HTC Fuze (AT&T) Rated 3.5 out of 5 by Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews
The HTC Fuze from AT&T is full-featured Windows Mobile smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard that lacks the number row. Although most reviews thought it was bulky, they praised the email and messaging capabilities along with its full features. The neatest untested feature of the Fuze is the ability control the music player by shaking the phone.
Other good features of the HTC Fuze are Wi-Fi, multimedia, Bluetooth and GPS. The HTC Fuze also has an OCR business card reader application.
The browser is snappy and worked well in most cases. The TouchFLO interface on the touchscreen can be used with fingers but once it switches to Windows Mobile mode, you can only use a stylus. The camera with LED flash took good photos. All the reviewers commented that the HTC Fuze does not have a standard headphone jack and requires an adapter or special headphones.
Reviewers found the video to be sluggish, speakerphone weak and call quality decent. One reviewer noted that the HTC Fuze was snappier than the Sony Xperia X1 which is recalled until January.
Reviewers also commented that AT&T price of $299 at its release date to be too expensive for its features. New AT&T customers can get the HTC Fuze
cheaper at Wirefly with a two-year contract for new customers at $174.99 with a rebate at the time of this writing. To read summaries of the reviews, reviewed continue reading.
Update: April 24, 2009: The HTC Fuze is now available for free in a Refurb data package from AT&T.
Bonnie Cha at CNET rated the HTC Fuze from AT&T 3.5 out 5 for its push email, multimedia features, 3.2 megapixel camera, QWERTY keyboard, touchscreen, Bluetooth, GPS and 3G support. She found it to be bulky, however, and didn't like that it did not have a standard headphone jack. She thought was too expensive for a phone that stalled with streaming video. The Windows 6.1 Mobile phone is more compact than the AT&T Tilt. The 640 x480 pixel display is sharp and vibrant. It has built-in accelerometer. It will accept up to 16 GB microSD card. Picture quality was OK. Video quality was blurry. The processor was snappy. Web browsing was decent.
Jamie Lendino at PCMag rated the HTC Fuze from AT&T 3 out of 5. She found the TouchFLO shell He found the circular control pad to be stiff and the keyboard to have a positive click. He misses that there is not a separate number row. Phone voice quality was good while the speakerphone was weak. Web browsing was a snap although it lacked Flash support. He found messaging and email to be a cinch. TouchFLO was fine for fingers but once it goes into Windows Mobile mode it requires a stylus. The 3.2 megapixel camera doesn't have a dedicated button and it didnt' take sharp photos. He notes that the AT&T Tilt lacks TouchFLo but is much less expensive. A commenter noted that he loved the spoken commands and business card reader.
Tood Haselton at Laptop Mag rated the HTC Fuze 3.5 out 5 He found it bulky and prone to fingerprints. The stylus taps worked well. He noticed that instead of a top row of number it has symbols on the top row of the keyboard but was comfortable to type on. He found the UI to be sluggish. E-mail set up worked well. Opera browsing was faster on Wi-Fi. The headphone jack was not standard. Sideloading music worked well. A neat feature is that you control the music player by shaking the phone. The biz card reader worked well but had a few errors. He was pleased with call quality. Although the HTC Fuze is one of the better Windows phones, he prefers the touchscreenless BlackBerry Bold for around the same price.
Boy Genius Report did a side by side comparison of the HTC Fuze with the higher priced Sony Xperia X1, which has been recalled. Besides a smaller screen the Fuze has the same silicon under its hood as the Xperia. He called the keyboard even with the missing number rows one of the best on a Windows Mobile phone. Battery life was about equal. The Fuze processor was bit more responsive. The Xperia's touchscreen requires a lighter touch.
HTC Fuze Feature Highlights:
- Combination Touchscreen and Slide-Out QWERTY Keyboard
- Windows Media Player Onboard
- 3.2 Megapixel Auto-Focus Camera/Camcorder Perfect For Stills And Video
- Support HTC's TouchFlo 3D Tactile Touchscreen Technology
- Big, Beautiful VGA Display With Outstanding Interface
- Download Data At 3G Speeds On AT&T's HSDPA Network
- View or Edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint Documents, and View PDF Documents
- Supports WiFi Connectivity
What's In The Box With The Phone
- Additional Items Included - Battery, Wall Charger, USB Cable, Mini-USB to 3.5mm Adapter
Advanced Features
- Digital Camera - Yes, 3.2 Megapixel, Auto-Focus, Editing Tools
- Streaming Multimedia Support - Yes, AT&T's Cellular Video and Music Lets You Experience Streaming TV or Music
- MP3 Player - Yes, Windows Media Player Lets You Playback MP3 Playlists, Stereo Speakers, USB Mass Storage
- Attachment Viewing (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) - Yes, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint Document Editing and Viewing Are All Built-in
- Bluetooth Wireless Technology - Yes, v2.0 Handsfree, Headset and DUN, OPP, HID Profiles Supported
- Video Capture / Camcorder - Yes, H.263 and MPEG4 Formats, Length Limited Only By Available Memory
- QWERTY Keyboard - Yes, Slide Out QWERTY Keyboard
- Upgradeable - Yes, Device May Upgrade Windows Mobile Edition At Later Date
- Voice-driven Menus - Yes, Train The Phone To Pull Up Over A Dozen Applications With Your Voice
- Bluetooth
Stereo Headset (A2DP) - Yes, A2DP and AVRC Profiles Supported So You
Can Stream Stereo Music To Compatible Bluetooth Devices - Data Capable / Use This Phone As A Modem - Yes, Software and USB Cable Included, With Phone As A Modem Carrier Feature
- PC Synchronization - Yes, Software and USB Cable Included, Or Sync Over-the-air With Microsoft ActiveSync
Messaging Features
- Mobile Web Browsing - Yes, MS Pocket Explorer Built-in, Full HTML Support With Tactile UI Experience
- Multimedia Messaging - Yes, Take and Receive Picture and Video Messages With Carrier Messaging Feature
- Text Messaging (SMS) - Yes, Send To Groups Or Individuals With Carrier Messaging Feature
- Instant Messenger Built-in - Yes, MSN Live Messenger Built-in With Carrier Messaging Feature
- HTML Web Browsing - Yes, Supports Full HTML Browsing
- Email Client - Yes, Pocket Outlook w/ Attachments, Over-the-air ActiveSync or Bluetooth or USB, POP3/SMTP, VPN
Personalization and Fun Features
- Polyphonic Ringtones - Yes, Plus Downloadable
- Custom Ringtones - Yes
- MP3 Ringtones - Yes, Supports AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, WMA, WAV, QCELP, MPEG4, AMR-NB, AMR-WB Formats
- Ringer Profiles - Yes
- Picture Caller ID - Yes
- Multiple Languages - Yes
- Games - Yes, Downloadable
- Customizable Graphics - Yes, Downloadable
Core Features
- Color Main Display - 2.8" LCD, VGA Resolution, 480 x 640 Pixels, Over 262,000 Colors,
- Touch Screen - Yes, Amazing TouchFlo Touchscreen Gives The User An Incredible Tactile Experience
- Speakerphone - Yes
- Voice-activated Dialing - Yes, Record Voice Tags For Phone Book Entries
- TTY Compatible - Yes
- To-Do List - Yes
- Color - Black
- Voice Memo - Yes
- Style - PDA
- Alarm - Yes
- Calculator - Yes
- Calendar - MS Outlook Calendar, Sync Over-the-air or via Bluetooth or USB Cable, Supports Meeting Requests
- Mini-USB Port - Yes, With USB Cable Included
- Vibrate - Yes
- Phonebook Capacity - Shared Memory
- Multiple Numbers Per Name - Yes, Including Email and Instant Messenger Addresses
- M3 Hearing Aid Compatible - Yes, M3 Rated
- Text to Speech - Yes
- PDA Device - Yes
Battery Life
- Battery Type - Li Ion
- Talk Time - Up to 380 Minutes
- Standby Time - Up to 460 Hours
Technical Specifications
- Application Platform - Java
- Platform / Operating System - Windows Mobile 6.1 with 200 MHz Texas Instruments OMAP 850 Processor
- Network Compatibility - GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900; WCDMA 850, 1900, 2100
- Ringtone Types Supported - AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, WMA, WAV, QCELP, MPEG4, AMR-NB, AMR-WB Formats
- Data Download Speed - WiFi b/g (Up to 54 Mbps), EV-DO Rev A (Up to 3.1 Mbps), HSDPA (Up to 7.2 Mbps)
- Built-In Memory - 295 MB
- Expandable Memory Capacity - Yes, microSD Card Format Compatible
- Dimensions - 4.0 in x 2.0 in x 0.7 in
- Weight - 5.8 oz
- Windows Mobile OS - Yes