HTC’s stalwart HD2 runs Windows RT

XDA dev member Cotulla has managed to get Microsoft Windows RT up and running on HTC’s stalwart HD2 smartphone.

As you may recall, the versatile HD2 is more than capable of running a host of operating systems, including Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows Phone 7, Android (up to Jelly Bean), Ubuntu and even MeeGo.

Although Windows RT is designed for touchscreen devices, it’s really meant for tablet-sized screens, rather than handsets. In addition, the OS undoubtedly requires more than the HD2’s 512MB of RAM and a faster processor than a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. Still, its pretty cool to see RT up and running on the HD2.

As Jerdog of XDA devs points out, Cotulla has quite a long track record of doing extraordinary things with Windows devices, and the HD2 is clearly no exception.

Of course, the versatility and open approach of the HD2 should also be credited, both of which allowed the handset to only increase in popularity some three years after its initial launch.

“The device is completely wide open thanks to HTC’s old philosophy. They have since gone away from that, which would account for part of their meteoric slide in sales and relevance,”  Jerdog explained.

“When developers can do anything and everything they desire to a device, we get gems like this one. When they can’t, they stop recommending the manufacturer and people stop buying.”