HTC 7 Pro

Editor's Review of the 7 Pro

With its slide out QWERTY keypad, email access and instant access to Microsoft Office, this Windows Phone 7 handset is the must-have choice for busy professionals. However, with the rise of dual-core, NFC, and even 3D smartphones, can the HTC 7 Pro still stand out from the crowd 3 months on? We're not so sure.

Design & Build

Although the 7 Pro is often thought of an as "industrial" handset with a "clunky" design, HTC have managed to add a touch of class to this QWERTY-toting smartphone. Its glossy black casing with with silver edging makes the handset look sleek and elegant, finished off nicely with its brushed aluminum back panel.

Alongside the handset's 3.6 inch capacitive touch screen display sits a slide out QWERTY keypad. The keyboard flips out from underneath the screen as you'd expect, but adds a nifty mechanism that tilts the screen up once the keys have been fully extended. Not only is this perfect for writing out emails, it will also come in handy when laying back to watch a film.

While the slide out keypad may not look fantastic with its garish yellow touches, the well spaced keys allows for super-fast messaging, and even the clumsiest of fingers. We were pleased to see a dedicated number row too, which is a rarity on modern day business-focussed smartphones.

As you may have guessed the only downside to the slide out QWERTY keypad is the additional bulk it adds to the handset. However, if you're prepared to give up the luxury of a streamlined handset for the functionality of physical keys, it certainly isn't as big as some on the market.

OS & Interface

When it comes to software, the HTC 7 Pro is largely like all other Windows Phone 7 devices, apart from the addition of HTC Hub and its not-so-interesting weather updates.

Although its screen may not be as large as that found on its HTC siblings, Microsoft's Live Tile interface looks vibrant on the 3.6 inch display of the 7 Pro. If you're not familiar with Windows Phone 7, it offers a much different experience to Android and iOS. You can easily access Facebook, Microsoft Office and Xbox Live gaming, and thanks to the handset's speedy 1GHz processor, the HTC 7 Pro is just as responsive as its older siblings.

The main disadvantage of the interface however, is the platform's lack of customization options. You won't be able to have a custom background, change the visibility of the tiles or add custom widgets onto the screen, which could come as a shock to WP7 newbies. It's not all bad though, as we were more than won over with its fancy transitions.

Multimedia & Storage

The features of the HTC 7 Pro are really no different than the HTC 7 Mozart or HTC 7 Trophy, due to Microsoft's tight guidelines and minimum requirements.

Still, the handset arrives sporting a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera, which may not have won us over as much as the 8 megapixel snapper of the Mozart, but managed to produce better results that we were expecting. Thanks to its LED flash and autofocus, pictures turned out crisp and clear, even in the poorest of lighting. Its 720p HD video capture proved to be impressive too, and the sturdiness of the handset makes it the perfect alternative to a dedicated camera.

Thanks to Microsoft's "People Hub" photos and video can be zipped off straight to Facebook, too.

Everything Else

Like all of the Windows Phone 7 handsets we've tested, browsing the web on the HTC 7 Pro is one of the smartphone's stand out features. With HSDPA and WiFi connectivity onboard the integrated Internet Explorer browser renders pages extremely quickly, and the display's multi-touch gestures are incredible responsive.

Thanks to Microsoft's minimum requirements, the HTC 7 Pro also arrives packing a hefty 1500mAh battery, which promises up to 420 minutes of talk time. Who talks on the phone for 7 hours anyway? That should at least allow it to stand up to an average day of data usage.

Conclusion

There's no doubting that the HTC 7 Pro is an excellent smartphone, ideal for business folk and networking addicts. However, with the likes of the dual-core powered LG Optimus 2X and Motorola Atrix cropping up, we're not sure this handset, or any other WP7 handsets for that matter, will manage to stand out from the crowd.