Windows Mobile is one of the key operating systems manufacturers look to when making their smartphones, but to get the best out of it, a phone needs two key ingredients: a big screen, and a fast processor. Let’s take a look at 3 phones that let it run to its full potential.

Sony Ericsson X1 – the premium choice

Released at the tail end of 2008, the Sony Ericsson X1 garnered rave reviews and fan support for its combination of a premium metal body, an exquisite, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and a new front-end interface called ‘Panels’. Presented as a series of 9 separate panels on the screen of the Sony Ericsson X1, the user can then choose which home screen they want, whether it’s a Facebook screen, a standard WinMo interface, or one of a choice of finger-friendly front-ends available to Windows users. With a super-high resolution screen, and stunning colour reproduction, the Sony Ericsson X1 is viewed by many as one of the best Windows Mobile phones ever made, thanks also to its 3 megapixel camera, HSDPA internet speeds, and built-in GPS.

HTC Touch HD – the biggest screen in Christendom

However, it doesn’t have the biggest screen on a Windows Mobile phone. That honour goes to the sleek, and powerful HTC Touch HD. Nestling within a much slimmer body than the X1 (thanks to makers HTC eschewing a QWERTY keyboard), what you get instead is a 3.8 inch screen, that makes even the sometimes fiddly menu bars of WinMo easy to use. Not only that, but the HTC Touch HD includes one of the nicest virtual keyboards seen on any phone, and the interface is a particular standout feature, as it uses HTC’s patented TouchFLO 3D front end. As the name HTC Touch HD suggests, touch control is the order of the day, with gesture controls, sweeping finger motions and almost iPhone-esque (only better) app transitions giving the software as much appeal as the hardware on the HTC Touch HD (which, considering the phone includes a 5 megapixel camera, HSDPA and GPS, is no mean feat).

Toshiba TG01 – giving WinMo the power it deserves

The HTC Touch HD may currently have the biggest screen of any phone, but it won’t stay that way for much longer, because a new contender is due to be released soon with an even bigger screen: the Toshiba TG01. The point of this article is to show that Windows Mobile needs lots of power, and a big screen, to run to its full potential, and although the Touch HD and the Sony Ericsson X1 do have that factor, the Toshiba TG01 blitzes both of them. At 4.1 inches, the Toshiba TG01’s screen surpasses the HTC Touch HD, and thanks to its new ‘Snapdragon’ dual-core processor, it has VASTLY more power than either phone. If WinMo needs power and screen real estate to really shine, then without a doubt, the best home it’s found so far is the astounding Toshiba TG01.