HTC HD2 preview

Launch price £TBC

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Stuff says

HTC’s Sense sheen and sharpened multimedia skills mean the HD2 is well placed to battle the smartphone big guns

• WATCH

PREVIEW

While it never troubled the Nokia E71 or HTC’s own Touch Pro2 in our business phone rankings, the Touch HD is still one of our Top 10 smartphones, mainly thanks to its stunning 800x480 screen.

Its successor, the HD2, not only stretches that display to 4.3 inches, it’s the first phone to combine Windows Mobile 6.5 with HTC’s Sense UI, as seen on the Hero. All in all, it’s a recipe for a Masterchef-winning smartphone dish.

Multi-touch moves  
The presence of Windows Mobile may have you turning your back, but wait! The HD2 is also the first WinMo handset with multi-touch, meaning you can pinch to zoom on its already excellent web browser.

It should also be super-responsive thanks to the Qualcomm 1Ghz Snapdragon processor that’s under the hood. With Windows Marketplace beginning to take off, that extra grunt could also come in very handy for running apps.

Multimedia skills
Round the back you’ll find a 5MP camera – which we hope performs better than HTC’s recent efforts – and there is, of course, HSDPA and Wi-Fi on the connectivity front.

With a 3.5mm headphone jack and the promise of an optional car kit to turn your HD2 into a sat-nav, it seems the HD2 may have the multimedia skills to propel it into the smartphone big league. Check out our hands-on video for a close look and look out for a full review soon.