HTC Touch

Design
HTC has been manufacturing Windows Mobile-based PDAs (or Pocket PCs as they were known) since the original Compaq iPAQ in 2000, but until recently has been an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for a range of distributors, including HP, Compaq, Dell, Dopod, O2 and i-mate. Following HTC's acquisition of Dopod last year, the Touch is the first HTC-branded device available Down Under -- no more Dopods will be released locally. The Touch has most of the bells and whistles that consumers and corporate users will need in a smartphone, while remaining reasonably priced.

We can't help but notice a couple similarities between the Touch and Apple's iPhone, in particular its large screen and its touch-based navigation, dubbed TouchFLO. The Touch, however, has a lower resolution screen (240 by 320 pixels) than the iPhone, and the selection key has a thin bezel that functions as a four-way navigation pad. Two camouflaged shortcut buttons for the Today screen and phone are also below the screen.

The Touch is encased in matte black which, in addition to the display, manages to attract smudge marks -- although probably less-so than a glossy finish. A thin silver rim on the side hides the power button, volume rocker, lanyard loop, stylus, SIM card slot, microSD slot and USB port -- used for charging, synchronising with a PC or with the supplied headset. The back of the device features a 2-megapixel camera.

The overall design of the HTC is smart, clean and suitable for home or corporate use. The finish, however, looks cheap and doesn't feel as solid or polished as some other PDAs we've come across such as the BlackBerry Curve or Nokia's E61i. Removing the SIM card or SD card (located under a plastic flap on one side) is particularly fiddly and requires a sharp object, such as the stylus, to insert and remove the spring-loaded cards.

Weighing 112g and measuring a compact 100 by 58 by 14mm make the Touch reasonably light and thin enough to easily slip into a pocket or bag. The supplied pouch adds some bulk -- you'll struggle to squeeze the protected Touch into your skinny jeans.

Features
The Touch is the first device to include HTC's TouchFLO (and where the Touch gets its moniker from). To use it, HTC says users "sweep their finger up the display to launch an animated, three-dimensional interface comprising three screens: Contacts, Media and Applications". Sweeping your finger across the display horizontally rotates the three screens.

The Touch is also one of the first Windows Mobile 6 device we've come across, which adds some subtle, although useful, additions to the OS. It's been given a facelift to match Windows Vista, includes Microsoft's Direct Push technology to keep your e-mails synchronised with Exchange Server an instant messaging client Live Messenger.

While the Touch is a touch on the slim side, the exclusion of a QWERTY keyboard, either below the screen like the Palm Treo 750 or underneath (a la i-mate's Jasjar) means text entry via the screen is slow and tedious. Seeing as you're likely to be using this as your phone, you may get frustrated if you're an SMS or e-mail addict.

Unfortunately the tri-band (900/1800/1900MHz) Touch only works on GSM, GPRS and EDGE networks. If you were hoping for a 3G or HSDPA-capable handset, you'll have to look elsewhere.

On the connectivity side, the Touch includes 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, infra-red (which is only useful as a TV remote these days) and USB. It also comes bundled with a decently sized 1GB microSD card.

Performance
We found we could occasionally push the Touch to its limits but by and large, it had enough grunt to run multiple apps at the same time. As with many Windows-mobile devices there's a occasional pause between issuing a command and waiting for the device to execute, which can be frustrating.

It may take some users a while to get accustomed to TouchFLO, which requires slow movements with reasonable pressure, for it to recognise a command. While kudos should be given to HTC for attempting to add finger-based touch functionality to a PDA, the limited functions that can be performed with a finger means that you'll have to switch to the stylus for practically every application, once you've selected it. As the Touch is HTC's first device to feature TouchFLO, we'd expect refinements in future devices. We hope this will be the case, making TouchFLO a more useful, well-thought out tool rather than what feels like a last-minute addition (and an attempt to steal the iPhone's thunder). We'd also like to see multi-touch support added to Windows-mobile based devices in the future.

HTC claims a standby time of 200 hours and talk time of 5 hours. With fairly heavy use, we found the device lasted about two and a half days. The phone can be charged via a PC, or with the supplied AC adaptor using the supplied USB cable.

The Touch, while hardly an iPhone killer, is great value for money at AU$699. If you can do without 3G support, a high-res camera or in-built GPS, then the Touch will offer many features you'd require from a smartphone. If not, perhaps you should consider a 3G or HSDPA (3.5G) handset, or wait for the iPhone's Down Under debut in March.