HTC Touch Pro smartphone

Windows Mobile phones lag behind Nokia and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry in terms of market share, but Microsoft’s platform is catching up fast.

Gartner calculates that sales of Windows-based smartphones were 20 per cent higher in the second quarter of 2008 than a year ago. One reason is the efforts of handset makers to combine more attractive, easier to use designs with the business functions of Windows Mobile.

Handset maker HTC’s latest business phone – the Touch Pro – shows just what can be done when those elements come together. The Touch Pro combines TouchFlo 3D, the touch interface first shown on the Touch Diamond handset with a slide-out physical keyboard.

TouchFlo is not quite as intuitive as the iPhone’s touch interface, but it works well enough for managing the phone’s basic functions, such as making calls, light web browsing or looking up calendar entries or contacts. Features such as the cute weather page and clock, carried over from the Touch Diamond, make the touch interface fun to use.

The phone has plenty of business features, too, such as support for high speed, HSDPA web browsing, GPS, Wi-Fi, out of the box support for Exchange e-mail synchronisation and the improved security features of Windows Mobile 6.1.

On the downside, the Touch Pro doesn’t feel all that responsive. Touch commands could be quicker. It also takes a few seconds before the phone registers that the keyboard is extended and it allows you to type.

The fact that HTC includes a stylus with the phone serves as a reminder that the Windows menu system is alive and well under the TouchFlo skin: all but the most casual users will use the stylus quite a lot.

The screen is high resolution, but relatively small (2.8 inches), so navigating those menus can be challenging. The Touch Pro is much more pocket friendly than many earlier Windows Mobile phones, but after a few hours use, a larger device might actually feel more comfortable.

Sometimes a larger, lower-resolution screen is easier to use, for example in poor light. Nor is battery life on the Touch Pro – two days at best – good enough to persuade this writer to give up his BlackBerry.

The HTC Touch Pro is one of the best Windows Mobile smartphones yet. But in trying to upgrade a consumer handset to business class, HTC has produced a good smartphone rather than a true wireless PDA for the road warrior. Heavy e-mail users who do not need to run Windows Mobile applications could also look at Nokia’s E71 or the new, 3G, BlackBerry Bold.

By: Stephen Pritchar, via: FT.com

HTC Shift

The HTC Shift has just been released in the US and I think Sprint will be the one providing the mobile broadband feature. Here in the UK, the HTC Shift has long been launched by Orange.

This Ultra Mobile PC is like a Laptop and PDA in one since it is running both Windows Vista and Windows Mobile. It even has separate specs for the Laptop and the PDA. UMPC specifications for the HTC Shift include 7 inch touch screen, Intel A100 800Mhz processor, fingerprint reader, integrated web cam, integrated Intel GMA950 integrated video chipset, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 30GB hard disk drive, Bluetooth, HSDPA, and WiFi. The PDA specs include a 400 MHz Qualcomm processor, and 128MB of RAM.

HTC Touch Diamond Review

So HTC has announced another new HTC Touch, the HTC Touch Diamond. Frankly, this is what, the fourth time that HTC had a go at being iPhone’s main competitor? So, is the fourth time a charm? Let’s find out. Just a word of warning to iPhone haters, I’m not Apple fanboy, but frankly, HTC is just trying too hard at making an iPhone copycat.

Design

The HTC Touch Diamond still has the same 2.8 inch screen as other regular PDA phones. What is wrong with upping it to 3 inch, HTC? The design of the HTC Touch Diamond is reminiscent of the Nokia Prism phones, with diamond like patterns on the back of the device. Unlike the iPhone, the HTC Touch Diamond has a circular directional pad, much like the one in HTC Touch Cruise. Since HTC didn’t copy the iPhone’s design right off the bat, I have to give them points for design. The HTC Touch Diamond is one gorgeous, sleek phone.

Specifications and Features

The HTC Touch Diamond is a HUGE improvement from other HTC phones. Instead of the usual 400 MHz processor, you will get a Qualcomm MSM 7201A 528MHz processor plus you get a 192MB RAM. You’d think that the HTC Touch Diamond’s interface would be faster with the RAM and processor and all, however, the interface is still quite sluggish compared with the iPhone but a much better improvement from the HTC Touch Cruise’s sluggish interface. To get an idea of what I'm talking about...

Read all entries at: PhoneReviews

HTC Advantage X7510

The HTC Advantage is a tweener: it's not a UMPC like the HTC Shift and Fujitsu U810 because it doesn't run a full version of Windows. It's not a smartphone because it's too large to hold to the head, and in fact you can only use it for phone conversations with the included wired headset, built-in speakerphone or a Bluetooth headset. And it's not the first handheld computer with the Advantage name: HTC launched the Advantage X7500 last spring and the US version X7501 in mid-summer 2007. So now you know what it's not...

The HTC Advantage X7510 is nonetheless many things. It's a powerful handheld computer running Windows Mobile Pro with a 5" VGA touch screen, detachable keyboard, unlocked quad band GSM phone with triband HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, a 3MP autofocus camera, a 624MHZ processor and 16 gigs of storage. It's the update with a new keyboard design, double the storage, Windows Mobile 6.1 and the amazing Opera 9.5 web browser that's not yet available for any other device besides HTC's own Touch Diamond. It's a GPS. The Advantage is a laptop replacement for those who don't need Windows XP or Vista specific programs: it has mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer, Outlook and more. And with WAN, LAN and PAN (that's cellular, WiFi and Bluetooth in English) connections, the Advantage is perfect for those who need to stay connected wherever they go. Though large for a phone or even PDA, it's tiny by even UMPC standards and weighs just over 13 ounces (a few 10th of an ounce heavier than the first generation Advantage).

Because relatively little has changed with the X7510, we won't do a detailed review. Please read our original Advantage review for all the gory details. Sadly, because of the Qualcomm lawsuit and injunction, the Advantage X7510 will not be sold in the US. This has nothing to do directly with HTC, but rather Qualcomm filed suit to have certain chips and mobile CPUs blocked for sale in the US and the X7510 got caught in that mess. Though its CPU and chipset are no different from the US X7501 that shipped last summer, the X7501 was cleared for US sale because it already received the green light before the embargo began. A shame really, but you'll have to buy the X7510 from online importers, of which there are many.