HTC 7 Surround

htc 7 surround review

Release Date:  Q4 2010
Expert Rating:

• portable stereo
• 3G, Wi Fi
• 3.8 inches capacitive touch screen

• No microSD card slot

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HTC just announced its latest range of mobile phones that will on the new operating system Windows Phone 7. The three handsets announced by the company are HTC 7 Surround, HTC Trophy and HD7. Among the three handsets, HTC 7 Surround is a bit different as it seems to be focusing mainly on its sound quality with its Dolby Surround Sound speaker. The unique design of slide-out speaker makes it different and attractive from the other mobile phones introduced by the company. However, it is not the fact that 7 Surround is just focused on the high quality sound system, there are several other features that make it quite a desirable device among the mobile phone enthusiasts. 3G, Wi Fi, capacitive touch screen, Bluetooth, 5 MP camera, 8 GB built in memory and a lot more. We will specify more details on these features in the later part of the review.

The phone comes with a kickstand that shows off its features quite well. Though the body of the phone is made up of plastic, it still boasts quite an attractive look. The addition of the slide-out speaker is probably going to make it a bit expensive. So far, we haven’t heard the sound quality of the speaker, so we cannot comment whether this addition is worth your money or not.

HTC 7 Surround – the Portable Speaker

The portable Dolby Surround Sound speaker is the major attraction of 7 Surround by HTC. There could be both good and bad things about the inclusion of this feature. The bad thing could be playing the stereo loudly in the public places without using a headphone. However, it depends upon the users, and it is not actually a fault of the mobile phone. If you consider the benefit of this feature, then you may consider it in a different point of view. Suppose you are out on a small gathering or a picnic, and you play the portable speaker. It will definitely be a delightful experience. You could also use it as a good replacement of the wireless or other portable speakers on your desk.

HTC 7 Surround – the Network and Connectivity

Every other feature will fail to impress if you cannot make proper communication by using your mobile phone. The primary functionality of any mobile phone is to establish good communication with other people, and HTC 7 Surround has quite a good feature to satisfy this basic requirement of the users. Good network support is assured with the support of both 2G and 3G connectivity. The users of the 2G network will get access to the quad band HSM network 850/ 900/ 1800/ 1900; while the users of 3G will get access to the dual band HSDPA 900/ 2100.

In terms of connectivity, HTC 7 Surround is impressive as well. The basic connectivity support is provided by the Class 12 GPRS and EDGE, which is good, but you cannot expect high speed access with it. For high speed connectivity, you can get the support of 3G HSDPA and Wi-Fi® 802.11 b/g/n. For transferring data to/from other devices, you can use microUSB v2.0 (with cable data transfer) and Bluetooth® v2.1 (wireless data transfer).

HTC 7 Surround – the Display

The buyers for feature-rich smart phones also look for an attractive mobile phone. The appearance plays a vital role that affects the purchasing decision to a great extent. If you want to judge the look of the handset, then it can be said to be quite attractive. It’s the unique design of the Surround that catches the attention of the purchaser. The slide out speaker on the side is the major talking point and its unique appeal as well. However, the make of the device is plastic, and it is only available in black.

As far as the designing aspects of the phone are concerned, the majority of the frontal portion is covered with the touch screen display. On the top and the back side of the phone, you will find the logo of HTC. Just at the bottom of the display, the touch sensitive keys are positioned. The display features of the device are quite attractive, particularly because it boasts a big display screen of 3.8 inches. It is a capacitive touch screen and provides a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels and boasts 16 million colours. Other prominent highlights of the display include proximity sensor for auto turn off and accelerometer sensor for UI auto rotate.

HTC 7 Surround – the Camera

One of the most vital features of the mobile phone is multimedia, and camera is among the most-used multimedia features for any mobile phone. Good camera features increase the appeal of a mobile phone among the buyers and let’s find out where the 7 Surround stand in terms of this feature. The camera option of HTC 7 Surround is good, if not great. It comes with a 5 mega pixel camera that offers LED flash, auto focus, geo tagging and a resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels. The camera is also capable to shoot videos at 720p, but there is no secondary camera.

HTC 7 Surround – Music and Video

The other multimedia highlights of mobile telephony include music and video players. These media players of HTC 7 Surround are capable of playing diverse file formats. The music player can play MP3/ WAV/ WMA/ eAAC+ files; while the video player can play MP4/ WMV/ H.264/ H.263 files.

Overall, the features of HTC 7 Surround seem to be good, but not excellent. The unique design, inclusion of portable stereo and the power of Windows Phone 7 OS can create a buzz among the buyers.