HTC Touch Pro adds Qwerty keyboard to Touch Diamond

Smartphone specialist HTC Corp has officially unveiled its HTC Touch Pro, a sliding Qwerty keyboard-equipped version of its stunning HTC Touch Diamond.

Like the Touch Diamond, the HTC Touch Pro is a smartphone running on the Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional platform, with a similar styling and features rundown, but adding a sliding 5-row full Qwerty keyboard that slips out of the side of the device.

Aimed primarily at business users, the HTC Touch Pro is an HSDPA mobile broadband enabled 3G mobile, capable of download and browsing speeds of up to 7.2Mbps. Wi-Fi connectivity is also included, plus there's a built in AGPS receiver for satellite navigation with a Google Maps application pre-loaded too.

The HTC Touch Pro's 2.8-inch touchscreen supports the smooth new HTC TouchFLO 3D touch operated user interface, layered over the latest version of the Windows Mobile operating system. A motion sensor adjusts the screen view automatically between landscape and portrait mode as the phone is moved.

It features a suite of Microsoft Office mobile software, including full push email support, plus Windows Media Player Mobile for multimedia playback. In addition, it has a customised web browser from Opera, and there's a HTC-developed YouTube viewer application onboard. The smartphone has built in TV-out functionality too, so you can share content or show presentations straight from the device.

A 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus takes care of snapping duties, with a secondary front facing camera for 3G video calling. The HTC Touch Pro has 512MB of flash memory and 288MB RAM, and supports MicroSD card memory expansion.

HTC estimates that the Touch Pro, weighing in at 165g and measures 102(h) x 51(w) x 18.05(d)mm, has an expected battery life of up to 8 hours talktime or two weeks on standby.

The HTC Touch Pro will go on sale in late summer in all major European, Asian and the Middle East markets, with availability in North America and Latin America later in 2008.