Photo by Sham Hardy, used under CC licence
If I could describe this phone in one word, it would be “confusing”. Give me two more words and I’d say “pointless graphics”.
When I first picked up the phone I went into Messages, which was easy enough. But it took me a fair few minutes to figure out how to go back. There’s no on-screen button to go back, you can’t swipe back, you have to use the physical back button on the bottom left of the phone. Which is probably covered by your thumb.
The big problem with the HD7 is Microsoft have tried too hard with Windows Mobile 7. There’s pointless transitions from screen to screen which if anything only distracts you, and stops your train of thought. It’s all form and very little function. Even the transition when you turn the phone on its side is pointless and ends up taking longer than it really should.
As a phone, it’s decent. It might be ugly but it works ok: it’s not sluggy. The big let down is the operating system.