HTC HD7 Windows Phone 7 smartphone

We have seen Windows phones in the past, but this is the first one we've looked at that uses the latest version of the Windows Phone operating system, Windows Phone 7 (previously it was called Windows Mobile).

The new version has been remade so that it behaves much more like a newer smartphone, such as an iPhone or Android model. In fact, back in 2005 Windows Mobile had a lot of clever smartphone features (it could synchronise appointments and contacts, and allowed installable programs or ‘apps'), but it wasn't as easy to use. In its new guise, it combines the usability of newer smartphones with the clever tools it had before.

In fact, it does some things much better than the iPhone – for instance, the icons on the phone's main screen actually tell you useful information, such as the details of your next calendar entry, the weather or a chosen share price, whereas Apple's icons are just static pictures.

Another clever touch is that the camera works even when the phone is locked with a Pin – press the camera button and it will start up, and it's not possible to do anything except use the camera without entering the Pin. We found that with the phone in a pocket the camera and lock buttons got pressed more frequently than on other phones.

The HD7 has a large screen to make good use of the big Windows Phone 7 icons. It measures 4.3in across the diagonal (the iPhone's is 3.5in) and this makes it fairly large, although we were able to pocket it comfortably. The screen surround is small and it's comfortable to hold. On the back, surrounding the camera lens, is a metal strip that can be pulled out to form a stand, which is useful for watching videos.

The quality of photos was good, but they looked a bit more washed-out than we would have liked and videos were complicated to shoot. We were confused why our videos looked so poor until we realised it was because it was set to the lowest of several quality settings. The main problem with videos was that the image kept moving in and out of focus every few seconds.

It's fast, though, with little delay to open new apps, and the screen responded well when we tapped an icon or item – better than we have found on many so-called smartphones. There's a selection of apps available from the Marketplace, but at the time of writing it was quite sparse, especially compared to the Apple and Android equivalents.

A handy remote wipe option means that if your phone is stolen thieves can't use your data – when we tried it the automatic wipe didn't work so we had to use a second text message-based method, which worked fine.

Although the screen is large, the HD7 only has 8GB of storage, which is small by modern phone standards, especially when it's designed partly for playing video.

Connectivity is good: it works with wireless networks and Bluetooth devices, and has a GPS receiver. Battery life was impressive too, with the phone lasting several days in standby.