HTC S620

HTC’s S620 is a slim BlackBerry-like Windows Mobile 5.0 smartphone with a wide-aspect screen and a small QWERTY keyboard. This is a relatively rare format for a Windows Mobile device, but not unique — we’ve seen it in Samsung's SGH-i320, for example. The HTC S620 is billed as a device for email and document management on the go. So how well does it deliver?

Design

The S620 has a black and silver livery and is basically rectangular in shape. However, the design of the silver metal plate framing the screen and keyboard makes it look as though the device has a 'waist'. The black material used for the remainder of the front, as well as the sides and back, is rubbery to the touch and feels comfortable in the hand.

The S620 measures 62.5mm by 111.5mm by 12.8mm and weighs 120g — similar in footprint to the Palm 750v, but lighter and considerably slimmer.

The QWERTY keyboard is nicely designed. We found it straightforward to use with the flat of two thumbs while holding the device in both hands. A good return and an audible click when keys are pressed (in quiet conditions) helps.

The keyboard features an embedded number pad for direct dialing, while a function key provides access to various standard symbols. We are pleased to note that a ‘£’ is one of these. When entering text, a key marked ‘sym’ provides access to an on-screen matrix of additional symbols.

The screen measures 2.4in. from corner to corner and, unlike most Windows Mobile smartphones, has a landscape rather than portrait orientation — the resolution is the standard 320 by 240 pixels. This display format is useful for reading texts such as documents that may have been received as email attachments, and for viewing web sites.

Between the keyboard and screen is a bank of shortcut buttons. These again deliver a good return, although there's a fair amount of unused space around them and larger-fingered users would appreciate them being at least a third larger.

The outside keys in this bank are the Call and End keys. Inside them are softmenu keys and the Home and Back keys. In the middle is an elongated navigation button with central select button. All of this is pretty standard Windows Mobile smartphone fare.

The same cannot be said of the JOGGR. This is a touch-sensitive strip on the right side of the screen. You can configure this into ‘scroll’, ‘adjust volume’ or ‘adjust volume (in call and Windows Media only)’ modes. The JOGGR is divided into three sections, the longest being the central one. Running a finger up and down along this adjusts the volume or, in ‘scroll’ mode, moves through a list of on-screen items. The upper section is a back button, while the lower one starts the email client.

The JOGGR’s double click and scroll speeds can be configured to your tastes. Thankfully, you can also disable it. We found it awkward to use, and too easily activated when the S620 is picked off a desk or retrieved from a pocket.

The HTC S620 comes with a mains power adapter, a stereo headset, a PC connection cable, a software CD, a printed quick-start guide and a printed manual. There's no protective case though.

Features

The HTC S620 is a quad-band GSM phone with GPRS and EDGE support. It has 128MB of ROM and 64MB of RAM. Fresh out of the box, our review sample had 67MB free for applications and data. You can expand on this memory with microSD cards: the card slot is protected by the battery cover, but you don't need to remove the battery to access it.

The S620's 1.3 megapixel camera has a self-portrait mirror and delivers no more than passable images.

There's no infrared connectivity, but both Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi are built in. An indicator icon showing when Bluetooth is active sits on the Today Screen, as is usual with Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone. An HTC Today Screen caters for Wi-Fi status to be displayed in the main body of the screen: the name of the network or device to which you are connected is displayed if Wi-Fi is active. Status lights above the screen also provide a visual indicator of wireless status.

We noted at the outset that the S620 is billed as a Windows Mobile smartphone for handheld email and document management on the go. The landscape-format screen and keyboard certainly help, but without appropriate software the job is only half done. Accordingly, the HTC S620 supports Microsoft’s Direct Push technology, so that corporate networks running Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 or Exchange Server 2007 can provision it over the air with email and other data.

HTC has added the ClearVue viewers for Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and the ClearVue PDF viewer, to the standard Windows Mobile software suite. This should help when viewing email attachments, but the 320-by-240 pixel screen is unlikely to handle some business documents, such as complex spreadsheets, satisfactorily. Furthermore, these applications do not allow you to edit or create documents.

Performance & battery life

The HTC S620's battery life was distinctly average. Our usual test, getting the device to play MP3 music continuously with its screen forced on until the battery gave out, resulted in just over five hours of music. We have seen other Windows Mobile smartphones deliver more than this, and HTC’s own S310 gave us over seven-and-a-half hours of music.

The S620's QWERTY keyboard and landscape-format screen make the Windows Mobile Smartphone platform more suitable for data entry and text viewing. However, many business users will want to create and edit longer documents than text messages and emails. This requires faster, easier text entry either via a touch screen or a larger keyboard, neither of which the HTC S620 delivers.

Specifications

Camera
Flash	No
Video recording	No
Camera resolution	1.3 megapixels
Connectivity / expansion
Docking cradle	No
Wired connections	USB
Wireless PAN	Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
Wireless LAN	802.11b, 802.11g
GPS receiver	No
Expansion slot	MicroSD
Display
Second (external) screen	No
Display type	TFT
Display size	2.4 in
Native resolution	320x240 pixels
Colour depth	16 bits
General
Built-in devices	camera
Dimensions (W x H x D)	111.5x12.8x62.5 mm
Weight	120 g
Memory
Memory expansion	MicroSD
On-board memory	64 MB
Messaging & data
Messaging services supported	SMS, MMS
Internet browser	Yes
Email client	Yes
Email protocols supported	POP3, SMTP, IMAP4
Java	Yes
Miscellaneous
Accessories	mains power adapter, stereo headset, PC connection cable, software CD, printed quick-start guide, printed manual
Networks
2G	GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900
2.5G	GPRS, EDGE
OS & software
Operating system	Windows Mobile 5.0
Software included	Direct Push technology, ClearVue viewers (Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint; PDF)
Synchronisation software	ActiveSync
Desktop software	Outlook
Phone
Ringtones	polyphonic
Vibrating alert	Yes
Built-in phonebook	yes
Calendar	Yes
Alarm clock	Yes
Speakerphone	Yes
Voice dialling	Yes
Voice recording	Yes
Power
Battery type	Li-ion
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