HTC Arrive

If you were waiting for new Windows Phone 7 device developed by the people at HTC, the HTC Arrive won’t disappoint you. This is a top of the line touch screen phone that also comes with a full QWERTY keyboard, so you can be sure that browsing the internet, writing emails and sending text messages has never been easier. There are a few areas in which this device is not the best on the market, but most of the time you will like what it has to offer. Here is what the HTC Arrive can do and more importantly, what it can’t do.

Design
This phone won’t stand out between other HTC devices at first, but the situation will change when you will slide open the keyboard. At first glance, you will notice the large 3.6 inch multi-touch screen, the HTC logo and the five regular buttons right beneath the screen. The HTC Arrive is 4.6 inches tall, 2.3 inches wide and 0.6 inches thick, at 6.4 ounces. The rear side of the phone is simple, with only a couple of logos and the camera, flash, and speakers located on the top side. The flipping mechanism works perfectly and it will tilt the screen towards you, which makes typing with both hands and actually reading your text much easier. You won’t have to move your head over your phone, you simply have to place it on a flat surface and you will have perfect visibility. The five row QWERTY keyboard is very easy to use and the keys are not difficult to press since they are just the right size. If you want to type something at night, don’t worry; these keys are backlit. However, if you have small fingers, you won’t have any problems using the touch screen either. If you turn the phone on all of its sides, you will eventually find the 3.5 mm headphone jack, a microUSB port, the volume rocker, the camera button and the power button.

Features
The HTC Arrive runs on a 1GHz Snapdragon processing unit and 448MB of RAM. Since the Windows Phone 7 operating system is known for running perfectly on medium specs, you can be sure that every application will load quickly and run smoothly on this device.

The 480 x 800 pixel resolution screen is perfect for watching movies and viewing pictures, but if you plan on recording or taking photos with the HTC Arrive, you might be disappointed. This phone comes with a 5MP camera, which is reasonable for most people, but unfortunately, the quality offered by it is not out of the ordinary. You can’t make any significant adjustments before taking a picture and in most cases, you won’t obtain a high quality result. Luckily, the HTC Arrive performs fairly well when it comes to night shots, so you can at least take some decent pictures in the dark, compared to what other phones can do in the same lighting situation. You can also record 720p videos, but the resulting video quality is not impressive. If you plan on recording many videos, keep in mind that this phone doesn’t have expandable memory, so you will have to deal with the 16GB offered internally. If you want to clear out some space, you can send some of your pictures to the Windows Live cloud – SkyDrive. The maximum amount of storage available for each user is 25 GB. This is a great way to enjoy your phone to its fullest without having to transfer your photos to your computer every time you need some extra space.

The 3.6-inch screen is not the biggest one you will see from HTC, but it is still large enough for most people. Luckily, the touch screen is very well calibrated and navigating through pages and different menu is very easy. The only difficult part is copy-pasting, but once you get the hang of it, you will be able to do this too.

The Marketplace is a great place to search for apps and there are plenty of interesting things you can find here. Once you’re done browsing, you should have a fully functional device that can help you reach your destination through turn by turn voice navigation, upload videos to YouTube, get instant access to Facebook and many others.

Gamers won’t be left out if they decide to purchase the HTC Arrive. Besides having fun with the multitude of games available for this phone, you can also connect it to your Xbox Live account and earn achievement points along the way. This is a nice little addition that should keep you busy for a while.

Pros and Cons
On the plus side, this phone looks and feels great. Navigating through the menu, placing calls, watching movies and browsing the internet can be done easily and without too many delays. The processing unit is powerful enough and the touch screen will respond to all of your actions. If you want to use the QWERTY keyboard, you won’t be disappointed in any way. This is one of the best keyboards around.

The downside is the 5MP camera. Many people will be happy with the picture quality offered by this device, but if you are picky and you want the best of the best, you will be better off with a better designed 8MP camera. Luckily, the HTC Arrive redeems itself with the great photos it takes in poor lighting conditions.

Conclusion
The HTC Arrive is a nice looking phone and it excels when it comes to internet browsing and overall usability. You will also enjoy the thousands of apps available in the marketplace and the rapidity of the Windows Phone 7 operating system. If you are not looking for the best camera phone and if you don’t plan on recording impeccable 720p videos, you should give this device a try and enjoy the great slide keyboard and the many interesting features it has to offer.