HTC 7 Pro Pro Reviews

If you're a fan of the hardware keyboard on the HTC Touch Pro 2 from a couple years ago, and you should be since it's the best keyboard out there, then the 7 Pro will give you that excellent typing experience along with the new Windows Phone 7 operating system. Unfortunately Windows Phone 7 isn't designed for landscape keyboard slider form factors so the usability with the keyboard open is severely lacking. I suppose if you only use the keyboard when you're actually typing something, then it might be okay. Otherwise, you might as well just keep it in portrait mode. Still, Windows Phone 7 is an exciting new mobile operating system with some great features and interesting potential. Hopefully we'll see more landscape style keyboard support in the future upgrades expected later this year.

U.S. Cellular's first Windows Phone 7 phone is a solid effort, although the HTC 7 Pro will disappoint those looking for a large, vibrant screen.

Overall, the Pro7 is a pretty good handset, but it’s not a really great one. It is fast and responsive, has a good screen and easy to use OS, but the keyboard - it’s key feature, just isn’t as good as we hoped it would be and the camera and battery life cold be improved.

We're still to be convinced if Microsoft has got Windows Phone 7 right. Every time we see it, we're frustrated by some aspects. The addition of a physical keyboard to the hardware of the HTC 7 Pro doesn't help, and in some ways actually detracts from the experience, because Windows Phone 7 doesn't always automatically rotate when you slide the keyboard out.

A great messaging smartphone, and one of the best Windows Phone 7 handsets available.

Overall the HTC 7 Pro doesn’t impress us as much as we’d like it to. Windows Phone 7 in general is aesthetically pleasing and offers most of the features and connectivity you’d demand from a modern smartphone, but there is obviously still a fair way to go to capture the speed and excitement of Android or iOS. It did seem stable on the whole, with no crashes encountered during our time with the phone. The only thing that did fall over was email syncing with one of our Google accounts (only one mind you) that was solved by removing and then adding that account again.

The quality of the earpiece on the HTC 7 Pro is pretty good. We were able to hear those calling us distinctly with natural sounding voices, although we'd prefer a bit more in the volume department. The microphone on the bottom of the phone did a good job converting and sending our voices over the air to the receiving side with minimal distortion.

Windows Phone 7 has been with us since last October, where the first flurry of handsets came quickly with a trio from HTC, the HD7, HTC 7 Mozart and HTC 7 Trophy being joined by the Samsung Omnia 7 and LG Optimus 7.

There’s a lot we like about the HTC 7 Pro. Windows Phone 7 is a solid platform with plenty of promise, and while the third-party app selection pales in comparison to what Android and iOS offer, that’s not to say you won’t find the titles to suit you among the line-up. We also appreciate Microsoft’s clean-slate style, which – in combination with the no-nonsense hardware HTC has produced – adds up to a distinct and unique device.