HTC 7 Mozart
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I don’t tend to use Facebook very much. Whereas others around the globe (and, indeed, inside Pocket Gamer Towers) switch on for a sneaky update at lunch, I tend to watch BBC news and eat some baked beans instead.

Last week, everything changed. Now I find myself almost annoyed that my FB friends aren’t updating their statuses on an hourly basis or altering their wall images to suit my whim, and I’ve started to update my profile with inane remarks like ‘My Spotify saved tracks list is getting worse by the day’ – I mean, who cares?

Hard wear

This sudden change of heart is the fault of the new HTC handset, the HTC 7 Mozart, or more specifically the OS it runs.

We’ve already covered Windows Phone 7 in great detail in earlier articles, so I won’t dwell too much on the ins and outs of the new OS for now, other than to say that its integration with Facebook truly is a stroke of genius and you will be sucked in.

What I will discuss is how the Mozart fits into the wider phone ecosystem.

While the innards of all the Windows Phone 7 launch models are practically the same, there are a few minor differences between handsets.

The Evo comes with the largest screen of the bunch, while the Mozart lays claim to the best music playback and the best camera – 8MP compared to the others’ 5MP.

Don't say cheese

Unfortunately, the camera's not very good.

Pictures look washed out, especially under artificial lighting, and the lack of any easy (or pronounced) filter options like those found on the Omnia 7 makes it hard to improve matters.

The Mozart also claims to have the best audio by virtue of using both Dolby Mobile and SRS HD WOW, which creates a pseudo-surround sound effect for music. However, the songs I tested merely sounded like they’d had their treble cut and the bass boosted.

What's less disappointing about the device is the general build and design of the handset. Taking inspiration from the HTC Legend, the Mozart is comfortable to hold and easily one of the nicest phones to look at from the launch line-up (especially from the back) due to its single-brushed aluminium body.

Soft-software

Lacking any truly exciting hardware features (other than stunning looks and decent S-LCD display), the Mozart falls down in comparison to the HD7 in its software, too.

HTC’s dedicated apps service is there, complete with image enhancer (it’s almost as if the manufacturer knew the camera’s software was a bit rubbish), but Orange (which has exclusivity) has also seen fit to load it with its own pointless apps.

Why replace the default Maps tile on the home screen with Orange Maps, when the latter doesn’t even work yet?

While the existance of Orange-specific apps all over the home page was annoying, the selection of games I tested on the handset certainly weren't.

Ranging from obscure indie titles like The Impossible Game to exclusive games like The Harvest, Bejeweled Live, and The Revenants, the WP7 launch line-up was seriously impressive (if a little more expensive than its two main competitors).

Despite knowing full well that WP7 links up with Xbox Live and allows for earning achievements, it still felt odd hearing that familiar ‘ding’ of 10 Gamerscore being added to my profile.

It’s also nice that all the games I tested ran without any issue whatsoever – everything is smooth and the touchscreen is responsive.

Off the beaten track

Move away from gaming and Facebook, though, and things aren’t so rosy.

Despite the claims of great audio, at one point during testing the handset inexplicably stopped making any sounds until I performed a hard reset, which would have been rubbish if I’d have been using it as an alarm clock (which I was).

Likewise, the battery is poor. You can just about get two days' light usage from the phone if you disable wi-fi and auto-updates, but that kind of defeats the point of the OS in the first place.

When the handset and OS are running in tandem, the Mozart is like a breath of fresh air, elegantly slotting together the pieces of modern life into manageable chunks and playing some excellent games straight off the bat.

Yet this is a constant factor shared by all of the WP7 phones. What the HTC 7 Mozart offers over and above its rivals is just its good looks.

HTC 7 Mozart

The HTC 7 Mozart is an attractive handset that lacks any stand-out features to set it apart from the crowd
Score
Will Wilson
Will Wilson
Will's obsession with gaming started off with sketching Laser Squad levels on pads of paper, but recently grew into violently shouting "Tango Down!" at random strangers on the street. He now directs that positive energy into his writing (due in no small part to a binding court order).