The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds
75%

HTC S730 Windows Mobile smartphone

Does what it says on the tin

What you need to know about cloud backup

Review The successor to the S710, the S730 is a dull but hard-working member of the HTC clan. It's neither quite so ubiquitous as its big brother the TyTn II nor quite as fashionable as its sisters Touch, Dual and Cruise.

In appearance, the S730 is a pretty run-of-the-mill smartphone, with its traditional keyboard layout; 2.4in, 320 x 240, 65,536-colour screen; and stout HTC-grey plastic shell. With its slide-out Qwerty keyboard, the S730 could be seen as a sort of TyTn mini-me. It does most of the same things, but at 106 x 51 x 19.4mm in size and 150g in weight it's a fair bit narrower and shorter, and a whole 40g lighter. OK, it's 5mm thicker, but you can't have everything.

HTC S730 Windows smartphone

HTC's S730: good size and good weight

In the hand, the S730 is a chunky yet comfortable device to hold. The keypad layout is a model of common sense while the central navigation pad is suitably sized, positioned and weighted for thumb use. The only slight ergonomic 'erk' is that is if you tend to hold the phone in your right hand, it's a too easy to push the keyboard open. We had the same problem with the first generation TyTn, though in that case it was an issue for lefties as the handset slid the other way.

We give the S730's slide-out keyboard top marks. The keys have a slightly rubbery feel and raised centre which combine to make it one of the best HTC keyboards we've used, and a quantum leap forward from the S710. The inclusion of two small LEDs to let you know the Cap and Fn keys have been pressed is another nice touch.

When it comes to connectivity, the S730 has the bases well covered, coming with 3.6Mb/s HSDPA 3G, quad-band GSM/GPRS/Edge, Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi.

Incidentally, the S730 is also available as the O2 XDA Atmos.

Cloud based data management

Latest Comments

"More" menu icons.

Settings > Homescreen > Uncheck "Display most recent programs" (or something similar) removes this annoying feature and returns it to good ol' fashioned scrolly menu navigation.

Or at least that's how it is in Windows Mobile 6.1, for the exact same feature.

0
0

Skype works fine...

...for me!

I usually close all other running apps when I'm about to launch Skype, but I'm also sure I've had it running with another programme or two open.

I also got my headset bundled with the package. And yep, I had to revert to the default winmobile screen for the shortcuts as well :)

I do love the phone, though - it ain't pretty, hangs from time to time (which I absolutely hate in a phone!!) but it gets the job done.

0
0

Re: Re. What the hell

"On our review handset, once you are in the main Start menu, the D-pad will only allow you to cycle around the 9 icons on that page. The only way to get to the next page is to hit 'More'."

On mine, pressing down on the D-pad when focused on the bottom row of icons scrolls down by bringing the next row of icons onto the screen. Different software version, maybe, some bug or something I don't know. I've never seen a Windows Mobile 6 smartphone that doesn't let you scroll down with the down key, though.

0
0

More from The Register

 breaking news
Curtain drops on Apple Store ahead of WWDC: What lies behind?
Steve Jobs watching from on high. No pressure, lads
 breaking news
Cold, dead hands of Steve Jobs slip from iPhones: The Cult of Ive is upon us
Billionaire biz baron's death clears way for uber-shiny iOS 7
Airbus imagines suitcases that find themselves
Point your mobe at your smalls to track their every move
Surprise! Intel smartphone trounces ARM in power trials
Tests show equal performance while sipping significantly less juice
Apple said to be 'exploring' 5.7-inch iPhone
Who's the copycat this time, Mr. Cook?
Review: Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock
Missing Mac ports reunited, for a price
 breaking news
Australian 'Apple tax' repealed for MacBook Air
But the new MacPro is priced at a premium