HTC recently launched two Windows Mobile devices as its first assault on the market with own-branded hardware. We have already reviewed one of these, the HTC TyTN , Windows Mobile 5.0 connected handheld; now it's the turn of HTC's Windows Mobile smartphone, the MTeoR (pronounced ‘meteor’). Like the TyTN, the MTeoR is a 3G device, which is a first for a Windows Mobile Smartphone.
Design
At 120g the MTeoR isn't the lightest Windows Mobile Smartphone we've seen, but it's still an acceptable weight; it measures 49mm by 112.4mm by 14.8mm -- a little tall, but pocket-friendly enough.
The MTeoR is clearly a Windows Mobile smartphone, yet it differs significantly from other examples of its ilk. Its general design is a rather striking mix of slate grey, black and silver, with some subtle angles on the fascia and a slight downward curve of the top edge giving it a generally sleek appearance.
The MTeoR’s most obvious Windows Mobile smartphone giveaway is the bank of buttons between screen and number pad that act as shortcuts to various features.
These include four miniature, buttons two of which map onto the Windows Mobile softmenus, one of which takes you to the Messaging centre for email, MMS and SMS management; the other fires up- Internet Explorer.
Beneath this row is a block containing another four buttons, two on the left and two on the right. These are the Call and End buttons, a shortcut button to the Today screen and another that acts as a back button. Between these is a mini-joystick for navigating within and between applications.
The number pad's buttons are also relatively small, but well spaced and consequently easy to hit. All the buttons have a rubberised finish and are raised from their surroundings, making them relatively easy to find.
As well as the mini-joystick, HTC has included a jog button on the left edge of the device. This is not a fully rotating wheel, but an up/down button. Rather than having a separate ‘OK’ button, you press it to make a selection. In fact, you have to press it quite a long way to get a reaction -- we found that it took a fingernail to fully depress it rather than the flat of the thumb.
You can only use the scroll wheel for vertical scrolling -- it has no function for moving through a horizontal row of icons, so you have to use the mini-joystick for that. Nonetheless, it's useful for moving through documents such as emails or Web pages.
The left edge also houses a covered slot for a microSD card, should you wish to boost the internal memory. On the upper right edge is a shortcut button for the built-in camera, and another that on a short press starts the voice dialing software and on a longer press activates the sound recorder.
Halfway down the right edge is the infrared port. The top edge has the power switch, while the bottom edge houses the mini-USB connector that handles power input, PC connection and the provided stereo headset.
The 2.2in., 240-by-320 pixel TFT screen is sharp, clear and bright. It delivers 16-bit colour -- less than many mobile phones are capable of these days, but perfectly adequate.
Features
The MTeoR's standout feature is its 3G capability, which, along with tri-band GSM, GPRS and EDGE support, should cater well for those needing data communications. It is not HSDPA compliant, however. Anyone keen on the 3G aspect of this handset should note at the outset that there's no front-facing camera, so video calls are out of the question.
A camera at the back caters for stills and video, but it only offers a maximum stills resolution of 1.3 megapixels (1,280 by 1,024 pixels), has no self portrait mirror and lacks a flash unit.
The phone includes infrared and Bluetooth, but, unlike HTC's larger TyTN, doesn't include Wi-Fi. This is a shame, as Wi-Fi would make for a more complete set of wireless communications options.
Like all recent Windows Mobile devices, the MTeoR supports Direct Push email, allowing corporate users to synchronise email with suitably configured Exchange-based servers.
The processor, Samsung’s SC32442A running at 300MHz, performed well during testing. THe memory complement is 64MB of RAM and 128MB of ROM, and fresh out of the box our review unit reported a shade under 64MB of storage capacity free. As already noted, this can be expanded with microSD cards.
The Windows Mobile software has been augmented with applications aimed at business users. The ClearVue suite of document readers allow you to view -- but not edit -- Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents and PDFs. This may appeal particularly to those interested in email synchronisation, but it's worth noting that the small screen, while good, is not ideally suited to reading these types of documents -- especially if they are long or complex.
Performance & battery life
Battery life was fairly strong. We asked the MTeoR to play MP3 music continuously from a microSD card and forced the screen to stay on throughout. Under these conditions, it delivered nine and a quarter hours of music.
Overall, we found the MTeoR to be a rewarding smartphone to use. It feels good in the hand, and the fast processor means that you see less of the ‘wait’ icon than you do with some other Windows Mobile smartphones. Its 3G performance was acceptable too, although anyone interested in video calling should look elsewhere.
Specifications
| Connectivity / expansion | |
|---|---|
| Docking cradle | No |
| Wired connections | USB |
| Expansion slot | microSD |
| General | |
| Form factor | candy bar |
| Dimensions (W x H x D) | 490x148x1124 mm |
| Weight | 120 g |
| Memory | |
| Memory expansion | Yes |
| On-board memory | 64 MB |
| Messaging & data | |
| Messaging services supported | SMS |
| Email client | Yes |
| Email protocols supported | POP3 |
| Networks | |
| 2.5G | GPRS |
| OS & software | |
| Operating system | Windows Mobile 5.0 |
| Software included | calendar, contacts, tasks; Pocket Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, MSN Messenger, Calculator, Photo Contact ID, Connection Manager, Camera/Camcorder, Voice Recorder, games |
| Synchronisation software | yes |
| Phone | |
| Vibrating alert | No |
| Speakerphone | Yes |
| Voice dialling | Yes |
| Voice recording | Yes |
| Display | |
| Native resolution | 240x320 pixels |
| Expand | |
Images
Member reviews
Our company have bought quite a few of these TyTn phones and have foud the phone system to be very unreliable. Many calls don't even register, sometimes it's impossible to make calls and the DTMF features required for conference calls doesn't work properly. This has been experienced in many different countries across many different networks in Europe, America and Africa.
HTC seem unable to publish a fix for this after numerous calls to them to do so.
Quite frankly, until these issues are sorted out I would advise anyone looking at buying this phone to stay away from it
- 6.00 out of 10
6.00 out of 10I've looked at many of the Windows Smartphones and I must start say if you are looking for size there appears to be no better phone at the moment. The big problem of this phone is the chasis, it is not designed for a robust user. The battery life and the unreliable phone systems are issues but I believe in time these will be solved with software updates. The memory card is not an option but a must, because your phone will stop working (ie. Can’t dial out if you have too many unopened e.mails.). .). I must say that if this phone had the Samsung D600 chasis it would be impressive. Note the keyboard is small and awkward but I am willing to compromise this for size.
- 6.00 out of 10
6.00 out of 10