Trend of using ‘Mini’ phones is catching up in the cell phone market. Nokia N97 Mini has been recently launched by Nokia Mini & Xperia X10 Mini has been launched by Sony Ericsson. HTC has also joined the ‘Mini’ bandwagon by the launch of its new HTC HD Mini. We know that some of the bigger phones give us the big screen experience than the smaller ones that are no less in terms of features. But smaller phones prove to be more convenient & manageable. HTC HD mini is a touch screen mobile and being an HTC product, one can easily expect a great touch experience.

In the front panel it has a 3.2 inch HVGA capacitive. Below its screen, it has a five feather touch keys of home, calling, menu, call end and back. On the left panel it has a metallic volume rocker and to the right side it’s completely bare. It has a top panel which is highlighted by metallic plate that holds power key whereas its 3.3 mm jack is tilted to the back. The back panel of the mobile holds a camera & is given a rustic look with 4 screws on its four sides which have no functional use. Upon opening the back-panel we would observe a bright yellow chassis that seems to rebel against sober black & metallic combination of its exteriors. Its microSD card’s slot is situated under the battery cover, but it’s not below the battery. It has a capacitive touch screen which responds very well to finger touch. It also features extremely responsive keys on the front panel.

The mobile comes with the HTC Sense. One can access all major functions on the phone from its home screen itself. It includes home, messages, people, Email, browser, music, videos and photos, weather, calendar, stocks, Twitter, Footprints & settings. It is possible to remove almost all of them (except Home & Settings), one will not be able to replace them with any other functions. Main menu on the phone has the default honeycomb structure which comes with Windows Mobile 6.5 OS. Moreover, its design & layout in the sub menus reminds interface of the HTC’s Android devices.

The input option includes QWERTY keypad, both in portrait as well as landscape mode. Additionally, QWERTY variants of many countries are available like English, French, Italian, etc. It has the Facebook integration for the contacts which lets us connect to all the Facebook friends by the contact tab itself.

Functionality which is Foolproof

The phone has Microsoft exchange for the corporate Email and also includes settings for Gmail & AOL Mail. It is also possible to set-up other POP3 & IMAP4 Email accounts. It also has an added feature of supporting attachments. Files such as Doc, XLS, PPT, can be easily opened & one can even create new ones by Mobile office. It is also capable of opening PDF files by the Adobe Reader. On SNS front, it comes with Facebook & Twitter (Peep) apps & Windows Messenger. SNS apps is very simple & convenient to use. The Facebook application offers a separate tab for listing available phone numbers of Facebook friends & allows us to call directly or send SMS or even Email to them.

Other than having the default Internet Explorer, it also includes Opera browser for an enhanced Internet experience. It has an added feature of pinching or double tapping which helps to zoom in or out of web page, copy text, open new window, etc. The YouTube client has been pre-loaded with HTC’s own Footprint application which basically helps to geo-tag locations based in various categories. The Windows Market Place has a number of applications. High speed-browsing is possible due to its WiFi connectivity and it has a built-in GPS receiver & has Google maps.

It’s a Mini Entertainer

Evaluating the multimedia segment it has a 5.0-megapixel auto focus camera with no flash. Snaps when taken outdoors, has a good picture quality. Highest resolution possible is 2590 x 1728 pixels. The handset has options of panorama mode & contact picture mode to shoot still photos. Quality of images could be set as basic, fine, normal & superfine with adjustable shutter speeds. Touch focus could also be used, or one can add colour effects & adjust brightness, contrast, etc. Videos shoot is done with a VGA resolution with 30 frames per second. Videos could be shot in the MMS mode. The encoding format includes H.263, H.264 & MPEG4. Music player is very basic & has no audio enhancements. Only enhanced feature in the phone is its audio-booster that has equalizer options, but works only if headphone is plugged in. The loudspeaker’s sound quality is not that promising though. It has a simple interface of FM Radio that is very easy to use. Battery backup is pretty good, considering its all kinds of activity, use of touch screen or access to Internet by WiFi, with 1.5 hours of calling & hour of music. After all the mentioned activities, it requires charging just once a day.

HTC HD Mini Price & Alternatives

HTC HD Mini Price in India – Rs. 22,500

HTC HD Mini Price in UK -  £349.99

HTC HD Mini Price in US -  $480 USD

Another phone which could be considered is the LG KM 900 Arena which is available for Rs 20,500 ($435USD approx). But that is not a Windows Mobile Phone. If we want to consider a Windows Mobile Asus M10 is also an option priced at Rs 19,990 ($425USD approx).

One Response to “HTC HD Mini”

1. HTC Aria Full Phone Review | Pictures | Mobiles Room says:

   October 28, 2010 at 5:34 pm

   [...] Android phone. They have kept their word with the new HTC Aria. The Aria shares its genes with the HTC HD Mini but has changed a lot for the better. It has gone more compact. It has become the second Android [...]