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Jul
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HTC, the company behind many of today’s most popular Windows Mobile smart phones, is known for offering a broad range of devices. It has done petite, thin, and powerful, and it’s even gone above and beyond traditional smart phones, as we saw at CTIA 2007 with the introduction of the HTC Shift and HTC Advantage. And now, the company has once again pushed the limits of design with its latest project: the HTC Touch.
Under the hood, the Touch isn’t that different from its HTC and Windows Mobile 6 sibling, the T-Mobile Wing. Yet the HTC Touch makes its mark by offering TouchFLO, a brand-new user interface that allows you to operate the smart phone just by swiping your finger on the device’s touch screen. It’s innovative and cool, but it’s also flawed. Our main concern is the lack of a sizable keyboard, which is a huge drawback for messaging fanatics, and it even slows down simple tasks such as entering new contacts.
HTC is hoping to capture a broader consumer audience with the Touch–someone who is thinking of making the leap from a cell phone to a smart phone–and it’s certainly a step in the right direction. It’s fun to use, so we didn’t feel like we were using a corporate-geared device. We also absolutely welcome the innovation in technology and design, as it opens up the doors to smarter and cooler phones. That said, we’re not sure the HTC Touch is quite ready for mass consumption yet. There are some niggling design quirks, and performance can sometimes be sluggish. But mostly, if the company can find a better solution for text input (perhaps by the time it’s finally released in the States?), then the HTC Touch could certainly catch on. Bottom line: it’s a good first effort, but we’d hold off for now.
Finally, we’d be remiss not to mention the Apple iPhone here. With its touch screen capability, there’s a natural inclination to compare the two. In fact, the Touch has already solicited a few, “Oh, so it’s like the iPhone?” responses from casual observers. Will it rival the iPhone? We’ll know in just a couple of weeks.
The HTC Touch is on sale now in the United Kingdom and will ship in the rest of Europe and Asia later this month. U.S. availability is expected during the second half of the year. No official word on pricing or carrier, but we’ll keep you updated with any news and will re-evaluate the device once the we get the U.S. version of the HTC Touch.
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