Big review of HTC P4350 (code name HTC Herald)

January 12, 2007 | Pavel Koza | format - Other (ar.) | viewed - 713x
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Big review of HTC P4350 (code name HTC Herald)

It is becoming quite hard to produce an original intro to a review of another Pocket PC from High Tech Computer (HTC) as there have been so many lately. The HTC P4350 (codename HTC Herald), which is in the spotlight this time, was a pleasure to review. I would like to thank Sunnysoft, a mobile solutions company, for lending me a specimen for review purposes.

Such a large portfolio makes it difficult to differentiate individual models substantially. A quick look at the technical specifications will reveal many similarities with the HTC P3300 (Artemis) that we reviewed recently, although the devices look completely different. In short, take out the GPS module and the unique HTC RollR™ control, add a slider keyboard and voila: we can herald a new device. The review is going to be detailed as usual, but if you have read the big review of HTC Artemis, it may sound familiar to you at some points.

The HTC Herald is going to be sold under mobile operator brands with graphic themes and bonus applications different from the one reviewed herein. This was a model sold as HTC P4350, with black and green as the dominant colours.

NB: The tested device had an English ROM version 1.8.405.1 WWE (ROM) / 2.71.90 (radio) / 1.8.405.9910 (ExtendedROM). A 2-GB microSD A-Data memory card was inserted, and the device was connected to an Asus S6F laptop PC. All parameters, benchmarks, applications, and screenshots herein pertain to that version of the system and may vary from other versions or configurations. I started writing this review with a pre-production unit without the HTC logo and with slightly different colours, as you can see in some photographs.

Contents of the box

The packaging consisted of several smaller boxes in the large box, resembling somewhat the famous Russian “matryoshka” nesting doll. However, the package contained a usual set of accessories, virtually the same as that supplied with the Artemis.

HTC P4350
Battery
Stylus (2x)
Case
Stereo headset with plastic foam cushions
AC adapter
Synchronisation USB cable
CD-ROM (2x)
User manual
Quick-start guide and some other documents

The stylus is 90 millimetres long, 3.5 millimetres thick, and weighs 3 grams. There are two of them included in the package. The stylus consists of several parts: the main, shiny part is made of some light metal, the tip and the top are plastic. It holds well but the grip would have been yet better if the main part were a little thicker.

The black case is quite ordinary, looking much the same as that bundled with the Artemis. It consists of two pieces of leather (or leatherette) joined together by four elastic straps to form a pocket. The upper part of the rear piece flips over the opening and attaches to the front with a magnetic buckle to protect the device against damage. In addition, there is a belt clip on the back. The case does not provide much protection in general: whereas the front panel including the display is sufficiently protected against damage, the sides are left more vulnerable as a price for easy access to various controls.

Another deja-vu occurred to me when I saw the headset: it is the same as that bundled with the HTC TyTN (HTC Hermes) as well as HTC P3300 (HTC Artemis). It includes a pair of standard in-ear earphones, and a remote control knob with a microphone, action button, volume slider, and a collar clip. Included is a pair of plastic-foam cushions for greater comfort. The most interesting element, though, is the connector, which is HTC’s proprietary extUSB type that combines a miniUSB connector and a stereo connector for the headset. In other words, the USB synchronisation cable and the headset plug into the same connector (not at the same time, naturally:) (you would need an adapter for this purpose).

There is nothing special about the AC adapter and USB cable. The AC adapter is sweetly small with permanently attached cable with a miniUSB connector at the end. I did not use it very often because of the device’s capability to recharge over USB from the PC. The synchronisation cable is 120 centimetres long and bears a miniUSB connector on one end and a standard USB connector on the other.

The box includes also a brief quick-start guide as well as a detailed manual, two CD-ROMs with bonus applications, and a few leaflets and warranty information.

Design

I can’t help but the style of the latest devices from HTC is exactly my cup of tea. Last time I praised the Artemis, and I find the Herald even nicer. The casing is black with matt finish. Unfortunately, it eagerly accepts your fingerprints, so in a short while, it was covered with clearly visible greasy marks. The buttons are matt-silver. The main attraction of the HTC H4350 is extremely small form factor (4.29 x 2.32 x 0.67 inches / 109 x 59 x 17 millimetres), acceptable weight (5.92 ounces / 168 grams) and a general impression of holding a robust pocket device. Compared to the HTC TyTN, the Herald looks like David besides Goliath and can compare to devices without an integrated keyboard. The construction is excellent and the slider keyboard seems durable. Yet it is hard to tell what the mechanism will look like after half a year of daily usage.

For a better idea of the small size and weight, see table below for comparison with selected Pocket PCs.

Pocket PC	Dimensions (mm/in)	Weight (g/oz)
E-TEN M600	111,7 x 60,7 x 22 4.40 x 2.39 x 0.87	165 5.82
E-TEN Glofiish X500	113 x 59,5 x 15,5 4.45 x 2.34 x 0.61	146 5.15
HP iPAQ hw6915	118 x 71 x 18 4.65 x 2.80 x 0.71	178 6.28
HP iPAQ rw6815	102 x 58 x 19,5 4.02 x 2.28 x 0.77	149 5.26
HTC P3300 (HTC Artemis)	108 x 58 x 16,8 4.25 x 2.28 x 0.63	130 4.59
HTC P4350 (HTC Herald)	109 x 59 x 17 4.29 x 2.32 x 0.67	168 5.92
HTC TyTN (HTC Hermes)	112,5 x 58 x 22 4.41 x 2.28 x 0.87	149 5.26
Qtek 9100	109 x 58 x 23,7 4.29 x 2.28 x 0.91	160 5.64
T-Mobile MDA Compact	108 x 58 x 18 4.25 x 2.28 x 0.71	150 5.29

Unlike some other devices, the Herald resembles an ordinary PDA at first sight, with no experimental controls, such as the Artemis’ HTC RollR™ or HP iPAQ hx4700’s touchpad. (What is good news for a conservative user may be pretty boring for a PDA enthusiasts:). The front panel is dominated by a brilliant display, one of the brightest I have ever seen. Above the display is a rectangular phone speaker and two LED indicators. Unlike those in the pre-production unit, those in the final version are matt and therefore not blindingly bright. The one on the left is shines green or orange to notify of standard events (charging, appointments etc.) as well as GSM module activity. The other one shines blue and indicated Bluetooth and WiFi activity.

Below the display is a convenient combination of a cursor control with a separate central confirmation button and six white-backlit buttons around. I found the four-directional cursor control very comfortable to use and to my surprise, it helped me beat my personal records in several action games. There is very little tangible separation between the directional control and the buttons (the cursor pad is slightly elevated), which requires some training to master, but it is perfectly usable for gaming once you get used to it. There are three buttons to the right and left of the directional control. The inner ones have two functions, depending on whether you press their upper or lower half. The upper halves serve as Windows Mobile 5 softkeys, the lower halves by default launch the Start menu and close window with OK, respectively. They can be reconfigured to perform different actions to suit the user’s preferences. The outer pair of buttons control the phone. The buttons can be deactivated to prevent accidental dialling of a random number, for instance, when you carry the device in the briefcase.

The back cover is easily removable. In the top left corner is a rubber-plugged opening for an external GSM antenna connector, a small cut-out lets out sound from the integrated loudspeaker in the top right corner, and slightly lower is a self-portrait mirror next to the camera lens opening. Under the cover is a battery compartment and SIM card slot with a lock. To the right of the SIM card is the camera lens, above them the loudspeaker on the right and external antenna connector on the left. Along the left edge is a shaft for the stylus.

The left side of the device is full of various elements. At the top (on the right in the image below) is a user-definable button, pre-set to control the camera: launch the camera application and release the shutter. In the middle is a volume control and a submerged soft reset button. Further below is a rubber-capped microSD card slot. In the bottom corner is a lanyard hook.

The right side carries two user-definable buttons. One of them launches Comm Manager, a utility that manages wireless modules. A long press of the button will toggle silent vibrating alarm. The other button is user-configurable for both a short and long press. By default, it launches voice control and sound recording, respectively. The last point on the right side to mention is opening for the stylus located in the bottom right corner.

The upper side of the device carries only the main switch. Holding it down for 5 seconds will invoke a hibernation mode dialogue. On the bottom side is a battery cover lock, a special HTC ExtUSB connector (a combination of a standard miniUSB connector and headphones output) and a microphone pinhole. This is what you can see when the device is closed. We shall deal with the slider keyboard in the following chapter.

Slide-out keyboard

Whereas a year ago, Windows Mobile Pocket PCs were rare, the situation has completely changed by now. Several manufacturers have introduced models with an integrated keyboard fro easy text input and are planning new models. There are three main types of hardware keyboards - numeric (rarely seen in Pocket PCs, e.g. in ASUS P525), a fixed miniQWERTY (HP iPAQ hw6900, FSC Pocket LOOX T800) and sliding QWERTY (e.g. HTC TyTN (Hermes) or soon-to-be-launched E-TEN Glofiish M700). The Herald falls in the last category, bringing some innovations.

The first difference is in the mechanics of the sliding action. One “innovation” is that the Herald’s keyboard expands to the right whereas all the other previously reviewed devices expand to the left (in the portrait orientation). A much more significant innovation is the way the keyboard expands. Whereas in other devices, the keyboard slides smoothly and locks in the extreme positions, the Herald’s keyboard springs all the way out and back upon a slight push. The action is accompanied by sound, which can be customised/shut off. Naturally, it remains to be seen how durable the mechanism is. It is hard to judge after two weeks of testing but my impression was that it is quite sturdy, like the whole device.

Upon close inspection, you will notice two interesting features. Firstly, the display is not centred above the keyboard, unlike in other device, but shifted to the right. Below the display are system soft keys, which are therefore also eccentric: the left-hand one is close to the middle of the keyboard. In addition, the soft keys are not above the top row but intersect with it partially, which may be inconvenient for users with large fingers. The other unusual feature is light indication of the function keys being pressed. Whereas this is common in desktop keyboards, I have never seen such a thing before in a PDA. In the top left corner of the keyboard panel are two blue LED indicators, one for CAPS LOCK, the other for the Fn key. Unfortunately, they shine annoyingly brightly, unlike the matt LEDs on the front panel. The shine was tolerable but I would welcome dimmer light.

The keyboard is similar to that of the HTC TyTN. It comprises 39 keys (four rows with ten keys each, and nine keys in the bottom row where the spacebar occupies two positions) plus two special WM5 soft keys. The shape and layout (primary functions) of the keys is also the same. The keys are slightly bigger than those in the TyTN, measuring 8.5 by 6 millimetres, except the spacebar. The secondary functions have been slightly rearranged, though. They can be activated by a press of the Fn button (the bottom left button with the blue dot). Whereas the numeric bloc remains in the same position to the right of the middle of the keyboard, five other secondary functions swapped their places. It is not a big deal but those who switch from the TyTN may be confused.

The keyboard features two-colour backlight. Actually, there is one backlight colour but the symbols of primary and secondary functions on the buttons have different colours – white and blue, respectively. The backlight is much less intensive than in other devices but sufficient for operating the device in the dark. At least it won’t give you sore eyes. I would welcome some customisation options for the backlight but there is none – after you press a button, the backlight activates and goes off again after five seconds of inactivity.

As usual, entering accented characters is rather complicated: you must first type the plain character and then simultaneously press the function key (blue point) and the spacebar. If there are more accents available for a character, you have to press the spacebar repeatedly. For special symbols, such as the Euro or per mill sign, you need to press the function key and Tab, which will open a six-page table where you can choose the desired symbol. If you find this too difficult, you can use HTC Symbol Pad for entering various symbols. This utility lists all special characters and symbols arranged in a comprehensive table spanning several screens.

Finally, let me summarise my experience. As regards basic text input, I have absolutely no objections. It takes a little while to master the layout, which is the case of all miniature keyboards. Perhaps HTC should stick to one layout and avoid complicating things further by using different layouts in different models. The keyboard is nice to type on and is unusually quiet, which is an advantage in situation where it would be inappropriate to disturb. The most typical way of typing is with two thumbs when holding the device, or with forefingers with the device lying on a flat surface. A great advantage of a hardware keyboard in general is a possibility to type on the go, whether when walking or riding on the tram. It is possible to control the device without the stylus in a similar fashion as the TyTN thanks to special keys, such as “Start menu”, “OK”, Tab, and page up/down. The only downside is the travel of the keys, which is very short, almost insensible, as compared to the TyTN. I often had to check on the screen whether I actually typed a character or not. It is not a major problem, though, which would prevent me from declaring the keyboard very agreeable, indeed.

Parameters

As I wrote at the beginning, the Herald’s parameters are identical as those of the Artemis (P3300) which I reviewed recently. If you have read the review, the following chapter may sound rather familiar to you. However, I would like to stress that I perform tests on all devices despite any similarities.

The Herald runs a Texas Instruments OMAP850 processor with a 201 MHz clock speed. As in the case of the Artemis, some may wonder if it is powerful enough for such a feature-packed device. Except for some special situations, the processor does not affect the overall performance to such an extent that you would have to worry. You can read more on this issue in the Big review of HTC P3300 (code name HTC Artemis.

From the very first moment, the P4350 seemed a little more agile than the P3300. Subsequent benchmark tests confirmed my observation – the P4350 scored better in almost all test. Why is anyone’s guess – it is most likely due to a substantially faster RAM. According to the benchmark tests, the Herald’s RAM is almost three times faster than the Artemis’. Anyhow, t is a welcome improvement. The results are as follows:

The Herald is fitted with an average amount of memory: 64MB of RAM and 128 MB of FlashROM. After a hard reset, the user can access approximately 24 MB of RAM and 36 MB of FlashROM. Funny thing was that right after the reset, the system showed only 10 MB of available RAM. After some 30 seconds, an additional 15 MB was released and the figure jumped to around 24 MB. There must be some system maintenance going on after the restart but I cold not find any details. The MemMaid utility did not show any process claiming more than 2.5 MB. There has been a notable increase in the speed of the RAM as compared to the Artemis: (RAM 64 MB/s, FlashROM read 3.54 MB/s, write 1024 KB/s), which significantly affects the overall performance. The contents of the memory can be completely wiped out using a utility called Clear Storage, which will sweep the memory absolutely clean:)

Speaking about the memory, the HTC P4350 is the first device where an application will close down when you tap the cross in the top right corner instead of being minimised. HTC has come up with this feature called HTC Task Manager rather paradoxically at a time when Microsoft has had optimised memory management to such a degree that critical situations due to excessive number of running applications occur only rarely. The HTC Task Manager is a very simple utility, offering you these two options: whether applications will close down after you tap on the cross or after you tap and hold down the stylus for a shirt while. Many users will undoubtedly welcome the choice.

Speaking about performance, we must not forget the graphics. The HTC P4350 does not integrate an extremely powerful graphics chip (such as that in the Dell Axim X50v), which – in combination with the relatively weak processor – means that video needs to be optimised to play smoothly. The Herald performs significantly better than the Artemis yet it scored approximately the same in the video test and is unusable for playback of non-optimised video. A standard video playback test (640x480 pixels) using the TCPMP application resembled a fast presentation of photos with sound rather than a movie. The same video clip downscaled to 320x240 pixels played without any problems, only with slight jerkiness in dynamic scenes. As for games, the main limiting factor is the processor. With the exception of 3D action ones, the Herald will handle most types of games. Results of benchmark tests are as follows:

Spb Benchmark 3016 - points
GXmark - 1088 points
VSbenchmark 2006 - 601 points
Dynamix 3D Benchmark - 64,42 FPS
Red Sector 2112 (game) - 3-5 FPS (highest level of detail, shades on)
Z-Raid (game) - 57-60 FPS
OpenJazz (game) - 45-50 FPS
TCPMP - 44,56% (104,63% for video clips optimised for 320x240 pixels, 512-kbps bit rate video and 128 kbps audio)

The display features standard parameters yet it made a very good impression on me. The parameters are as follows: transflexive TFT technology, 2.8 inch diagonal (73 millimetres), support for 65 thousand colours, 240x320 pixels resolution, and a touch layer. The colour scheme is warm due to a pleasant, intensive backlight. The backlight can be adjusted at four levels, separately for battery operation and charging. Four backlight levels appear too few: at the highest level, the herald shines like a lantern (it seemed even brighter than the Artemis) whereas at the lowest level, the backlight is hardly noticeable (although it is still present). It is not a serious problem but the HTC TyTN, for instance, offers eleven levels of backlight intensity, which is about an ideal number. The backlight will dim after a pre-set period of inactivity but will not go off completely. The touch layer was sensitive just fine.

I can state the same about audio capabilities of the P4350 as about those of the P3300 – they are just great. The headphones output is very loud. Whether you listen to MP3 music or make a phone call, you will rarely need to turn up to the volume to the maximum level. The sound is crisp with very little hiss. I only missed an equaliser to tune the trebles and basses to my taste but the sound is fine as is when you listen on your way to work. The integrated loudspeaker on the back of the device is also produces loud and good-quality output. It is more likely to be used for loud handsfree rather than music playback. Unfortunately, at higher volumes, voice output rattled annoyingly, which decreased its comprehensiveness. The rattling was not as serious as it can get in some devices, yet the sound was far from clear. By contrast, the phone speaker performed very well as to both volume and quality. Unlike the Artemis, the production version of the Herald did not have any problems with the special Czech consonant “Ř”, even with automatic adjustment of the microphone volume, as you can hear in these samples [643KB].

Related to the audio features are two bonus applications from HTC. One of them is HTC Audio Manager, a simple manager of your audio collection and a music player with nice graphical user interface. The other is HTC Voice Recorder, which records sound and saves it as the .AMR file format. Its main advantage is high level of compression and good quality of the sound – a half-minute recording takes just 19 KB.

The main communication interface is USB. Similar to the iPAQ rw6815 or the Artemis, the Herald, too, supports two USB modes: "new" RNDIS and "old" USB Serial. Technical details are explained here. The main difference is that the “new” RNDIS mode (default setting) is much faster in this device. Except for problem resolution, it is recommended to use the RNDIS mode. The Herald does not feature an infrared port. Other communication modules can be controlled by a utility called Comm Manager. The application includes an “airplane mode” switch that instantly shuts down all wireless modules that could affect sensitive avionics on board.

The Herald communicates with the outer world primarily over Bluetooth version 2.0 but without EDR. Microsoft has eventually innovated its BT drivers to include a feature that Widcomm applications have had for three years: file and folder sharing where you designate a root folder on one device to be accessed from the other device via Bluetooth to work with the files as if it were a local folder. I successfully tested this functionality between the Herald and my laptop as well as another PDA that supports this technology, HTC P3300 (Artemis). Besides that, I performed a standard series of connectivity tests with excellent results in most cases. Two-way transfer of files between various Pocket PCs and Smartphones (HTC P3600, Asus P525, HP iPAQ hw6915, FSC Pocket LOOX T810, E-TEN Glofiish M700 a Qtek 8500) as well as between the Herald and an Asus S6F laptop worked perfectly. Communication with a GPS NaviLock BT338 receiver did not pose the slightest problem, either. The Herald paired with the GPS at first attempt; a navigation application told me the exact location in an instant. A BlueTrek G2+ BT headset provided good comfort for phoning. However, there was a problem with stereo headphones which produced sound with various disturbing noises. I also tried to connect to a BT Access Point but the Herald does not support the PAN profile. On the other hand, simultaneous communication with a desktop PC and a BT headset worked perfectly. So, with the exception of stereo music playback, I would call the Herald’s Bluetooth implementation excellent.

The WiFi implementation is pretty much the same as that in the Artemis (HTC P3300). The Herald integrates an IEEE 802.11b/g module, which - in theory – supports transmission speed of up to 54 Mbps. The device supports WPA2, WPA, WEP, TKIP, and LEAP. All it took to connect was to activate the WiFi module and enter log-in details in a pop-up dialogue box. I tested connection with my two access points (D-Link DSL-G684T and ASUS WL-566gM) and everything worked absolutely flawlessly. The latter was configured for the new WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK mode. With Herald’s latest version of the operating system, there was no problem with this protocol, either. Depending on the strength of the signal, you can select from three output levels for the WiFi module, which enables you to save some battery power in places with good coverage. All settings are easily accessible in a simple and convenient configuration utility. I tried Skype in its latest version 2.2.0.18 over WiFi. There was a notable difference from the Artemis due to the Herald’s better performance. Although the sound was riddled with echoes, it can imagine using it in emergency. Unfortunately, the Herald – as well as the Artemis – was somewhat worse at catching signal than the HTC TyTN. Where the TyTN showed 4 points on the signal indicator, the Herald reached 2 or 3. This was particularly noticeable when searching for available networks: the TyTN reported access points that the Herald did not detect at all.

The device is powered by a replaceable 1130-mAh Lithium-Ion battery. As tests showed, this is rather weak considered the capabilities of the device. The super-power-efficient processor did not help much and the Herald scored worse than the Artemis. When I used the Herald “in the usual way”, it lasted for slightly over two days. When you do not need the device to stand by and want to conserve some energy, you can send the device to a hibernation mode by pressing down and holding the main switch for a little while. The battery can recharge over USB, so you just need to find a PC with a free USB connector.

Standard test of common usage, maximum backlight - 5h 32min
Video playback, maximum backlight - 5h 29min
Active GPRS, maximum backlight, no workload - 8h 39min
Active WiFi, maximum backlight, no workload - 2h 48min

NB :: Due to a bug in Spb Benchmark, the standard test keeps the device busy opening an extremely large Word document all the time. This reduces significance of the test because it is far from typical usage of a PDA. Tests with active WiFi did not appear very realistic, either. As of now, I therefore run PING to the default network gateway as part of the test. This places some workload on the processor and keeps WiFi transmission alive, with a dramatic impact on the test results.

HTC P4350 as a cell phone

There are very few differences between the cell phone modules implemented in the HTC P4350 and the HTC P3300 (Artemis). The phone module is quad-band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) with fully automatic frequency selection. Besides standard GSM, it supports GPRS and EDGE; 3G capabilities (UMTS, HSDPA) are lacking.

Let’s start with voice services. Besides making phone calls, the Herald offers a range of related features, such as second call, call redirect, blocking of certain types of calls, ID presentation/restriction (CLIP/CLIR), restriction of numbers that can be dialled to a defined group (requires PIN2), voice mail, as well as text messaging (SMS) and multimedia messaging (MMS). Text messages can be sent over GPRS data, if your mobile service provider supports this feature. Phone calls can be made the usual way with the device at the ear, with loud handsfree, using a wired headset or a Bluetooth headset. I tried all the options and encountered absolutely no problems with the volume or performance. The highest volume allowed me to make calls even in a noisy environment. I also appreciated swift responses of the phone application, from dialling to accepting an incoming call – the same as in the Artemis.

Regarding data transmission, there has been an improvement in reliability over the Artemis. The device supports EDGE/GPRS Class B, multi-slot Class 10. Data transmission speed corresponded to the technology (lack of support for 3G networks is a fact you need to put up with). Over the few days of testing, I never had to reset the device because of stalled data connection, as opposed to erratic behaviour of the Artemis. The Herald just worked. In locations where GPRS/EDGE is not available, you can connect using the good old CSD dial-up.

I successfully used the Herald as a modem as well. It worked without any problems: the device needs to be switched to the modem mode using Internet Sharing and connected to the PC via the USB cable or Bluetooth. Both options worked perfectly and the connection was stable and fast (I let it run for about an hour and then terminated the test). The transmission speed averaged at 21 KB/s for downstream and 8 KB/s for upstream (measured in Prague-Vysocany district using Lupa Speedmeter), which are very good results, perfectly usable for usual tasks.

Besides the standard phone application, the Herald ships with several bonus utilities. First of all, it is an extremely handed utility called HTC Smart Dial. I believe long-time HTC users will realise the convenience of this tool only when they encounter a Pocket PC without this utility. When you are searching for a contact, you just type part of the phone number or a few letters of the name and the application will deliver a list of names and numbers that match the filter. It is incomparably more comfortable than the conventional way of dialling.

Other phone-related tools include: MIDlet Manager that runs JAVA applets; SIM Toolkit for GSM banking and other mobile applications (with a funny sound hard-coded as notification of incoming message); SIM Manager that makes it easy to copy contacts between the SIM cards and the phone’s memory; BT Remote SIM Access facilitates access to the contacts via Bluetooth e.g. when using a car hands free kit (I did not have an opportunity to try this functionality); and a speech recognition utility called Voice Speed Dial.

While I criticised the Artemis in some respects, there is only praise for the Herald. Whether I used it for voice communication, as a data terminal or as a modem for the PC, I encountered no problems whatsoever. I wish all phone-enabled Pocket PCs worked that way:).

HTC P4350 as a digital camera

The integrated camera offers the same capabilities as that integrated in the Artemis. It features a 2-megapixel CMOS chip with fix-focus lens (I guess – based on the tests – that the minimum distance is around 50 centimetres). Like the Artemis, the Herald, too, lacks a LED flash to lighten up dark scenes. The maximum resolution for JPEG still images is 1600x1200 pixels (2 MPix), the maximum resolution for video in the MPEG4, Motion JPEG or 3GP (H.263) formats is 176x144 pixels.

The camera application is highly sophisticated. It is fast and easy to control, with most options available on the main screen or just one or two taps away. The display is divided into three parts – upper and lower menu and middle part displaying the actual image. The upper menu includes icons for easy switching between shooting modes (standard photo, video, MMS video, contact portrait, picture theme, sports scene, and shooting of several images in quick succession), quick change of the resolution and default storage (device memory or memory card), and a figure stating the remaining number of images or length of video recording that can be saved in the specified storage space. In the central part of the screen, there are five crosshairs marking the AF range finder, and two buttons adjusting the digital zoom. The zoom is applicable also in the 1280x960 pixel (1 Mpix) resolution. The bottom menu contains two system buttons on the left that invoke settings menu and launch the media viewer, respectively. Further to the right is an exposure adjustment control (-2 to +2 EV), metering method toggle (multi-pattern/centre-weighted), white balance control, and self-timer (off, 2s, and 10s). The Camera application can also add effects (greyscale, negative...), set image quality (in four degrees) etc.

To get the idea of the qualities of application, see below two animated GIF images showing the capabilities of HTC Camera for Pocket PC. The first one depicts a menu for shooting still images, the other a menu for video.

What most competitors lack is a choice between metering modes, a very useful feature for shooting scene with strong contrasts. Exposure can be determined either from the centre of the image (centre-weighted) or from the whole scene (multi-pattern). Unlike older HTC models, the Herald performs well even without this feature.

Now, let’s take a look what pictures the Herald produces. Photos taken in good lighting conditions are surprisingly good, snaps taken in darker environment are not bad, either. The application also saves basic information about the photo as EXIF data. The photos below have been scaled down and slightly sharpened (because the publishing system does not support larger images for the time being). No other effects have been applied. As usual, you can download full-size images here [15590KB]. Three sample videos are available for download here [1529KB].

I have achieved good results also at a close range, with the minimum distance being 50 centimetres.

Summing up, the Herald’s camera provides very good services, superior to many other Windows Mobile devices. The camera application is easy to use and swift in responses. The application will launch in three seconds and take 2 seconds from the press of the shutter release button to saving the photo (either the internal memory or a memory card), which is an even better result than the Artemis’ – great for instant photographs. The only inconvenience is ergonomics of the controls. One-handed shooting is rather dangerous because there is too little space for one’s thumb between the top edge of the device and the display for a sure and comfortable grip. You either risk dirtying the display dropping the device. Otherwise, I have nothing but praise for the Herald’s camera.

Expandability

Expandability options are fairly limited, as in all devices with a microSD slot which will contain only a memory card. I tried a 2 GB card from A-data (the largest available I could find) which worked with the Herald perfectly.

Some accessories could be connected over Bluetooth, such as a BT headset or an external Bluetooth GPS receiver but that’s about it.

Software

The HTC P4350 ships with pre-installed Windows Mobile 5 AKU3.2 Phone Edition. This includes the standard suite of applications, such as mobile Office and mobile Windows Media Player, as well as some extensions, including Microsoft DirectPush for permanent connection to a Microsoft Exchange Server, and improved Internet Sharing that makes it possible to use the device as a modem.

Besides the standard software package, there are several third-party applications pre-installed on the Herald, some of which we have mentioned above. In comparison with other Pocket PCs from HTC, there are fewer, though. Besides all the aforementioned applications and applets, I should mention fast PDF document viewer Adobe Reader LE 2.0 which has replaced rather inadequate ClearVue PDF. By contrast to the latter, I have not encountered a PDF document the Adobe Reader would have problems opening.

ZIP is a handy utility you will use every day. It can create new ZIP archives, open existing ones, add files to them, and send an archive by e-mail.

We have introduced the voice dialling utility in the chapter devoted to the phone but since it can do more than just that, it should be mentioned here again. The last pre-installed application is HTC Home Plug, which is a simple module for the Today screen with no configuration options. It provides quick access to selected settings applets, such as backlight, communication modules manager etc.

One of the bundled CD-ROMs contains standard applications from Microsoft, including Microsoft Outlook 2002 and ActiveSync version 4.2. The other CD-ROM carries two interesting utilities: one of them is Spb GPRS Monitor, which monitors the volume of data transmitted over the airwaves. The other is Sprite Backup which helps protect your data.

Pricing

Cheap or dear? Well, that is the question:). The price tag is around $600 USD, which will surely attract large audience for this compact, powerful communicator. Just search online stores for the best deal.

[POLL]

Final evaluation

The HTC P4350 (Herald) does not bring any ground-breaking innovations yet virtually all of its features have been brought (close) to perfection. Despite the weak processor, it offers more than the Artemis, which has almost identical parameters. The display is brilliant, audio capabilities more than satisfactory. Bluetooth and WiFi work fine (better sensitivity would be welcome). The Herald excelled as a cell phone, and its camera ranks among the best in this category (Windows Mobile devices).

From the user’s point of view, perhaps the most controversial part is the OMAP processor at 201 MHz. We can argue endlessly whether it provides sufficient computing power or not but it will always depend on the usage pattern. In my view, the processor is powerful enough for everything but some demanding games and hi-res video. It will therefore be viewed differently by enthusiastic gamers and video-watchers and by professional people who need to manage personal information and communicate with others.

It was a very enjoyable experience for me to use the HTC P4350, as is the case of most Pocket PC manufactured by HTC. It is a well-balanced and fine-tuned device for everyday use. If your job involves dealing with dozens of e-mails and any type of communication in general, make sure you consider the Herald when choosing your new pocket companion. It may well be the right one:).