HTC Surround Pro Reviews

The HTC Surround is a solid device, hardware-wise. The issue I have with it is Windows Phone 7. I want to like the OS, I really do. Out-of-box, it's great. But once you start using it, you have to slow yourself down, or you will get frustrated. Between the overused visual animations, painful setup process, and extended load times, I don't think Windows Phone 7 was quite ready for public eyes. The good thing is, you never have to worry about your Surround being left behind when updates start coming out, even if it is first-generation hardware. For $199.99 with a two-year agreement, the Surround is a great device, but keep in mind that you're an early adopter, and sometimes that can be risky. If you don't mind a few glitches here and there and overall roughness of first-version software, the Surround is a new contender in AT&T's smartphone realm.

Would I recommend the Surround? Well, I'll happily recommend Windows Phone 7 to anyone not interested in Android or iOS, or anyone bored with the status quo and looking for something entirely different. Will consumers fall for the Surround's stereo speaker gimmick? That's really up to each person, but many might want to skip the Surround for its large size and odd form factor in favor of something a little bit thinner or more practical.

The HTC surround is a unique smart phone with a slide-out surround speaker system. The speaker system makes the phone a little heavy, but to some, that extra weight adds to the sturdiness of an already solidly built phone. For music lovers, the sound is good and the kickstand is useable.

The HTC Surround is born from a curious idea: create a smartphone with a great speaker! In some ways HTC has succeeded, the Surround has the best speaker that I’ve seen on a smartphone. I’m not sure if that will make it a hit, but if you want to put it on a table and listen to music, the sound will be very decent – for a smartphone. Of course, to embed the speaker, the phone had to be a little bigger and heavier. That’s the price to pay.

Still in the early stages, there's nothing drastically different with the platform experience by all of the available Windows Phone 7 devices out on the market right now. Rightfully so, there's nothing to change the performance that we experience on the HTC HD7, Surround, and Samsung Focus – all of which offer a fantastic starting point for anyone curious with Microsoft's new mobile operating system. You've got the predominantly metallic exterior of the HTC Surround that makes it feel like a premium device over the other two.

HTC's Surround features the Windows Phone 7 operating system and is built to entertain with a slide-out speaker and fold-out kickstand.

I’m being pretty hard on HTC’s “boom box” vision for the Surround, but I just can’t see why users wouldn’t be better off with another HTC WP7 phone that put a physical keyboard in the pullout-out panel. In other words, the Surround’s main gimmick subtracts something and adds nothing to the value of the phone.

The HTC Surround does a fine job running Windows Phone 7, and if that's the only criteria by which you're going to measure it chances are you'll be quite happy.

Based on our comparison, there is no kidding that the HTC Surround is an awesome multimedia centric handset that's probably best geared for those who want to watch videos and listen to music, due to its larger screen, kickstand and bigger speaker. If capturing photo and video content is your forte though, the Apple iPhone 4 is by far the better handset. Calling quality seems to be the same for both devices, but the Surround naturally puts out stronger tones with its speakers. And as for battery life, the iPhone 4 clearly has the advantage in this department as it edged out the HTC Surround on a day to day basis. Finally, we should not forget the enormous amount of apps found on the App Store, while the Windows Marketplace for Mobile is pretty bare compared to that. So you can obviously make the decision as to which handset you'd want to side with, but another interesting question is which user experience seems more likeable now.

The HTC Surround is a solid Windows Phone 7 option, but its fellow AT&T handset, the Samsung Focus, outclasses it with its 4-inch Super AMOLED display. In contrast, the Surround’s unique feature, its slide-out speaker, falls short both on usability and performance. It’s certainly not a bad handset, and Windows Phone 7 is a surprisingly strong play by Microsoft, but we’d pick another device running the OS instead of the Surround.

The HTC Surround is what happens when a company has to be creative within a set of specific limitations. While we applaud HTC for creating an innovative design with its slide-out speaker, the phone as a whole doesn't fully deliver as a multimedia-centric device. If you're looking for the best possible Windows Phone 7 device on AT&T, the Samsung Focus costs the same as the Surround ($199 with a two-year contract) but is lighter, has a brighter screen, and longer battery life. Apple's iPhone 4 still reigns supreme on AT&T with its amazing display, impressive camera, and incredible app ecosystem, but we hope that future Windows Phone 7 devices take design risks such as HTC did with the Surround.

The HTC Surround promises a big entertainment experience with its kickstand and huge slide-out speaker, but Windows Phone 7 just isn't up to the task.

When I first powered up the HTC 7 Surround I was pretty blown away by Windows Phone 7. It's the first time I've been able to say that a Microsoft mobile operating system feels hip and cool. I've found myself typically using Android for the most part these days. But I really wanted to dive into Windows Phone 7 and decided to make the Surround my primary device for a while. There's a lot to love, such as the home screen and the zippiness of it all. But I don't like how the applications can feel and look like one another. I also found myself cheating a bit and popping my SIM back in an Android phone to use Google Maps or to use a better Twitter client.

Based on our initial experience with Windows Phone 7, it's clear to say that Microsoft placed a lot of emphasis on its presentation – which is evident with its heavy usage of transition effects and dynamic tiles. Although it showcases plenty if stunning visuals throughout the platform, the constant theme of responsiveness reverberates throughout every aspect of the platform; from the smooth kinetic scrolling to the lightning quick pinch gestures. Sure it's still in its infancy and doesn't quite pack a deep experience that some of the other mature mobile platforms bring to the table.