HTC Surround Review: A Pocket Boombox
by Brian Klug on November 13, 2010 2:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Windows Phone 7
- HTC Surround
- Mobile
Performance
Of course, performance on the Surround should be in line with the other WP7 devices, which we covered in the launch piece. With the Surround, you get a 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 SoC with 488 MB of LPDDR1, and 512 MB of NAND onboard in JBOD with the 16 GB internal microSD card. Like the rest of the WP7 lineup, we’re dealing with basically the same kind of SoC performance.
I was surprised previously when there was an performance disparity between the HTC Surround and the two other WP7 devices we had - the Optimus 7 and Focus. Interestingly enough, I re-ran those two tests and performance fell in place right where it should be:
Sunspider as well:
We’ve talked in the launch piece about IE browser responsiveness on the platform in general. While panning around inside WP7 after the page is loaded is very speedy thanks to GPU acceleration, loading is measurably slower than the competition. You can really get a sense of that from the Browsermark numbers above, and the video below.
The rest of the story about the HTC Surround is that it’s indeed in line with the rest of the WP7 devices we’ve tested thus far.
Battery Life
If you read the launch piece, you already know the state of battery life for WP7, which I’ll repeat below. The HTC Surround and rest of the WP7 lineup uses Qualcomm’s 65nm SoC which doesn’t exactly help things, but overall Microsoft has done a good job keeping things reasonable. These tests are again our standard smartphone battery life tests - for call time, we place a call and make noise at both ends until the connection drops, for WiFi and 3G we keep the screen on at 50% brightness and cycle through pages roughly every 20 seconds.
Again, battery life isn’t iPhone 4 level, but middle of the pack with Android devices.
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leomax999 - Sunday, November 14, 2010 - link
Why dont i find a Nokia/SE phone review here in AT?strikeback03 - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
There is an N900 review, that said as most are not available on US carriers, it seems unlikely the companies are going to send out review units to the press in countries where the phone won't be officially carried that often.craig0ry - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
I'm sorry to post this here, but I have been trying to make my mind up about my next phone and I keep checking this website for the G2 review. I've read the preview... but I want the review before I jump ship to WinPhone7. Did I miss it somehow?Brian Klug - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
Hey Craig0ry,I'm still waiting on T-Mobile to send a G2 my way. We definitely haven't forgotten and plan to do the full review as always when it gets here.
-Brian
banvetor - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
Hi Brian,Thanks for the feedback. I understand that it is tougher for you to get international devices, but since more often than not they are not THAT different from the US ones, it is not such a big deal.
Anyway, for me a smartphone without a data plan is still very useful: it serves as my mp3 player, as my camera and as my portable gaming machine... in the case of my nokia, also as my gps! Do you need more than that? ;)
Looking forward for your next smartphone review!
Leo.
amdisbetter - Tuesday, November 16, 2010 - link
Is there going to be a review from AnandTech for the other WP7 phones as well? I'm looking to get the LG Optimus 7 this December since it seems the Samsung Omnia 7 isn't going to be offered in Canada :(teohhanhui - Wednesday, December 8, 2010 - link
I always find myself wishing I have a smartphone when I'm without a PC and need to check on something, or just do some quick browsing. In most of those times, there are actually free WiFi hotspots around. Unless data charges get much much lower (a.k.a. reasonable), I can't justify spending that much on unnecessary activities while on the go.Torgrimson - Saturday, January 15, 2011 - link
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dravidkotak - Tuesday, December 20, 2016 - link
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