Form and function. These sometimes conflicting goals have driven manufacturers crazy ever since the first mobile device was on the drawing boards. Manufacturers want to market compelling, feature-rich devices, but every feature they add to a device increases its size and weight, thus decreasing its portability. The most recent attempt to find this "sweet spot" comes from HTC in the form of their recently announced S710 Smartphone (a.k.a., HTC Vox).

Smartphone with a slide-out keyboard

The S710 runs the Windows Mobile 6 Standard software and sports a non-touchscreen display. One of the more interesting features of this device is its slide-out QWERTY keyboard. A number of Pocket PC Phone Edition devices have this type of keyboard, but this is the first Smartphone to have one. This is a cool feature—the keyboard springing out never fails to elicit gasps or comments from onlookers. As it slides out, the display automatically switches to horizontal view. All this makes responding to e-mails a joy rather than something to be postponed.

The S710 is also packed with wireless capabilities, including Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), Bluetooth 2.0, and a quad-band, EDGE-capable GSM/GPRS phone (without 3G data capability). The device is powered by a 200 MHz TI OMAP processor, which is slow for the tasks it's expected to handle—HTML e-mail, multimedia, and any other app run simultaneously will severely bog down the OS. Factor in the rotating display, and you have a definite processor speed issue. I would've expected a 312 MHz CPU at the very least.

Weighing in at almost 5 ounces, the S710 is heavier than most Windows Mobile Smartphones. However, I didn't really mind the weight. In fact, it gives the device a substantial and comfortable feel. A soft rubber coating adorning the back and extending over the top and bottom portions helps prevent the device from slipping out of your hand. The top edge has the power on/off button. Two LEDs at the top of the face of the device will blink when the phone is active or when the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth is active.

TIP: When the phone is on, press this button quickly—don't hold it down—to display a "Quick List" of options and the user profile changer.

The button that activates the built-in 2 megapixel camera is located on the right edge. A mini-USB port is located on the bottom edge, allowing the device to connect to a power/sync cable or to a headset. Located on the upper left edge are volume up/down buttons and a voice dial button. Unfortunately, the device does not include the powerful speaker-independent MS Voice Command software—instead, we get Voice Dial, which requires you to "tag" actions with specific commands. Located on the lower left edge is the opening to the microSD card slot.

As mentioned, the S710 is a GSM/GPRS phone, which means that you can swap SIM cards to use it with different GSM carriers. Ingeniously, HTC placed the SIM card slot under the QWERTY keyboard, which means you simply slide out the keyboard to access the SIM. Note that opening the SIM card slot automatically shuts off the device.

A great e-mail machine

The HTC S710 is the first Windows Mobile 6 Standard device to ship, and WM6 has some eye-catching enhancements over WM5—particularly with regards to e-mail. These include the ability to receive and view HTML-formatted messages, flag messages with a follow-up icon, simplification of the e-mail account set up procedure, and more.