I just did an extensive review for
Samsung I8350 Omnia W Sim Free Mobile Phone
by considering over half-a-dozen Windows Phone handsets currently available. On the basis of personal preferences set out for the purchase (detailed in the review) the HTC Radar was a close contender. For this reason I thought it's a good idea to share my thoughts which may be of interest to customers looking for comparative reviews.
[Update 2012-11-19] Eventually bought this phone as a present when the price was too good to ignore.
The following is the last paragraphs of that review which refers to the HTC Radar in particular. Full review is available
here
.
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...
You did say HTC Radar was a contender, so what was the deal breaker?
HTC Radar spec in general is comparable to Samsung Omnia W. Where there are differences, the Samsung Omnia W is a clear winner except for: (i) a marginally bigger screen size for HTC Radar 3.8" versus Samsung Omina W 3.7" which is a hardly noticeable difference anyway; and (ii) network performance (such as download and upload speed) for HTC Radar is [reportedly] better (I suspect because HTC Radar supports the lower end of 4G data service??). On the other side of the differences, for the HTC Radar (i) the Gyroscope sensor is missing (ii) weight is 22g heavier, (iii) battery talk time is less by about 4 hours and (iv) it's equipped with a slower 1 GHz CPU compared with 1.4GHz for the Omnia W. The gyroscope with the right app comes very handy in providing location orientation; say if you do walking in unfamiliar areas such as hill walking. This feature was an important consideration on personal checklist.
But, I haven't even mentioned the serious deal breaker for me: the battery for HTC Radar is sealed (in-built) and not user-replaceable. This is obviously a personal preference and may not be important to everyone, but let me elaborate the point. With smartphones, the days of recharging the phone every 3 days or so are gone. These phones are smart because they compute more and display much information on a beautiful screen. This consumes a lot of battery power. For smartphones, over-night charging is a must and a spare battery is always a good idea. As we depend on our smartphones for our correspondences, social networking, online banking and shopping, etc, when we are out and about, carrying a fully charged spare battery (or batteries!) would be a prudent thing to do. If you take video clips (and lots of pictures), this puts more demand on the battery, and a spare battery could help ensure that you won't miss capturing that special moment at a social occasion. This is not even mentioning the expensive replacement associated with sealed batteries if battery charge holding deteriorates with age -- which generally entails repair through manufacturer approved service agents. Battery warranties are rarely covered beyond a certain [relatively short] time limit. User replaceable batteries avoid this potential hassle.
I was taken aback by HTC's decision to use sealed battery for HTC Radar when all HTC Windows Phones (including the first generation HTC HD7) use removable batteries. For my HD7, I use 3 batteries (means 2 always ready charged). You may like to note that Nokia Lumia 800 and Apple iPhone are in same category as HTC Radar when it comes to the battery.
Note however that this is not to say Samsung is better than HTC: HTC Radar just happens to be a trimmed down version of a more capable beast - the
HTC TITAN
. HTC Radar is therefore aimed at the lower end of the market segment for which HTC Titan is out of reach. On plus side you will notice that for relatively lower spec just described it means you can pick up HTC Radar at a lower price tag - at present least £70 cheaper than Samsung Omnia W. In this regard it is hard to say one phone is better over another in absolute sense; it's relative based on personal preferences, cost, the usage pattern. For instance, in the scheme of things the CPU speed of 1GHz vs. 1.4GHz may not make a huge difference at all because the CPU clock rate increase doesn't directly translate to more processing speed in the same proportion (the 40% more clock rate doesn't mean 40% more processing speed). If you do a lot of mobile net browsing, everything being equal (network data speed, etc.), naturally you may notice better response on the 1.4GHz CPU. But then, you might as well want a bigger screen for better browsing (or gaming, or ...) ... Just to complicate matters, HTC Radar uses a slower CPU but network performance is better than Samsung Omnia - sounds counter-intuitive but the explanation may be that HTC Radar uses a different radio frequency circuitry that boosts the data rate regardless of the relatively slow CPU. Yes, it's is a complex balancing act. So, don't always trust that sales person who tells you a particular smartphone on a given tariff or pay-as-you-go deal is a perfect match for all your needs.
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