Like the iPhone, but wished it had Windows Mobile on it? Yeah us neither, but that hasn't stopped HTC from producing what many will consider an iPhone knockoff, WinMo6 style. The Touch is a charming little handset that you will either love or hate, depending on how you look at things. The mobile is impossibly small but packs in a pretty standard feature set for a pocket pc, or what MicroSoft now calls Windows Mobile Professional.
The Touch doesn't have many buttons, in fact the only buttons on the device are the send and end keys and a 5 way directional controller. There is also a volume control key to the left of the device and a camera key to right of the device. Up on top is the power/sleep key and the silo for the stylus and along the bottom is the Ext USB port HTC uses for device sync, charging and audio, the mic and a lanyard loop. All input is done using the 2.8 inch QVGA touchscreen. The screen on the Touch is particularly nice because unlike most pocket pc's the screen sits flush with the device and not recessed like on most other touchscreen devices. This makes using the touchscreen alot easier to use and we wish that more other device makers would incorporate this design.
Spec wise, you're looking at an OMAP 850 proc running at 201 Mhz 128 Mb of ROM and 64 Mb of RAM. Tri-Band GSM, GPRS, EDGE (900, 1800, 1900) WiFi, and BlueTooth 1.2. The device runs exactly as you would expect a 201 Mhz Pocket PC to run, alittle on the slow side. This type of proc does well on WinMo6 Standard devices (Smartphone) but seems a little (alot) strained on PPC. The device takes a second or 2 (or 3) to open apps like messenging and calendar, but once they are running in the background the Touch is just a snappy as any other PPC or feature phone.
The Touch features your standard suite of Window Mobile Apps and adds some unique HTC additions. In the upper right hand corner of the screen is a list of currently running apps that you can quickly close by tapping the little red X button. This makes freeing up RAM a simple affair instead of going through the many key taps of the start menu. The T-Mobile Wing also has this feature, so maybe this is something HTC is incorporating in all of their devices, carrier specific or not. The other addition is what gives the Touch its name. HTC added a unique shell to the home screen that lets you slide your finger upwards on the device to bring up a 3D like menu of key apps (SMS, Email, IE, etc...) that are finger friendly. Swipe your finger to the left or right while in this menu mode and you will get a nifty turning animation of a 3 sided cube. The other sides of the cube are a photo speed dial list and a photo, video, and music launcher. Swipe your finger downward and the menu closes. While helpful, we wish HTC could have made all the apps close with a downward swipe. But the WinMo OS is MicroSoft's property and there is only so much they could do to the OS. Some little but helpful improvements to the OS are you can swipe-scroll in almost any app. This is helpful for quickly looking through contacts or tons of email. Once you spend some time with the system and its quirks and improvements, you really appreciate what HTC was trying to do. While using the Wing I found myself trying to open the 3D menu and use some of the gesture swipes that are on the Touch.
Incoming audio is very good as well as outgoing audio. The device is reasonably loud and I have yet to miss a call with the Touch in my pocket while walking down the loud streets of NYC. Text input at first glance would appear to be something akin to torture with the tiny on screen keyboard WinMo provides. My first impression was that this would be a deal killer, and it would have had I not found HTC's wonderful T9 Phone Pad app. It simulates a 12 key standard phone keypad with buttons big enough to use with your thumb or finger. This made entering text a breeze and really brings the funtionality of the device way up. You can find Phone Pad here.
Overall HTC's Touch is no iPhone, but it never claims to be (HTC has been making touchscreen only devices for a while now) But with it's unique added on interface, recessed screen and gesture scrolling, the Touch holds its own within the world of WinMo devices. We just wish it had a better proc and maybe some more RAM. 3G isn't a concern for me as I use T-Mobile for wireless service. I would recommend the Touch to anyone who wants a unique WinMo device and isn't afraid of a button-less device.
Leave your questions in the comments section and I will try and answer them as best as I can!
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