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HTC Snap Review

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Do you like BlackBerries? Not the fruit, the world renowned email-centric mobile phones. If you do then you may well be interested in the HTC Snap. Does the Snap stand up to its famous rivals though? Read on to find out.

What we like
The first thing that surprised us about the HTC Snap is its size. Although the handset is wide, so it can fit in a full QWERTY keyboard, it is incredibly thin. It’s not the thinnest mobile we have ever seen but considering all its features (GPS, HSDPA, Wi-Fi) it’s quite remarkable that HTC has managed to make the Snap as thin as it is.

It’s a very tactile handset; the keys are quite big and chunky for a smart phone and also very responsive to the touch, making texting and emailing a breeze. Similar to a BlackBerry handset it supports Push email, giving you instant access to your work (Microsoft Exchange) account, and it also supports Gmail and other POP3 or IMAP accounts.

An interesting addition to the Snap’s email interface is the Inner Circle feature that allows you to group together key contacts and access their email with a click of a button. We think this feature worked really well and hope to see it on more Windows Mobile phones.

Throwing insults at Windows Mobile has become akin to shooting fish in a barrel so it is refreshing to see that the Snap delivers a great user experience. When it comes to Windows Mobile, we’re huge fans of the Standard edition as it does away with fiddly touchscreens and keeps things basic – in other words, it actually works.

What we don’t like
On the whole we couldn’t find a great deal to complain about with the Snap but there are some minor niggles that are worth pointing out. There is no standard 3.5mm headphone jack on the HTC Snap so you’re stuck having to use the proprietary ones or using an adapter. Fortunately, it looks like all future HTC phones will have 3.5mm jacks.

Conclusion
The HTC Snap isn’t a revolutionary phone, it just does what it sets out to do very well. We really enjoyed using the HTC Snap for emailing and think the keypad is superb. HTC has succeeded in creating a real alternative to a Blackberry, and if you’re not tied to a BlackBerry server then we highly recommend checking it out.

Specification

OSWindows Phone

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