Clove Technology’s Blog

Shaun over PDA247 has completed a review of the HTC Snap.  Originally posted in two parts; Part 1 and Part 2 or you can read the full review below:

In The Box

HTC Snap, Battery, USB Cable, Stereo Headset, AC Adaptor, Documentation Kit, Application Disc, Getting Started CD, Quick Start Guide, Warranty Information.

You know what to expect by now from HTC in a mid-range device and it is all here. There is nothing too exciting and nothing missing. Let’s move on.

Design

I had a play with a Snap a couple of days ago and was blown away by the design and general usability of the device, but a longer play has led me to feel slightly less enthusiastic. The screen looks small in comparison to the keyboard and there is a lack of personality to the entire look. Don’t get me wrong, this smartphone is a smart looking cookie, but it screams business from every plastic pore.

The materials used and the colours for the keys, metal middle section and back are perfectly in tune with each other and this makes for a pleasing to the eye device which will not grab undue attention.

It feels good in the hand and is light at only 120 grams. The rubber like coating on the back ensures good grip and the overall effect is one of truly portable power squeezed into a near perfect sized package. Everything appears to work from the trackball, to the sublime keyboard through to the navigation keys above the main keyboard. It is a real pick up and play unit which makes you feel at home within minutes.

Besides the relatively small screen (2.4”) it is hard to fault any part of the design, and I am deliberately not comparing it to the BlackBerry Curve 8900i or Nokia E71 at this point. I am also not looking at the individual features in this part.

Initial Thoughts

The Snap does not bring out passion when you first use it, but rather a sense of competence that it will do what you need very well. It has a smart design, as referenced above, but this design is built for practicality above all else. It feels like a slim slab of technology which is primarily aimed at the business market, but there are some entertainment features in the mix for good measure.

Setting it up was a breeze and as with any other HTC device, all of the connection settings are taken care of automatically. Within a few minutes my Exchange account was set up and my most needed data was bang up to date ready to be used.

I haven’t used Windows Mobile Standard for a couple of years now and going back to it was not like going back to an old friend. Time has moved quickly in the smartphone world and this particular OS feels dated, and quite cramped on the small screen. Almost every part of the OS and the included applications look unfriendly and this seems at odds with the care that has been put into the hardware. There are many third party applications which help, but more on those in part two.

It is super quick, as would be expected from this OS, and the inclusion of a 528Mhz processor and 192MB of RAM is ample to keep things ticking along nicely. The battery is rated at 1500mAh and this is again very big for the OS- I have been using the device for 8 hours so far and the battery meter is still on the 4th bar out of four.

It’s a good start for the Snap, but maybe not as good as I was expecting. Part two will detail the individual features and I will take a longer look at the software onboard.

Highlights

• 4 Row QWERTY Keyboard
• 528MHz Processor for fast and efficient application and task handling
• HSDPA connectivity for ultra-fast connection to the internet when away from a wireless hot spot or a desktop PC.
• GPS receiver for street level navigation (Software required)
• Bluetooth
• WiFi
• 2 Megapixel Camera
• MicroSDHC Card Slot

It is time to look in detail at the various features of the HTC Snap, and this is where we make a serious comparison between the hardware and software. The Snap feels like a mixture of old and new at times, but strides have been made by HTC to bring the OS into line with the impressive hardware. Has HTC made enough strides? Probably not…

Call quality and signal

In-ear call quality is good and I was impressed with the richness of the sound. The volume is also more than high enough and there is no outward sound emanating from the device, a problem I have experienced with many devices.

The speakerphone is poor though and suffers from distortion at medium to high levels. For a business device I would have expected better in this area.

Signal quality is excellent and I have been enjoying fast data coverage everywhere I go, even on my current network which can be inconsistent at times. I would rate the signal as one of the best I have used to date, but would probably need a longer spell with the phone to make an accurate judgement.

Camera

This is a business-centric device and thus the camera will not be seen as an important part, but there is always value in having a decent snapper on board.

Technologically the camera is not going to shake up the market, but it has a place and I was able to take some decent shots with the fixed-focus setup. You do need good lighting and a steady hand, but it’s not a bad addition. Video recording was again acceptable, but produced a better quality that I expected after using the stills side. All in all this is a worthy addition, but it is not as good as many others i.e. Curve 8900, iPhone etc.

Entertainment

Video quality is good and there have been no jumps in the video clips I tested. Of course the QVGA screen will not produce perfect reproduction, but the included demo from HTC offers an example of what can be accomplished.

Music playback is also better than I expected even with the included headphones. The interface works well for selecting music and this is again an added bonus which you may not have been expecting.

General Performance

The Snap is fast. This would be expected with the processor and memory on board when aligned with the efficient Windows Mobile Standard OS. At no point did I suffer any slowdowns, even with multiple applications running, and there is little doubt that this is one of the quickest Windows Mobile devices to date.

The only issue I had was with leaving Opera open in the background. This would cause the Snap to freeze and only a battery pull would resurrect it. This could be an Opera issue though, so let’s not ponder on that too much. The problem is that Opera, or an equivalent is needed, because Pocket IE is just dreadful on a device with a screen this size.

Screen

The hardware is generally excellent and the screen is the only area that merits any criticism. It is small and looks slightly out of place on the Snap. Performance out of doors is good, but bright sunlight will have an effect and I do feel that a larger screen could be included to take this smartphone to a whole new level.

Battery

Superb! The battery life really is excellent and as I write this I am on my third day with 2 bars still remaining. Exchange push has been on continually and I suspect there are a few reasons for the excellent battery here; efficient OS, large battery (1500mAh) and small screen. The fact that signal strength is so good also makes a big difference to the power that can be achieved.

Software

This is the big one as far as my view of the Snap is concerned. HTC has made efforts to bring the OS up to date and to make the Today screen more user friendly, and on the whole this works. There are touches of TouchFLO about the interface, but without the slowdowns and an immediate jump back into Windows Mobile Standard when you open any application.

This is purely a personal opinion, but the Standard WM is way past its sell-by-date and just doesn’t cut the mustard in 2009. The problem lies in the fact that the consumer orientated phones, such as the iPhone and Omnias, have pleasing interfaces which make the user want to use them. Even more crucially, the BlackBerry OS is miles better for business tasks and works flawlessly in almost every area.

The Inner Circle feature is so simple that is tempting to dismiss it as an unnecessary addition. The thing is that it works very well indeed and when you consider that the majority of your emails come from a select group of people this makes a lot of sense. It certainly does speed up communication with your ‘inner circle’ and should have been thought about years ago.

Conclusion

The HTC Snap is a difficult device for me to review because it has opposing parts which are either brilliant or not so good. The hardware is near the top of the class and is almost faultless. The size and resolution of the screen could be better though, and in a sector of the market where this device competes, compact smart emailers, the Snap has some way to go to match the Nokia E71 and more importantly the BlackBerry Curve 8900i.

Part of me loves this device to bits, but I feel that it needs a different OS to truly compete. The price is good, the hardware is great and people who like Windows Mobile will adore it. It is without doubt the best Windows Mobile Standard device to date, and in the right hands will prove to be the workhouse many have dreamed about for a long time.

Build Quality- 9
Ease of use- 7
Battery- 9
Screen clarity- 7
Value for money- 8
Total score- 83%