HTC HD2
Encyclopedia
The HTC HD2 is a smartphone
belonging to the HTC Touch family
, manufactured by HTC and running the Windows Mobile
6.5 operating system. The phone was designed and manufactured by HTC, and was released in Europe
in November 2009, and in December 2009 in Hong Kong
. In some other regions, including North America, it was released in March 2010.The phone is the successor of the HTC Touch HD
, and is succeeded by the HTC HD7
.
, and the second smartphone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon
CPU (the first being the Toshiba TG01
).The Snapdragon CPU is clocked at 1024 MHz, but automatically underclocks itself to 553 MHz if extra processing power is not needed.Tweaks have been made however, to clock the processor at a constant of 998 MHz.
The HD2 is fitted with a Asahi Kasei
AK8976A magnetometer. The magnetometer is used for applications such as the pre-loaded digital compass.
and HTC Touch
), and the About info in Bluetooth as the HD2. The specifications sheet released turned out to be true when the HD2 was launched, with the exception of the listed 320MB of RAM, compared to the final 576MB (448MB available to user) of RAM.
quickly sold all of its stock and developed a backlog of orders, and O2 delayed putting the HD2 on its website so that it could fulfil all orders. Similarly, in the US, the HTC HD2 sold out in most T-Mobile stores within 4 hours and T-Mobile struggled to keep it in stock for several weeks.
Certain T-Mobile locations ran a promotion that stated that iPhone users who traded in their handsets could get anywhere from $100 to $350 dollars off the HD2.
(then known as Windows Mobile 7). Microsoft rejected it and other Windows Mobile devices however due to it not being compliant to the company's hardware requirements for smartphones running Windows Phone 7 - including a lack of dedicated two-way camera button, and five hardware buttons on front as compared to three supported. Developers have however successfully ported (albeit illegally) Windows Phone 7 to the HD2. Microsoft has surprisingly expressed tacit and subtle approval of such ports, nearing the release of Mango for native Windows Phone 7 devices.
Unlike its sibling, the HD Mini
, the HD2 has not received an official upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.5.3, the latest stable release of Windows Mobile (the HD2 natively runs 6.5.0). However, several developers at xda-developers
have prepared unofficial 6.5.3 and 6.5.5 (the latter being the last unstable release of Windows Mobile) ROMs for the HD2.
for the HD2 to aid navigation through the interface. Some Windows Mobile applications were designed to be used with a stylus, rather than finger-touch, and still need a stylus pen to be used effectively.
The HD2 is sold with a brown leather slip-case with a velvet interior in certain countries.
An extended battery is available also officially from HTC. The official unit comes with a metal kickstand.
, MeeGo
and Windows Phone 7
have been unofficially ported to the HD2. In addition, many customised versions of Windows Mobile are available for the device, with version ranged from 6.1, 6.5, 6.5.3 to 6.5.5. Users who are not satisfied with the existing functionality of the device, or who are just curious, can mod the device to make it more usable and useful.
In early October 2010, a video was released that appeared to show a HD2 booting into Windows Phone 7
by way of Russian developer Cotulla's MAGLDR tool (a bootloader), which was initially created to allow the booting of Android from the device's NAND flash. As of January 13th 2011, MAGLDR and a WP7 ROM are publicly available. Windows Phone Genuine checks prevent access to Windows Live services. A solution to this problem has been found, though the legality of the activation is still not fully known, and is frowned heavily upon by Microsoft.
Phone 7 Mango RTM (Release To Manufacturers) was ported to the HD2 in August 2011, a month after ROM developers at xda-developers
made successful an attempt to run a beta version on the device.
The HTC HD2 has also been modified to run Windows 95
, Windows 98
and Windows XP
, through a ROM image on QEMU Puppy, although networking does not function on Windows 95 and Windows 98 as of 2010.
First PlayStation Emulator for Windows CE, a PlayStation 1 emulator for Windows CE
devices, was ported to the HD2 in December 2009, a few months after the initial release of the HD2.
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
belonging to the HTC Touch family
HTC Touch Family
The HTC Touch family is a family of Pocket PCs designed and manufactured by HTC Corporation. This family is in the process of being built up, and its slogan is Discover Touchnology.-List of models:The members of the family, in order of release, are:...
, manufactured by HTC and running the Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
6.5 operating system. The phone was designed and manufactured by HTC, and was released in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in November 2009, and in December 2009 in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. In some other regions, including North America, it was released in March 2010.The phone is the successor of the HTC Touch HD
HTC Touch HD
The HTC Touch HD, also known as the HTC T828X or its codename the HTC Blackstone, is a Windows Mobile 6.1 -powered luxury Pocket PC designed and manufactured by HTC...
, and is succeeded by the HTC HD7
HTC HD7
The HTC HD7 , is a smartphone running the Windows Phone OS operating system. The phone was designed and manufactured by HTC...
.
Description
It is the first smartphone with a 4.3-inch touchscreen, the first Windows Mobile 6.5 phone with a multitouch capacitive screen and HTC SenseHTC Sense
HTC Sense is a graphical user interface developed by HTC Corporation for mobile devices running Android, Brew and Windows Mobile.Based on the TouchFLO 3D design, HTC has referred to HTC Sense as both a user interface in itself and also as a user experience layer on top of TouchFLO 3D.Announced June...
, and the second smartphone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon
Snapdragon (processor)
Snapdragon is a family of mobile system on chips by Qualcomm. Qualcomm considers Snapdragon a "platform" for use in smartphones, tablets, and smartbook devices.The Snapdragon application processor core, dubbed Scorpion, is Qualcomm's own design...
CPU (the first being the Toshiba TG01
Toshiba TG01
The Toshiba TG01 is a large touchscreen phone/Mobile Internet Device. It is based around the Windows Mobile operating system and uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon chip architecture , rated at 1GHz. Connectivity-wise, it is a quad-band GSM phone with support for 2100 MHz UMTS with HSDPA download speeds of...
).The Snapdragon CPU is clocked at 1024 MHz, but automatically underclocks itself to 553 MHz if extra processing power is not needed.Tweaks have been made however, to clock the processor at a constant of 998 MHz.
The HD2 is fitted with a Asahi Kasei
Asahi Kasei
is a Japanese company. The main products are chemicals and materials science. The company has around 25,000 employees and had consolidated sales of ¥ 1.7 trillion in 2008. It was founded in May 1931, using the paid in capital of Nobeoka Ammonia Fiber Co., Ltd, a Nobeoka, Miyazaki based producer of...
AK8976A magnetometer. The magnetometer is used for applications such as the pre-loaded digital compass.
History
Rumours of the HTC HD2 began appearing in September 2009. It was codenamed Leo, although a decal on the back cover conflictingly identified it as the Pro.Three (which indicates it may have been intended as a bridge between the HTC Touch ProHTC Touch Pro
The HTC Touch Pro is a smart phone from the Touch series of Internet-enabled Windows Mobile Pocket PC smartphones designed and marketed by HTC Corporation of Taiwan...
and HTC Touch
HTC Touch
The HTC Touch, also known as the HTC P3450 or its codename the HTC Elf, is a Windows Mobile 6-powered Pocket PC designed and manufactured by HTC. Its main, unique feature is a user interface named TouchFLO that detects a sweeping motion and can distinguish between a finger and a stylus...
), and the About info in Bluetooth as the HD2. The specifications sheet released turned out to be true when the HD2 was launched, with the exception of the listed 320MB of RAM, compared to the final 576MB (448MB available to user) of RAM.
Sales
When launched in the UK, VodafoneVodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
quickly sold all of its stock and developed a backlog of orders, and O2 delayed putting the HD2 on its website so that it could fulfil all orders. Similarly, in the US, the HTC HD2 sold out in most T-Mobile stores within 4 hours and T-Mobile struggled to keep it in stock for several weeks.
Certain T-Mobile locations ran a promotion that stated that iPhone users who traded in their handsets could get anywhere from $100 to $350 dollars off the HD2.
Upgrades
The HD2 was originally slated, according to HTC and popular belief to be upgraded to Windows Phone 7Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
(then known as Windows Mobile 7). Microsoft rejected it and other Windows Mobile devices however due to it not being compliant to the company's hardware requirements for smartphones running Windows Phone 7 - including a lack of dedicated two-way camera button, and five hardware buttons on front as compared to three supported. Developers have however successfully ported (albeit illegally) Windows Phone 7 to the HD2. Microsoft has surprisingly expressed tacit and subtle approval of such ports, nearing the release of Mango for native Windows Phone 7 devices.
Unlike its sibling, the HD Mini
HTC HD Mini
The HTC HD Mini is a mobile telephone running the Windows Mobile operating system with HTC Sense. The phone was designed and manufactured by HTC, and was first released in February 2010.-Description:...
, the HD2 has not received an official upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.5.3, the latest stable release of Windows Mobile (the HD2 natively runs 6.5.0). However, several developers at xda-developers
Xda-developers
xda-developers is a community of over 4 million users worldwide, started in 2003. The site's main purpose is discussion of Windows Phone, Android, and WebOS phones. They are also one of the first places that Windows Mobile and Android users come for general information of the device, ROM upgrades...
have prepared unofficial 6.5.3 and 6.5.5 (the latter being the last unstable release of Windows Mobile) ROMs for the HD2.
Accessories
HTC officially sells an optional capacitive stylus penStylus (computing)
In computing, a stylus is a small pen-shaped instrument that is used to input commands to a computer screen, mobile device or graphics tablet...
for the HD2 to aid navigation through the interface. Some Windows Mobile applications were designed to be used with a stylus, rather than finger-touch, and still need a stylus pen to be used effectively.
The HD2 is sold with a brown leather slip-case with a velvet interior in certain countries.
An extended battery is available also officially from HTC. The official unit comes with a metal kickstand.
Modifications
Android (versions 2.2 Froyo, 2.3 Gingerbread, and later 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich), UbuntuUbuntu (operating system)
Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...
, MeeGo
MeeGo
MeeGo is a Linux-based open source mobile operating system project. Primarily targeted at mobile devices and information appliances in the consumer electronics market, MeeGo is designed to act as an operating system for hardware platforms such as netbooks, entry-level desktops, nettops, tablet...
and Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
have been unofficially ported to the HD2. In addition, many customised versions of Windows Mobile are available for the device, with version ranged from 6.1, 6.5, 6.5.3 to 6.5.5. Users who are not satisfied with the existing functionality of the device, or who are just curious, can mod the device to make it more usable and useful.
In early October 2010, a video was released that appeared to show a HD2 booting into Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
by way of Russian developer Cotulla's MAGLDR tool (a bootloader), which was initially created to allow the booting of Android from the device's NAND flash. As of January 13th 2011, MAGLDR and a WP7 ROM are publicly available. Windows Phone Genuine checks prevent access to Windows Live services. A solution to this problem has been found, though the legality of the activation is still not fully known, and is frowned heavily upon by Microsoft.
Phone 7 Mango RTM (Release To Manufacturers) was ported to the HD2 in August 2011, a month after ROM developers at xda-developers
Xda-developers
xda-developers is a community of over 4 million users worldwide, started in 2003. The site's main purpose is discussion of Windows Phone, Android, and WebOS phones. They are also one of the first places that Windows Mobile and Android users come for general information of the device, ROM upgrades...
made successful an attempt to run a beta version on the device.
The HTC HD2 has also been modified to run Windows 95
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
, Windows 98
Windows 98
Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...
and Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
, through a ROM image on QEMU Puppy, although networking does not function on Windows 95 and Windows 98 as of 2010.
First PlayStation Emulator for Windows CE, a PlayStation 1 emulator for Windows CE
Windows CE
Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...
devices, was ported to the HD2 in December 2009, a few months after the initial release of the HD2.
See also
- Windows MobileWindows MobileWindows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
- the native operating system of the HD2. - Windows CEWindows CEMicrosoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...
- the underlying kernel and OS, running underneath Windows Mobile. - Windows Phone 7Windows Phone 7Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
- Android (operating system)
- HTCHTC-Companies:*HTC Corporation, a Taiwanese manufacturer of handheld devices*Harrisonville Telephone Company, a telephone company in Waterloo, Illinois*Horry Telephone Cooperative, a telephone cooperative in Horry County, South Carolina...
- HTC SenseHTC SenseHTC Sense is a graphical user interface developed by HTC Corporation for mobile devices running Android, Brew and Windows Mobile.Based on the TouchFLO 3D design, HTC has referred to HTC Sense as both a user interface in itself and also as a user experience layer on top of TouchFLO 3D.Announced June...
- the UI shell included with the HD2. - TouchFLO 3DTouchFLO 3DTouchFLO 3D is a graphical user interface designed by HTC. It is used in the HTC Touch Family of Pocket PCs and was preceded by TouchFLO. TouchFLO 3D has been ported to Windows Mobile and Android, and is used in the HTC Touch Diamond, HTC Touch Pro, HTC Touch HD, HTC MAX 4G, HTC Touch Diamond2 and...
- HTC Touch FamilyHTC Touch FamilyThe HTC Touch family is a family of Pocket PCs designed and manufactured by HTC Corporation. This family is in the process of being built up, and its slogan is Discover Touchnology.-List of models:The members of the family, in order of release, are:...
- HTC TouchHTC TouchThe HTC Touch, also known as the HTC P3450 or its codename the HTC Elf, is a Windows Mobile 6-powered Pocket PC designed and manufactured by HTC. Its main, unique feature is a user interface named TouchFLO that detects a sweeping motion and can distinguish between a finger and a stylus...
- HTC Touch HDHTC Touch HDThe HTC Touch HD, also known as the HTC T828X or its codename the HTC Blackstone, is a Windows Mobile 6.1 -powered luxury Pocket PC designed and manufactured by HTC...
- the predecessor to the HD2. - HTC HD MiniHTC HD MiniThe HTC HD Mini is a mobile telephone running the Windows Mobile operating system with HTC Sense. The phone was designed and manufactured by HTC, and was first released in February 2010.-Description:...
- a spinoff of the HD2, with lower specs and running Windows Mobile 6.5.3. - HTC HD7HTC HD7The HTC HD7 , is a smartphone running the Windows Phone OS operating system. The phone was designed and manufactured by HTC...
- the successor to the HD2, running Windows Phone 7 natively. - Pocket PCPocket PCA Pocket PC is also known by Microsoft as a 'Windows Mobile Classic device'. It is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer, personal digital assistant , that runs the Microsoft 'Windows Mobile Classic' operating system...
- the HD2's basic software and hardware platform. - SmartphoneSmartphoneA smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
- Information applianceInformation applianceIn general terms, an information appliance or information device is any machine or device that is usable for the purposes of computing, telecommunicating, reproducing, and presenting encoded information in myriad forms and applications....
- Technological convergenceTechnological convergenceTechnological convergence is the tendency for different technological systems to evolve towards performing similar tasks. Convergence can refer to previously separate technologies such as voice , data , and video that now share resources and interact with each other synergistically.The rise of...