The C500 was one of the last few devices that came from Dopod before the company was acquired by Taiwan-based High Tech Computer (HTC). Since then, several handhelds have emerged under the HTC umbrella, starting from the Touch to the more recent P3600i, TyTN II and Touch Dual. Although the handheld line-up was almost entirely refreshed within a relatively short period of time, the smartphone category stayed quiet -- until the recently announced S730.
Upside
Although the S730 (105.8mm by 51mm by 19.4mm; 150g) is marginally larger and heavier than the C500 (101.5mm by 50mm by 18.6mm; 140g), the handset remains compact like the latter, and is still considered small for a device that hides a QWERTY keyboard beneath its 2.4-inch QVGA LCD and alphanumeric keypad.
The front of the S730 has undergone some changes, but it's just a rearrangement of what's already on the C500. So the S730 is still instantly recognizable as belonging to the same category as the C500. On the S730, the left/right soft keys are slightly bigger and the numeric keypad is more tightly bunched together. Strangely enough, the soft keys aren't backlit. That isn't an issue, though, since the buttons are large enough to reach for even in the dark.
Unlike the C500, the directional control is now in line with the soft keys, allowing the LCD screen to sit lower, while making way for the front-facing VGA camera at the top right corner for video calls.
When held upright, the spring-loaded QWERTY keyboard slides out to the right and locks into place with a fluid motion. Here, we can also see that the company has made some changes to the layout. For example, the Q button is now directly above A, which is a more logical arrangement and closer in resemblance to the traditional keyboard.
The QWERTY keypad has a bluish-white backlight, and above the Q key are two tiny lights which alert you when the Shift/Cap and function key have been pressed. Each key is a button on its own and there's decent tactile feedback when typing.
HTC not only made changes to the outside of the S730, it also souped up the components within. The company announced in September 2007 that it plans to roll out more devices based on the Qualcomm MSM7xxxx-series chipset. The S730 is apparently the first Windows Mobile 6 Standard smartphone from the Taiwan-based company to receive that treatment with a faster Qualcomm MSM7200 400MHz processor compared with the TI OMAP 850 of the C500. The ROM has also been doubled to 256MB, though the total RAM remains at 64MB. Out of the box, available memory on our review unit is 7.36MB while storage is 126.12MB.
Most of the data connectivity features remained intact. The handset works on quadband GSM networks with support for EDGE. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth stereo are still standard. The only addition is the HSDPA/UMTS 2100 connection which should be useful for downloading data, surfing the Web and giving it video call capability.
Downside
Rather interesting is that HTC also decided to use the modified Home screen first seen on the Touch on the S730. Unlike the handheld, the S730 doesn't have a touchscreen LCD, so navigating the shortcuts is via the directional control. The Home screen employs a dual-tone grey colour scheme and features a large digital clock with six shortcut tabs below linking to a weather report, favourite contacts list, messaging and call logs.
The 2-megapixel camera on the S730 is a very basic set-up with only an accompanying self-portrait mirror. The lens is a fixed focus one without any built-in flash, so it's going to be tricky to snap in dim-light environments. Next to the camera module is a nondescript onboard speaker.
Another change on the S730 is the relocation of the SIM card slot from the underside of the top lid on the C500 to beneath the battery on the S730. Unless you swap SIM cards every other day, this shouldn't affect most users.
Outlook
Like the Dopod C500, the HTC S730 is the QWERTY device for the undecided. It's convenient to slide the keyboard out when the need arises and hides away neatly to assume the look of a traditional candy-bar phone.
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khojack
29/07/2008, 04:54 PM
rating
2/10
Using this phone in a corporate environment and syncing with Lotus notes.
Pros: Good if you only want Mail and Calendar only.
Cons: Phone features are sloweg, dialing a phone number there is a delay. Runs out of memory very often. need to make Task Manager your best friend. Standard applications does not have a close button therefore it leaves the app running in the background. Battery life is poor. Phone crashes if you open the keyboard repeatly twice. No support or update available from HTC
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Tania
17/05/2008, 01:53 AM
rating
9/10
Dear kannan, you can set 24 hour time i have mine set and i have only had it about 8 hours, so far this phone is rock solid, hasn't faulted at all, i have imported .xml and .doc, i have set stuff in my calender i have imported my own sounds and set them as ring tones.
the 2mp camera seems to take good pics (will see when it is on the comp)
Pros: Dose everything a smart phone should
Cons: don'think you can customise the start menu so you can have the icon u access the most on the first screen
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kannan
02/05/2008, 09:49 PM
rating
10/10
My friend is using the same and I found it is a excellent phone. I suggest people to go for this mobile.
Pros: Presumably the smallest ph with a full QWERTY keyboard ?? Email and Calendar with Exchange at work went well. Keyboard is much better than the model-display at shops.
Cons: I found it a little thick for my trouser pocket. Most of its problems are MS Mobile 6 problems - it has the non-touch screen version: like lack of customisable Home screen, can't do more than one alarm, can't do 24hr time, can't do vibrate and ring at the same time, etc, etc, etc. No GPS.
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C
22/03/2008, 05:53 PM
rating
9/10
Nearly a perfect phone because its so small, has a qwerty keyboard, and all possible functions except GPS. Main restrictions are MS Mobile 6 non-touchscreen issues. I'm waiting to compare size and (no) keyboard issues to the HTC Touch Cruise.
Pros: Presumably the smallest ph with a full QWERTY keyboard ?? Email and Calendar with Exchange at work went well. Keyboard is much better than the model-display at shops.
Cons: I found it a little thick for my trouser pocket. Most of its problems are MS Mobile 6 problems - it has the non-touch screen version: like lack of customisable Home screen, can't do more than one alarm, can't do 24hr time, can't do vibrate and ring at the same time, etc, etc, etc. No GPS.
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