HTC TyTN II smartphone
TyTN II: sounds like an ICBM
Review Don’t you just love it when a good product is tweaked ever-so-slightly to make it much better? Not just gadget tick-list bonus points, or fashion-conscious dabbling, but genuine changes that do the business. HTC's TyTN II, first announced back in August, is evidence that the Taiwanese manufacturer has done just that.
Like the original TyTN, the TyTN II has a slide-out keyboard, but HTC has solved a smartphone headache at a stroke by adding an additional tilt mechanism to the screen. It's a simple but ingenious solution that brings proper typing to the device.
HTC's TyTN II: well connected
HTC has also taken the trouble to beef up the specifications of the original TyTN, already a formidable Windows Mobile device. A GPS receiver has been built in for full satnav functionality, the camera has been upgraded to a three-megapixel shooter, and the TyTN II now sports the latest version of the Microsoft OS, Windows Mobile 6 Professional.
It's well-connected too, with HSDPA 3G offering data downloads and browsing at up to 3.6Mbps on suitably specced mobile networks - it has quad-band GSM/GPRS/Edge for the others - plus 802.11b/g Wi-Fi connectivity. There's the usual Microsoft Office Mobile suite of applications, email, PC syncing and browser functionality.
Despite additional hardware, the HTC TyTN II manages to be a little slimmer than the original - although, at a pocket-sagging 190g, it is around 10g heavier.
When closed, the TyTN II looks pretty much like any regular Windows Mobile touchscreen device. There’s a navigation pad plus soft-menu keys, call/end buttons and dedicated keys for Internet Explorer, messaging and the Start Menu.
A whopping 2.8in, 240 x 320 (QVGA), 65,536-colour display promises good times for video and picture playback, as well as plenty of real estate for viewing and working on emails and other documents. There’s a small secondary VGA camera perched above the screen for 3G video calling or low-res self-portraits.
COMMENTS
Reviewer unfamiliar with this business
Simon Lorne wrote"
"A whopping 2.8in, 240 x 320 (QVGA), 65,536-colour display promises good times for video and picture playback, as well as plenty of real estate for viewing and working on emails and other documents"
Get out of here, noob, why they keep you here ? QVGA is not suitable for browsing and email. As well as 2.8" just leaves a lot of space for surrounding plastic
great phone
best £15 i have ever spent, i got it on a 12 month with orange too , i have been a htc user for 5 years and this is great
@MrT
> Oh, and cut pins to disable GPS? Got a link for this??
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Hermes_GPS_FAQ
What price ? Not gbp 150
More like gbp 450 when you look on line,
Love mine
Had it for a couple of months now. The GPS is surprisingly good and although it IS bulky at least I don't have to carry around a mobile, a GPS receiver and my ipaq.
Having said that it isn't for everyone; my dad would struggle, for instance (tbh sometimes I do.)
Microsoft really need to kick their PPC UI people up the arse. There's no point trying to shoehorn a desktop UI onto a device with a 3" screen and icons that are 16pixels high. I understand they are selling the Windows brand, hence the reason for the look-and-feel, but it's not suited to a device this size in its current format.
But on the whole, it's great - but maybe that's because I knew what to expect. 3G data (T-Moblie) is a revelation.
