Hardware

HTC Herald

The HTC P4350 is of candy bar form-factor and also offers a slide-out QWERTY keyboard; you could easily describe it as an SPV M600 with keyboard or a slimmer version of the SPV M3100.

HTC Propet, HTC Hermes, HTC Herald - Front

HTC Propet, HTC Hermes, HTC Herald - Side

HTC Hermes, HTC Herald

It does however lack 3G and HSDPA connectivity, probably the biggest gripe I have with the device as you'll discover if you read on. That's not such a bad thing if your usage is similar to my own. Firstly I never make video calls; I doubt it will ever become something that I do on a regular basis so the only reason that I would like 3G and HSDPA connectivity is to download data at a faster transfer rate. I have two feasible options with the HTC P4350, GPRS or WiFi. Whilst in range of a hotspot WiFi is more than acceptable and the hardware in the HTC P4350 works very well when connecting to my personal WiFi network for example. As for GPRS, we all know its limitations in terms of speed, but in fact for my general usage it's actually not that bad. Coverage is good in the areas that I frequently visit which results in a consistent and not too sluggish connection. So why do I need 3G or HSDPA? Well it's a future-proof feature that such a device simply should have, to describe such a cutting-edge device as lacking 3G, the technology that has fast become the industry standard for data connections (in the UK at least) is slightly odd to say the least. As I said, I actually don't miss it too much at the moment but get the feeling that I may do in the not too distant future. The device offers Bluetooth too, as you would expect, but no Infra-red port, perhaps a sign of the times that most people simply don't use such a technology anymore, Bluetooth has pretty much stolen that market nowadays. Anyway that's enough about the connectivity options, on to the ergonomics of the HTC P4350.

Generally speaking the HTC P4350 feels good in the hand; it combines an attractive graphite casing with chrome buttons, symmetrical design and a well-built feel.

HTC Herald - Top

The top of the HTC P4350 features a single button, the power button. Not too exciting I hear you say? Well actually it is, you see this is the first HTC device I have ever owned with such a responsive power button, there's no long travel, no spongy feel, no holding the button down for ten seconds just to get the device to turn on (there's just a nice second or so delay in turning the device on so as to ensure that it was intentional) and no delay between turning the screen on and off. Every Pocket PC that I have owned has required a few seconds delay between turning the screen off and back on again, the HTC P4350 on the other hand is really responsive, a small improvement but one that has a hugely positive impact on usability!

HTC Herald - Front

The front of the HTC P4350 houses the typical Pocket PC screen (240x320 pixels, 65k colours), two status LEDs, the earpiece and a host of buttons at the bottom offering telephony functions, soft keys, navigation/action keys and the standard Windows and OK keys. These buttons are finished in a chrome paint which works well, its nice to see some deviation from the standard HTC production line occasionally.

HTC Herald - Left

The left hand side of the device houses a camera key, volume slider, a microSD slot which also features a rubber cover to keep your memory card safe and a lanyard loop.

HTC Herald - Right

The right hand side of the device features a shortcut key for the Communications Manager software and a voice notes key as well as the stylus silo (the HTC P4350 comes with a standard stylus as opposed to a telescopic version).

HTC Herald - Base

The base of the device features a mini USB slot which has a slightly different shape to ensure that the new HTC-bundled headsets are used, it works fine with standard USB cables too though for synchronisation/charging purposes. There is also a lock switch for the battery cover.

HTC Herald - Back

Finally, the back of the HTC P4350 features a rubber grommet covering an external antenna slot, a loud speaker and a 2 mega-pixel camera with self-portrait mirror. The rear also houses a lump at its top where the antenna is housed, it's not huge but it is noticeable.

HTC Herald - Back

The HTC P4350 comes bundled with a stereo headset that will play your music as well as allowing you to make and receive calls; it features volume control and has an action button to pickup/hang-up calls as well as a microphone for obvious reasons, essentially this is the same headset that you get with all HTC devices with a slight rework aesthetically, as such you get a very functional headset that will cater for most user's needs but wont impress the audiophiles amongst us.

The HTC P4350 features a rather conservative 200 MHz processor which will no doubt come under some criticism, I'm actually fairly happy with it though. Granted it's not going to win any benchmark tests but it performs your day-to-day tasks more than adequately and will play videos and games with no problems whatsoever, it's potential when asked to perform such tasks as running Skype for example though is questionable. This choice of processor, whilst controversial, was most probably chosen to keep unit cost down as well as increase battery life and keep the device slim in form. I'd love this to have an all singing all dancing processor of twice the speed or more but its simply not the case, the HTC P4350 may not be the most accomplished in this area but it's positives will most probably out-weigh its negatives with most users. The battery life is actually rather good too, it comes with an 1130 mAh battery that has consistently given me over two days of juice in exchange for a single charge whilst under some pretty heavy usage (a couple of hours of WiFi and numerous calls etc. daily). With the wealth of features on Windows Mobile devices the battery life more often than not suffers, it would seem that the HTC P4350 looks to go some way to address this issue.

HTC Hermes, HTC Herald - Keyboards

The HTC P4350 features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard in much the same way as the SPV M3100 which made a great success out of the entry mechanism. Any user of the M3100, myself included, will find themselves pushing the hinge in the wrong direction though as the keyboard slides in the opposite direction to that of the M3100! Persevere for a day or two and you'll get the hang of it though, I promise! The slide mechanism is different to that of the M3100 too, granted it works in exactly the same way on paper but to actually use it you will notice a greatly improved design with far more sturdiness and a nice spring-loaded slide that snaps open and closed with authority, this feels far more like a design that will last for years not months. The keys themselves have a nice feel to them too; a 'furry-feeling' rubber provides this and is more than satisfactory, everyone I have passed the device to has mentioned this too. The caps lock and function key now feature status LEDs too so as to inform the user of their state, a great touch and yet more proof of improved usability.