First 3G Windows Mobile handset tested

THE HTC MTEOR should be the first handset to hit the market which supports both the Beast's Windows Mobile 5.0 OS and high speed data via 3G.

A big surprise is that HTC CEO, Peter Chou, says that HSDPA - otherwise known as super-fast 3G - is latent within this handset. So throughput speeds of 1.3 Mbit/s are theoretically possible.

The main reason for purchasing this mobile handset is the fact that it supports Windows Mobile 5.0 Direct Push technology. This provides immediate synchronisation of email, calendar and notes and works with the Beast's latest version of Exchange server.

That fact alone helps companies avoid rival systems such as RIM Blackberry and Visto.

The INQ managed to get its hands on a MTeoR at the launch. Despite what the specs say, the built-in camera appeared to be a 2 Megapixel device rather than 1.3 megapixels.

Sadly this INQ hack isn't much of a dab hand at taking pictures.

To prove that the MTeor really is in shippable form, the INQ made both a voice call and accessed the mobile Internet. It was even possible to view the INQ site itself via 3G. Significantly our test product had an O2 SIM in it.

There is, in fact, an HTC created 'Comm Manager' app buried away inside the MTeor which should make it much easier to set up standard comms facilities. Traditional Microsoft menus for changing cellular network settings are notoriously difficult to work with.

The INQ used the Comm Manager facility to enable Bluetooth, for example. And send a captured photo from the Mteor to a regular handset - a Nokia N70 - via Bluetooth.

All the other regular Windows applications are built into the MTeoR including a Pocket MSN client for those fans of MSN Messenger.

About the only complaint the INQ had was that the pen for the MTeor's touch screen was hidden away at the bottom right hand side of the unit.

For those who believe - wrongly, in our opinion - that the best way to sync a handset with a Windows PC is to buy a handset which is also Windows branded, the MTeoR will have a definite appeal. ?

L'INQ
HTC handset web site