The HTC HD7S is a beautiful Windows Phone 7 device, but it has a problem. It's not the OS; Windows Phone 7 is attractive and works well. But this cell phone is terrible for making calls, and has absurdly short battery life. Short of a serious firmware update, we can't recommend the HD7S to AT&T subscribers in its current state.

Design, Network Modes, and Call Quality
The HTC HD7S is a dead ringer for the HD7 over on T-Mobile—which it essentially is, despite the carrier change and an improved screen. The HD7S measures 4.8 by 2.7 by 0.4 inches (HWD) and weighs a moderately hefty 5.7 ounces. It's made of a mixture of glass, grey glossy plastic, and a soft-touch back panel, all of which make it comfortable to hold and use. The 4.3-inch glass capacitive touch screen sports 480-by-800-pixel resolution. It also includes an ambient light sensor and customizable haptic feedback. It's supposed to be a "Super LCD," and it's a notch brighter than the HD7's standard glass LCD. The HD7S's useful kickstand surrounds the camera lens and dual-LED flash; when closed, it doubles as an accent trim piece. Typing on the on-screen QWERTY keyboards was easy and fast.

The HD7S is a quad-band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and dual-band HSDPA (850/1900 MHz) device with 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi. AT&T's data plans start at $15 per month, though you probably want the $25 plan, which boosts 3G data from 200MB to 2GB. The phone only has HSPA 7.2 speeds, not the now-current HSPA+ 21, and Windows Phone 7 still has no Wi-Fi hotspot mode. There's no 2100 MHz support for high-speed data overseas, either.

None of the above matters if the HD7S can't make decent phone calls. I had no problem understanding anyone, but background hiss was clearly audible in both directions during all my calls. The noise suppression didn't work right, either. Just as a test, I cranked my office fan, which I usually use during Bluetooth headset reviews to test noise-cancelling performance. When I did so, the background hiss in the HD7S's earpiece jumped even louder, to the point where it sounded like a radio tuned in between analog AM stations. (I didn't leave the speakerphone on by accident; when I moved my head a few inches from the headset, I couldn't hear the caller anymore.) There was also a massive amount of side-tone, so the sound of my own voice blared through the earpiece as I spoke. RF reception was a bit choppy, as well.

You can avoid most of the call quality issues by using a Bluetooth headset. Calls sounded fine through an Aliph Jawbone Icon Bluetooth headset ($99, 4 stars), and the TellMe-powered voice dialing worked fine over Bluetooth without training. The speakerphone was a disappointment, as it was too tinny and harsh to be useful. Battery life was unacceptable at just 3 hours and 23 minutes of talk time; we expect at least four hours from phones today.

Apps, Multimedia, and Conclusions
The HD7S, like its HD7 counterpart on T-Mobile, runs Windows Phone 7. The live tile interface is fun to use, and is refreshingly different than what Android and iOS offer. Under the hood is a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 CPU and 576MB RAM. Windows Marketplace has been steadily gaining apps, although it's still nowhere near what iOS and Android have available. You still need a separate credit card to buy apps, as there's no carrier billing support. The OS hooks easily into Web mail and Microsoft Exchange accounts; it automatically pulled in my 1,500 Gmail contacts without a hitch. Like other Windows Phones, the HD7S is anticipated to get many new features this fall with a free upgrade to the new version of Windows Phone 7, dubbed "Mango."

The HD7S, like its cousin on T-Mobile, is a great multimedia phone. You get 16GB of internal storage with about 13.8GB free (but no memory card slot). There's a standard-size 3.5mm headphone jack. The HD7S shows Xbox Live gamer tags and achievements, and it's a great Zune stand-in for playing back standalone music and video files. AT&T contributes U-verse Mobile, which delivers TV and video clips, and AT&T Navigator, which offers voice-enabled, turn-by-turn GPS directions for an extra $9.99 per month, plus XM Radio and HD Radio tie-ins. The 5-megapixel auto-focus camera includes a dual LED flash, but it takes flawed, blurry photos. The camcorder captures jerky 720p videos, and somewhat improved, standard-definition 640-by-480-pixel files.

Windows Phone 7 is fun to use, and the HD7S's hardware is up to delivering a proper smartphone experience for many tasks. But without a firmware update, the HD7S isn't a good phone. We'd recommend sticking with Android if you're on AT&T, since there are plenty of good options. There's the thin-but-massive 4.5-inch Samsung Infuse 4G ($199, 3.5 stars), the dual-core Motorola Atrix 4G ($199, 4 stars), and the slick, budget-priced HTC Inspire 4G ($99, 4 stars). All three of these are a better choice than the HTC HD7S. HTC makes excellent phones, and the HD7 is fine over on T-Mobile. But this version clearly wasn't ready for release, despite its more vibrant screen.

Benchmarks
Continuous talk time: 3 hours 23 minutes

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