HTC Touch review

HTC’s Touch represents a revolution in Windows Mobile in that it adds a whole new look to parts of Windows Mobile 6 Professional and provides devices with a finger-sweeping way of navigating.

Since first being introduced in the Touch, the finger-sweeping system has appeared in several subsequent Windows Mobile devices from HTC, but the Touch is where it all started.

In hardware terms too, the Touch is a novel approach to a Windows Mobile smartphone, being sleek, thin and very stylish.

The whole idea is to make a Windows Mobile device with rock solid consumer appeal while retaining all its clever features. Does the strategy work?

On the hardware design front, HTC really hits the spot with the Touch. The device feels great in the hand thanks to its rubberised casing. This makes a real change from the plastic casings that adorn so many smartphones (and ordinary mobiles and it helps with grip, too, which is an added bonus.

The Touch is also very thin and light for a Windows Mobile smartphone. It weighs in at 112g which is comparable to many ordinary old mobile phones, and it measures 99.9mm tall, 58mm wide and a very impressive 13.9mm thick. The black and silver colour scheme is attractive to the eye as are the curved edges. These are all plus points, and there is more goodness on the design front.

Windows Mobile devices tend to have an array of shortcut buttons underneath the screen but that isn’t the case here. There are just two on the Touch – the Call and End buttons that you use to make and end voice calls. And the navigation pad that sits between them is nicely styled, as well as - importantly - being large and easy to use. It is a minimalist look which should appeal to non-geeky types.

Around the sides of the HTC Touch there is a band of silver which contrasts nicely with the black and houses an array of additional buttons and connectors. On the left is a volume rocker, the power button is on the top. The right edge has a camera button for shortcut access to the built in 2 megapixel camera, and on the bottom edge is a mini USB connector.

So far, then, it is all good – in fact in many ways it is more than good. But that finger-sweeping, which we will now refer to by its correct name of TouchFLO, and the internal specifications of this smartphone let things down.

Touchy feely interface

TouchFLO is designed to add new features to the touch screen of a Windows Mobile 6 Professional device. It certainly sounds like a neat idea on paper and looks impressive in demos, but as implemented on the Touch it really is only a skin on the top of the standard Windows Mobile user interface.

Start the HTC Touch running and a very slick looking Today screen opens up showing you the time and offering some shortcuts to messaging, live weather information and suchlike.

Sweep a finger from the bottom of the screen upwards towards the top and a new screen appears. You are into TouchFLO. Sweeping a finger left to right or right to left takes you between three screens of large, easy to tap icons.

One of these offers you a choice of Music, Photos or Videos. One lets you choose between a non-customisable set of applications: email, SMS/MMS, Internet Explorer, Tasks, Calendar and the device Comm Manager (where you can control Bluetooth, Wi-Fi etc.). One is a photo contacts quickdial grid. The animated transition between screens makes it look like you are rotating a cube, albeit one with just three sides. When you are ready to leave you sweep a finger from top to bottom of the screen and you return to the Today screen.

The bottom line on TouchFLO is that it is eye-catching and potentially useful, but all too soon you are out of it and into Windows Mobile applications, and at that point you have to work with the Windows Mobile interface.

This could invariably mean getting out the stylus and tapping at the screen with that. Using the stylus is quite a comedown after tapping at huge icons with a finger or thumb, not least because you immediately have to switch from one-handed to two-handed use. It could prove quite frustrating on an everyday basis.

Specifications are a curate's egg

When it comes to the specifications the HTC Touch is a mixed bag. If you want 3G from your smartphone, look elsewhere because the HTC Touch runs Tri-band GSM with GPRS and EDGE. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are both here, the latter being particularly nice to see as it means you can use your own home network for Web browsing and other activities.

Built-in memory isn’t as plentiful as it is on some Windows Mobile devices with just 128MB of RAM and 64MB of ROM. You’ll find somewhere around 30MB free for your own storage of data and applications. You get a 1GB microSD card with the HTC Touch to boost the storage capability and the card slot is under the battery cover where it is nicely protected/hard-to-get-at, depending on your point of view..

Now, if you are thinking of using the card to store music that’s a perfectly legitimate option as Windows Mobile 6 Professional comes with the Windows Media Player. However, the bundled headset connects to the HTC Touch via the same mini USB port that is used to charge the battery and connect to a PC for synchronising data. There isn’t a 3.5mm connector.

This seems bizarre, really, when you consider that HTC is interested in the consumer market with the Touch and many consumers like good quality headphones of their own choice rather than the ones that are come with devices.

In the end the overall average specifications and that lack of 3.5mm headset jack let the HTC Touch down a little. This is a great pity. Windows Mobile is often thought of as being primarily for professional users, and as we said at the start what HTC has tried to do with the Touch is attempt to bring it to a wider audience. The ambition is achieved well with the hardware design, but under the hood things aren’t quite so attractive.