Otaku Gadgets

Recently I covered the HTC Touch Diamond 2 and there in you will find that I talked about the improvements HTC has made to their Touch Flo 3D user interface. HTC Touch phones are the latest in smartphones that use the Windows Mobile Platform. Other than HTC, all the other phones that have created a buzz recently are the Linux based phones (Android phones, Palm’s WebOS), Symbian Phones and of course – the Apple iPhone, which is based on the Apple’s own iPhone OS platform.

So the Windows Mobile camp has seen very little action lately except the HTC Touch Diamond 2 and the HTC Touch Pro 2.

The HTC Touch Pro 2 is a really great smartphone and even though it is a bit on the bulkier side of things, it is a great touch phone to have. It has a smart and elegant design and feels very sturdy when used. Even though it is not very pocket-friendly (in all senses) it is a great phone to have. The Touch Pro 2 is more focused on the usability than the form factor it seems. It has a very high quality build and does not feel cheap and ‘plasticky’. It measures 4.53 x 2.33 x 0.68 inches and is actually larger than both the Nokia 97 and the T-Mobile G1.

The solid build, along with the tapered edges and rounded corners makes it easy to hold the phone in the palm of your hand. The large size also makes it possible to have a larger physical keyboard and a gorgeous screen.

The 3.5-inch WVGA screen is a beauty to look at. It displays 65,000 colors and has a 480 x 800 pixel resolution. It is a sharp and usable display that makes reading text and watching videos a pleasurable experience. The larger screen also makes it easier to surf the web and view longer emails. For things that need a wider screen, there is the landscape orientation for which you just have to tilt the phone to the side. The built-in accelerometer is more or less responsive but it might take one or two seconds to switch the display sometimes. The orientation also automatically switches to the landscape mode when you slide out the keypad.

One problem with the screen is that it is a resistive touch screen instead of a capacitive one like most other touch phones. So you have to make your presses a bit firmer and more accurate on the Touch Pro 2. This can be slightly problematic for people with large fingers.

However, reviewers have posted that the screen is quite responsive and easy to use. Most people prefer having a capacitive Touch Screen but using the HTC Touch Pro 2 seems to have pleased most people. The Touch Flo 3D interface also contributes to the entire experience.

The keypad is a standard QWERTY keypad with nice wide buttons that are very easy to press and have a good tactile feedback. This is another area where the phone’s large size has really been well used. The keys are quite well built and they do not have too loud a click when pressed. The keys have a non-slippery texture and that makes it even easier to type on them. There is enough space between the keys and hence you are likely to make fewer mistakes when typing with this keypad.

HTC has also included an onscreen keyboard that is available in both portrait and landscape orientations. Thus you have the option of inputting text in three different ways depending on which one’s more convenient for you. It will of course vary according to what you are doing.

The interface is very well designed and as mentioned in the Touch Diamond 2 review, the zoom bar makes it easier to view things. So you can just slide to zoom in on the desired area and then you can zoom out and select another area. Applications are launched with a single tap and it works smoothly. Some people have reported having problems while scrolling through long lists where the screen sometime gets choppy.

This phone focuses on helping the business users by giving them better integration between all the different communication features like voice calling, conference calls, messages, emails, etc. A new feature called Straight Talk makes it easier to initiate different kinds of communications at the same time. So for example, you can now initiate a conference call from the email interface by using a contact from the email interface. There are also various other in-call features where you can selectively talk to a contact while on a conference call then join back in, etc. If you place the phone face down on a flat surface while you are in a call, the phone will auto-activate the speaker phone which is at the back. There is even a mute button at the back should you need it.

As usual, the phone supports standard high-end business phone features like quad band world roaming, speed dial, voice commands, three way calling, proximity sensor and text and multimedia messaging. The address book is fully featured where each contact can have multiple numbers, emails and other information stored. The extent of the address book is limited only by available memory.

The phone has the Opera Mobile browser that is really very useful and there is also Internet Explorer if you for some reason feel like using it. It has HSDPA 3G, GPRS, Wi-Fi and EDGE support.

While the Touch Diamond 2 has upgraded to a 5 MP camera, the Touch Pro 2 retains the older 3.2 megapixel camera that also does video. It can play AAC, mp3, MPEG-4, WMV, WAV, and WMV files, so it has pretty good multimedia support. There is also a built in YouTube and streaming media app.

It comes with 255MB RAM and 512 ROM. There is a MicroSD card slot for expansion and you will need it. It comes with a 528MHz Qualcomm processor and integrated assistive GPS.

The provided 1500mAh Lithium-Ion battery is rated at 8.5 hours of talk time and up to 20 days of stand by time, so it will get you through the day on a single charge.

So if you are looking for a good business class touch phone, this will serve your purpose quite nicely.