Review: HTC Titan

Tim Schiesser

28 October 2011 - 12:29 Hot!

After reviewing the HTC Radar a couple of weeks ago, today I have a hands-on review of the second Windows Phone from HTCs October 2011 WP7 device refresh. The phone is called the HTC Titan, and it certainly is a Titan in all respects.

The device is dominated by a massive 4.7-inch display on the front, a slim, black and very HTC design along with a processor that’s much faster than previous Windows Phones. Essentially this device is an upgrade from the first-gen HTC HD7, and an upgrade it certainly is.

Our HTC Titan was kindly provided, as always, by MobiCity, so a big thanks to them for allowing us to conduct this review. Please check them out if you are thinking of buying a Titan.

Specifications

Below is a full table of the HTC Titan’s specifications. As you can see, the device’s main feature is the 4.7” 480 x 800 display and single-core Qualcomm processor at 1.5 GHz. It also features 16 GB of internal storage and an 8 MP camera, already cementing itself as a top-of-the-line HTC device.

	HTC Titan
Product Codes	X310e Codenamed "HTC Eternity"
GSM Bands	850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Bands	HSPA 850 / 900 / 2100
Display	4.7-inch 480x800 S-LCD 200 ppi pixel density 5-point capacitive multi-touch Gorilla Glass
Processor	Qualcomm MSM8255T Snapdragon (S2) chipset 1.5 GHz single-core Scorpion CPU
Graphics	Adreno 205
RAM	512 MB
Storage	16 GB internal storage 12.8 GB available storage space
Connectivity	WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP A-GPS DLNA FM Radio
Camera	8 MP rear camera with autofocus and dual-LED flash 1.3 MP front camera 720p video recording (rear)
Ports	MicroUSB (charging, data) 3.5mm audio jack
Sensors	Accelerometer Magnetometer Gyroscope Light sensor Proximity sensor
Battery	Li-ion 1,600 mAh removable
Launch OS	Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango"
Launch Date	October 2011
Size & Weight	131.5 x 70.7 x 9.9 mm 160 g

Really there are no notable emissions from the specification list, except for the microSD card slot which not many Windows Phones have anyway and only 720p video recording despite specs that could easily support 1080p.

Review Index

This review is pretty lengthy, so if you only want to find out about certain features skip to the appropriate section below, or simply watch the video overview on the next page.

Introduction and Specifications
Video Overview
Design and Display
Software
Performance
Camera
Media Playback & Call Quality
Battery Life and Conclusion

53 Comments

Gone are the days of Titan
Me wants Lumia 800.
Even though I love bigger display but I can deal with that.

Do want. Time to sell the iPhone 4... Great review!

HTC Titan
DOA

Muhammad Farrukh said,

HTC Titan
DOA

DOA ?

yardman said,

DOA ?

"Dead on Arrival".

It does have several advantages over the Lumia's - a faster processor, front facing camera, gyroscope, and it's screen size advantageous for those for type a lot on their phones or who have slightly poorer eyesight.

On another note - love the indepth reviews, not a great fan of paging though.

Edited by ~Johnny, 28 October 2011 - 13:14 :

Muhammad Farrukh said,

HTC Titan
DOA

Why?

Good review by the way. Thorough

Phone manufacturers: If you're going to include a large screen, please increase the resolution as well. Don't put 480*800 on a freaking 4.7" screen! Also S-LCD ftl.

tsupersonic said,

Phone manufacturers: If you're going to include a large screen, please increase the resolution as well. Don't put 480*800 on a freaking 4.7" screen! Also S-LCD ftl.

that is a limitation of the platform right now. So the Manufacturers cant do anything about it for now. Wait for Tango.

tsupersonic said,

Phone manufacturers: If you're going to include a large screen, please increase the resolution as well. Don't put 480*800 on a freaking 4.7" screen! Also S-LCD ftl.

They probably would have done that, if Windows Phone allowed it.

tsupersonic said,

Phone manufacturers: If you're going to include a large screen, please increase the resolution as well. Don't put 480*800 on a freaking 4.7" screen! Also S-LCD ftl.

Absolutely agree. Just compare it with the Galaxy Nexus' 4.65-inch 1280x720-pixel HD Super AMOLED PenTile curved glass display.

Why is it that mobile PHONE reviews never mention how long the battery lasts if you, you know, actually CALL someone on them?

Wakers said,

Why is it that mobile PHONE reviews never mention how long the battery lasts if you, you know, actually CALL someone on them?

I don't have an unlimited calls plan, so phoning someone for 6-10 hours would cost me a fortune

Ha, do you have any idea how hard it is to talk on the phone for 4.1 hours as stated here to test out that theroy? Also, many people use their smartphones in a combination of email,web and talk so reviewing in those terms is more realistic for use.

bdsams said,

But call time isn't mentioned at all. You can call someone for ten minutes to see if it takes anything off the battery, surely?

Battery life for other uses was predicted based on "usage patterns", so hiding behind that excuse is nonsense.

There's no point having a smartphone if you can use the wifi on it for several hours, but if you make a twenty minute call half of your battery has gone. Using mobiles as a telephone is actually still important to people.

bdsams said,

Umm there's no need to do that at all. WP Bench has a battery life feature that just drains it and records the result.

I'm aware of all the suggestions on how to drain a battery. I'm only a part time writer and to be honest I don't have 7 hours to sit around waiting for the battery to drain.

As for a battery benchmark, it can't properly test all variables. Running endless clock cycles or web page refreshes is not an accurate picture of a phone's battery life. Most people use their phones for a variety of things, not refreshing pages for 7 hours or making 8 hour phone calls.

Scorpus said,

I'm aware of all the suggestions on how to drain a battery. I'm only a part time writer and to be honest I don't have 7 hours to sit around waiting for the battery to drain.

Oh come on. I'm not asking for 8 hour phone calls, just an indication on resistant the battery life is to telephone calls. It is still a mobile telephone at all. I appreciate that we use them for other stuff now too, but you made absolutely no mention of it at all. It's a telephone, people use it to make and receive phone calls.

About the biggest problem I have with smartphones at the moment is that if I make/receive a 30 minute phone call early in the morning, I have to be careful with how I use it for the rest of the day because I'm struggling with battery power. Not everyone can get to a powerpoint at any point during the day.

Tom W said,

Umm there's no need to do that at all. WP Bench has a battery life feature that just drains it and records the result.

Not all platforms have that; I was speaking in general phone review terms.

Edited by bdsams, 28 October 2011 - 13:27 :

Wakers said,

WP7 doesn't have such problems, in my experience browsing or playing the games drain battery much more than phone calls. so if I used the phone too much for entertainment and ended up with 20% battery, I can turn on battery saver mode and it will be enough for just making calls in next 5 hours or more.

ignore.

Why no mention of the fact the camera has face tracking, panoramic and burst shot modes? They are all new.

Tom W said,

Why no mention of the fact the camera has face tracking, panoramic and burst shot modes? They are all new.

Ah whoops. I did test these and they both work fine, but somehow I forgot to mention it in the review

Scorpus said,

Ah whoops. I did test these and they both work fine, but somehow I forgot to mention it in the review

Yeah they're definitely worth mentioning, especially given the fact iPhone 4S now has face tracking.

As an aside, it's still the only Windows Phone with a gyroscope in it. Even the Lumia's don't have it listed in their specs.

~Johnny said,

As an aside, it's still the only Windows Phone with a gyroscope in it. Even the Lumia's don't have it listed in their specs.

The Samsung Focus S and Flash do include a gyroscope.

What about the App store and how this compares to Android/iOS? Does it really make a HUGE difference, or is it just missing fart apps? I am interested in WP7 but the app store is the last thing to convince me ...

bushbrother said,

The app store (Marketplace) has really improved since the beginning of WP7. There are a lot of quality apps available, and of course it doesn't have the same amount as the App Store/Market it still has a reasonable 35,000. I would recommend checking the Marketplace out in a local phone store for more information

Scorpus said,

THANKS!

Actually, you can check out the Marketplace via the web. Check out:

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/marketplace

You can search for apps and games there.

Wow nice phone, wonder why it's just a single core cpu tho.

Order_66 said,

Wow nice phone, wonder why it's just a single core cpu tho.

Windows Phone doesn't support dual-cores yet

Order_66 said,

Wow nice phone, wonder why it's just a single core cpu tho.

Because it doesn't need to run Android.

"only 720p video recording despite specs that could easily support 1080p."

Just so you know, the S2 snapdragon SoC's, of which MSM8255T is one, don't support 1080p video capture or 1080p video playback - they both max out at 720p. 1080p was only introduced in S3 chips.

~Johnny said,

"only 720p video recording despite specs that could easily support 1080p."

Just so you know, the S2 snapdragon SoC's, of which MSM8255T is one, don't support 1080p video capture or 1080p video playback - they both max out at 720p. 1080p was only introduced in S3 chips.

Strange, as the device does indeed support 1080p video playback...

Scorpus said,

Strange, as the device does indeed support 1080p video playback...

Zune transcodes it to 720p video at sync.

Edited by ~Johnny, 28 October 2011 - 14:18 :

What does the speakerphone sound like? The last HTC phone I had was an HD2 and the speakerphone was too bad to use. You'd get lots of vibrations and other noise that made it unusable. I'm considering this phone but only if the speakerphone produces good, clean sound.

No noticeable emissions? Ewwww.

heroinsmoker said,

No noticeable emissions? Ewwww.

I was about to write the something similar.

For me it would have been a viable alternative to the iPhone 4S if it were available in a 64GB model or at the very least a 32GB model with a mini-sd slot which can support up to 32GB cards. I'd love someone to explain to me what is up with Windows Phone 7.5 devices that have great specifications in all other areas but when it comes to storage they're horribly lacking.

The (sole) blame for that is HTC themselves. They've been doing this (featuring mobiles w/ decent-to-outstanding performance specs, and gimping devices with ridiculously meager amounts of ROM/flash RAM) since they started manufacturing Windows Mobile 5.0 devices back in '04/05. Infuriating stuff, really.

kizuran said,

For me it wouldn't be so bad if they gimped the built in memory to keep the price low but said, 'Hey, here is a slot, cram it with as much storage as you like' - I'd be a happy camper. The lack of real storage sizes goes beyond HTC though because all the Windows Phone devices I've seen are horribly gimped - even the new Windows Phone 7 devices from Nokia are horribly crippled beyond belief with only 16GB of storage.

Really - are there people out there who have hardly any music or something? I'm 30 years old and just casually accumulating CD's over 15 or so years has resulted in a 150GB+ library of music (be it encoded using AAC set to quality of 127) - does everyone else just have half a dozen singles in their library or something?

Why does it seem like every single Windows Phone is the same, except for physical screen size and what add-on memory chip size they use?

I was in Europe last week and I had a chance to play with a Titan in a store; while I use both a HD2 and a HD7 therefore familiar with big devices I found that the Titan is too big, my opinion of course. The HD 7 is, again my opinion, the limit for a cellular phone, at least for average user.
What I also noted is that a screen of that dimension does not get along well with the OS specs: the tiles appears.... just too big; mind it there are no issue as pixilation but simply put everything seems too big.
So far my next phone will be a SIM Free Samsung Focus S, nothing on the horizon more appealing........ so far.

HTC Titan: 4.7-inch 480x800 S-LCD
Galaxy Nexus: 4.65-inch 1280x720 HD Super AMOLED PenTile

LOL>

512MB of RAM?
Adreno 205 (most devices are using newer Adreno 220 now)?
Single core CPU?
480x800 res?

last years specs

For a phone this big, why is the battery so small. Why can't they make the logic board smaller and make it sit in 1/2 the phone, and let the battery take up the rest?

If Apple can do it, I know others can.

Low resolution, no thanks

why can I only read the first page of this review?
Clicking next or a page number always brings me back to the first page???

I don't understand why the power button location is such a big deal. Do you often turn your phone on and off? I don't have a real smartphone (have a LG Rumor touch), but I just don't see why you would turn it on and off so much, but this author kept mentioning it.
I actually disagree with his suggested placement, then perhaps could hit when you didn't wish to.

Doesn't seem to be very quick IMO. Apps open slower than on the SGSII, don't have an iPhone4S so can't compare but I'd imagine that is even quicker.

cashman said,

Doesn't seem to be very quick IMO. Apps open slower than on the SGSII, don't have an iPhone4S so can't compare but I'd imagine that is even quicker.

It's plenty fast. There's more to speed than how fast apps open. There's how apps perform under your finger, how responsive and consistent the UI is, and how usable the results are.

Although, it's worth noting the that HTC Hub demoed is one of the slowest apps to launch out there, and certainly not among the best performing. Other apps demoed in the video are a lot faster and more responsive.

Edited by ~Johnny, 30 October 2011 - 14:39 :

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