HTC HD Mini Review

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Review: April 2010

Last updated June 2011.

Phone rating:

In a nutshell: The HTC HD Mini is a compact smartphone. Yet despite its small size, it packs in a decent 3.2 inch touchscreen and all the power of a Windows smartphone - Outlook Mobile, Office Mobile, Internet Explorer Mobile and Opera Mobile, plus apps for facebook, twitter and youtube. Add in a 5 megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi, HSPA, tons of memory and a big battery, and you'll be amazed at how powerful such a small device can be. Unfortunately, it seems poor value when compared to other phones.

Well, hats off to HTC! For several years now they've been churning out compact Windows Mobile devices like the Touch 3G and Touch 2, and each time we've said interesting idea, pity the screen is too small. Well, HTC have finally pulled it off with the HD Mini. Here at last is a genuinely compact touchscreen smartphone with the power of Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional inside and a large screen too.

Compare the size of the HD Mini with its big brother, the HD2. It's 20% smaller and 30% lighter. That's a big difference. It's 20% smaller than the iPhone 3G S too. So, if you want the power of a Windows smartphone in a pocket-size phone, then the HD Mini should be top of your list.

Not everyone likes Windows Mobile. We do. It may not have an "app for everything", but it has all the apps we need. That includes Microsoft software such as Outlook Mobile (sync email with your PC), Office Mobile (edit docs on your phone), Internet Explorer Mobile, Bing for Mobile and Windows Live. You'll also find the Opera Mobile web browser, a real-time twitter client, facebook and youtube. HTC Sense pulls everything together, so that you can personalise your home screen, access contacts easily in a number of different ways and leap between apps in an intuitive way. You can reply to an email with a voice call, for example. We love it!

As already mentioned, the screen has been allowed to grow in size to a full 3.2 inches with a decent resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. It's a capacitive touchscreen that responds very smoothly to the touch, and combined with a smart user interface makes it very easy to use. Yes, so it doesn't have the ultra-high resolution of the HTC Desire, but that's a much bigger phone after all.

The HD Mini is equipped with a very good set of features. The camera has a 5 megapixel sensor and autofocus. This is not a camera phone in the same league as the Sony Ericsson Vivaz, but it takes pictures that are better than simply snaps. It can also record video. The music player / media player is Windows Media Player, so it syncs very easily with the music on your PC, and is fully featured with excellent audio output through the 3.5mm headphone socket.

The HD Mini has a GPS receiver and can be used for location finding, geo-tagging of photos and other data, and even for navigation with the right software.

Connectivity scores full marks. With Wi-Fi and HSPA offering ultra-fast data connections as well as Bluetooth 2.1 with Enhanced Data Rate and a micro USB socket, the HD Mini has every type of connection we need. There's a choice of web browser as well as dedicated apps for facebook, twitter, youtube, etc, so you can stay in touch with everyone and everything wherever you go.

The battery has a 1200 mAh capacity and delivers impressive performance. The memory capacity is also very impressive, with 384MB available for apps and data storage, and the capability of adding microSD cards of up to 32GB.

So why only a 3 star rating? It's the price! Hardly competitive at launch, the HD Mini seems to have become more expensive since. And with the launch of Windows 7, the HD Mini no longer looks like a good option to us.

Features of the HTC HD Mini include:

5 megapixel camera with autofocus
Video recording
Display: Capacitative touchscreen, 320 x 480 pixels (3.2 inches)
GPS receiver
Music player (Windows Media Player)
FM radio
Messaging: SMS, EMS, MMS, Email
MP3 ringtones
Animated weather wallpaper
Java
Internet: GPRS, EDGE, HSPA (7.2 Mbps download, 2 Mbps upload), Opera Mobile browser
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1 with Enhanced Data Rate, micro-USB 2.0, Wi-Fi, 3.5mm audio jack
Memory: 384 MB RAM plus microSD memory card (up to 32GB)
Vibration alert
Quadband GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) plus HSPA/WCDMA (900/2100 MHz)
Size: 104 x 58 x 11.7 mm
Weight: 110g
Talktime: 400 - 435 minutes
Battery standby: 340 - 500 hours

HTC HD Mini User Reviews

Love your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review this phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!

Average rating from 13 reviews:

Reviewed by Cam from UK on 4th May 2012
Not great.
Its pretty slow and the bugs in the software make it very frustrating to use.

Also now windows is unsupported so you cannot easily download anymore apps etc.

I'm looking to get rid very soon after putting up with it for over a year.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Andrew Little from UK on 13th Nov 2011
This was the worst phone I ever owned. HTC.......NO THANKS!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Chris Draper from UK on 11th Oct 2011
I think this is a pretty awful phone, the software is slow and buggy, you have to press buttons several times before the screen changes, the text editor sometimes makes the message you are writing disappear off the screen, I certainly wouldn't recommend it.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Jack from UK on 12th Aug 2011
Overall this is actually a good phone packed with features. It's nice and fast, has a bright screen etc. The biggest problem is that the screen is so ridiculously sensitive that it really spoils the experience of using the phone. The lightest touch of the screen will result in something being clicked, and often this happens unintentionally! Very frustrating to use and there is no way to reduce the sensitivity. I've now sold the phone and gone back to using my trusty Nokia 5800, much better!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by kuiyyt from usa on 22nd Jun 2011
nice
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by steve from uk on 21st Dec 2010
bad battery bad text where are the apps.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Chris from UK on 22nd Aug 2010
I bought this as a replacement for the HTC Hero which I broke, I also have an iPhone 3. There is no doubt is is beautifully small and classy looking phone,great battery life, great screen etc and for the first 48 hours I was impressed. However after the honeymoon period it was clear that I had the same problems with it that other reviewers have found - namely texting/e-mailing on the small touchscreen being a nightmare, predictive text frustratingly bad, bizarre formatting of websites (many I use just don't load properly at all), and a sort of 'bolted on' Windows interface which seems unnecessary, and has apps which don't work as well as the Android or Apple equivalents e.g. Facebook. So, sadly it's going back.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Glen from UK on 21st Aug 2010
Excellent smartphone thats fits in your pocket like a mobile should. Very easy to set up email and plays youtube videos in HD. Call quality is excellent and battery lasts 2-3 days. As it runs on windows operating system it has choice of internet apps. This is a phone worth considering.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Louise from UK on 6th Aug 2010
Love the phone this is the 2nd day now. Where can i get decent free apps from though?
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Paul D from uk on 19th Jul 2010
Strange screen resolution but apart from that it works quite well personally i get roughly 2 days from the battery by turning unwanted apps and widgets off gps and google works well and is very usefull
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Royal from india on 15th May 2010
i like htc hd mini very much its just outstanding
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Peter from UK on 13th May 2010
Am I doing something wrong? I have had this phone for 16 hours made two phone calls, charged it twice and it has again rtun out of charge!!! The charger is downstairs and I cannot be bothered to get out of bed to sort this out! It goes back tomorrow!!!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Ryan Manchester from UK on 8th May 2010
Which mobile have I purchased is it HTC or is it Windows ? The HTC Sense interface is very cool and easy to use and intuative and also pretty to look at then flick a switch and this Windows mobile opens up , to me it would have been better to either have had this mobile run as simply HTC with Android as with Windows its struggles to decide which it wants to be , and for the power of the Mini HD it still does not have simple things like Voice Control/Dialling and the loudspeakers make music and calls sound tinny and distorted at full volume and the SMS input can be a pain compared to the iPhone's simplicity but otherwise this mobile is rather good its pointless writing what I liked about this phone the whole idea is seeing what a potential new mobile does not have or lack and then make your choices because to many reviews just praise whats already known but smaller facts are often missed , Mini HD is a excellent idea with to me just the wrong partner in Windows.
Rating: Reply

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