The long awaited HTC HD2 is finally coming to T-mobile and we at GsmNation.com were able to get our hands on one before the 24th March  launch date. For $199 with a new contract, or $449 without contract, the HTC HD2 is the probably one of the last phones being produced by HTC before Windows Series 7 comes around. With the advent of the Series 7 OS, the HTC HD2 is a mammoth of a phone but possesses an Achilles heel: the inability to upgrade the OS to the faster and sleeker Windows Series 7 might pose as a problem for some power users. But given the impressive metal and glass hardware, the large gorgeous touch screen, and the sleekness of HTC Sense, this shortcoming will not affect the average user. T-mobile HTC HD2 is an excellent phone with some of the best features on the market right now.

Hardware: The HTC HD2 is a hulking slab of a phone. It is a large, intimidating gadget which seems more of a tablet than a phone. The phone has a surface area of 4.74inches x 2.64 inches but it is only a slender 0.43 inches thick which allows it to easily fit anywhere. And the large screen size, the slender thinness, and the industrial & futuristic design will appeal to most smart phone users. The T-Mobile HTC HD2 has an uncluttered and straightforward design with a generous and massive 4.3 inch touch screen and 5 hard buttons on the bottom: call, home, windows key, back and an end call key. The left side supports a volume slider and along the bottom are a 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro-usb port. The back side has a protruding camera which feels odd at first but I got used to it very quickly.

Internals: The T-mobile HTC HD2 supporting a beefy 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with 576mb of RAM which is an improvement on its European counter part and 1Gb of Flash memory has enough processing power to easily run multiple programs and widgets at the same time. During the time I used the Tmobile HD2, I experienced absolutely no lag, and I could easily switch between programs without any problems. In fact the phone is blazingly fast and scrolls fluidly through the graphically intensive HTC Sense User Interface. Combined with the Wifi, Bluetooth and 3G, the HTC HD2 is a multimedia monster capable of downloading and running any videos that the user desires. Internally the HD2 has specs comparable, if not better, to any modern high end smart phone.

Camera: The HTC HD2 contains a 5MP camera with auto focus and dual led flashes. The camera program loaded quickly and the pictures taken were of an excellent quality. The camera is more than adequate for spontaneous picture taking in both light and dark conditions.

Display: HTC HD2’s main feature is its beautiful 4.3 inch screen with a gorgeous 480*800 screen (WVGA) and a 65K color screen. The screen is crystal clear with crisp and sharp with high contrast and watching movies and pictures on the phone is a real pleasure. While watching the movie transformers, even the smallest details on Bumblebee’s armor (and Megan Fox’s body) were visible on the HD2’s beautiful screen.

Software: The HD2’s has an incredibly friendly user interface which can be partly attributed to the HTC Sense. This customized windows mobile 6.5 skinning creates an unparalleled and friendly interface for the user. The main page has a weather widget which shows the weather (for example water drops and a wiper when it raining). Combined with quick links for apps such as the email, face book and twitter, it is unlikely that an average user will need to click more than twice to either go online or get to any app. Browser IE sucks. There is no denying it. Even on the T-mobile HTC HD2, Internet explorer doesn’t support pinch or zoom for mobile browsing. However thanks to HTC, a customized version of Opera Mobile comes standard on the HD2. Both zoom and touch are supported on the browser but the number of tabs is limited 3, a major drop from the iphone’s 8. Further the sky fire mobile browser is available on the windows app market which can be used as an alternative to Opera.

Network: The American HTC HD2 runs on the T-mobile 3G network. While the T-mobile 3G network is not as large as Sprint’s or AT&T, it is available in most large cities (we tested this Baby in New York and it was just fine). Further the lack of 3G devices offered by T-mobile means that people getting the HD2 right now are likely to get the a clog-free data network in all major metropolitan areas.

Issues in the European version: One of the 2 major issues with the European HD2 was that it was laggy at times. However the while using the T-mobile HD2, I noticed no lag even when shifting between heavy applications or scrolling through tens of pictures. Another problem with the European version was that the task manager was hidden deep inside the system settings, but that too has been solved with the t-mobile version. The T-mobile HD2’s task manager is placed centrally in the home page. To conclude Tmobile has over and over again lost out to AT&T and Verizon on various devices over the past few years, namely the iPhone and the Droid. Getting the Nexus one onboard looked like a major coup at the start but google’s absolute below par is seriously hurting T-Mobile’s reputation. We all know that they don’t have the best network around but they make up for it through their great customer support and then who cares if the phone doesn’t work in the basement. But the Tmobile HD2 is a sure thing. I would find it hard to believe that ATT didn’t push hard for it, any network would. In short, This device might just provide the impetus T-Mobile has been looking for and you know what, I am all for it.