Touchy feely

Boy Toys by Ding

HTC is quite new to the mobile phone market, and is a relatively unknown name in Sri Lanka. The reason for the latter is the fact that HTC caters to a niche: the Smartphone.

HTC has quite an interesting lineup, and the three newest members of the family are the HTC Touch, HTC Touch Dual, and the TyTN II. And this week, we're looking at the entry level HTC Touch.

At a glance, it's a triband mobile phone featuring a 2MP camera, and a 240x320 2.8-inch touch screen. But the features that make it stand out from the rest are quite impressive. It has 802.11 b/g WiFi connectivity and Bluetooth, but most importantly it runs on Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional. And it has a nifty feature called Touch Flo.

Touch Flo uses hand gestures to switch between 'panels,' which provide quick access to media on the phone. And the controls which are provided with Touch Flo for the phone features are large enough to use with the finger. But if you're an SMS addict like me, then the stylus needs to be used, and it's not an easy task. My previous experience with a Pocket PC was using a Viewsonic V36, and experience has taught me that using a stylus to type is not easy.

That problem can be overcome however, by using a third party on-screen keyboard software. And that's where the beauty of the phone lies, since it runs on Windows Mobile, the possibilities are endless. Microsoft has been quick in fixing a couple of bugs in the software, and has released an updates (Windows Mobile 6.1), and now the mini-OS is as stable as ever. A little bit of Google-ing gave me a list of software spanning from News Readers, to a little bit of software that can turn the phone into a Sonar device.

Moving on to the media part of it, the screen is a bit on the glossy side, and is prone to smudge marks (as expected). Even though a bit of glare is visible during bright light conditions, using it indoors will not create any usability issues.

Video playback is sharp and responsive, but I've seen better playback quality in some mobile phones, including the Nokia N95 (which I loathe).

The provided stereo headphones are nothing to shout about in terms of quality, but the device has one major flaw in this end; it does not have a standard 3.5mm audio jack. That means if you're an audiophile like me, you would need to purchase an aftermarket miniUSB > 3.5mm converter to use standard headphones. Massive letdown if you're planning on listening to music with it.

Wrap up time: As I said earlier, the possibilities are endless with the Windows Mobile platform. And if you need to stay connected while on the move, this would be a near perfect companion. Watch out iPhone, this one's got you in its sights.