Htc S730 Review - Spot the Difference

With the S710, HTC arguably developed one of themake way for a repositioning of the soft keys. As well
most user-friendly smartphones of recent times. Thisas this the keys on the slide-out QWERTY keypad
was down to the innovative design that incorporatedhave been modelled more directly on a PC keyboard
the looks and simplicity of a straight-forward bar phoneto make typing a little more user-friendly.
on the surface and the increased usability of aThe S730 also rectifies the omission of 3G from the
QWERTY keypad underneath.S710 with the addition of 3G HSDPA enabling
HTC are clearly intent on building-on the fan basedownload speeds of up to 3.6mbps, making this a
developed by its well-received predecessor with themore plausible device for mobile-office needs.
release of the S730; by making tweaks to the designThe most notable improvement to the S710 though is
and features rather than wholesale changes.the upgrading of the processor from 200 MHz to 400
One of the main plus-points of the S710 was the dualMHz which makes a major difference. The most
keypad design and thankfully this remains in place.notable improvement due to this is the speed the
There has been a noticeable increase in the weight ofscreen switches when sliding the phone between
the S730 when compared to the previous model; thiskeypads, which was a notable issue with the S710.
has gone up from 120g in the S710 to 150g in the S730The HTC home page has been implemented as an
and although it does make the S730 feel particularlyadditional extra to complement the now-standard
solid, it is something worth taking into consideration. TheWindows Mobile platform, which is of course the same
looks have undergone a slight renovation, but it isn'tOS seen in the S710.
necessarily for the better as the curved edges alongPerhaps it was too much to ask, but it would have
with the silver & black colour scheme has beenbeen nice if the tweaks and improvements had
removed to make way for muted greys and squareextended to the camera functionality. Still present is the
edges. Not quite the best decision I must say.same 2MP (without autofocus or flash) seen in the
There have been some changes on the front keypadS710 - no change there then.
and the design has been a little more streamlined to