HTC Touch HD2 Multi Touch Screen
The HTC Touch HD2 has been praised for its stunning design and its enormous touch screen display and rightly so. It utilises Windows Mobile 6.5 as its main operating system, but interestingly this is one of the only Windows Mobile smartphones to use capacitive technology. This means the Touch HD2 has a screen that is capable of registering multiple touches simultaneously, allowing for even further control over the mobile environment and its many applications.
The HTC Touch HD2 multi touch screen allows the user to interact with the HTC Sense interface. Although some of HTC’s Android mobiles have recently included this overhaul, the Touch HD2 is the first Windows Mobile phone to get the Sense treatment. Sense is essentially a completely new skin laid over the Microsoft OS. In practice this means that HTC has completely changed the way in which the Windows software appears, how you interact with it and how it all hangs together. Critics agree that this is a huge improvement.
Part of this overhaul includes creating various useful environments in which the HTC Touch HD2 multi touch screen can come into play. There are many applications that HTC has modified or created specifically for use with the multi touch capabilities. For example, the mobile internet browser benefits from multi touch, allowing for pinch zooming using thumb and forefinger to pick out particular elements on a web page and magnify them quickly without a clunky zoom bar or separate menu.
The HTC Touch HD2 multi touch screen can also be used in the mapping application, which partners with the built in GPS to provide you with information as to your location. You can quickly zoom in and out of the map using two fingers and this function can also be used in conjunction with the image viewing menu for a quick look at your pictures taken using the 5 megapixel camera.
The benefits of the HTC Touch HD2 multi touch screen can be felt when typing a message using the onscreen QWERTY keypad. Since the screen itself is so large, the individual keys are proportionally and suitably sized for easy use. You can use your thumbs or indeed a lone finger to type out messages and accuracy is guaranteed thanks to the capacitive technology. There is no need to use a stylus if you want to text and email with little or no delay. The HTC Touch HD2 multi touch screen will also automatically deactivate itself when you receive a call so as not to register any accidental touches.
The one frustrating thing about the HTC Touch HD2 multi touch screen is that if you ever venture outside the realms of the Sense interface, or if you want to use the standard Windows Mobile 6.5 interface, you will find it nigh on impossible to use accurately. Windows Mobile was created back in the days when most touch screens used resistive technology and required a stylus for pinpoint accuracy with every on-screen button press. This allowed it to use some relatively fiddly little icons and buttons without suffering too much. But when using capacitive technology, which requires the surface of a finger and not an inanimate object such as a stylus to function, it is impossible for accurate presses in the Windows Mobile sub-menus. Obviously if you stick to the standard Sense sections, which are extensive, this problem will never arise, but considering that the Touch HD2 will appeal to hardcore gadget lovers who like to customise and modify, the ugly face of Windows Mobile could continue to haunt them from beneath the Sense mask.
Tags: htc, htc touch hd2