Gadgetory

nokia wasn't the only company to launch a Windows Phone device this spring HTC launched a new Titan handset which compared to the older version has a bigger battery better camera and 4G LTE support how does it compare to Nokia's Lumia 900 well I'm Bill Detweiler head technology editor at CNET's sister site tech Republic and I'm going to find out by cracking open the HTC Titan 2 opening the Titan 2 doesn't require any special tools just a Philips triple zero screwdriver and a thin metal or plastic tool i began by removing the bottom cover from the back of the phone next i removed the three visible and three hidden case screws from the bottom of the back cover using a thin metal blade I gently popped off the upper cover from the back of the phone and again removed all the screws with the screws out i used a thin metal tool to pry the display assembly away from the body and then lifted the body off once inside the phone i removed the battery all the internal screws and the plastic battery compartment i then disconnected the visible cables from the phones to printed circuit boards lifted the board's away from the display assembly and disconnected the remaining ribbon cable from the underside of the upper board next i separated the two circuit boards removed the cameras remove the SIM card reader LED flash PCB proximity sensor and emi RFI shields with that our teardown was complete so what did I learn about the Titan 2 from our teardown and how does it compare to last year's Titan and the Lumia 900 well both Titans are similar in size shape and weight and like the original Titan there's no trick to opening the Titan 2 just a lot of screws to remove and several covers to pop off both phones have a replaceable battery two large circuit boards a 1.5 gigahertz single core processor 512 Meg's of RAM and 16 gigs of storage and like earlier phone the Titan 2 has a 4.7 inch LCD with a resolution of 800 by 480 pixels and it has a single piece display assembly what really sets the Titan 2 apart from its predecessor is its support for 4G LTE a 16 megapixel camera and a slightly higher capacity battery when comparing the Titan 2 to Nokia's Lumia 900 there are also several similarities both phones have single core qualcomm processors both have 512 Meg's of RAM 16 gigs of storage and the same 3G 4G wireless modem the lumia screen does have a higher pixel density thanks to its smaller size and comes with Nokia's clear black filter the Titan on the other hand has a 16 megapixel camera compared the Lumias 8 megapixel one like the Lumia 900 the Titan twos hardware is partially dictated by its operating system Windows Phone 7.5 doesn't support dual-core processors which are found in many Android devices and the iPhone 4s likewise both phones have less RAM than the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and less storage than the top-end iPhone or Galaxy Nexus but as I said in my lumia 900 teardown higher hardware specifications don't always translate into better performance Windows Phone 7.5 was designed to run well on single core CPUs and on 512 Meg's of RAM and given my experience with the Titan 2 and the Lumia 900 it does at $199 with a two-year contract the Titan 2 is more expensive than the $99 Lumia 900 you'll have to decide if the larger screen and higher megapixel camera are worth it now to see more Titan to tear down photos check out my full cracking open gallery at TechRepublic com forward slash cracking open for CNET & TechRepublic I'm build-out Weiler and this has been a cracking open of the HTC Titan 2 you