The HTC P6500 is a large format smartphone aimed primarily at businesses needing something more robust than usual, and probably isn’t the kind of thing you would want to pocket too often. But it does provide an interesting twist or two on the Windows Mobile smartphone concept.

HTC P6500 - Security matters

The P6500 is designed for situations when only robustness will do. There isn’t a lot of bling here; the casing has a rubbery easy-to-grip finish. However, there are features you do not usually get on a smartphone.

A fingerprint scanner sits below the D-pad on the front fascia, giving a level of security you will only find on a very small number of Windows Mobile devices.

Then there are the twin SD card slots. We know, SD is so old hat for smartphones that it is a real surprise to see one slot, let alone two. But, in some circumstances the larger SD cards are easier to get hold of than a microSD card. The slots have very solid rubber covers that we found a bit difficult to prize off. The good news is that they support SDHC and our test 4GB cards presented no problems. You can have up to 4GB of internal flash memory so you can really go to town with storage here.

Do not think about using the memory for music, though. The headset slot uses the same USB connector for both PC connecting and mains power.

HTC P6500 - Whopping screen

The screen might be a fairly standard 240x320 pixels but it is simply enormous at 3.5 inches across diagonal corners. This makes viewing pictures and web browsing something of a treat. The latter is further enhanced by the presence of the Opera browser. Just as importantly, the large screen also makes finger-based input easy.

HTC P6500 - A Windows device

The HTC P6500 is a Windows Mobile device through and through. It has quad-band GSM with HSDPA support, and both Wi-Fi and GPS are built-in to sit alongside Bluetooth.

You can make voice calls, though it is a bit of a large device to hold to your ear. Sadly, the 3G is not supplemented by a front-facing camera for video calling, but there is a three-megapixel camera on the back of the casing.

HTC P6500 - the verdict

We freely admit that HTC’s P6500 is not the usual kind of Windows Mobile device we would put on show for you. But it is a good example of how the smartphone can be made to function in environments where it needs to be more robust than usual.