HTC Mini HD hands-on (photos)

After numerous customer requests for a smaller version of the popular HTC HD2, which admittedly is quite a beast, HTC gave in and introduced the HTC HD Mini at Mobile World Congress 2010.

The HD Mini measures 4.09 inches tall by 2.27 inches wide by 0.46 inch thick and weighs 3.88 ounces. By comparison, the HD2 measures 4.74 inches tall by 2.64 inches wide by 0.43 inch thick and weighs 5.54 ounces.

Of course with the smaller size, you're not going to get the HD2's luxurious 4.3-inch screen on the HD Mini. Instead, you get a 3.2-inch HVGA (320x480) capacitive touch screen that's still clear and bright, but we have to admit the HD Mini doesn't have quite that wow factor to really make us notice the device or differentiate it from other touch-screen smartphones.

The HD Mini will run Windows Mobile 6.5.3 with HTC Sense. The phone also offers animated weather wallpaper and a feature where the ringer volume lowers automatically as soon as you pick of the phone, so you don't annoy and blast away your neighbors with your ringtone. You can also mute the ringer by place the phone face down on a flat surface.

The left side of the phone houses a volume rocker.

Designed by One & Co, the construction of the phone is unique in the sense that on the back, you can actually see the four screws that are holding the entire phone together. Normally phones have subframes and tiny screws holding together multiple parts, but not the HD Mini.

This doesn't have a direct effect on the user, but it is quite interesting to see and we can certainly appreciate the craftsmanship that went into the HD Mini. In the hand, the phone feels quite solid and doesn't take up too much room in a pants pocket.

To take the battery door off, you don't have to unscrew anything. It simply pops off like any other back cover on a phone and once you remove it, you may be surprised to find that the inside of the phone is yellow. Again, this has no effect on the user or phone; it's purely an aesthetic thing.

Here is a closer look at the new construction and SIM card and microSD card slots. The HTC HD Mini is a quad-band GSM phone but it only supports the 900/2100MHz HSPA/WCDMA bands, so you can forget about 3G support here in the states. While we might not get this version, it's very possible that HTC might make a similar model for the North American markets.

With the HD Mini's capacitive touch screen, you can use multitouch gestures, such as pinch to zoom in the Web browser as well as with pictures and Office documents.

The HD Mini will ship with HTC Peep, HTC's Windows Mobile-based Twitter app.