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
To shoot video on WP7, you tap the video switcher in the top left after launching the camera application. Unfortunately, if you’re always firing up the camera app to shoot video, you’re going to have to tap this every time, as the setting isn’t saved. Frustratingly, the resolution of videos you shoot in the camera app also isn’t saved - you need to explicitly demand 720P each time if you want it, otherwise you’ll just get VGA.
HD 720P videos recorded on the HTC Surround (and I’m assuming the same applies to the other WP7 devices) are shot in 24 FPS MPEG-4 with stereo AAC audio. I recorded 34 seconds of 720P video 34.8 MB in size, for an average bitrate of around 8 megabits/s.
Video quality itself is decent, but what I noticed across two HTC Surrounds was that the camera runs the autofocus routine very frequently during the video, resulting in a pretty apparent zoom in, zoom out effect that can be very distracting. If you’ve used an autofocus smartphone camera, you know exactly what I’m talking about. It runs it sporadically.
The other problem is that the audio track recorded on the Surround sounds like it’s underwater - literally. There’s something very strange about it, and it sounds this way regardless of what audio recording setting the Surround was set to (Stereo, Normal, or Noise Reduction).
I’m left with pretty mixed feelings about the Surround (and WP7) camera application. Settings should be preserved when quitting the application and coming back, icons don’t rotate or give visual feedback that shooting in portrait is supported, and the default of not shooting in the highest quality video mode has continually resulted in me cursing under my breath when I realize later that video I shot is VGA, not 720P. Then we have the strange underwater audio recording on the Surround itself. Hopefully these are things that are actively being worked on and will get fixed in a patch.
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HobHayward - Saturday, November 13, 2010 - link
It's possible different cell providers include different size microSD cards.Also anandtech's spam filter is trying to not let me post this.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Saturday, November 13, 2010 - link
You are correct, fixed :)Take care,
Anand
deputc26 - Saturday, November 13, 2010 - link
I'd like to see this metric included:http://lovinitinaz.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-metric...
Meegulthwarp - Saturday, November 13, 2010 - link
I'd really like to see a comparison of the speeds the different class cards give. If installing a class 6 or 10 card vastly improves the performance of the device then I would gladly replace it but if it is only for bigger GBs then I'll pass as I'm quite happy with 8GB right now.Orange UK has an option to buy a 16GB card when you are purchasing a HTC Mozart online. Not sure what that's about as the cards aren't user replacable, might phone them up later on to ask.
bigboxes - Saturday, November 13, 2010 - link
that needs to use their headphones.*seated at the restaurant next to boxes*
OMG! Listen to this!
*giggle*
Let's play it again, but this time turn it up louder!
*boxes picks up teen's cell phone and smashes it into restaurant wall*
This is not going to replace larger sets at home and on the road (on the bus, in the grocery store line, at the restaurant, etc.) you should use headphones.
kevith - Saturday, November 13, 2010 - link
Oh yes, in my country this is already quite trendy among teenagers. It can be realyy annoying.Seems like an ok phone though, still I think we´ve only seen the beginning. As before with first desktops, then laptops, the whole race for Mhz and faster hardware can start all over again in a new formfactor, The Pockettop...
I´m 50 years old, it´s great to have lived half my life before computers entered the scen for home-users. I´m a muscician, and when I think of the things we used to dream, that computers would be able to, and what they actually are capable of today, I feel a little bit as if had been wittnessing the Wright Bros first attempts to fly.
And now - well, in a short time anyway - maybe a studio-PC to carry in your pocket.
Wonderful.
Nataku - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
i can see some use for this though, not that i want some jerk cranking it up in a bus full of already pissed off people... lol(kids learning to dance during break time some where down the hall might be one good application for this)
NYHoustonman - Saturday, November 13, 2010 - link
What the hell is that noise D:banvetor - Saturday, November 13, 2010 - link
Dear Anand and Brian,Thank-you for the excellent phone reviews you are making. I wish to ask one thing though: in your reviews, can you make some points about the usability of each OS when you DO NOT have a data plan?
I don't know how many of us are out there, but I use a lot my smartphone (music, taking pictures, gps, etc), but I simply have no need for a many-dollar-a-month data plan. I do browse the web and check e-mails also, but only when there is wi-fi... If I have some VERY IMPORTANT e-mail to check, then I pay for the KB of data...
The most important points would be how dependent on a always-on data connection the OSes are... like the Zune music access, for instance. I have a Nokia N96 right now (planning to switch soon), and I just love that it has a map application that works offline, for instance (I know that no other phone has that, but I highlighted it just to make my point...).
Thanks once again!
Leo.
Gungel - Sunday, November 14, 2010 - link
With AT&T you have to get a data plan on your smartphone. Even if you buy a phone off contract, they will add a dataplan once the network checks your IMEI and recognizes it as such. I was on an old $15 a month unlimited data plan grandfathered in when SBC became AT&T. I recently bought an Android phone off contract and got a nice surprise on my next phone bill. The data plan is now $30 and is limited to 2GB a month.