I like reviewing old, obsolete products, so here’s another.  The USB port on my Nexus S died recently, and I got this loaner HTC with the Nexus is in for repair.

While the HTC is a fairly recent phone, it still runs Gingerbread (2.3.3), and feels very dated when coming from my Nexus S running Jelly Bean (4.0).  HTC sense is also not much fun.

The HTCs most obvious feature is it’s fold-out physical keyboard.  I’ve heard that some people prefer ‘real’ keyboards, but I have no idea why.  Even the clunky stock-Gingerbread keyboard is better.   The keys on the HTC are too small, require too much force, and the layout is all wrong.  On the positive side, the ‘z-hinge’ is clever.  Maybe next time HTC can use it to conceal something useful.

Aside from the awfulness of the keyboard, it makes the phone awkward and heavy.  The weight, when combined with the sharp, cold metal edges, gives me the uncanny feeling that when I’m talking on the HTC, I’m actually holding a wrench to the side of my head.

I’m not done complaining.  Like the rest of the phone, the speaker is disappointing.  I’m not asking a lot of it, but I like to  listen to podcasts on my phone, and the HTC isn’t up to the task.

What’s good about the HTC?  The battery seems to last a long time, at least longer than my Nexus S.  Also, I like the notification LED.  Other than that, I’m looking forward to getting my Nexus S back.

Tags: Android, google, HTC, HTC Desire Z, Nexus S, samsung

This story was posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2012 at 9:09 and is filed under Computing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.