From the outset, the HD2 is a tragic creature, built from the finest pieces imaginable and burdened with a categorically disappointing OS. HTC has done their best to hide the HD2’s shame, but it’s just not enough.

Meeting the HD2 : Hardware

HTC’s got a funny way of designing hardware, where they settle on a basic set of components then pump out virtually every iteration of this basic spec set they possibly can. (See also: HTC as Taco Bell.) It’s a rare occasion then, that we get something like the Touch HD2, a followup to the similarly impressive Touch HD.

Top to bottom, corner to corner — and it’s a long trip — the HD2 is a perfect specimen of glass, plastic and aluminium. The massive screen-to-bezel ratio means the HD2 is essentially just a 4.3-inch piece of glass, its 800×480 multitouch display bordered by just a few millimetres of ink-black trim and a subtle row of satisfyingly pressable little buttons. The handset’s minimalist hind-side, interrupted only by a slightly protruding lens for the HD2’s 5-megapixel camera and an ever-so-slightly grained aluminium battery door, is elegantly tapered, emphasising just how thin this thing is.

It’s got the same space-warping powers as a supermodel; it looks like a beautiful phone in pictures, but when you finally see it in person, it’s twice as tall as you thought it would be and far too thin for its expanded proportions. It’s almost not fair to other phones. And it will give them body image issues.

Behind this spectacularly huge screen is a 1GHz Snapdragon processor assisted by 448MB of RAM — specs that would have put a top-line desktop to shame less than 10 years ago — and 512MB of ROM, aided by expandable microSD storage. The whole battery of expected high-end smartphone amenities are here, from GPS to a facial proximity sensor to an internal compass to Bluetooth 2.1. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack and charging comes by way of Micro USB through to an adequate 1230mAh battery (it’ll get you through the workday, which is par for the course nowadays). Unless you absolutely need to have a hardware keyboard, there is nothing — nothing — the HD2 leaves you wanting for.

Moving In With the HD2

One of the benefits of Windows Mobile not having changed much in the last few years is that it’s easy to compare new hardware to old. And let’s be clear about the HD2: It’s unbelievably fast. Applications open almost instantly and close without the slightest hesitation, and over Wi-Fi, web pages render in Opera Mobile as if you’re browsing on a laptop, not a mobile phone. (And hell, if you put your face close enough to this ridiculous screen, it’s easy to forget you’re not.)

This near-magical experience is spread throughout the HD2: Calls answer and end without the expected delay, the camera — a decent 5-megapixel number with a blinding flash and VGA video capabilities — wakes up as fast as you can point its lens, and tapping the home button, no matter how many apps you’ve got toiling in the background, always results in a satisfyingly clean and snappy return to HTC’s ostentatious homescreen. Speaking of which!

This is one of the first Windows Mobile phones to have HTC Sense, which combines bits and pieces of their overhauled Android interface and kneads them together with years of TouchFLO 3D development. Practically, this means that using the HD2 is just like using any other HTC Windows phone from the last three years — a tabbed slider at the bottom of the screen moves you from homescreen panel to homescreen panel, where HTC has condensed almost all the information you look to your phone for. It’s faster and more complete that you’ve seen before, with added colour, a Twitter client and visual browser bookmarks. But it’s essentially the same HTC dashboard, just gussied up a little bit. And to the extent that such a thing can work, it works.

Falling Out of Lust With the HD2

HTC’s software ethos has always been to hide the unseemly parts of Windows Mobile. And it’s got plenty! But with the HD2, they’ve taken this philosophy all the way to its logical conclusion: They’ve tried to replace Windows Mobile’s UI entirely. The HD2 is HTC: Reductio ad Absurdum Edition.

And don’t get me wrong, this whole Sense thing is surprisingly usable — it’s a fairly rare occasion that you fall out of HTC’s safe, smooth, grey-and-black arms, and into the Windows 3.1-esque hell that has been, and somehow still is, a Windows Mobile hallmark. Sense HTC has made a sort of meta OS which uses Windows Mobile 6.5 as a behind-the-scenes stage hand, only showing its face when it absolutely needs to. HTC has even added multitouch to the browser, maps and photo applications, which works surprisingly well for what almost certainly qualifies as an after-the-fact hack.

In fact, that could describe the whole Sense experience. It’s good considering what it is. It’s just that that’s a huge qualification. As pretty as HTC’s replacement apps are, they’re not the same as having good core apps in the first place. Want to add music to HTC’s fancy new media player? You’ve got to find Windows Mobile’s old media player, add a directory and switch back. Want some new apps? Trundle on over to Windows Mobile’s sorely lacking app Marketplace. Press Start, and you’ll be greeted with Windows’ unsortable mess of a Start Menu. Need to modify a setting that HTC didn’t deem important enough to put in their own control panel? Good luck. And god forbid you don’t like Sense and want to stick with vanilla 6.5 because you basically can’t: It’s not quite ready for stylus-free use, and the HD2’s screen doesn’t come with — or support—those forsaken almost-pens of yore. As much good work as HTC has done here, it’s an uneven experience.

Every time you notice the absurd lengths to which HTC has gone to deny this phone is running Windows — they’ve even replaced the calendar and text messaging apps, for god’s sake — you find yourself asking the same question: Why even bother?

It’s a question for consumers as much as it is for HTC. For HTC, why spend so much time and effort desperately — and only marginally effectively — hiding an OS when you know you can just replace it entirely? I understand they’ve got a legacy with Windows Mobile, but right now that legacy is starting to seem toxic. And for anyone thinking about buying this thing, why not wait a little while? We’ve seen how fantastic this hardware combo is, so why not wait until someone loads it up with software that HTC doesn’t have to hide away like some kind of dark secret? Sony’s about to outspec the HD2 with the Android-powered Xperia X10 anyway, and HTC would have to be stupid not to be working on the same right now.

If you’ve got some undying loyalty to Windows Mobile, be it personal or work-enforced, life won’t get any better than with the HD2 — it’s shipping on multiple carriers in the US sometime in early 2010, though I don’t suspect it’ll be cheap. If you don’t, then just wait this one out. Trust me: The payoff will be worth it. [HTC]

The 4.3-inch glass display is pure bliss.

Actually, no, this whole handset is bliss. If they were sitting right here, right now, I would kiss the hardware designers on the mouth. With tongue.

Battery life isn’t as atrocious as you’d expect it to be.

HTC Sense does extensive damage control on Windows Mobile, making this the best WinMo experience out there right now.

Not to beat a dead horse, but it’s still Windows Mobile.

It takes all open webpages, applications, and widgets and organizes them in a way that you can easily flick to leaf through the selections. Actually, the more I think about it, the more it seems almost exactly like the card system. With fancy page-flip transitions in between.

Each page of the virtual book is the UI of a service or function of the handheld electronic device. Flipping the pages of the virtual book means browsing and selecting the services and functions provided by the handheld electronic device. This book-like UI enables the user to use and manage these applications, widgets, and web pages in an easy and intuitive way like browsing a conventional printed book. The book-like UI hides the differences among applications, widgets, and web pages so that the handheld electronic device can be accessed through a uniform and convenient UI.

The patent also describes a really cool rolodex-style method of browsing, where the UI collapses apps and pages towards the top and bottom of the screen while expanding the item you’re looking at in the middle. Imagine (again with the Palm comparisons) the Pre’s calendar, and you’ll get the idea.

The Pre might already have a lot of what’s described here, but I’m totally cool with HTC ripping it off. Because if anyone can knock this interface out of the park, it’s HTC. [<a href="http://www.unwiredview.com/2009/10/30/hts-is-working-on-next-gen-virtual-book-touch-ui/""UnwiredView via Slashgear]

Sense for Windows Mobile isn’t a full port of the Hero’s interface for Android; it’s a nebulous design philosophy, with “pillars” and a “vision.” But don’t worry! It—taking the form of TouchFlo 2.6 here—isn’t as lame as it sounds.

A few months ago, rumour was that HTC would bring Sense to all its products, regardless of OS. This was actually a mistranslation, from PR speak to English—HTC planned to adopt certain aspects of Android’s Sense—the social networking integration, primarily—across its product line, not to replicate it on Windows Mobile. What that leaves us with is a fresh version (2.6) of the venerable TouchFlo 3D, seen here on the HTC Touch Diamond2, but eventually destined for the mysterious “Leo” handset that’s been confusing everyone for the last few months.

The changes from the already great 2.5 are actually fairly hefty: there’s a new, Hero-like homescreen with a fresh widget system, and new graphics scattered throughout. And although it feels like a strange thing to get excited about in 2009, HTC has added colour to some of the more drab parts of the interface, giving TouchFlo a generally richer feel. Of course, Windows Mobile 6.x still lurks under all this gloss, but hey, at least it’s got nice clothes. [PocketNow]

The home screen looks pretty good, with HTC’s trademark flipping clock (although the skinned clock doesn’t actually flip), weather, and three customisable apps, with the icon for the sliding app tray just to the right. The dialer is also skinned, with the fat-finger-friendly Android number keys, but that’s mostly it — the apps themselves aren’t skinned, and neither is the list of apps. But it’ll definitely give a fresh coat of paint to the iPhone if you’re tired of the home screen, as long as you don’t expect the iPhone UI to be as totally changed by Sense as Android’s was. [Redmond Pie via Engadget]

BGR coaxed a few details about the skin/shell/application set/whatever from a Motorola insider:

It will combine all personal contacts and social networking sites into a clean and easy to use interface…The skin/OS is named “Blur” by Motorola and will be heavily web-connected. All Android devices will be able to upgrade different sections of the OS and interface all over the air.

Given how vague and strange the language is, it’s hard to glean exactly what to expect, but I get the feeling the reality of Blur will be somewhat familiar: an HTC-Sense-like social networking layer, with custom widgets and a system-wide skin. This concept works for the Hero, and looks fantastic coming from Sony. As for how Motorola will actually execute this, we’ll have to wait and see. Hey, guys, when’s that Morrison supposed to come out again? [BGR, pic from Phandroid]

Chances are (about 99.9999%) that you don’t have access to the HTC Hero just yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t run its famed HTC Sense Android skin.

According to some Italian software enthusiasts, it is possible to flash your G1 with their SuperHERO ROM, a port of the HTC Hero’s firmware. Aside from the OS skin’s beautiful graphics and animations, SuperHERO will activate G1 multitouch that allows you to zoom into webpages a la iPhone.

Of course, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi aren’t all that functional with this firmware, and the OS can get a bit laggy and light on memory. So you’ll need take the good with the bad should you decide to hack your G1. [HD Blog via androidguys]

Partially contradicting earlier (but no less tenuous) reports that the interface would be ported to other Android phones, MobileBurn is now claiming an HTC representative told them that “licensing restrictions” would prevent the company’s customised, proprietary interface from arriving on “with Google” branded phones—which include the T-Mobile G1 (Dream) and MyTouch 3G (Magic).

At first glance this sounds petty and strange, but oh, goddamn it, there’s a precedent. From May:

We’ve just learned that HTC is including a built-in Microsoft Exchange client on the HTC Magic devices that lack the “with Google” branding… According to HTC’s Eric Lin, the “with Google” phones will sport the stock Android smartphone operating system, while the non-Google branded phone will include HTC developed “special sauce.”

I’m sure there’s a sound legal reason for this, but that doesn’t stop it from being as annoying as all hell. It looks like this one might be up to you, homebrewers. [MobileBurn--Thanks, Alan!]

Yes, it’s the first Android phone with Flash—and it’ll come out more than two months before Adobe’s solution is set for wide release. Some specs: We’ve got a 3.2-inch HVGA (480×320) screen, coated with some kind of anti-print treatment; a five megapixel camera with autofocus; AGPS; a digital compass; a gravity sensor; a 3.5mm headphone jack (seriously!) and a dedicated search button. On the brains’n'guts front, we’ve got 512MB of storage, expandable by microSD, 288MB of RAM, and a 528MHz Qualcomm processor. Powering the handset is a 1350 mAh battery.

The Hero will be available later this summer in Europe in July and Asia later in the summer, but US availability won’t come until “later this year.”

[HTC]