Smart just got smarter
SMARTPHONE MANUFACTURER HTC is clearly on a roll. Apart from the fact that the Taiwan-based company – supported in South Africa by Leaf Wireless – was the first to build and sell a well-received phone on the new Google phone operating system called Android, it’s throwing down the gauntlet to the likes of Apple and Samsung’s Omnia with its Touch series of touch screen smartphones.
Its latest model is the HTC Touch Pro, which adds a slide-out Qwerty keyboard to the HTC Touch Diamond. Like the Diamond, the Touch Smart Pro’s touch screen interface sits atop a Windows Mobile platform (Sony Ericsson’s new X1 follows the same principle) and the addition of a keyboard is great news for those who found the Diamond’s gesture control and on-screen keyboard just a bit too fiddly.
The Touch Pro is filled to the brim with features: A stereo FM radio with RDS is a first for this reviewer in a phone, the YouTube client shows that not only the iPhone can do the web properly and the TV Out connection is nifty. The HSDPA Internet connection supports the fastest speed available at 7,2Mbps. Not yet available in SA but could well be before the end of a two-year cellphone contract. Packed into the Touch Pro is a long list of features and, thanks to its Windows underpinnings, synching with your PC is seamless.
Where smart phones with so much happening on board usually fall down is in the speed department and battery life. No matter what cutting edge applications you have available, those frustrating split second delays to open a menu or activate a control will soon add up. The Touch Pro, although not blisteringly fast, performs more than adequately and time between recharging is acceptable in this segment of the market.
Finweek
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