Tempted by the Touch HD

[Guest Quist09]

Looking at the specs of the HTC Touch HD makes my mouth water. Love my Omnia, but seeing the HD in action on Youtube, it's hard to imagine a better upgrade.

Only thing keeping me from jumping ship is a worry about the camera. We all know we've had issues with the colors on our Omnia's and it appears the Diamond had better color although lower mpix. My old TyTN sucked in the camera department, however - not just the low resolution, but the time it took to snap a photo. From video of the HD, it looks like it's comparable to the Omnia in the photo speed department, but I'm not sure.

Otherwise, the screen is 3.8 inches with 480x800 res, the camera is 5mp and the available device memory is huge by comparison.

Anybody here get their hands on the HTC Touch HD care to share their opinions?

[Guest mobilehappy]

If someone have one and report back, please also give feedback on:

How good the sound quality for both music and for talking is on the Touch HD.

And if you have changed from Omnia, how the added width compares when putting it in your pocket and also when holding it in your hand.

Edited November 8, 2008 by mobilehappy

[Guest Omnia_1]

Its no upgrade at all :lol:

Its bigger in size, heavier, less ROM, slower processor, less colour in LCD, worse sound according to "call alert", secondary camera has less resolution, battery is smaller and to top it off the large RAM and high resolution LCD will drain your battery in much less time than Omnia. Also it has this hidious camera housing on the back, the only thing that appeals to me is the UI which Im sure will be ported to every device.

Do a side by side comparison here

Edited November 8, 2008 by Omnia_1

[Guest bobobird]

Had a good look at it about 5 weeks ago while I was in HK - immediate reaction was that its too heavy (felt like a brick - good for hitting someone though! haha).

Edited November 8, 2008 by bobobird

[Guest Kaaeed]

Hi Guys

I received mine this morning about a half hour ago!!

Its charging and I am just trying to sort out.... The main reason for my choice is the additional screen real estate and 3G as I am a heavy PDA and phone user.

Initial reactions are yes its bigger than the original Touch which is what I have been using for the past 12 months. Form factor feels solid and it seems to fit my hand better than original touch. Weight not so much of an issue compared to the Original Touch.

Will try to give an update later today, once I have got it up and running in a few hours.

Kaaeed

[Guest smoothcrooner]

Its no upgrade at all :lol:

Its bigger in size, heavier, less ROM, slower processor, less colour in LCD, worse sound according to "call alert", secondary camera has less resolution, battery is smaller and to top it off the large RAM and high resolution LCD will drain your battery in much less time than Omnia. Also it has this hidious camera housing on the back, the only thing that appeals to me is the UI which Im sure will be ported to every device.

Do a side by side comparison here

I agree with u 100%. The only thing that appeals to me too is the UI.

[Guest 3shirts]

The main reason for my choice is the additional screen real estate and 3G as I am a heavy PDA and phone user.

Umm, the Omnia is 3G (in fact 3.5G if you want to be specific) and so are almost all phones these days, hell even Apple sorted that out

[Guest Omnia_1]

It still going to be considered the best PPC though.

Edited November 8, 2008 by Omnia_1

[Guest sector]

Omnia ftw! :lol:

it was said that also m2d couldnt be implemented on omnia but hey we got it.

the only "better" lets say HD has is the TF3D where the diff with TF2D is weather animation and stocks (lol) :D

[Guest mobilehappy]

If i ever where to get a HTC device, Touch flo would be replaced on the first day of use.

TF2D and TF3Dlooks nice, but are really only sutible for those who use the originally included apps/programs.

(The same can be said for Samsungs Widgets due to lack of any form of API)

Touch HD initially look tempting due to having a 3.8 screen with WVGA resolution and still not being too big in size.

Then again i guess we will see a lot of new Winmo devices in 2009 with large screens and WVGA or higher resolution, so i for one am not in a hurry to change just yet.

If on the other hand a version of T*Omnia gets made available outside of Korea, then i for one would be sorely tempted to change.

Edited November 8, 2008 by mobilehappy

[Guest Omnia_1]

Omnia ftw! B)

it was said that also m2d couldnt be implemented on omnia but hey we got it.

the only "better" lets say HD has is the TF3D where the diff with TF2D is weather animation and stocks (lol) B)

Actually its more than just animation TF3D also has full screen gestures left/right vertical scrolling, full weather animations, animated digital clock, ability to create more tabs (they have for the VGA version anyway), animated people tab, etc.

It will be done, look here these guys and gals are creating a replacement so to speak, a really good interface is really the only thing lacking from Omnia. M2D is really nice, but TF3D is almost perfect. Its not just the gestures and animation its the integration and multimedia support.

[Guest robf80]

Its no upgrade at all B)

Its bigger in size, heavier, less ROM, slower processor, less colour in LCD, worse sound according to "call alert", secondary camera has less resolution, battery is smaller and to top it off the large RAM and high resolution LCD will drain your battery in much less time than Omnia. Also it has this hidious camera housing on the back, the only thing that appeals to me is the UI which Im sure will be ported to every device.

Do a side by side comparison here

I think you have been misled somehow!

There is more internal (system) ROM in HD. We can't count storage ROM as the HD is capable of sdhc 32Gb (the omnia is not).

Both only support 65K colours (check the samsung website) also winmo 6 only supports max 65K.

Secondary cameras on both are VGA 640 x 480

Battery usage on both phones is near the same from most reports.

And as for the omnia having a faster CPU, counting the mhz doesn't mean its faster. See the mobilearsenal speed comparison below :

Pocket PC Mark v1.03 i900 Touch HD

Dhrystone Benchmark (CPU) 89.51 MIPS 155.91 MIPS

Whetstone Benchmark (CPU) 5.88 MWIPS 7.34 MWIPS

Memory Benchmark 628.43 points 624.73 points

File system Benchmark 346.23 points 621.06 points

Graphics Benchmark 238.61 points 95.56 points

The touch HD has dedicated hardware acceleration and the omnia doesn't. Thats why I am worried about the new T*Omniahideous having a 800 x 480 resolution using the same hardware.

Still love my Omnia though!

Edited November 8, 2008 by robf80

[Guest Omnia_1]

I think you have been misled somehow!

There is more internal (system) ROM in HD. We can't count storage ROM as the HD is capable of sdhc 32Gb (the omnia is not).

Both only support 65K colours (check the samsung website) also winmo 6 only supports max 65K.

Secondary cameras on both are VGA 640 x 480

Battery usage on both phones is near the same from most reports.

And as for the omnia having a faster CPU, counting the mhz doesn't mean its faster. See the mobilearsenal speed comparison below :

Pocket PC Mark v1.03 i900 Touch HD

Dhrystone Benchmark (CPU) 89.51 MIPS 155.91 MIPS

Whetstone Benchmark (CPU) 5.88 MWIPS 7.34 MWIPS

Memory Benchmark 628.43 points 624.73 points

File system Benchmark 346.23 points 621.06 points

Graphics Benchmark 238.61 points 95.56 points

The touch HD has dedicated hardware acceleration and the omnia doesn't. Thats why I am worried about the new T*Omniahideous having a 800 x 480 resolution using the same hardware.

Still love my Omnia though!

Here's my benchmark done with SKTools you're right the CPU bench mark for the HD is quite alot better than Omnia.

Integer;261.0122;Moves/25 usec

Floating point;8.795;MWIPS

RAM access;903;Speed index

Draw bitmaps;1366;Speed index

Main storage (write);2733.10;KB/sec

Main storage (read);7887.03;KB/sec

My Storage (write); 402.38;KB/sec

My Storage (read);1464.60;KB/sec

Storage Card (write); 822.38;KB/sec

Storage Card (read);2025.05;KB/sec

File List;1743;Items/s

FL: My Storage;1989;Items/s

FL: Bluetooth FTP;1;Items/s

FL: Storage Card;1476;Items/s

CPU performance index when working with integer values (Hanoi tower)

***


***

  264.30 This device SGH-i900


***

  275.47 Dell Axim x51v WM5

		PXA270 624MHz

***

  275.99 HTC BlueAngel WM2003SE

		PXA263 590MHz

***

  283.55 HP iPAQ hx4700 WM5

		PXA270 624MHz

***

  289.28 HP iPAQ hx4700 WM2003SE

		PXA270 624MHz

***

  295.18 Dell Axim x50v WM2003SE

		PXA270 624MHz

***

  331.11 HTC Touch Diamond P3700

		Qualcomm® MSM7201A™ 528 MHz

Edited November 8, 2008 by Omnia_1

[Guest mobilehappy]

There is more internal (system) ROM in HD. We can't count storage ROM as the HD is capable of sdhc 32Gb (the omnia is not).

Both only support 65K colours (check the samsung website) also winmo 6 only supports max 65K.

Battery usage on both phones is near the same from most reports.

There is nothing saying that Omnia should not be able to use a 32GB SDHC too. (When the Omnia specs where set up the 32GB was not commercial available so it was ofcourse not mentioned)

Omnias screen have support for upto 262K colors , but since Winmo only support 65K this is not of any practical use anyway unless you switch to another OS that is.

About the battery usage of Touch HD, i guess that that is to early to say but since Paul have stated he will buy one i guess a full report on Touch HD will come soon enough in this forum B)

[Guest robf80]

There is nothing saying that Omnia should not be able to use a 32GB SDHC too. (When the Omnia specs where set up the 32GB was not commercial available so it was ofcourse not mentioned)

Omnias screen have support for upto 262K colors , but since Winmo only support 65K this is not of any practical use anyway unless you switch to another OS that is.

About the battery usage of Touch HD, i guess that that is to early to say but since Paul have stated he will buy one i guess a full report on Touch HD will come soon enough in this forum B)

You have a point. I remember at some point someone on this forum (can't remember thread) tried a 16Gb card in the omnia and it only made 8Gb available.

Aparantly the HD will operate for 1.5 days (before batt warning) heavy use with wifi, BT and 3G.

13 hours continuous music (Wifi & Blutooth off)

7 hours continuous video (Wifi & Blutooth off)

[Guest Quist09]

Its no upgrade at all B)

Its bigger in size, heavier, less ROM, slower processor, less colour in LCD, worse sound according to "call alert", secondary camera has less resolution, battery is smaller and to top it off the large RAM and high resolution LCD will drain your battery in much less time than Omnia. Also it has this hidious camera housing on the back, the only thing that appeals to me is the UI which Im sure will be ported to every device.

Do a side by side comparison here

The Touch HD has 327MB DEVICE ROM available to the user and supports microSDHC like our Omnias, which if we're lucky has 60-80MB device ROM available to the user. Important thing here is the fact that many programs don't run well installed on My Storage or an extra microSD on the Omnia and many, even if installed to one of these cards, will nonetheless demand space on device memory - that makes device memory a precious commodity. The Touch HD also basically has more than enough RAM for most any app available today plus the dedicated acceleration will ensure no out-of-RAM errors. Running M2D on my Omnia with fring and Activesync up in the background will shut down fring and eventually even Activesync if I stress it with a RAM intensive program, particularly requiring screen updates like TomTom.

Edited November 8, 2008 by Quist09

[Guest Omnia_1]

The Touch HD has 327MB DEVICE ROM available to the user and supports microSDHC like our Omnias, which if we're lucky has 60-80MB device ROM available to the user. Important thing here is the fact that many programs don't run well installed on My Storage or an extra microSD on the Omnia and many, even if installed to one of these cards, will nonetheless demand space on device memory - that makes device memory a precious commodity. The Touch HD also basically has more than enough RAM for most any app available today plus the dedicated acceleration will ensure no out-of-RAM errors. Running M2D on my Omnia with fring and Activesync up in the background will shut down fring and eventually even Activesync if I stress it with a RAM intensive program, particularly requiring screen updates like TomTom.

hahhahahaha......What a load of bs!

[Guest Quist09]

Boy, I was just about to post an online for-sale add on my Omnia when I started reflecting on all of the rave reviews of the Touch HD I have read. None of them have yet to spend any real time looking more closely as the Touch HD camera.

I bought the Omnia for three main reasons: (1) Windows Mobile 6.1 - all of the Office programs out of the box with full support for Office 2007 formats and wordcount in Word, touch screen interface far more intuitive than Symbian's keypunch interface, modifiability with apps and mods from xda-developers et al, (2) the 5 mpix camera - became a requirement when I bought my first Nokia N95 and realized that I basically never had my real 8mpix camera on me when I wanted to take pictures, and (3) the Omnia had the largest screen available at the time in a slim, non-hardware keyboard device with the specs of 1 and 2 above.

With the arrival of the Touch HD, being in a price class on a par with what the Omnia was at on launch a few months ago, turned my reasoning upside down. Especially considering the fact that I have been a little disappointed with the low-res screen and plastic feel of it on my Omnia. That and the fact that I would have bought my Omnia several weeks before I did if it were an HTC (because of the full backing of the xda-developer community I used to be very involved in). For my requirements above, the Touch HD matches the Omnia in the WinMobile department and beats it hands down in the screen and form factor department (in my opinion). So that leaves the camera.

Taking the technical specs into account, and putting the size/pocketability factor aside, the Touch HD appears to be a notch or two better than the Omnia - but what about the camera??? I happened upon a review at www.areamobile.de where they did a summary test of the camera, noting in part the lack of advanced options and a flash along with pictures being less detailed than one would expect on a 5mpix device, but also giving good marks on the focus target on the Touch HD. Still, in summary, they basically just said the Touch HD camera couldn't really compare to other 5mpixel cameras available. That being a bit cryptic, I looked at their review of the Omnia. For the Omnia, they were so impressed with the camera, both in terms of options and in terms of quality, that they devoted virtually a whole section of the review to the camera. Admittedly, the Omnia being the first 5mpixel WM6.1 phone available certainly played its part - I wonder how they would review it now as other 5+ mpix camera smartphones have come out and the trend to moving towards 8mpix. But still, the comments that the Touch HD camera can't compare and the Omnia camera is the best in its class leave their mark.

So there you have it. Until more reports come in about the quality and options of the camera, I'll definitely be sticking to my Omnia.

[Guest Quist09]

hahhahahaha......What a load of bs!

Ummmm, what?!!!

Where do you get off? Nice attitude.

Elaborate. Present some facts. State your case. I could just as easily have said the same thing to you.

That site you refered us to was rife with misinformation. The Omnia doesn't have 16 GB device memory. Or do you really think it does? My Storage is simply an internal memory card, and has all of the problems that they come with - worse, when you flash the device, to get a clean start you should format it every time. Also, what I said about installing and running programs from My Storage has long been established.

Read through the other posts in this thread. Do some research. The Touch HD appears to have a battery life comparable to our Omnias. It does have more ROM and RAM (512 mb ROM and 288 mb RAM compared with 256 mb ROM and 128 mb RAM on the Omnia). Right after my last flash, I only had 66 mb of device memory (ROM) left for my own use. The processor in our Omnias clocks in at 624 MHz, but it rarely runs at that speed. Sure the hardware on the LCD is great in terms of color, but WM limits it to the same range as the Touch HD. I agree with you the camera housing on the Touch HD looks rediculous and doesn't seem to serve any real purpose. And sure the interface is smooth, but many of us, myself included, would probably ditch it the first thing we did.

From your earlier admission on the benchmark, it sounded like you might be capable of an objective discussion, but apparently not.

[Guest Quang05BlkBoxsterS n Omnia]

The Touch HD has 327MB DEVICE ROM available to the user and supports microSDHC like our Omnias, which if we're lucky has 60-80MB device ROM available to the user. Important thing here is the fact that many programs don't run well installed on My Storage or an extra microSD on the Omnia and many, even if installed to one of these cards, will nonetheless demand space on device memory - that makes device memory a precious commodity. The Touch HD also basically has more than enough RAM for most any app available today plus the dedicated acceleration will ensure no out-of-RAM errors. Running M2D on my Omnia with fring and Activesync up in the background will shut down fring and eventually even Activesync if I stress it with a RAM intensive program, particularly requiring screen updates like TomTom.

Yep the same here with iGuidance 4 running in 2D manila within several minutes, the screen became blank and eventually was not able to come back, needed a soft reset. Disable 2D and it is fine. If I did not see the Omnia at a local phone store and HTC would annouce the HD a bit earlier than guess what I would have now.

[Guest mobilehappy]

Taking the technical specs into account, and putting the size/pocketability factor aside, the Touch HD appears to be a notch or two better than the Omnia - but what about the camera??? I happened upon a review at www.areamobile.de where they did a summary test of the camera, noting in part the lack of advanced options and a flash along with pictures being less detailed than one would expect on a 5mpix device, but also giving good marks on the focus target on the Touch HD. Still, in summary, they basically just said the Touch HD camera couldn't really compare to other 5mpixel cameras available. That being a bit cryptic, I looked at their review of the Omnia. For the Omnia, they were so impressed with the camera, both in terms of options and in terms of quality, that they devoted virtually a whole section of the review to the camera. Admittedly, the Omnia being the first 5mpixel WM6.1 phone available certainly played its part - I wonder how they would review it now as other 5+ mpix camera smartphones have come out and the trend to moving towards 8mpix. But still, the comments that the Touch HD camera can't compare and the Omnia camera is the best in its class leave their mark.

So there you have it. Until more reports come in about the quality and options of the camera, I'll definitely be sticking to my Omnia.

Some relevant camera info:

Touch HD review at MobileArsenal

Omnia review at at MobileArsenal

5MP camera mobil review at MobileArsenal

(Includes: LG Viewty, LG KF750 Secret , Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N82 , Sony Ericsson C902 , Sony Ericsson K850i , Samsung G600 , Samsung G810 , Samsung I900 Omnia , Samsung U900 , Samsung F480 TouchWiz)

Omnia camera review at Mobile Review

[Guest Quist09]

Excellent contribution, mobilehappy. Good reading.

Sounds like the Touch HD's weak point will be its camera afterall.

[Guest Massive Attack]

You have a point. I remember at some point someone on this forum (can't remember thread) tried a 16Gb card in the omnia and it only made 8Gb available.

this one? http://www.modaco.com/content-page/272841/pagination/page/0/

[Guest lufeig]

old thread, new opinion.

i always felt, let's say, curious about the touch hd. actually, 'tempted' is the word. but these devices are VERY expensive in brazil, and i can't have both.

so after 8 months being a happy omnia user, i decided to get a touch hd.

points after 3 days of usage:

omnia:

+ better gps: when moving fast (car), your position is updated faster than touch hd;

+ smaller & lightweight;

+ internal memory is great (mine is 16gb + 8gb sdhc);

+ video playback is superb: it delivers what you expect from a multimedia phone;

+ tv out rocks: i made myself a tv out cable + charger and it is VERY handy, impressive performance

touch hd:

+ screen sensitivity: touch hd screen sensitivity is superb, many say it's the best resistive touch screen in the market until now;

+ screen size & resolution: touch hd screen is 3.8" 800x480 (when using igo 8, viewing the map & info is easier and more pleasing);

+ touchflo 3d 2 is obviously not perfect, but it is visually eye-candy and very practical for daily use;

+ stock package includes 8gb card + screen protector + soft case

+ bluetooth voice command works out-of-the-box: my perception is that touch hd bt voice command + sound quality is better than omnia's (no offense here, the solution developed by omnia user is fantastic, given it bypasses the 'limitation' caused by a 'faulty' firmware project.)

for me, both devices are amazing, but unfortunately i'll have to sell my omnia to cover my bank account, which was depleted because of my new acquisition.

so my final 2 cents: if video playback is #1 priority, keep your omnia. you'd be unsatisfied with touch hd's performance. if a bigger screen, better resolution and screen sensitivity are more important the viewing movies, the touch hd could fit your needs better than omnia. and unfortunately, you would still appreciate omnia just like i do, but i have to sell it.

Edited June 22, 2009 by lufeig