The HTC HD2: A dead end phone?

By George Ponder
last updated

We ran across an interesting review (with accompanying video) on the T-Mobile HD2 over at the Wall Street Journal's Personal Technology site. The review refers to the HD2 as a dead end phone because it runs Windows Mobile 6.5 (as opposed to the upcoming Windows Phone 7).

Agree or disagree with the review points, it does present an interesting question. Is the HD2 a dead end phone? Microsoft has repeatedly stated that Windows Mobile would continue to be developed but are you buying a phone with a severely limited life-span? Does Windows Mobile become obsolete when Windows Phone 7 hits the market?

My guess is that Windows Phones running Windows Mobile 6.5.xx will continue to have a strong following.  We just need to find a way to get the HD2 on a few other networks.

What's your thoughts?

[read: ptech.allthingsd.com]

George Ponder
George Ponder

George is the Reviews Editor at Windows Central, concentrating on Windows 10 PC and Mobile apps. He's been a supporter of the platform since the days of Windows CE and uses his current Windows 10 Mobile phone daily to keep up with life and enjoy a game during down time.

15 Comments
  • Sorry about that... glitch in the system turned off the comments.
  • drrrr!!! of course it is a dead end device. if you buy a phone and expect it to last 2 years or longer with consistent upgrades and GROWING support(as opposed to decreasing support), then yes its a dead device. i hope to get a device that will last as long as my laptop, nearly 5 years! the only ones supporting it will be tweakers. so if you dont mind your only support options being a thousand different start button colors, then this phone will work fine for you. but if you want a device that will continue to work and be up to date until the thing gets physically broken, then this thing is far from a good option
  • It is a dead-end phone, however; IF Microsoft can roll an update where you are able to install WM7, that would rock and send people out to buy this phone.
  • The author is a mor*n. He also wrote: "Apple iPad Review: Laptop Killer? Pretty Close". LOL. And if you read his article of his review of the HD2, he is bias. He stated that the HD2 is unstable, and that he had had trouble making calls twice. Yes, his own comment just supports what I have said earlier: he is mor*n. Every time I see his name, I don't even bother reading his stuff.
  • Seriously, what a lame "tech expert" he appears to be. Comes off as a bad gym teacher instead of someone you should take advice from on a smartphone purchase. And I loved gym - except the bar hang the girls used to do instead of real pull ups. C'mon, ladies!
  • Thanks for finally tuning on the comments
  • I would love to have an HD2, dead end or not. How 'bout it, AT&T? Too wedded to the iPhone to get some real Windows phones this year? From what I have learned about Windows Phone 7, I will not be an early adopter. I can be perfectly happy with an HD2 with XDA ROM for the next couple of years. However, if I have to, I can make my Fuze last a few more months even after 7 comes out. Windows Phone 7 has enough holes (for me) that I am likely to jump ship to Android when I finally do upgrade.
  • Yeah i just traded my iPhone for one... its not a dead end for me, its a back alley to the release of the HD3 running winpho7... by far the best decision i made all year. Much stronger device than an iPhone
  • I've had this phone for a few days now. My primary goal is to eventually get android on it. Most of the apps I liked on my iPhone aren't available for WM yet but are on android. The phone it's self is pretty and coming with a 16 gig microSD card is helpful instead of the normal 1 gig. I did run into a problem where every time I unlocked the phone the home screen would refuse to load, it just sat there with the unlock screen and the icon pushed to the left or right. I could press the windows button or the call button and access other stuff but after restarting the phone 3 times and shutting down then pulling the battery and still no home screen oddly pulling the battery while the phone was on then putting it back together it was happy and hasn't had a glitch since. Also the camera is great and get the flashlight app.
  • The HTC HD2 is now available through T-Mobile and features 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 5-megapixel camera, and 4.3 inches capacitive touch screen. Not only this, but the T-Mobile has also added a lot of applications that makes it awesome.
  • I think this is not a dead end phone. There are a lot of legacy apps that can run on this platform, unlike Windows Mobile 7 (at least not out of the box). I think as long as people write apps for WM 6.5, and also the community itself has a sustainable life support for all apps relating to the, now legacy, OSes (WM 5.0-6.5, pocket pc 2000-2003SE) i think there is still a market for the phone. i would like to own one. I use WM 5.0 phone and i still find apps that work well on my device and it is a 4 yr old device with a 5 yr old OS. My point being that even my device can be still useful and relevant considering that everything is now being pushed toward the smartphone market.
  • I also forgot to mention the amount of hackers that can port WM 7 to WM 6.5 devices, hopefully. I think the legacy WM devices are flexible enough to even add some functionality from the new OS to the older devices. Jaxbot Windows Mobile 7 Metro app for example can give u the outer layers of Windows Mobile 7 and some functionality without you having to go out and buy a new device.
  • This guy had no real clue what he was talking about. As a so-called professional tech expert, how can one submit a review without doing the necessary research on the said device? There are thousands of ways to access and input apps and information on Windows Mobile devices thanks in large part to the active developer community, such as XDA-developers. The stock ROM for these devices has long been surpassed or added to, which is the case for Apple iPhones and Android phones as well. For Mr. Mossberg to not know about this is inexcusable and dings his reputation as a technology reporter. He has lost the support of this reader and I hope he learns to do better research before submitting his opinion in the future. By the way, he could benefit from some public speaking lessons as well. He sounds worse than a 3rd grade school boy trying to explain to the teacher why he failed to complete his homework assignment.
  • i think i made my thoughts pretty clear in the forum before the comments were activated
    imho: when a developer pulls the development tools for an OS, it's essentially on its last legs
  • I probably have a unique perspective here since I've been a HD2 owner since the day in went on sale in Europe and I'm a WSJ subscriber. I'm a little surprised how long it took for WMExperts to put this up since the original article appeared April 22nd. I'm not surprised that WMExperts readers are attacking him personally, since they apparently never read the review. I'll get to that later. Mossberg does tread carefully around Apple, not wanting to cut off his line to pre-introduction devices. He also comes from his own perspective, likes and dislikes, about how the devices he reviews should be used. You may disagree with the details, but there's a large following that do agree, especially among business professionals, making the column one of the most read in the Journal and Mossberg one of its most highly paid employees. As for a bias, one only has to read today's Kin review written by Mossberg's associate Katherine Boehret and edited by Mossberg. It's one of the few positive reviews of the Kin I've seen today. (Blogs like Engadget have really taken a dump on the Kin phones.) Of course, if you're going to dismiss the HD2's review, we should dismiss the Kin review as well. You can read the full Journal HD2 review here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870413380457519821254475775... Judging from this tread' title "The HTC HD2: A dead end phone?", I'm wondering if even George read the review. The line of interest from the Journal article is "Another important downside for prospective HD2 buyers is that the Microsoft software version on which it is based can be viewed as a dead end. The software giant is producing an entirely new mobile-software platform, Windows Phone 7, due late this year." Mossberg never states the HD2 is a dead-end phone. Instead he makes the statement that Windows Mobile is at a dead-end. That is an entirely different question with different consequences, one that has yet to have a definitive answer. Considering the weight that the Journal and Mossberg carriers with Microsoft's corporate customers, I expected Microsoft, like other corporations that have had rebuttals printed in the Journal, to dispute the statement as opinion rather than fact. I'm still waiting.