HTC Titan II for AT&T Hands-on: First Windows Phone with 16-MP Camera

LAS VEGAS — The HTC Titan II is a Windows Phone that’s designed to take breathtaking photos and share them almost as fast as you can fire that shutter. This sequel, coming soon to AT&T, is the first smartphone we’ve seen in the U.S. to feature a 16-MP camera, which promises unprecedented levels of detail. You’ll also be able to superfast data speeds, thanks to AT&T’s LTE network.

The Titan II still sports a 4.7-inch 800 x 480 pixel Super LCD, and it comes with a fast 1.5-GHz Snapdragon S2 processor to keep Windows Phone running smoothly. We like the new design, which is a lighter aluminum with a soft touch bottom panel around back. The curve towards the bottom edge is another nice touch.

Data speeds in our early tests didn’t blow us away. Mobile sites loaded in 7 to 8 seconds, compared to 4 to 5 seconds for Android phones we’ve used on AT&T’s network, so we hope the somewhat sluggish speeds were due to our location.

As for the camera, it did indeed capture a ton of detail in a shot of a pool with stones on the bottom. We could zoom in quite far without a hint of grain. However, some of the images had a softness or haze to them. Then again, this is not final hardware or software.

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