HTC Corporation Announces the HTC Touch

[Jason Dunn]

At this moment in London, England, HTC is officially unveiling the HTC Touch: a new device that represents a step forward in the way users interact with a Windows Mobile device. The full press release is below, but here are the highlights: the secret sauce is TouchFLO, a touch screen technology that allows easier finger-based navigation. The touch screens we have today can be used with fingers, so I'm slightly confused as to how this is different, but it can apparently differentiate between a finger and a stylus and respond differently. Sounds great on paper, but I have to see this for myself - and, thankfully, I will. HTC is delivering an HTC Touch to me on Wednesday, so stay tuned for my first impressions (I might even bust out the video for this one).<a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/HTC-touch-LARGE.jpg"><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/HTC-touch-SMALL.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/></a>[click image above for high-resolution version]The specifications for the device are as follows: it's based on the HTC Elf design, uses a 201 Mhz OMAP CPU, is 13.9mm thick, weighs 112 grams, and has an 1100 mAh battery for up to 200 hours of standby and 5 hours of talk time. It features 64 MB RAM/128 MB ROM, includes a free 1 GB microSD card, runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional (so it's a Pocket PC), and has a 2 megapixel CMOS camera. It will come in black and "Wasabi Green" - have you <a href="http://img.timeinc.net/cooking/flavorprofiles/wasabi_m.jpg">seen wasabi</a>? It's a funky green, so I can't wait to see what the green version looks like! The black version is described as "elegant soft black" and I was told it will feature the same soft black rubber as the T-Mobile Dash.<!>What about the phone part? The HTC Touch is a tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE phone, being launched in the UK immediately after the announcement and available through both Orange and T-Mobile. The operators have not announced pricing, but it will be 449 Euro for the non-subsidized version (which likely means HTC will be selling it directly as well). The phone will be available across Europe and Asia within 30 days, and it will be in North America in the second half of 2007 (and you can bet it will support the 850 band when that happens).My contact wanted to stress the simplified home screen, as HTC has evidently been hearing that the standard Windows Mobile home screen was too complicated. I agree! I think it's great to have a rich, complex home screen for power users, but, too many operators cram a dozen plug-ins on the home screen and call it a day - and you end up with an overwhelming home screen and a sluggish device. As the photo above shows, the new home screen is very simple: time, date, and a weather application that is free for the user and contains data for hundreds of cities around the world. It didn't escape my notice that in order for HTC to use the home screen as a talking point, it means that the operator isn't going to enforce their own "unique" home screen...and that, dear readers, is a good thing.One thing gives me pause: my contact, and the press release, mentioned a "3D interface". Unless HTC has invented some sort of holographic touchscreen technology I'm not aware of, this seems like marketing hype. As far as the user interface goes, apparently you'll be able to swipe your finger one direction and get a list of people that you communicate with most often, and another direction you'll get access to your media. It will be interesting to see how this works in the real world. Will it be useful enough to warrant the exclusion of buttons? The HTC Touch only has two buttons on the front in addition to the control pad, and those two buttons are mapped to softkeys - meaning there's no way to launch applications with a button-push. There's no mention of a scroll wheel either, which I wish more phones came with.Regardless, the HTC Touch looks like an interesting device and I can't wait to get my geeky paws on it!The full press release is below:<i>"LONDON — June 5, 2007 — HTC Corp. (TAIEX: 2498; “HTC”), the world’s leading provider of Microsoft® Windows Mobile®-based smart devices, today announced the global launch of the HTC Touch™, a deceptively small and stylish mobile phone that ushers in an innovative new concept in intuitive touch screen navigation. The HTC Touch™ brings a new level of simplicity to the powerful and function-rich device experience that today’s mobile consumers demand. Building on its rich ten year history of mobile phone innovations, the HTC Touch™ represents extensive research and development and the conviction that fingertip control will enable more efficient, natural and intuitive touch screen navigation. The groundbreaking HTC Touch™ offers a new and unique way of controlling touch screen-based devices by recognising and responding to the sweep of a finger across the screen. It is even intelligent enough to distinguish between finger and stylus input and then respond accordingly. “With the HTC Touch™, access to your most commonly used content, contacts and features is only a simple finger flick away,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer of HTC. “Mobile phone makers have done a great job of cramming ever-more exciting features into ever-smaller phones. But the way in which one accesses these increasingly sophisticated features has not kept pace. That ends today with the HTC Touch.”Smart, stylish and versatile, the HTC Touch™ brings together a wide variety of communication, entertainment and professional capabilities that enable mobile consumers to balance work and play. The new HTC-designed homescreen provides one-touch access to emails, text messages, calendar appointments and contacts, as well as current weather conditions and forecasts for hundreds of cities around the world. The HTC Touch is the first device to feature TouchFLO™, the new underlying touch screen technology developed by HTC. Consumers simply sweep their finger up the display to launch an animated, three-dimensional interface comprising three screens: Contacts, Media and Applications. The interface can be spun by swiping a finger right or left across the display, providing efficient access to the features consumers use most. TouchFLO™ also enhances finger touch scrolling and browsing of Web pages, documents, messages and contact lists.Leveraging the broad functionality of Windows Mobile 6 Professional, the HTC Touch™ includes Outlook Mobile, Office Mobile, Windows Live and the capabilities to run thousands of third-party applications. Users can surf the web with Internet Explorer®, send and receive emails, chat on Messenger and send files to their own web space through Windows Live®. Other HTC Touch™ details include:• Dimensions: 99.9mm (L) x 58mm (W) x 13.9mm (T)• Weight: 112g with battery• 1GB microSD storage card included / 64MB RAM, 128MB ROM• 2.8’’ LCD touch screen with backlight, 240 x 320 dots resolution with 65,536 colours• Battery Life: Rechargeable Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 1100 mAh• Standby time: Up to 200 / Talk time: Up to 5 hours• Camera: 2.0 mega-pixel CMOS colour camera• Windows Mobile 6 Professional with Direct Push Email and HTML email support• Wireless Connectivity: GSM/GPRS/EDGE Tri-band: 900, 1800,1900, Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth® 2.0• Choice of two colors at launch - elegant soft black or alluring wasabi green<b><span>Availability</span></b>The HTC Touch™ is now available in the United Kingdom and will be released later this month in Asia and throughout Europe. The North and Latin American version of the HTC Touch™ will be available in the second half of 2007. "</i>

[chaznet]

Looks pretty darn slick, by the 2nd or 3rd generation of them, I'll replace the soon to be antiquated Dash :)

If you go to the HTC web site, the main page has a short commercial playing for the Touch -- at the very end, you can see what they're referring to by '3D interface' -- looks very good, and while not 'holographic', it is 3D, and appears like it'll make the device intuitive for the masses. Wonder why they didn't time the US launch just prior to the iPhone launch instead of just doing so in the UK... Guess they have their reasons.

While you'll be finding out for sure soon enough, I'd think all those new features are going to need a bit more than 201 Mhz under the hood.

Stylus >and&lt; touch... wow... Look forward to your review!

[Darius Wey]

Flash demonstration of the Touch: http://www.htctouch.com/ :)

[dommasters]

Be good to see how it fares against the iPhone. Why did they choose such a slow processor / small amount of memory ?

[Mike Temporale]

Wow, that looks thin, and I like thin. :mrgreen:

It's an interesting device, and I like the simplified nature of it. I'm not sure that I'm sold on the button-less world of mobile devices. I think I'll have to wait for some reviews and possibly my own tests before I can decide if it's right for me.

[Mike Temporale]

Flash demonstration of the Touch: http://www.htctouch.com/ :)

There's some pictures of the green version at this site - looks nice! Bring on the colors. 8)

[onlydarksets]

I think I feel about this as Jerry does about multimedia buttons, but with less rage and more yawning. http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/37.gif :sleeping:

[HalM]

"• Wireless Connectivity: GSM/GPRS/EDGE Tri-band: 900, 1800,1900, Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth® 2.0"

No HSDPA???

[onlydarksets]

"• Wireless Connectivity: GSM/GPRS/EDGE Tri-band: 900, 1800,1900, Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth® 2.0"

No HSDPA???

No 850, either.

[JLittle1]

While I commend HTC for getting their 'me too' version of the iPhone out before Apple iPhone. My expectations are far lower than what I expect of Apple's iPhone. Primarily because of the underlying operating system.

One of the more compelling features of the Apple iPhone is having an integrated iPod and it's seemless integration with iTunes among other Apple applications. Unless HTC has figured out a way to simplify Microsoft's clunky Media Player interface I would have very little interest in the device as a consumer.

Given the inherent media deficiencies of Windows Mobile devices why not take it a different route and add GPS and/or FM radio. Or why not make the device more compelling to business users. All indications to me are the Apple iPhone will be more of a consumer device.

Having a touch screen interface for the start page does not a smartphone make.

Jim

[cortez]

"...
No HSDPA???

No 850, either.

other than these 2 (missing) items, the device and functionality looks very promising... i guess it will be awhile before it hits the US...

[HalM]

other than these 2 (missing) items, the device and functionality looks very promising... i guess it will be awhile before it hits the US...
If this is an iPhone competitor that means (IMHO) that it is multimedia oriented. Cellular multimedia without HSDPA or EVDO is a waste of time. No? :?

[dommasters]

While I commend HTC for getting their 'me too' version of the iPhone out before Apple iPhone. My expectations are far lower than what I expect of Apple's iPhone. Primarily because of the underlying operating system.

One of the more compelling features of the Apple iPhone is having an integrated iPod and it's seemless integration with iTunes among other Apple applications. Unless HTC has figured out a way to simplify Microsoft's clunky Media Player interface I would have very little interest in the device as a consumer.

Given the inherent media deficiencies of Windows Mobile devices why not take it a different route and add GPS and/or FM radio. Or why not make the device more compelling to business users. All indications to me are the Apple iPhone will be more of a consumer device.

Having a touch screen interface for the start page does not a smartphone make.

Jim
Perfectly put. If this is the best they can do then they shouldn't have bothered. Originality and innovation will pay off. Trying to copy other devices just puts you in the me-too imitators bargain bin. If we want an iPhone then guess what we'll probably buy?

[moonshot]

I have been waiting for something from Orange that I can upgrade to (from my c600) that is compact and light.

I was about to abandon ship and go for the soon to be released SEP1i.

But this may well keep me with WM.

[Pete Paxton]

Now that's a hi-res shot! I cropped it and it's now my desktop wallpaper. Between this and the HTC Shift, I hope my wife doesn't leave me :lol:

[Rocco Augusto]

Now that's a hi-res shot! I cropped it and it's now my desktop wallpaper. Between this and the HTC Shift, I hope my wife doesn't leave me :lol:

Its ok, Jerry and I have a support group for our gadget obsession. You can join if you want ;)

This looks neat, but the included 1GB card is no match for the iPhones basic 4GB of storage. Hopefully this is just a test device and we see more hardware aggressive devices from HTC in the future

[Mike Temporale]

Perfectly put. If this is the best they can do then they shouldn't have bothered. Originality and innovation will pay off. Trying to copy other devices just puts you in the me-too imitators bargain bin. If we want an iPhone then guess what we'll probably buy?

Do you really think that HTC has dropped everything for the last three and a half months just to get a copy-cat device out the door before Apple? I don't think so. Looking at the web site, device, and interface, they've been working on this for at least a year. New hardware doesn't get built over night. ;)

[Pete Paxton]

As soon as Apple announced the iphone, HTC mentioned they had something coming soon. They've obviously been working on this for a while.

[encece]

Was it really built overnight...maybe close to it. A version of the elf was released to media without the touch functionality and programming. Possibly, the only thing different from that version is the screen and some extra coding. The technology for the screens may have very well existed and implementing an elf sized screen may have been easy to do in a few months.

The programming isnt all THAT great is it? I've seen that all in flash in some form or another and you've all rotated 3D views of phones before and whipped them around rotation. Not far off and not all that hard to do for those who know how to do it. I'm not talking about me...but those who KNOW! :)

What I'm trying to say is...it is very well possible that the whipped these babies out quickly!

[alese]

Perfectly put. If this is the best they can do then they shouldn't have bothered. Originality and innovation will pay off. Trying to copy other devices just puts you in the me-too imitators bargain bin. If we want an iPhone then guess what we'll probably buy?

Do you really think that HTC has dropped everything for the last three and a half months just to get a copy-cat device out the door before Apple? I don't think so. Looking at the web site, device, and interface, they've been working on this for at least a year. New hardware doesn't get built over night. ;)

If they needed a year to repackage Wizard and slap a new launcher in the ROM, then they are in more trouble then it looks...
I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be a TouchFLO in this device if Apple wouldn't be coming out with an iPhone.

[dommasters]

Perfectly put. If this is the best they can do then they shouldn't have bothered. Originality and innovation will pay off. Trying to copy other devices just puts you in the me-too imitators bargain bin. If we want an iPhone then guess what we'll probably buy?

Do you really think that HTC has dropped everything for the last three and a half months just to get a copy-cat device out the door before Apple? I don't think so. Looking at the web site, device, and interface, they've been working on this for at least a year. New hardware doesn't get built over night. ;)
New hardware? 64Mb? 200Mhz? A touch screen? There's barely anything new about this device at all.
If it isn't a copy-cat then they should have binned the Touch once they saw the iPhone; they could have saved all us Windows Mobile fans the embarassment.
I know new hardware when I see it but this is more akin to the Emperors new clothes :P

[Stinger]

TouchFLO? Watch out HTC, Qualcomm are notoriously litigious. :D

[subzerohf]

Instead of bashing the Touch as a iPhone copy cat, we should embrace the idea. One of the biggest reasons why smartphone users don't like PPC is the two-hand operation. Now with the finger touch interface, PPC can be operated with one hand. All of a sudden the line between smartphones and Pocket PC is blurred. And us smartphone users have more choices of hardware than ever before. I see it as a good thing.

[dommasters]

Instead of bashing the Touch as a iPhone copy cat, we should embrace the idea. One of the biggest reasons why smartphone users don't like PPC is the two-hand operation. Now with the finger touch interface, PPC can be operated with one hand. All of a sudden the line between smartphones and Pocket PC is blurred. And us smartphone users have more choices of hardware than ever before. I see it as a good thing.
So much hype for what boils down to a 'new skin' will only disappoint people and should be avoided. The 'new skin' is only skin deep. Perhaps if it permeated throughout the whole OS it would be more interesting. Put this next to an iPhone and you'll get laughed at.

[mbranscum]

This thing will be a PAIN if you input much text. Only a TINY stylus + have you ever tried to finger tpe on a PPC screen?

I predict this thing won't be widely accepted due to the above and no QWERTY keys....but it's real cute! :lol:

[dommasters]

... and it's very hard to use a touch screen with your fingers with one hand without dropping it. Since Windows Mobile users want a one handed device then I anticipate a lot of broken devices 8O
Go on try. Hold a 'Touch' with one hand and navigate with your finger ... tricky eh? For those with two hands it's easier :D

[alese]

... and it's very hard to use a touch screen with your fingers with one hand without dropping it. Since Windows Mobile users want a one handed device then I anticipate a lot of broken devices 8O
Go on try. Hold a 'Touch' with one hand and navigate with your finger ... tricky eh? For those with two hands it's easier :D

That's not really a problem. One can use touch screen with one hand without problems, except when you need to press small objects like "close" button or keyboard.
But this can be solved with additional software.

[dommasters]

... and it's very hard to use a touch screen with your fingers with one hand without dropping it. Since Windows Mobile users want a one handed device then I anticipate a lot of broken devices 8O
Go on try. Hold a 'Touch' with one hand and navigate with your finger ... tricky eh? For those with two hands it's easier :D

That's not really a problem. One can use touch screen with one hand without problems, except when you need to press small objects like "close" button or keyboard.
But this can be solved with additional software.

It's a problem for me 8O

[Goattee]

I looked at the content and demos on the htctouch.com web site. I notice that they don't show scenarios of entering new text. Not a single demonstration of a virtual on-screen keyboard. Will this product be useless for the occasions when you want to take notes as part of a contact record or to insert a new appointment?

[Pete Paxton]

I looked at the content and demos on the htctouch.com web site. I notice that they don't show scenarios of entering new text. Not a single demonstration of a virtual on-screen keyboard. Will this product be useless for the occasions when you want to take notes as part of a contact record or to insert a new appointment?

I noticed this too. As a matter of fact here (http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/06/08/will-the-iphone-be-undone-by-its-keyboard/) is an article regarding the same thing with the iphone. I'm liking my Dash more and more. :wink:

[WyattEarp]

Let's see now
iPhone - 620mhz processor
- 1GB RAM
- 8GB FlashROM
- Wifi
- BT 2.0 +EDR (headset only)
- Quad Band GSM
- EDGE (Enhanced)

MS Smartphone - 200 - 400Mhz processor
- 64MB RAM
- 128MB FlashROM
- Wifi (maybe dependant on Manufaturer and carrier)
- BT2.0 +EDR (sometimes crippled by carrier)
- Tri -Band (some Quad-) GSM
- EDGE

WM Smartphone hardware is just pathetic. With the exception of a handful of devices manufactures on a whole haven't been truely innovative since the introduction of the Smartphone. We are still running devices with 200Mhz processors to conserve battery life... why? My hx4700 has a 624Mhz processor and it does fine why can't I get that in a phone. 64Mb RAM to conserve battery life give me a break more RAM use more power in such negligible way that this is just an excuse not to add more.
I must admit that I have grown tired of reading post by people who jump on the me to bandwagon when it comes to multimedia play and storage. Yes, we can add memory to our devices but let's be real if you could have 4GB, 8GB or more built-in you'd love it and probably wouldn't think twice about a storage card. This "new" device looks nice but it comes off as a me to and falls short. I think it's a shame that a company that has had aboutt a decade to create a really good OS and make deals with manufactures to create the devices has just sat back and let another company steal there thunder. But then again the same thing happened to Palm so I guess history does tend to repeat itself more often than not. End of rant.