Review: HTC Titan Windows Phone with Mango
Screen
What's not to love about 4.7 inches of display? Not only does the Titan provide more real estate for viewing content, but the display looks fantastic. It is bright, colorful, rich, and though it is limited to 800 x 480 pixels, graphics and on-screen elements look smooth and free of jagged edges. Perhaps the most compelling feature is that the Titan's display works very well outdoors, meaning it is easy to use as a camera or send messages when out and about. To give you an idea of just how bright the display is, it outshone several flashlights I have when I was trying to navigate my pitch-black house after losing power to the October snowstorm.
Signal
I was able to test the Titan on three different networks: AT&T's in the U.S., and Vodafone and 3 in London. This gives me a unique perspective on how the Titan performs when it comes to network prowess. (Keep in mind, Phone Scoop tested the version optimized for European markets, though it does have support for AT&T's 3G network in the U.S.)
In the U.S., AT&T's 3G network worked well on the Titan. I was happy with performance overall. The device didn't drop calls, though it did miss several. Data sessions were generally speedy under solid 3G coverage, though I noticed the Titan dropped down to EDGE service more often than other AT&T phones in iffy coverage spots. When on EDGE, the Titan was nearly useless for data needs. If AT&T decides to sell a customized version of the Titan in the U.S., chances are its network performance will be even better than what I experienced.
Sound
Phone calls placed through the Titan sounded excellent. I was very pleased with the quality of calls on all three networks, though AT&T's was the best of the three. Voices on the other end of the line sounded warm and present. There were no echoes, no hissing, and no other weird noises. The earpiece is capable of good volumes, though I would have preferred a few more decibels. Ringtones and alerts can be set to extreme volumes, making sure that you don't miss incoming calls/alerts. The speakerphone was also plenty loud, and offered good quality for conversations. The vibrate alert was good, but could be a bit stronger in my opinion.
Battery
Ah, there has to be a fault somewhere, right? Battery life is not one of the Titan's strong points. No matter how intensely I used it, the Titan consistently died after about 12 or 14 hours of use. It never made it through an entire "day" (7AM to 11PM) during my test period. Several times, it died in less than 10 hours. This was with Wi-Fi on, the display set to medium brightness, and email being delivered constantly. With tweaking (turning off Wi-Fi, setting the display to minimum levels, etc.), I was able to get a maximum of 14 hours with intense use. Light use might see the Titan last a full "day" but it will need to be charged every night. I'd be sure to have back-up power sources available when out and about.
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HTC Titan
