Hello and welcome to Phone Arena’s video review of the HTC S740. It’s a Windows Mobile Standard smart phone and similarly to its predecessors, it’s equipped with both the numeric keypad and the full QWERTY keyboard. As you can see, the board is true to HTC’s new designed language with the platform side and the diamond like back. As a whole, it looks good but it is rather longed and narrow or just something unique.

On the front, you will find the 2.4-inch display with 240x320 pixels resolution. The colors are bright and saturated and another good thing is the stay the same even when exposed to the sun.

Below it, you will find the round D-pad which blinks in the white when you have a missed call or a new message. The send and end keys are situated around it. They are small but protruding enough so you won’t have any trouble pressing them. The functional keys, home and back are also there. Downward is the numeric keypad. Its keys are big enough and it won’t cause you any trouble.

Let’s not forget however that the S740 has a full QWERTY keyboard. It consists of four rows of keys which are wide and easy to press meaning that you will need a very little time in order to get used into it. The rest of the buttons on the S740’s body include the volume rocker, the power button, and the camera shutter. We didn’t experience any trouble using them only that that power button is un-very tactile making get a bit hard to find by touch.

The operating system of the HTC S740 is Windows Mobile 6.1 standard without any customization beyond the home screen. So we won’t get into details about the interface. In addition to the standard home screen, we also have HTC home at your disposal. It represents a list of icons beginning with the large clock and the name of the carrier that you are using. Below, you will find the calendar, the music player, the weathercast, and some others.

When you decide to open this slider, the screen changes it's orientation from portrait to landscape view with the menu that gives you quick access to messaging, email, and to Windows live messenger. There is a similar menu in the HTC Touch Pro but its options are twice as many. The S740 supports 3G and WiFi so high-speed internet won’t be a problem.

Unfortunately, the default browser is the standard to Internet Explorer. It faces great difficulties while loading complex pages but since the device runs Windows Mobile standard, you will be able to install some of the alternatives. One of them is Skyfire and as you can see, it does a far better job compared to Internet Explorer. All images and flash elements are holding flawlessly and you can also watch YouTube videos embedded on the web pages. When it comes to multimedia the phone performed in a satisfactory way and managed to play H263 and to H264 videos with a resolution of up to 640x272 pixels without a problem.

Its musical capabilities aren’t as good but will do just fine. By default, your songs are played with Windows Media Player but you also have the far better HTC Audio Manager. It has a really nice interface and lots of presets for the equalizer. But in order to use it, you have to plug-in the headphones first. The music quality through the headphones is only average and if you turn the volume to the max, the sound becomes too sharp. The loudspeaker also is in the greatest. As a phone, the HTC S740 did a decent job. The sound was loud in both directions but it was also too sharp and with the lots of noise.

The loudspeaker is remarkable for its crackling and unclear voice representation. As a whole, it is a nice smart phone with many features and a handy QWERTY keyboard but it’s also a bit bulky and its weight of 4.94-ounce isn't easy to ignore. If you are looking for an alternative of the HTC Touch Pro and you don’t mind the lack of the touch screen, you won’t be disappointed by HTC’s offer. But we would advise you also to take a look at the Symbian alternatives like the Nokia E71 and E63.

Thanks for watching. Please visit phonearena.com for our full text review with many pictures and 360 degrees view.