A few weeks ago, my new phone arrived – the HTC Titan.

 I had stayed away from Windows Phone 7 simply because of the lack of tethering and iphone because I don’t like products that are successful because of marketing rather than technical superiority…. But when the titan got announced – I was interested in finally upgrading my Tytn II running Win Mobile 6.1.

 That’s when I ran into my first issues – actually sourcing the phone. Three places that came up in a google search (at the time, now there about 6) – all of which got bagged for being dodgey over in the whirlpool forums (www.whirlpool.net.au)… So, eventually I opted for an overseas source instead and used http://www.handtec.co.uk/ – the phone took a week to arrive and all up, including all charges, came to a tad under $A650 – so better than any price that the dodgey places were selling it for anyway.

 I did contact my business carrier – Optus, about a date for when they would be stocking this phone, but their email reply took a week and said to call their sales department…. Otherwise known as “we don’t want your business”

 So, onto the phone itself…  keeping in mind that my primary uses for this phone are:

• Activesync for mail, calendar items and contacts
• Plays music
• Makes phone calls
• Has a useable interface
• Tethering/wireless hotspot

Now if you similar to me and these are your primary usages, the HTC Titan does all these tasks well:

• The wireless hotspot is really cool and works very well – but sucks the battery like all hell
• The interface, although not quite as customisable as I would like is reasonably intuitive and easy to use… and fast
• The normal phone and speaker phone work well
• Activesync is as smooth as you would expect it to be

A few additional things that weren’t high on my priority list but aren’t bad:

• The “locations” GPS…. Although entering your destination and getting it to route you there is just not intuitive at all
• The camera seems to be pretty good…. And I will admit, it is handy to have an ok camera with you at all times
• The flashlight is awesome – that is just incredibly handy
• The marketplace has surprisingly good apps to fill gaps left in the interface (such as a lack of a speed dial interface for the front page)

And the annoying:

• The wireless hotspot on/off (as it kills the battery) is hidden down the menu structure and you cannot pin it to the start screen – grrrrr
• Inability to choose the size of the icons on the home screen…. For example… if I was to have 3 icons across the screen – everything would be on one screen – just easier…
• Having to use Zune to get my media onto the phone. Zune is without doubt an absolute piece of shit software… just fucking terrible

 All in all, I’m pretty happy with it… it does all the things I require plus a bit more, its responsive and has good sound quality. Now just let me manage it without Zune – and it would be fanatastic!