no buttons on the right side of the HTC HD2, while on the left side are located the dedicated volume control buttons. When you look at the bottom of the HTC HD2, you see the Micro USB port and a 3.5 mm. headphone jack. We are used to find the dedicated power buttons on the top of phones, but topside of the HTC HD2 is perfectly clean without any buttons.

The backside of the smartphone is dominated with the brushed metal battery cover. Here you can also notice a 5 Megapixel camera. It should be noted that the camera lens sticks a few millimeters (+/- 2.5) out the surface of the backside and there is a minor edge that protects the camera lens from scratching. On the right side of the camera the dual LED flash is located.

HTC Sense

As we already mentioned the HTC HD2 is the first Windows Phone with HTC Sense user interface, which has different tabs, including Start, Contacts, Messages, Mail, Internet, Calendar, Stocks, Pictures and Videos, Music, Weather, Twitter, Footprints and Settings. The user can enable or disable any of these tabs.

Start / Home
The Start Tab shows directly on the top of the Carrier. Next to the carrier-bar you can see several widgets, including the ones showing the current time, location and weather information about the current location. There is also world-clock application, which shows the time from different places around the world, and an alarm-clock.

The Start Tab has another widget which shows the date, as well as 3 other widgets which can be used as a shortcut to an application, contact or a bookmark.

Contacts
With the contacts tab, you will have 9 directly accessible shortcuts to your popular contacts. You’ll see 6 more shortcuts when you scroll-up.

Messages
The messages tab gives access to all the text messages. When selecting a message, you’ll see the message tab from the “people-centric communication” and will be able to get an overview of all the text messages sent from and to this contact.

Mail
The mail tab shows the mailboxes you’ve configured. To see the complete message select a message. Her also you will be able to go to the people centric communication from the person who wrote you.

Internet
The Internet tab of the HD2 is different form the one we find in HTC Touch Pro2. There is a search-bar available that automatically opens Google and gives you the search results. Besides the search bar there is a button to open the Internet Browser. By default it will open Opera, while there is also Internet Explorer available.

Calendar
The calendar tab has five different views:

• Agenda – gives you a chronological list of items in your agenda.
• Day – shows you all the appointments on a specific day, the weather of the location of your appointments.
• Week – shows all the days of the week.
• Month – shows all the days of the month.
• Year – shows all the months.

Stocks
The stocks tab shows a list of all the stocks, has an option to add, remove or re-order stocks. It automatically updates the stock information from the internet.

Pictures and Video’s
With the pictures and video’s tab the user will be able to go through the pictures and videos stored on the device and rotate them.

Music
The music tab gives you access to all the music on the device. Here you can play, pause, and go to the next and previous song.

Weather
The weather tab shows a full-screen overview of the weather with the nice animated pictures. You have access to weather forecast for the next four days.

Twitter
As Twitter is one of the most popular and fastest growing social networks, HTC has added a Twitter tab to HTC Sense UI. The user of the device can add a tweet and update the Twitter status. There are a number of basic twitter functions included: update timeline, new tweet, new message, update location, my profile, Settings and Search.

Footprints
With footprints you can add meta-data to photos; it comprises a rating, Category, GPS-location, Phone number, web-address and more. The tab Footprints allow you flip through the footprints which you made in the past and allows you add new footprints. The integration with Google Maps and CoPilot is nice feature of footprint. Google maps shows the street view and CoPilot Live allows you navigate to that location.

Settings
The tab settings provides an easy access to the most used settings. You are able to convert the settings of both HTC Sense and also other mobile settings like Sound, Wireless, etc.

Other software highlights
HTC has made great efforts in the HTC Sense interface but there are a lot of extra applications comprised as well.

Wi-Fi-Router
Wi-Fi-Router application is the first very attractive application, which is able to turn your Windows Phone into a router. Windows Mobile was already famous for its Internet Sharing application, where the Windows Phone becomes the modem of your Windows powered notebook. This Wi-Fi-Router application takes it one step further, so now you can easily share your cellular data connection with others as well.

WorldCard Mobile
I think the Wi-Fi-Router application already stresses that this is a well balanced device that is perfect application in business as well. HTC has comprised Worldcard Mobile from PenPower on the HTC HD2 that lets you easily take a picture of a business card via the build-in 5 Megapixel camera, and transforms the information into the details of an Outlook Contact. In other words, take a picture and the contact details are imported into your Windows Phone. This application normally costs $25,– and is certainly a valuable addition to the HTC HD2.

JETCET PRINT 5
The JETCET PRINT application v5 is another valuable application, with which you can print documents saved on your HTC HD2 to a bluetooth or network printer. On the Westtek website the product’s description states: “Experience the best mobile printing solution on the market! JETCET PRINT lets you print documents, photos, email and much more from your Windows Mobile Pocket PC phone. Quickly add printers, browse to files and voila! Print! No more complicated configuration steps or additional software required.”

Camera and video use on the HTC HD2
The HTC HD2 has a 5 megapixel color camera with Auto focus and Dual LED flashlight. The dual LED flashlight does a good job. The pictures in less light conditions are, in fact, pretty well, but certainly not as good as on a digital SLR camera.

Multitouch on the HTC HD2
Multitouch is one of the new exciting characteristics of the HTC HD2 and one of the methods you can use to interact with the screen. It allows you to use two or more fingers to interact with the HTC HD2 by placing them directly on the screen. Multitouch is a very accessible feature on the HTC HD2 and we hope this will enable users to use multitouch more to interact with the device in the future.

Haptic feedback, Proximity Sensor and G-Sensor
The HTC HD2 characterizes haptic feedback just like the Touch Pro2. The device provides you tactile feedback when you press the screen within TouchFLO 3D. The HTC HD2 also characterizes a Proximity Sensor, an extremely cool and useful quality of the HTC HD2. In addition to this the device has a built-in G-Sensor. It automatically turns the screen to landscape when you turn the device over.

Postscript
HTC’s Quietly Brilliant Campaign focused on HTC HD2.

HTC Sense is based on three principles: Make it mine, stay close, and discover the unexpected.

Make it mine
HTC HD2’s vast display is like a canvas on which you make a phone that is just right for you. Modify the phone by segmenting essential features like mail, calendar, messaging, browser and more. Put shortcuts to the most important people, favorite websites, or most used applications right on the home screen. The clock automatically updates to the local time wherever you are. You can see the outside temperature and weather at a glance.

Stay Close
With HTC HD2, communication is oriented around people rather than applications. All your interactions are in one place: email, SMS, phone logs, and even updates from Facebook. A phone call in business often has the power to prevent a mile-long pile up of inconclusive emails. HTC HD2 makes it simple to go from reading an email to calling the sender. Forget the challenge of jumping from your calendar to your phone applications while trying to find and memorize the number for your next conference call. On HTC HD2, conference call reminders conveniently appear with a big dial button ready for you to press, so you’ll never miss out on the latest strategy session.

Discover the Unexpected
Some design characteristics of HTC HD2 are far better experienced than can be described in simple words. HTC HD2 is built for complete finger touch control. Zoom in and out of documents, web pages, pictures or emails with just a simple pressure. While carrying the HTC HD2 in your pocket you’ll never have to worry about finding a Wi-Fi access point for your laptop. Your phone just connects to superfast 3.5G cellular networks and becomes your personal wireless access point. You are under cover with HTC HD2 when it comes to taking and viewing pictures wherever you may be. The 5 megapixel auto-focus camera is perfect for capturing the beauty of the great outdoors.

Some more links for your consideration

• HTC HD2 on Android
• HTC HD2 Drop Test (Video)
• HTC HD2 vs iPhone 3GS – Camera Test
• 43 Minutes with HTC HD2 [Video]
• HTC HD2 Scratch Test (Video)
• HTC HD2 Battery Test

However as reports confirm today, tests on upcoming HTC HD2 showed that Leo will actually have a digital compass. They also confirmed that it would be fully functional and beautiful tool, unlike the analogue of the iPhone.

What does the existence of the magnetometer gives to a mobile device? It provides maximum adaptation of the smartphone for comfortable everyday use. In particular, using a digital compass app for GPS-navigation will have us automatically and more accurately determine where we are and give us instructions on possible low traffic roads. So Leo is again ahead of all!

Just recently we have published the leaked photo of the already legendary powerful HTC Leo, which is scheduled for release in October this year and once again new photos of this device surfaced around here.

Looking at the pictures we see that rumored specs are very trustworthy. First, the processor of this smartphone is really Qualcomm Snapdragon with hitherto unprecedented speed – 1GHz. The huge capacitive screen sized 4.3 inches with 480×800 resolution will not disappoint the fans as well.

Third, the device has proprietary interface Manila 2.6, designed specifically for HTC Leo, and Windows Mobile 6.5. We have already written about other main specs available in our previous articles, so not to be repeated let’s finalize it as a truly powerful device.

In addition on the above photo we see it labeled as  HTC Touch Pro3. One can see that the new photos clearly show HTC PRO.THREE inscription on the back cover and we still remain guessing whether Leo (HTC HD2) will still be attributed to Pro series, as the HTC Touch Pro, and Touch Pro 2 are known for their physical QWERTY keyboards, but Leo can not boast with such a keyboard.

The eight-minute video we bring to your attention demonstrates the multimedia abilities of the new UI of Windows Mobile 6.5, developed for HTC Leo Touch FLO 3D 2.6. We already showed you a little review of Manila 2.6. Now we offer to look at the new user interface Touch Flo 3d 2.6. The shell is replete with beautiful animated transitions that make the interface look really impressive. Besides, the developers have already taken into account almost all the shortcomings of previous versions, and now Touch Flo is almost ideal. But this is my own opinion, so you can watch the video and write your impressions on the new interface.