The bad: The HTC Titan (AT&T) could be a tad too large for small hands, and it doesn't offer expandable storage. We expected better call quality as well.
The main point here: The HTC Titan (AT&T)'s big and beautiful design and impressive features make it among the better Windows Phone offerings on AT&T.
One of the very best weapons in Windows Phone's arsenal is a well-designed telephone, which is why I'm happy that HTC is along for that ride. HTC has a history of beautifully designed phones which are exceedingly polished with a premium feel, and I believe the HTC Titan (AT&T) certainly fits that bill. Aside from its apperance and imposing size, it packs in a solid 1. 5GHz processor chip, the latest Windows Phone 7. 5 Mango operating program, an 8-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and 720p HIGH DEFINITION video capture, a front-facing 1. 3-megapixel camera, and assistance for AT&T's HSPA+ network. The Titan will cost a person $199. 99 with a new two-year agreement, but if you have in mind trying Windows Phone you should definitely give the Titan the look.
Design
The HTC Titan (AT&T) is aptly named. Calculating 5. 2 inches tall by 2. 7 inches broad by 0. 39 inch thick, it has a large footprint and seems quite massive in my small fingers. It is also quite a hefty phone at 5. 6 oz ., though that contributes to the phone's premium feel. However, it is relatively thin, and the tapered edges across the back let it cradle comfortably in the hand. Actually, the back and sides of the Titan make in the phone's entire shell. When you remove the casing to get into the battery, you're essentially separating out the display and also the phone's innards from their metal housing. The result is really a streamlined head-to-toe design that looks and feels luxurious.
The explanation for the Titan's impressive size is the large 4. 7-inch Extremely LCD display. It has a WVGA (800x480-pixel) resolution, that is the same resolution as on the HTC Radar 4G. Nevertheless, because the Titan has a much larger screen, the pixels are a little more visible, especially so with text. When I browsed Webpages in zoomed-out view, for example, letters were noticeably blocky. However, the Titan's screen shines in almost every other regard. The display is visible even at an angle, and the bold graphics of Windows Phone really become more active with the screen's capacity for showing off vivid colours and deep blacks. It's certainly not as rich since the Super AMOLED screens we've seen, but I found it a lot more than satisfactory for most tasks.
The touch screen was truly responsive. I swiped and scrolled with ease through Home windows Phone's fluid interface, and launching applications took less than the usual second. The virtual keyboard on the Windows Phone felt intuitive as well--each tap from the finger hit precisely the right key and I missed myself relying on autocorrect too often. You also obtain a proximity sensor and an accelerometer, which appears to start working quite quickly to shift the view from portrait in order to landscape and vice versa.
Beneath the display are the conventional Windows Phone touch sensor keys for the back, begin, and search functions. Along the right are the volume rocker along with a camera shortcut key, while the Micro-USB port sits about the left spine. On the top are a 3. 5mm headset jack along with a power/screen lock key. On the back of the phone are the 8-megapixel camera lens and also a dual-LED flash, while the 1. 3-megapixel front-facing camera perches above the display about the upper-right corner.
The HTC Titan (AT&T) comes packaged with a good AC adapter, a USB cable, and reference material.
Software program
Aside from the stock Windows Telephone interface, HTC has added a few of its own touches towards the Titan. You can access the HTC Hub, which houses HTC's now-famous clock and weather widget together with featured apps, and news and stock feeds. There will also be HTC-specific apps like HTC Watch, HTC's video download as well as rental service, HTC's Photo Enhancer, Locations, Notes, and Linked Media. As you might expect, AT&T preloaded several of its apps on here, like AT&T Live TV, AT&T Signal Scanner, AT&T Navigator, and more. Of course, there would be the usual Windows Phone apps on here as well, such as MS Office, Local Scout, and Bing Maps. The nice thing is that you could unpin and uninstall these apps completely if you do not want them.
Additional titles are available through the Home windows Phone Marketplace, which has more than 35, 000 applications in its catalog.
Features
The HTC Titan (AT&T) is the quad-band world phone with speakerphone, call waiting, call forwarding, meeting calling, voice dialing, and text and multimedia messaging. Additional connectivity features include Bluetooth 2. 1, Wi-Fi (802. 11b/g/n), GPS NAVIGATION, and support for AT&T's HSPA+ 14. 4 "4G" system. As I said earlier, the Titan has a front-facing camera which you can use for video calls. The phone comes with the Tango chat application just for that function. Calls can be made over 3G, 4G, or even Wi-Fi.
Entertainment is a key feature of Home windows Phone, with great Zune integration, Smart DJ, and use of tools and information in Xbox Live, so you may customize your 3D avatar, track achievements, and discover brand new games.
The biggest and best feature that the Titan brings towards the table is its 8-megapixel camera. It has an f/2. 2-maximum aperture lens and also a backside-illuminated sensor (BSI) for good low-light performance. There's also a dual-LED flash for if you are in an especially dark environment. HTC added several camera tools towards the standard camera app, like white-balance controls, face detection, glint adjustment, ISO, sharpness, saturation settings, color effects, burst chance modes, and my personal favorite, panorama stitching.
Photo quality was very good. Images were sharp even with indoor lighting, and shutter lag had been minimal at best. Still, I did wish the low-light pictures were less dim. Outdoor shots looked fantastic, though, and also the camera is capable of 720p HD video capture. Video quality looked quite good within our initial tests. Do remember that the Titan only offers 16GB of internal memory, and you can't expand this.
Performance
I tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) HTC Titan (AT&T) in Bay area with AT&T Wireless. Call quality was all right, but it may be better. On my end, I heard callers well sufficient, with good volume and clear voices. I did hear the casual static hiss, which proved to be rather distracting every so often.
Callers, on the other hand, reported a strange dull quality to my voice, as if I were talking via a voice modulator. They didn't detect much background sound, as well as volume was loud enough, but the muddiness still prompted these phones ask me to repeat myself several times. Speakerphone quality wasn't too different from regular calls, though callers said my personal voice sounded deeper than usual.
Conclusion
The HTC Titan (AT&T) is really a solid and well-built offering for those looking to jump ship towards the Windows Phone OS. It has a large 4. 7-inch display that means it is a treat to watch videos, though pixel density is not the greatest because of the WVGA resolution. Don't be deterred by the lack of the dual-core processor, as the 1. 5GHz Qualcomm processor do its job just fine. It offers decent HSPA+ speeds and we applaud the fluid feel of Windows Phone's interface. I'm also impressed with the quality of the phone's 8-megapixel back camera, and the fact that there's a 1. 3-megapixel front-facing digital camera for video calls. At $199, the Titan is a difficult sell against powerful Android competitors, but I hope there are those people who are willing to give it a chance.
