Finally, here’s a mini smartphone we can actually say we need, because the screens on the HTC HD series are actually really big – the HD2 display measures 4.3″.

The HD Mini measures just 103.8mm x 57mm x 11.7mm which isn’t the slimmest phone you’ll find. And those of you who want all the power of an HD series phone but fits in your pocket, should read on now.

Despite the miniature size of the phone, it still packs a 3.2″ capacitive screen that adorns the front of the black metal HD Mini device. It’s got the slick multi-touch of the HD2, the home screen widgets (though not as many – namely the weather app, Twitter and Facebook) but – let me break the bad news – the HD Mini runs on Windows Mobile, not Android. Its the 6.5.3 version though that is the most advanced version of Windows Mobile that is more responsive and user friendly than previous Windows Mobile OS.

HTC HD Mini’s capacitive touchscreen is expectedly slick and ultra-responsive, except the on-screen QWERTY keyboard which took a while to type out at times (a case for the Windows Mobile phone we presumed, or ungraceful degradation to the smaller screen).But the Sense UI is used which allows perfect pinching and zooming whilst browsing though unfortunately this became a little lost and purposeless on a smaller screen.

The HTC HD Mini is ultra-powerful for its size, quick and with a surprisingly lengthy battery life of 600 hours on standby. It serves the purpose it tries to fulfill as a more affordable, diminutive version of the HTC HD2 and as the last of 3 HTC phones to be released so far in 2010 it’s in keeping with the greatness of the previous two.

 ★★★★☆