Photo gallery: HTC Touch ProDesign
We have a sneaking suspicion that if you are reading this review, you've probably been tracking the progress of the recently released HTC Touch Diamond. If you've been into your local mobile phone store and clapped eyes on the sleek black Diamond then you've basically seen the Touch Pro as well. There is one major physical difference between the Diamond and the Pro, but you'd be hard-pressed to pick the difference if you saw them sitting side-by-side in a display cabinet.
This major difference is, of course, the Pro's sliding form factor and the full five-row QWERTY keyboard this slide conceals. Unlike most smartphones with full keyboards, the Pro dedicates the fifth row to numerals, rather than making numbers secondary functions on selected alphabet keys. As the draw card feature this keyboard is a winner. The keys are on the small side, smaller than its predecessor the HTC TyTN II, but not so small that they are difficult to use. We were able to type quickly with two thumbs with very little practice.
The keyboard does add extra bulk, extending the Pro's depth to 18mm over the Diamond's svelte 11mm thickness. The battery is also larger, up from 900mAh to 1340mAh, making the Pro noticeably heavier than its slimmer brother, and many other standard mobile handsets for that matter. The Touch Pro features a single input port used for charging, USB connections and plugging in the bundled hands-free headphones. It would have been nice to see a 3.5mm headphone jack — it's always great to be able to use your own headphones — however, the bundled 'phones do a decent job of playing the music stored on the phone.
On the top of the handset is the power button which also doubles as the standby button, used to bring the phone in and out of a power-saving mode while simultaneously locking the keypad and touchscreen. If we had our way we'd have preferred to see this standby key on the front of the phone, or a combination lock requiring several inputs that could be accessed with the thumb you plan to use on the touchscreen.
Features
Beyond the QWERTY keyboard there are a few differences between the Pro and the Diamond, albeit subtle ones. Both phones feature 3.2-megapixel cameras, however, the Pro also sports a flash making it much more usable indoors. Another key difference, and this one will be a deal-breaker for some, is that the Pro has no substantial internal storage. Whereas the Diamond makes use of a non-expandable 4GB of memory, the Touch Pro features a microSD card reader instead, giving the option to use up to 8GB SDHC memory cards which would have to be purchased separately.
The two phones share top-line connectivity specifications, both connect to the Web with 7.2Mbps HSDPA or Wi-Fi, and both have on-board GPS receivers with no dedicated mapping software to take advantage of this hardware. Google Maps is pre-installed and is handy for plotting courses, but it won't give voice-guided directions.
In Australia, the Touch Pro will be available first through 3 Mobile with other carriers to follow shortly after. Our review unit has a 3 services menu installed, giving quick access to music downloads, mobile TV, Facebook, YouTube, and hot links to account information like your current account balance. At the time of writing this review, the Touch Pro was not available on Telstra's Next G network which means no access to mobile Foxtel, unlike the Diamond.
Performance
After being disappointed by the lacklustre performance of the Touch Diamond we have some good news, sort of. HTC has pumped up the RAM in the Pro to a pretty beefy 288MB and has made public knowledge that the company has also upgraded the firmware to improve performance, and to a point where we can see this improvement. Menu navigation from the Home Screen using TouchFlo 3D is faster and smoother, and we feel it responds more accurately to our input. There is still some extended lag spikes, especially when navigating from TouchFlo 3D to a standard Windows Mobile menu, such as with contacts and messaging, but overall we have been happier with the speed.
One place we have noticed considerably poor performance is when we are banging out emails and SMS messages. We commented above on how great this keyboard is, noting that we can type quickly using two thumbs. Unfortunately, the Touch Pro can't keep up with us on-screen, at times we could be two full words ahead of what we could read in the text field and were kept waiting for the software to catch up.
Our other major concern after reviewing the Diamond was its shabby battery life. Again, we are happy to have seen an improvement in this area as well, though it is another marginal step forward. The larger battery, as described above, is about 50 per cent bigger and should last for about 50 per cent longer. With light to moderate use we managed to get through a full day with the Touch Pro and often through most of the second day as well. We'd still like to see this improved before HTC releases the Touch HD with its 3.8-inch screen.
Web browsing on the Touch Pro is bliss, it's simply the best mobile browsing experience on the market. HTC has modified the latest version of Opera's browser for Windows Mobile, offering probably the best mobile browser combined with some extra tools for improved navigation, such as, using the Pro's front-facing circular soft-key as an iPod-esque jogwheel for zooming in and out of pages. Matched with the Pro's excellent 2.8-inch VGA resolution display, this is mobile Web browsing that we can actually imagine people using on a regular basis.
Overall
At least HTC is listening. We cried out for better processing and longer battery cycles and that is exactly what's been delivered. The Touch Pro marks a notable step forward towards a truly excellent smartphone, but there's still room for improvement. That said, the Touch Pro is an emotional favourite around the CNET offices — we love the TouchFlo 3D interface and the keyboard is fantastic. Even after the release of the next bunch of HTC mobile phones, including the mouth-watering Touch HD, we predict the Touch Pro will still appeal more to business people wanting a messaging phone more than a multimedia player.
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