HTC 7 Trophy

Editor's Review of the 7 Trophy

The HTC 7 Trophy has almost been marketed as the "ugly duckling" of the WP7 crew, with its "mid range" price tag and poor design. However, we think it's a great little phone, and although it may be the least distinctive at the bunch, it's the perfect choice for your first Windows Phone 7 device.

Design & Build

Despite being the cheapest Windows Phone 7 handset, it still upholds to Microsoft's high-end requirements, and packs a powerful 1GHz Snapdragon processor. It keeps up with its siblings with it's large 3.8 inch Super LCD display too - the same found on it's older brother, the HTC Desire.

Despite its sleek display, the HTC 7 Trophy lacks the premium feel found on the LG Optimus 7, its plastic chassis affirming the handset as the cheapest on offer. Nonetheless, it's a slim phone, measuring in at 118.5 x 61.5 x 11.96mm and slipping easily into your pocket.

The 3 capacitive shortcuts and physical buttons on the side of the handset help manage to create a more high-end feel for the handset, which is certainly much needed.

OS & Interface

As the Windows Phone 7 experience is designed to be almost identicals on all handsets, the interface of the HTC 7 Trophy is nothing revolutionary.

The OS looks very slick on the 3.8 display of the Trophy however, and is very fast and intuitive to use. With Microsoft's most recent platform onboard, the HTC 7 Trophy comes equipped with their fancy Live Tile interface, Microsoft Office, social networking integration and Xbox Live gaming - which is our favourite feature. It also comes equipped with HTC Hub, which is nothing short of just weather and stock updates.

Multimedia & Storage

The small camera on the back of this device doesn't look very fancy, yet it managed to surprise us when we put it to use. The HTC 7 Trophy has been equipped with a 5 megapixel camera complete with single LED flash, autofocus and face detection. It's not a bad camera, and the interface is all very simple and easy to use. It is also capable of recording 720p HD video, and produces footage verging on the impressive quality of the iPhone 4. With Dolby Surround, the audio quality is pretty amazing too.

Everything Else

Much like every other Windows Phone 7 device, accessing the internet is super easy on the HTC 7 Trophy. The handset comes equipped with lightening fast HSDPA and WiFi connectivity, and the Internet Explorer browser certainly puts these to good use.

Conclusion

It may be the "budget" Windows Phone 7 device, but in now way have HTC skimped on features. Its an easy to use, compact handset, that would make the perfect first time WP7 smartphone.