HTC HD7 - Windows Phone 7

The HTC HD7 is the big cousin to the HD2, it's Windows Mobile 6.5 predecessor.

In looks, the HD7 is clearly related to the HD2 with the similar size and shape, and large touch screen. At 4.3 inches, this is the largest screen available at launch, making it ideal for gaming or thumbing through emails.

The HD range looks to be becoming the standard range from HTC, who are doing well in the smartphone arena. Having been an early supporter of Windows Mobile 6, HTC now also support the Android platform as well as the new Windows Phone 7.

The HTC HD7 is available from £10 a month on contract or from O2 for just £25 a month with the handset free.Also available from £35 per month with 600 mins, 500MB internet and unlimited texts.

This has given them a great deal of insight into the smartphone market, and they have used this to inform their handset development. The HD7 will be coming in an 8GB and a 16GB version, a leaf from Apple's book, allowing users to pay more for additional memory capacity if that is important to them.

The HD7 is, like many of the Windows Phone 7 devices, equally suited to gaming and business. With the xBox live and Zune integration Windows Phone 7 has greater appeal than its predecessor to the non-business user, but all the Office, exchange and intelligent integration is still there.

The HD7 runs with the standard specifications in many departments - with a 5 megapixel camera capable of 720p recording, 576MB RAM, 512MB ROM and the 1GHz Qualcomm processor.

Perhaps taking on board the criticisms of devices which didn't have flash, the HD7 like the HD2 has a dual LED flash, and the device also has a built in kickstand. This allows you to have the phone positioned on its side, perfect for watching videos.

The HD7 also boasts surround sound, making it an alternative to the US/Canada only HTC 7 Surround, and is available to the US (T-Mobile), UK and Germany (O2), Spain (Movistar), and Singapore (SingTel).