Similar to other HTC handsets, the HTC Smart has got top-notch build quality. It uses some high-quality plastics and its smallish size makes it quite pocket-friendly.
Unfortunately, its software platform is what lets it down. The Brew platform is not the smartest of platforms out there, but perhaps with proper support and good developer base, it can be turned into something more than a regular feature phone interface.
The Sense UI skin over Brew Mobile is probably the best part of HTC Smart. The homescreens are almost identical to those in Android and Windows Mobile both in looks and functionality. Still the eye-candy effects are sacrificed for performance.
But Sense UI can hardly make up for the basic looks of the submenus that use plain text and black backgrounds similar to the dated BlackBerry OS. The poor QVGA display also lets down the Sense UI graphics and the lack of a good application package on board ruins the overall experience.
For instance, the default web browser is still in beta version, sluggish, often crashing and its loading speeds are quite slow. The organizer functionality ends with the calendar and alarm apps plus a simple calculator.
HTC may call the Smart a smartphone but it has no multi-tasking, no application store and quite a poor choice of pre-installed apps. Combine that with the basic looks and capabilities of the whole platform and by our books, Smart barely makes it to a feature phone grade.
