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HTC's Titan 4G makes the iPhone 4S look like a minnow

Our photos show the first 4G phone in Australia running Windows, the HTC Titan 4G, side by side with the Apple iPhone 4S.

By William Maher on May 30 2012, 4:13PM

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With Apple's rivals appearing to adopt the motto bigger-is-better, perhaps the iPhone will soon be known as the mini-me of smartphones. Take this HTC Titan 4G, which just arrived in our test lab. In this gallery we've photographed it side-by-side with the iPhone 4S, and also an earlier HTC phone that also runs Windows, the HTC HD7. It makes the iPhone look relatively small by comparison.

Here are the three phones side by side. From the left: the HTC Titan 4G, HTC HD7, and iPhone 4S. At almost 2cm taller and 1cm wider than the iPhone, the Titan really does look quite a bit bigger in the hand. This makes the most of the Windows Phone interface, which scrolls from top to bottom, unlike the iPhone which you swipe sideways on the screen to get to a new page of apps. It’s also obviously handy for viewing Web pages, photos, though arguably the best reason to get a phone of this size is if you watch movies on the bus, train or plane.

Here are the same three phones in the same order. From left, the HTC Titan 4G, HTC HD7 and iPhone 4S. The iPhone is a smidge smaller from this angle, but they’re all similar in height. While the Titan is taller, it’s still going to slide easily into your pocket.

Windows phones use a "live feed" approach to the interface, whereby the homescreen becomes a place to show updates from inside your apps – on a Windows mobile, a bigger screen means more space for these updates. The iPhone takes an apps approach, preferring you to open apps, though there are notifications too.

Up close, you can see the Titan 4G is slightly taller than the iPhone, but not by much.

One of the signature design features of the Titan 4G is this curled edge at the bottom of the phone.

The HTC Titan 4G on the left and on the right, the HTC HD7. We’ve included the HD7 to illustrate the trend in screen sizes. The HD7 was released in March 2011. Both phones have 800 x 480 pixel resolutions.

The Titan runs Windows Phone OS 7.5 out of the box and has a 1.5GHGz chip, while the HD7 was launched in the days of Window Phone OS 7 and has a 1GHZ chip. As we’ve noted already on this site, you won’t find quad-core 4G phones on the market yet.

Both phones incorporate a curvier design aesthetic compared with the iPhone’s monolith look.

The Titan 4G. Despite this not being a quad core phone, first impressions are that the menus are extremely smooth, and the phone is very quick to startup. We’ll need to look at that in close detail though in our full review.

One of the biggest questions about a technology like this is what a small business needs with 4G. Telstra is selling the idea that staff or business owners in certain lines of work can take high resolution photos or HD videos and send them over the Internet quickly, instead of sending links with YouSendIt. Telstra sees florists taking a video of their shop and posting it on their web site. Or someone out in the field sending a high resolution photo back to the office to go into a presentation. The Titan has a 16MP camera.

Telstra has more than 100 sites with 4G enabled in Australia. Unless you live in Newcastle and the Hunter, where Optus is doing a trial, Telstra is your only option for 4G smartphone coverage right now (though Optus is planning city coverage in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth from "mid-2012").

The Titan’s plastic shell has a slightly soft feel to it, unlike the iPhone’s glass covering.

As well as a 16MP camera, the Titan also has a 1.3MP front facing camera.

Like other Windows Phones, the design aesthetic here involves hardly any logos or buttons on the front face.

That raised edge again.

Another angle...

...and another view.

The Titan weighs 160g, compared with 140g for the iPhone 4S.

Finally, we’ll be interested to see how the Titan’s battery lasts. We weren’t particularly impressed with the HD7, which had a 1230 mAh battery. This phone has a 1730 mAh battery, though it also has a bigger screen and runs on the 4G network, which we’ve found tends to drain more battery life than 3G.

Linked Articles

Windows and 4G: a better office in your pocket?

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HTC's Titan 4G makes the iPhone 4S look like a minnow

Our photos show the first 4G phone in Australia running Windows, the HTC Titan 4G, side by side with the Apple iPhone 4S.

Linked Articles

Related Articles

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