HTC Status Review

A few weeks ago, I was sent a review unit of the HTC Status, a new smartphone dedicated to social networking. Said phone is Android-powered, thus packing only new hardware features rather than anything really innovative. Being a BlackBerry user close to transitioning to iPhone, it was very nice playing around with an Android phone for a couple of weeks, especially this one. When you’ve got 0ne of the best smartphone keyboards in the market (BlackBerry Torch keyboard), it’s very hard to get used to any other smartphone keyboard, but the HTC Status does a pretty decent job at that.

As I mentioned above, the keyboard in a smartphone, in my opinion, is a key feature. You don’t want a smartphone with which you can’t type quickly and efficiently enough. It’s very hard to compete with a BlackBerry keyboard, especially when you’ve used one for your whole smartphone life. The HTC Status keyboard feels ambitious. It feels like it wants to get there, and it’s about to get there, but somewhere in the road it stops short. It’s a good keyboard that after getting used to there should be no problem, but it’s not the best keyboard out there.

The screen. Sporting an HVGA 2.6-inch touchscreen with a 480 x 320 resolution, the HTC Status’ screen falls in the average screen size category– Not too big, and not that small. Still– I feel like the average screen size makes the touchscreen functionality a bit messier, touching small icons or links isn’t necessarily seamless. The four arrows in the bottom help a little, but not that much, really. Other than that, the touch interface and feel is very, very smooth. The touchscreen didn’t lag on me once. The resolution isn’t the sharpest, and having a retina display smartphone on the market already, this could be considered a con. It is especially noticeable when browsing websites and looking at videos and pictures.  Then again, it is great for its intended purpose– Reading status updates and text messages.

The platform (OS). The HTC Status’ current operating system is the latest Gingerbread (2.3) + HTC Sense. UI-wise it’s not beautiful, but it’s not hard in the eyes, either. Functionality-wise, I thought the main parts of the phone were great. Sleek, responsive, and no freezes at all. That being said, the 800 Mhz processor makes for O.K. multitasking, but it is nowhere near as smooth as the 1 GHZ processors on phones like the HTC Inspire 4G, Motorola Atrix 4G, and the Samsung Infuse 4G. If you’re a smartphone gamer or heavy-graphics app user, then this isn’t the phone for you.

Its design is very clever; like the Nexus S, it’s got a slight bend that tilts the screen towards the user, making it a tad easier to read what you type. Measuring 4.5 inches tall and 2.54 inches wide, it’s not as small as a couple other competing smartphones, but it is very thin (0.42 inches), and that’s almost all that matters. It measures 4.37 ounces, and while it’s comfortable and steady to hold, the tilting of the top part is a contributing factor to a little heavier feel.

Call quality. No calls were dropped, but the problem doesn’t end there. The default phone app quality is not what you’re looking for at all when buying a smartphone. The voices on the other end of the line sound muffled and strangled, and it’s easy to miss what the person is saying to you. I also tried using the Google Voice app, but it made no difference.

The battery life expected from this phone was greater than the actual battery life, for it doesn’t last you more than ten hours. And it’s ten hours if you’re lucky. Being a social networking dedicated phone, you would think it would have a stronger and longer battery life, but that was not the case. Using the Facebook, Twitter, and other socially connecting apps (like Kik, for example) and browsing on the web gives you a working phone from the minute you wake up to the moment you’re about to have dinner. Not good enough.

The cameras. The HTC Status’ 5 MP main camera with autofocus under the right light conditions works just fine, capturing enough amount of detail. But under artificial lights it looks overly saturated, and under darker conditions it produces a large amount of noise. Its poor 720 x 480 video resolution is ideal for Facebook videos, but for anything else the quality is just mediocre. Just like the front facing VGA camera. Let’s just say that if you want to take a picture of yourself that makes you look pretty, this camera won’t help you at all.

The Facebook button. The HTC Status comes with a Facebook button right in the bottom of the device. The button comes with several functionalities that can be changed in the phone’s settings, and said functionalities include a single press, a long press, and clicking on the button while browsing, looking at a picture, or a video, or anything you want to share will allow you to do so directly.

In the end, I would say this is a pretty smooth phone. You can’t compare it to other smartphones like the iPhone since this phone isn’t on the market to compete–it’s on the market as an addition to those of you who want a phone with basic social networking functionalities. That’s right, if you haven’t noticed yet, this is a special little phone for special little social networking junkies. It’s cheap, it’s fun, and it’s effective. Just like Comic Sans! (Just kidding, this is actually a great phone for social savvy people.)