HTC Touch Review

PocketPC devices based  on Windows Mobile have stormed the market recently and they are available is all shapes and sizes. HTC has been producing amazing devices based on this platform which are very affordable too.HTC Touch aims to redefine them with a new navigation system and other cool features.

HTC Touch specifications:

• Dimensions: 99.9 x 58 x 13.9 mm
• Weight : 112 gms
• 2.8″ TFT  touchscreen with 240 x 320 resolution
• Handwriting recognition
• GPRS,EDGE,WiFi,Bluetooth
• 2 MP Camera

The small dimensions of the HTC Touch earn it the tag of world’s smallest PocketPC. With the device weighing just 112 gms you won’t be able to realize its presence in your pocket. The rounded edges give it a “cute” look and holding the device is also a bit easier.It is powered by a 201 MHz processor coupled with 64MB of RAM and 128MB of ROM.

Display and TouchFLO

HTC Touch has a huge 2.8″ QVGA resolution TFT screen which takes up most of the space on the front leaving enough for the D-Pad.The visibility of the screen is good enough in sunlight but the screen tends to catch fingerprints making it smudgy at times.The screen is at par with other PocketPC devices and 65K does not make much of a difference.

TouchFLO is a much talked about feature of the HTC Touch.Although it is not a replacement for the stylus but it creates a completely new dimension to navigation in PocketPC devices.Working with the TouchFLO cube is fun and accomplish many tasks.It reinvents the joy of working on a PocketPC and will give other manufacturers a food for thought.

Multimedia and Camera

The Windows Media Player that is standard on the Windows Mobile Platform is used for playing all the multimedia files. You can also watch TV or stream video using it.The library management is good as is with WMP.Additionally you can find Audio manager that can also be used to organize your music collection.The processor is the bottleneck to playing video files and HTC needs to think on that in its future devices.

Camera isn’t anything much to talk about as it is an under performer and disappoints.The lack of autofocus makes the pictures blurry. The menu navigation is easy and operatable through fingers.There are manual settings also at your disposable but the camera is just not good enough to utilize them to full effect.Video recording at 10fps and QCIF resolution seems to be native to previous generation phones.

Web browser and Organizer

Internet Explorer is the default web browser as HTC did not bundle any other web browser. IE is average at its best and I would recommend installing some third party web browser like Opera to get a rich browsing experience. Basic features like fullscreen mode,landscape mode are available and you can also fit the website to the screen but that is pretty much it.

Organizer can perform all the tasks be it from creating a to-do list,scheduling multiple alarms,creating notes,scribbling down notes in your own handwriting,voice recording,performing calculations. All the tasks are available at your expense.The search application gives good results.MSN Live is now standard on WM 6.0 Platform.Other applications include Office Mobile,Outlook,Adobe Reader, Zip manager.

Pros:

• Small dimensions
• TouchFLO
• Good organizer

Cons:

• No 3G
• Poor processor
• Screen prone to fingerprints
• Lack of FM radio
• Below average camera

Final Thoughts

Being the sleekest Pocket PC it is a first choice for many.Apart from TouchFLO and good organizer there is not much to talk about the phone based on Windows Mobile 6.0 Platform. I feel it does not manage to utilize the full power of the platform.Slow processor and bad camera are some of major drawbacks of this phone.I would not recommend buying it unless you are happy after trying it out.There are better devices in the market but they don’t come as cheap as HTC Touch too!