Don’t let the understated design of the HTC Touch 3G fool you, because underneath that sleek, almost plain looking exterior lies a high quality mobile communications device that can hold it’s own with the best of them. When HTC first released the HTC Touch, it was probably the first time that a Windows driven tablet style PDA device actually looked like it was a phone you would want to use. Until then, pretty much every PDA device was a square, blocky, heavy design that reminisced of the days of the brick phone. With the Touch, that all changed. Now we had a device that looked good and performed just as well.
One of the areas the original HTC Touch was let down was in data connectivity. Although it included WiFi, the lack of 3G was a real let down. WiFi is nice, but how often do you really find yourself in a WiFi hotspot?. It should be obvious by the name of this new Touch device that the 3G issue has been addressed. But HTC didn’t just add 3G as a bare minimum to get by, they also included HSDPA Mobile Broadband support too, offering high speed web browsing up to 7.2Mbps. The Touch 3G seems to be designed with web use in mind, maybe more so than multimedia. As well as the solid high speed data capabilities, the Touch 3G is well supported with Class 10 GPRS and EDGE as a back-up, and of course the new Touch 3G still supports WiFi.
To emphasise the focus on web, the HTC Touch 3G comes equipped with built in Opera Web browser. Opera may not be the force in desktop browsing that maybe Firefox or the ever present Internet Explorer is (although I can’t understand why) but when it comes to mobile browsing, Opera seem to be top of the tree. Alongside the excellent Opera Mini web browser, there is a full version of Opera available for the majority of Smartphones, such as those running Windows Mobile, Symbian UIQ and S60. With Opera web navigation on the Touch 3G is a breeze. One handed operation is simplicity itself, the Opera browser lends itself well to finger control, and offers full support for websites like YouTube so you can view video clips on demand whilst on the go.
Although the focus of the handset appears to be on the web capabilities, the Touch 3G does not lack in other areas. For example, there is full support for GPS and aGPS included, and the device works very well with the popular free mapping software from Google. Images are presented crisp and clear on the large QVGA screen, and again the software works well with the finger touch interface.
Also included in the handset is a 3.2 megapixel camera. The inclusion of a good camera is always welcome on a handset, and to be fair the camera on the HTC does an adequate job. Simple point n shoot snaps come out well enough, and are of an acceptable quality for uploading to your favourite media sharing or social networking website.
One of the great things about the HTC Touch range is the way the user interface hides all the ugliness of the Windows Mobile operating system under an easy to use, pleasing to the eye graphical menu. The HTC TouchFlo system is well thought out, and makes the handset easy to navigate. From the main home screen, the most popular items in your menu are easily accessed by selecting the relevant icon. Quick access is available to your contacts, messaging, and so on. In your contact list you can select those who you call most often, and if available you can also add a photo to that contact. Email support is well catered for, and set up is pretty painless. The phone offers a variety of ways to enter text, using an on-screen QWERTY keypad, traditional alphanumeric keys or via handwriting recognition.
Because of the sleek look, and ease of use, it is easy to forget that the HTC Touch 3G is a smartphone, and for that HTC have to be applauded. The more manufacturers can deliver handsets that are feature rich yet retain a level of usability; the more people are going to take advantage and actually use these features. At this time the release date has not been officially announced, we expect it to be in the latter part of 2009, although sim free handsets are now available from a handful of retailers. Watch this space for updates.
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7:35 pm
Nice Review, I like the phone but could not go back to a Windows Mobile device anytime in the near future!