Touch Pro Reviewed at Mobile Tech Review, 4WinMobile

[Jon Westfall]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mobiletechreview.com/phones/Sprint-HTC-Touch-Pro.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.mobiletechreview.com/pho...C-Touch-Pro.htm</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"The HTC Touch Pro is undeniably one of the hottest PDA phones of 2008. And in the US, just as with the HTC Touch Diamond, Sprint customers get to sample it first. Previously available only as a GSM import with no US 3G, the Sprint version is the first carrier-branded Touch Pro. Rumor has it that AT&amp;T will launch their version soon as the Fuze, and Verizon will have a version with a slower CPU and less memory (again, these are just rumors as of this writing). What is the Touch Pro? It's the keyboard-ed version of the Diamond, and it's light years ahead of the Mogul on Sprint or the Tilt on AT&amp;T. It's smaller, more modern looking, has a flush VGA touch screen display and all the bells and whistles you'd expect on a flagship smartphone. Specs include Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, a 528MHz CPU, 288 megs of RAM and 512 megs of flash storage, an SDHC microSD card slot, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and a 3.2 megapixel camera. For messaging and content creation types, the most salient feature is the Touch Pro's slide--out QWERTY keyboard."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/ppct/auto/1226672989.usr7.jpg" /></p><p>The Touch Pro is getting quite a lot of attention as of late. With the <a href="http://www.mobiletechreview.com/phones/Sprint-HTC-Touch-Pro.htm" target="_blank">review quoted above</a> and another at <a href="http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/4wm-reviews-hardware/18293-o2-xda-serra.html" target="_blank">4WinMobile</a>, it is interesting to see it getting some very high marks from reviewers around the world. I'm certainly interested in it as well as the Omnia - what about you?</p>

[Scottwood2]

The Fuze is out. I played with one at my AT&T store last night. In stock ready to go. Funny while I was in the store they had about 6 people come in and buy iphones. The sales man said the Blackberry was better than the iPhone or Fuze.

I like this phone but wish it had a bigger screen. Waiting for the Samsung i910 at Verizon.

[mmidgley]

I took the plunge. I gave at&t two more years (but I was about to sign up an additional line for a family member anyway, so I really didn't mind--plus now I feel like I'm getting something out of the phone subsidy which you pay for even when you've bought an unlocked phone from expansys).

Because of how I've been impressed with the Touch Pro (even before I received my i-mate 9502) I bought a 16gb uSD card for the Fuze! Its sad that at&t includes few accessories, but it probably makes sense for the average user and to keep the price down. I've ordered a wired headset and video out cable. I also bought a carrying case. It came with a screen protector that looks very good.

It is only slightly smaller than the Tilt or 9502, but it sure makes a difference. I notice it both on my belt in a case and even more so when its in my hand.

I guess I'm ok with having to remove the battery cover to access the card slot (I'm used to that since the 9502 does it this way too). I still wonder if I'll wear out the plastic parts that latch the cover in place. Other than that the build quality appears great!

HTC has done well with this model.

m.

[austingang]

I spent some time at the Sprint store and though the phone feels and looks great, I must say I was disappointed in its speed. At the same time I had a T-mobile G1 in my pocket. I have used windows mobile since the beginning and other than a Blackberry, its really the only phone/PPC OS I have used. I had the G1 for about 2 weeks and was trying to decide if it was for me or not. After playing with the Touch Pro for about 20 mins I was going nuts at the pace between app changes and browsing web sites. Even thought the Android OS doesn't have all the app WM6 does, its hands down a superior hardware/OS/keyboard combination then the Touch.

[Jelster]

I took the plunge with a Fuze also. After some awful misinformation at the retail stores (price $449 if I didn't take a $30 data plan) I got it online as an upgrade at the $349 price (less $50 rebate if I put the data plan on). Why can't they simplify this?

Anyway, from cruising the excellent xda website (http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=437) I'm picking up a wealth of tips and tweaks for when I get it delivered, first of which will be putting a slimmer and faster ROM on the phone. I think this is the strength and weakness of WinMob, you can play and change so much but unfortunately such play is often a necessity to get things working correctly.