HTC Surround Review: A Pocket Boombox
by Brian Klug on November 13, 2010 2:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Windows Phone 7
- HTC Surround
- Mobile
Microsoft has set relatively strict rules for what carriers and manufacturers alike can and can’t do to the WP7 experience. Back in the Windows Mobile days, things like carrier skinning and default installs with a plethora of carrier sideloads were the norm rather than the exception. HTC’s device skins definitely extended Windows Mobile’s longevity an extra year or two, but ultimately led to chaotic platform confusion.
The result is that (as we’ve noted in our other WP7 coverage), there’s no carrier skinning. But HTC TouchFLO that became Sense lives on in spirit on the HTC Surround. This time, however, it’s in a specific HTC Hub.
Fire up the hub, and you get to the trademark HTC clock after an animation. Tap on it, and you get weather forecast for the next few days. If you’ve seen HTC Sense on Android or TouchFLO on Windows Mobile, this is almost the same thing, but relegated to what amounts to an application.
There’s some nice eye-candy in the application itself, which bodes well for WP7 performance, but honestly the hub itself is of marginal practicality. You have to sit through the launch animation each time, and outside of just showing off the platform, it doesn’t really serve much use
The hub itself does little more than offer the clock, weather, and shortcuts to specific HTC applications you’re granted free access to by having an HTC phone. Sound Enhancer which we’ve talked about earlier, Stocks, Photo Enhancer, Flashlight, Converter, Lists, Connection Setup, and a few more. Tapping on any of them brings up the entry in the market.
Back in the marketplace application, there’s also an entry for HTC Apps which essentially serves the same purpose. The interesting part of what HTC is allowed to do here is that there’s nothing preinstalled from HTC except for the hub itself - to grab things, you have to get them from the marketplace. While that results in less bloat right off the bat, the downside is that installing everything is tedious. Oddly enough, the AT&T applications come preinstalled - but you can uninstall them.
Sound Enhancer we’ve already been over - you can manually select which sound enhancement you want, if any, instead of using the buttons.
Connection setup seems to be little more than a way to set APNs graphically, instead of searching for the settings online. There’s a ton of carriers in here.
Probably the most useful thing HTC has added is a flashlight app which actually uses the LED flash. I’m not sure if the LED flash API is exposed to developers elsewhere, but the flashlight app reminds me of the one I’ve seen on Android - same styling and functionality.
Photo Enhancer is a bit basic, offering about a dozen presets. There’s some auto enhancement modes, as well as your usual run of holga/lomo emulation presets for that vintage look. I’m not a fan of presets, as I expected some contrast, exposure, and saturation controls in a photo enhancer app, but for what it offers, photo enhancer does work. In addition, edits thankfully are not destructive, instead saved inside a different album.
Notes and Stocks are there, and do what you’d expect them to. The Notes application has some nice eye candy, though they're ultimately extraneous. It does its job, however.
On the whole, it relegating the HTC customizations to one single hub seems to make sense on WP7. On Windows Mobile, HTC's skinning attempts were arguably aimed squarely at making the platform useable and differentiating HTC phones from other devices running what was an increasingly complicated mobile OS. For the time being, WP7's interface is fresh and simple enough that adding a carrier skin would only detract from the experience. Time will tell whether Microsoft sticks to its guns in keeping the entire platform completely consistent - until then, manufacturers will differentiate their phones with a custom marketplace and hardware.
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HobHayward - Saturday, November 13, 2010 - link
It's possible different cell providers include different size microSD cards.Also anandtech's spam filter is trying to not let me post this.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Saturday, November 13, 2010 - link
You are correct, fixed :)Take care,
Anand
deputc26 - Saturday, November 13, 2010 - link
I'd like to see this metric included:http://lovinitinaz.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-metric...
Meegulthwarp - Saturday, November 13, 2010 - link
I'd really like to see a comparison of the speeds the different class cards give. If installing a class 6 or 10 card vastly improves the performance of the device then I would gladly replace it but if it is only for bigger GBs then I'll pass as I'm quite happy with 8GB right now.Orange UK has an option to buy a 16GB card when you are purchasing a HTC Mozart online. Not sure what that's about as the cards aren't user replacable, might phone them up later on to ask.
bigboxes - Saturday, November 13, 2010 - link
that needs to use their headphones.*seated at the restaurant next to boxes*
OMG! Listen to this!
*giggle*
Let's play it again, but this time turn it up louder!
*boxes picks up teen's cell phone and smashes it into restaurant wall*
This is not going to replace larger sets at home and on the road (on the bus, in the grocery store line, at the restaurant, etc.) you should use headphones.
kevith - Saturday, November 13, 2010 - link
Oh yes, in my country this is already quite trendy among teenagers. It can be realyy annoying.Seems like an ok phone though, still I think we´ve only seen the beginning. As before with first desktops, then laptops, the whole race for Mhz and faster hardware can start all over again in a new formfactor, The Pockettop...
I´m 50 years old, it´s great to have lived half my life before computers entered the scen for home-users. I´m a muscician, and when I think of the things we used to dream, that computers would be able to, and what they actually are capable of today, I feel a little bit as if had been wittnessing the Wright Bros first attempts to fly.
And now - well, in a short time anyway - maybe a studio-PC to carry in your pocket.
Wonderful.
Nataku - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
i can see some use for this though, not that i want some jerk cranking it up in a bus full of already pissed off people... lol(kids learning to dance during break time some where down the hall might be one good application for this)
NYHoustonman - Saturday, November 13, 2010 - link
What the hell is that noise D:banvetor - Saturday, November 13, 2010 - link
Dear Anand and Brian,Thank-you for the excellent phone reviews you are making. I wish to ask one thing though: in your reviews, can you make some points about the usability of each OS when you DO NOT have a data plan?
I don't know how many of us are out there, but I use a lot my smartphone (music, taking pictures, gps, etc), but I simply have no need for a many-dollar-a-month data plan. I do browse the web and check e-mails also, but only when there is wi-fi... If I have some VERY IMPORTANT e-mail to check, then I pay for the KB of data...
The most important points would be how dependent on a always-on data connection the OSes are... like the Zune music access, for instance. I have a Nokia N96 right now (planning to switch soon), and I just love that it has a map application that works offline, for instance (I know that no other phone has that, but I highlighted it just to make my point...).
Thanks once again!
Leo.
Gungel - Sunday, November 14, 2010 - link
With AT&T you have to get a data plan on your smartphone. Even if you buy a phone off contract, they will add a dataplan once the network checks your IMEI and recognizes it as such. I was on an old $15 a month unlimited data plan grandfathered in when SBC became AT&T. I recently bought an Android phone off contract and got a nice surprise on my next phone bill. The data plan is now $30 and is limited to 2GB a month.