HTC Radar review
HTC's budget Windows Phone may not be as glamorous as other handsets, but it shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. Julian Prokaza gets to grips with the smartphone in our review.
Limited storage capacity may limit its appeal and the camera could be better, but those aren’t major complaints for a smartphone at this cheaper end of the market and the HTC Radar is otherwise a good-value Windows Phone 7 device.
Connected Media is a useful addition too it's essentially a more versatile version of the stock Windows Phone 7 multimedia manager with added support for DLNA servers. However, with just eight outdated movie trailers available, the HTC Watch online video service is a waste of storage space for UK users.
The HTC Radar only has 8GB onboard and only 6.5GB is free fresh from the box. There's no user accessible memory card slot either.
Speaking of storage space, the HTC Radar only has 8GB onboard and only 6.5GB is free fresh from the box. There's no user accessible memory card slot either Windows Phone 7 wasn't designed to support user-replaceable storage and the recent Mango' update did nothing to address this lamentable oversight.
Better news is that HTC is paying more attention to the digital camera components in its smartphones and the Radar has a backlit sensor just like the Titan (and the iPhone 4/4S), albeit with a lower five-megapixel resolution. Reduced pixel count aside, images are nowhere near as crisp or as well saturated as the Titan's, and are marred by noise in less than ideal lighting conditions. The slow autofocus and spongy shutter release button also make it tricky to take a good photo.
Get the ITPro daily newsletter
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
-
Cleo attack victim list grows as Hertz confirms customer data stolen – and security experts say it won't be the last
News Hertz has confirmed it suffered a data breach as a result of the Cleo zero-day vulnerability in late 2024, with the car rental giant warning that customer data was stolen.
By Ross Kelly Published
-
Women show more team spirit when it comes to cybersecurity, yet they're still missing out on opportunities
News While they're more likely to believe that responsibility should be shared, women are less likely to get the necessary training
By Emma Woollacott Published
-
OpenAI wants developers using its new GPT-4.1 models – but how do they compare to Claude and Gemini on coding tasks?
News OpenAI says its GPT-4.1 model family offers sizable improvements for coding, but tests show competitors still outperform it in key areas.
By Ross Kelly Published