In the last days I got my new machine for work, a Lenovo ThinkPad X1. As usual I always want to work with the latest and greates technology, that’s why I have chosen to set up the ThinkPad X1 with Windows 8.
Even in Developer Preview state Windows 8 runs very stable and brings a lot of cool new features which I can use for my daily work. I love the new PowerShell versions and Internet Explorer 10. But the best and the biggest feature for me, is the integration of Hyper-V 3 in Windows 8. So I don’t have to use VMware Workstation or VirtualBox to run virtual machines on my notebook for testing or presentations. I also can simply use the VHD (or VHDX) format to play with virtual machines or even boot them via boot from VHD.
The downside of the Windows 8 Developer Preview is missing .NET framework 3.5, but I think the Windows 8 beta, which should be released by the end of February, should fix this.
Maybe some people have realized that I am a big fan of business style notebooks. And what would be better business design than the ThinkPad series. Lenovo tried to combine good old ThinkPad values with new design features, and in my opinion succeeded. I really like the ThinkPad design in this very slim chassis. It looks elegant and business “high-class”.
The build quality of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 is like you would expect it from a ThinkPad. It feels great and very robust. Keith Combs describes it in his review ”The ThinkPad X1 is build like a tank. It’s probably the most solid notebook I’ve ever had in my hands.” and I have to agree with him.
I know I said the Nokia Lumia 800 would be my next Windows Phone, but after Nokia announced that the release date of the Lumia 800 in Switzerland would be Q1/2012 I could not resist to buy a HTC TITAN.
I also know there are a lot of good HTC TITAN reviews already out, but I think maybe I can add some useful information for some people and help them decide. I don’t wanna talk to much about the Windows Phone software, because everyone knows already that Windows Phone 7.5 is a great phone OS.
Hardware
I was an iPhone user for a long time. Last year I decided to buy my first Windows Phone which was a HTC 7 Trophy. The Trophy was not really a great hardware device, it felt cheap and the camera and the screen were really bad. To be fair it was the cheapest Windows Phone at this time.
Now with the TITAN, HTC made a really big step in terms of build quality and features of the device. The HTC TITAN feels like a real high quality phone.
Now as you can see and read it is one of the biggest devices out there. With a 4.7-inch screen, 131.5mm height and 70.7mm width it sounds like a huge phone, but if you compare it to other phones it not a lot more to carry around. I compared it to a bunch of other phones like the 4-inch Samsung Omina 7, 4.3-inch Samsung Galaxy S2 and the 4.3-inch HTC Desire HD. And it really does not matter if you have a HTC Desire or a HTC TITAN to carry around. It actually feels really light in your pocket and does not use that much space because it is just 9.9mm thick.
I never was a fan of big phones, and I was not sure if the HTC TITAN wasn’t too big for me. But after the first days I really started to like the size and it isn’t a problem at all.
you want to compare different phones in size you can use www.phone-size.com.
Camera
One of the best features of the HTC TITAN is the great camera. In all reviews everyone mentioned the great camera of the HTC TITAN and it sure is. It’s not just the quality of the images, it has also some extra features like burst shots and panorama shot which allows you to create beautiful panorama pictures.
If you want to compare different cameras you can do this on digitalversus.com.
Performance and battery life
You cannot really say something bad about the performance of the HTC TITAN because it is the fastest Windows Phone device at this moment. This is not only because of the 1.5GHz CPU, which is the fastest CPU in a Windows Phone at the moment, it also because of the new flash storage HTC build in which makes App launching and taking pictures a lot faster.
Even with this huge screen the TITAN has a better battery life than my HTC Trophy before. I could use the HTC Trophy for one day and the HTC TITAN runs about 1.5 days without recharge.
Display
The 4.7-inch display is huge and the Super LCD display steps up to the AMOLED displays from Samsung. Now the only bad thing you could say about the display is the low resolution, but this is not HTC fault. All Windows Phone devices require a resolution of 480×800 which makes it easier for developer.
Overall
Even I would like to get a device with a smaller screen, I think the HTC TITAN is at the moment the best Windows Phone you can get here in Switzerland. Nokia will release their Windows Phones in Q1/2012 in Switzerland and Samsung did not announce an European version of the Samsung Focus S, which makes the HTC the one and only flagship device in Switzerland.
+ Great Screen Quality
+ Good battery life
+ Good performance
+ Very Good camera
+ Good build quality
Today Nokia released their first two Windows Phone devices, the Nokia Lumia 800 and the Nokia Lumia 710. I am really looking forward to get a Nokia Lumia 800 as soon as possible. I think this is one of the first phones which can be compared to the iPhone in terms of design (Of course besides the Nokia N9).
Sometimes you just need some new toys to play with. I ordered two new toys. A Microsoft Zune HD with a Docking station which I will use in my living room as “media station” and in my car. The wireless sync is perfect for that, so I can park in front of my flat to sync my Zune.
The second one is the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse. I needed a good mouse for my notebook. Even the Track pad of my HP Elitebook is really great, if you need to work a little more I enjoy using a mouse. First the Arc Touch Mouse is really cool and does not waste a lot of space in my bag.
Last week I came back from my vacation at Crete with my girlfriend. This holiday was really relaxing. I can recommend everyone to visit the largest and most populous place of the greek islands. Crete offers a lot more to see besides the great beach and really good food.
