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July 31st, 2010 
eddied316 
- Slide-out four-row keyboard for quick and easy text entry
- 2.4-inch TFT-LCD screen housed within a slim and elegant design
- Mobile Internet – surf and download at broadband speed with HSDPA and Wi-Fi?
- 3.2 megapixel camera for quality stills and video
- microSD? slot for expandable storage
Product Description
HTC S743 Slim lightweight sliding QWERTY keyboard smartphone with Windows Mobile 6.1. Multimedia capable with 3.2 megapixel camera Opera browser music player. 3G capability provides broadband quality internet experience…. More >>
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I am a long time user of HTC and have extremely been impressed with their product and glad to see that they are climbing the ladder of recognition, worldwide…but have also been frustrated by the issues most if not all touch screen phones (not just HTC phones) have of dialing while on other call or being active and dialing or remaining ON while in the holster, etc… So I opted to get the “none touch screen” version of my HTC touch pro… And so far, I have not called anyone I did not intend on calling and enjoying my non hyperactive phone..
Cheers
Rating: 4 / 5
This phone has a nice long list of snazzy features, but what I love most is that I don’t have to touch the screen to type or dial. And yet I have all the nifty features I could want. As others have noted this phone….
+ feels great in your hand. The design is sleek and the phone has a nice solid feel to it. I like the little bit of haptic feedback that lets you know you’ve made the connection in case there’s lots of ambient noise.
+ has all the apps I want and then some. mainly I want to call people, check email and text. I’m not a ‘power user’ but I am a frequent user.
+ is very customizable and it’s easy and intuitive to do.
+ synchs effortlessly with your computer. I like that I don’t have to keep my contacts up-to-date in two places.
+ can be used with ONE HAND! I am very active and I hatehatehate having to use both hands to make a call. I also like to one-hand text people for short notes which is doable here. And yet I have a very nice keyboard for longer texts or browsing.
+ I rather like Windows Mobile. I’d never used it before, but I can easily find apps and settings and they’re pretty intuitive to use.
+ Has a nice screen. Sure – who doesn’t wish for a bigger screen, but for what I need it’s more than adequate. And I’d hate what a bigger screen does to the size of the phone.
I can’t think of many things that I consider to be a minus, but here’s a few ‘wishes’.
- longer battery life would be nice. If you are using wifi or bluetooth, it can suck the battery dry pretty fast.
- I could go for customizable buttons.
- the external volume control is unintuitive as it doesn’t make the ring volume softer – you have to find that elsewhere.
- I wish there were more keypad shortcuts for things like locking the screen and frequently done actions like that.
- wish it came with an FM radio. Then I could get rid of my mp3 player and use this at the gym with my bluetooth headset. Plus I’m part of that dying breed that likes to listen to the radio.
Rating: 5 / 5
My experience with cell phones over the past 10 years or so has been frustrating to say the least. There have been many days when I simply longed for the days of my boring little Nokia 2260. It made calls, and that was about it, but it was far less frustrating than the world of smart phones initially proved to be for me.
Let me preface this review by saying that on the whole, I am not a power cell phone user. All I am really looking for is the ability to send and receive text messages, make and recieve calls and maybe check email or twitter from time to time.
Fairly simple needs, but the problem is that being blind, I have to use a phone that can allow a screen reading program to be installed. For the longest time, that meant Nokia was my only choice. As much as I loved my cute little Nokia 2260, Nokia smart phones were just 1 frustration after another. I started my adventure in the smart phone arena with an Nokia 3660, and the less said about that, the better. I then got a Nokia 6600, and that worked great for a while, and then just died for no logical reason. After that, I got a nokia 6682, and I liked that phone quite a lot until I got it in my head that I needed to have a qwerty keyboard in order to make texting a bit easier. Enter the Nokia e71. Bottom line: it was probably the least stable smart phone I had used to date. The Nokia e71 would reboot itself right in the middle of composing texts or emails. Not cool!
So, to make a long story a bit shorter, the cell phone screen reading software I use recently changed their licensing scheme, which enabled me to make the jump from Nokia phones to the world of Window’s smart phones. Before spending even more money on having a cell phone that would meet my needs, I did a lot of research, and eventually concluded that the htc s743 was probably going to be my ideal phone. It has a traditional dialing kkeypad on the front like my Nokia 6682 did, but then, I can slide it open and have a full qwerty keyboard for typing emails and longer text messages.
To me, it doesn’t get better than this. So, I find myself an excellent deal on the htc s743 and buy it.
There was an adjustment period while I learned the differences between simbian and Windows Mobile, but now I’d never go back. The HTC s743 has never locked up on me, and runs my screen reader far better than any nokia phone ever did.
As an added bonus, the htc s743 has built in GPS, so if I could ever afford accessible gps software, I’d be able to travel more independently by having this phone.
Another cool feature is voice command. I haven’t used it much yet, but it’s nice to know it’s there.
After a major mistake on my part which ended out wiping out the address book on my computer, and I can’t emphasize enough, that this was in no way the fault of my phone, but blatent user stupidity, I elected to simply add in all my contacts manually, and thanks to the qwerty keyboard, this process was relatively quick and painless.
There are a couple of very minor things I don’t like about the phone: the placement of the micro SD card is just weird! On my nokias, I could just eject the card as needed and do data transfers using my card reader. That’s not a realistic option with the HTC s743. On the other hand, I can just transfer files to the phone using active sync, so it’s not all bad.
The only other slight problem, and it’s not a huge issue for me personally, is that I don’t think the HTC s743 is upgradeable to windows mobile 6.5. However, since it does everything I want it to, apart from possibly playing the occasional youtube video, I’m definitely not going to complain. I can do email, twitter and text messages, and I can make calls, which is really all a phone is for anyway.
So, after years of frustration, I finally have a cell phone that I think is going to make me happy for as long as it can last, which will hopefully be many years.
Bottom line: if you can get your hands on this phone, I would highly recommend it!
Rating: 5 / 5
Bought the HTC S743 after my ATT “Fuze”/HTC Touch Pro was stolen. I looked at some of the new WM phones (HTC TiltII) and didn’t like the idea of carrying a heavy phone shaped like a bar of soap.
I’m a tough consumer to please when it comes to phones. I had the first HTC Tytn before they were available in the US – my heavy, soap-shaped, phone days are long over. I liked the sleek unique style of the original razr; the touch response of a iPhone; the power of windows mobile; the keyboard and email management of Blackberry and the outdoor screen visibility of Nokia….so I’ve had some trouble finding a phone I like until now.
I know this HTC S743 ships with Windows Mobile 6.1 and that means no touch screen…no “cloud backup” no “remote wipe” and no “widgets”… but to tell you the truth, I’m getting burned out on silly widgets and I think I’ll wait for someone else to beta test the remote wipe features! On the other hand, getting a WM 6.1 phone as a newer OS is launched, means that there will be deep discounts on this phone. Lower prices are a great thing.
I want current news and this phone comes with a great RSS reader. After using touch screens for the last several years, I’ve found that I miss fast, one-handed control and an easy to use PHONE feature – HTC 743 is great for this. I want MS Office – WM 6.1 satisfies that need. I want browsing speed, tv, photo contacts – that took about $40 in add-on software. Added free “SkyFire” for that Opera Mini look-and-feel.
One handed use is a breeze….that means you can actually use the phone while walking the dog, jumping in and out of cabs, carrying packages and otherwise living your life. When I have time to chat and browse – the keyboard is easy to use. This phone is sleek, powerful, “tetherable” and contract-free. I hope this helps you make a decision.
Rating: 5 / 5
I’ve been looking for a new phone for a long time now (my previous phone was the Razor) and this is the phone I decided to buy to make the switch to a smartphone. This phone has possibly the best non-touchscreen design in the world. The phone fits great in the hand, and everything about it screams high-quality.
Some pros and cons:
Slide out keyboard:
+ Great sized keyboard, possibly the best thing about this phone is how easy it is to type on this keyboard.
– Minor complaint: A fifth row for numbers would have been nice, but the phone does have a number pad right on the front that you can use to avoid pressing the function button
– Minor complaint: They could have easily made the spacebar bigger.
Face:
+ The buttons above the number pad are very easy to press (they put the HTC Fuze to shame)
– Possibly the only legitimate drawback of this phone is the screen, it isn’t as large or as high resolution as some touch phones out there. If you’re buying the phone for games or videos, this isn’t the phone for you.
Body:
+ Overall construction of this phone is high caliber. It makes most Nokia phones feel like a kids toy.
+ The back of the phone is made of a soft material that feels good in the hand, and doesn’t attract smudges or scratches.
– Minor complaints: the battery cover is a little hard to take off, and the microSD card slot is underneath the SIM card. These are both things that you’ll be doing rarely though.
Software:
It runs WM 6.1 Standard, and it behaves pretty much exactly like you would expect it to. Not much to say here.
It may seem like I’m complaining more than I should be for a phone that deserves a 5 star rating, but the truth is that the positive aspects of this phone far outweigh the few complaints I have.
The reason I bought this phone is for the same reason that I originally bought the Razor, although it doesn’t take 10 megapixel pictures and allow you to take calls underwater, it does succeed with both style and design.
Finally, if you’re interested in this phone also read the reviews for the HTC S740, because it’s almost the exact same phone.
Rating: 5 / 5