Full Review

13 July 2006 - Headlined as the first 3G Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone, the MTeoR is one of new two new phones from manufacturer HTC.

Never heard of them? Well that's because this is the company's first outing under its own brand. Previously the maker of operator handsets like the MDA Vario and O2 XDA, HTC has taken the Motorola style naming convention as seen on the RAZR, and created the MTeoR, pronounced Meteor.

But the naming convention isn't all the MTeoR takes from Motorola and the phone's slim candy bar device design is like to be associated with the Motorola SLVR. It is just 112.4 x 49 x 14.8mm in size and weighs 120g.

However its thin credentials and name is where the similarities stop. The MTeoR sports a very large 2.2-inch crisp and bright TFT display as well as a 1.3 megapixel camera, however not a second camera for video calling.

However while the screen is perhaps its most impressive element visually, the phone somehow manages packs an entire OS into is shell.

The HTC MTeoR features Windows Mobile 5.0 and that means, Direct Push technology for immediate synchronization of email, calendar and notes plus document viewers for PDF, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

As a lightweight business phone for those not fussed about a keyboard or the ability to make video calls this makes perfect sense.

Furthermore where the phone comes into its own is that inclusion of 3G connectivity. Surfing the web is, if you can find a decent 3G area, incredibly fast and that impressive screen only helps the experience further.

What's the hesitation then? Well that screen, although very nice while large it is not actually any wider than your average mobile phone screen.

The extra length might help navigation when it comes to menus, but it won't help at all with viewing wide web pages. It would have been great if there was a switch that would allow you to rotate the screen, but alas we couldn't find one.

Furthermore and this is an aesthetics thing rather than an operational one, we can't help feel that the rubberised keyboard rather lets the side down when it comes to looks.

The screen is lovely, the metal casing robust, and then you're faced with having to touch rubber to punch your number in.

VERDICT
There is no doubt that the MTeoR achieves what it sets out to do and compared to Orange's SPV range and other small keyboard lacking handsets it wins out, however a BlackBerry replacement this isn't.

This might be HTC's first effort under its own brand, but it’s a very good start, and with the promise of even more handsets to come, this is one company worth watching.