HTC Polaris gets specs leaked, renamed the Touch Cruise

The next step in the HTC Touch line -- the GPS-equipped Polaris -- has been re-christened the Touch Cruise, and has gone and gotten its juicy specs all leaked out to the internet. In addition to having improved TouchFlo capabilities, like rotation and zoom, the new model will sport a quad-band GSM radio (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900), tri-band UMTS (850 / 1900 / 2100), HSDPA and HSUPA data connectivity, a 400MHz MSM7200 Qualcomm CPU, 128MB of RAM and 256MB of ROM, a 2.8-inch, 320 x 240 QVGA display, 3-megapixel camera (plus secondary, 0.3-megapixel camera), WiFi, Bluetooth, and a microSD slot. Apparently, the design of the device hasn't been finalized, though it will likely feature four buttons and a navigation wheel (similar to the pics up above). Mouth watering? Eyes tearing up? We understand. The Cruise is expected by the end of November, so go easy on your credit cards till then.

Update: Thanks to CoolSmartPhone and Smart Mobile Gadgets, we've gotten a proper view of the Touch Cruise, and it's sweet!

[daaper @ Oct 19th 2007 10:06AM]

Is it just me, or does the name sound like some horribly perverted trip through the Caribbean?

[AlexP @ Oct 19th 2007 10:47AM]

Welcome aboard the Touch Cruise, Captain Stabbin' will be your guide today.

[Magallanes @ Oct 19th 2007 11:58AM]

For me Touch Cruise sound like the actor of Minion Impossible.

[Top Web Celebrities @ Oct 19th 2007 10:06AM]

Looks very sleek. I look forward to the release!

[n8 @ Oct 19th 2007 10:29AM]

I agree, though I don't think that a VGA or better screen is necessary for GPSing - my Nuvi works just great with a QVGA screen. The better screen is necessary for web browsing and working in productivity apps though. I'll never buy another QVGA device.

[patsy @ Oct 19th 2007 10:06AM]

Dear Lord, enough with these crappy QVGA screens already. That's so 2000, for crying out loud! We've had fine VGA screens three years ago, and then we devolved to these junky screens again. Who gives a rat's ass about GPS and mapping if you have to scroll constantly like a madman? Give us VGA already (again), HTC!

[joe23521 @ Oct 19th 2007 10:15AM]

No kidding.
Anything less than 480x320 is not acceptable.

[ZSX @ Oct 19th 2007 10:34AM]

The oft quoted response to screen resolution limitations is that a VGA screen takes too many processor cycles and is therefore slower and uses up more power than QVGA. Plus, it isn't so much resolution as actual screen size which is important.

This is probably only partially true. After all, they have to keep something back for that incremental upgrade coming with the HTC Touch Cruise II.

As usual, I prefer the O2 styling to the HTC-branded one.

Finally, a WinMo phone to compete with the new N95s.

[patsy @ Oct 19th 2007 10:51AM]

> Plus, it isn't so much resolution as actual screen size which is important.

How exactly?! You can only fit 320 horizontal pixels of a web page onto your screen (in landscape mode) regardless of whether it's a 2" or 4" screen. Making it 4" doesn't somehow magically show more of a page, unless you zoom out and lose legibility.

[ZSX @ Oct 19th 2007 11:34AM]

I agree with you generally. The amount of data is limited by the resolution.

However, if you are driving and are using the phone as a GPS at arm's length, then I would argue that the physical screen size is more important than how beautifully the fonts are rendered.

[uberfu @ Oct 19th 2007 10:07AM]

Oh Wait !

You mean this isn't the music player that Apple released recently ?

I'm confused...


PS [i'm the first poster - whatever]

[joe23521 @ Oct 19th 2007 10:13AM]

No.
And no.

[Justin @ Oct 19th 2007 11:07AM]

And lets go to the judges!

John C. Dvorak: 0.5
Stephen Hawking: -4.5
Bjork: #.~
Sean Connery: Moo

It's safe to say you'll never make it to Bejing with these scores uberfu.

[Jagannath A @ Oct 19th 2007 1:12PM]

one of the Epic Fails on engadget !!

[Preston @ Oct 19th 2007 10:15AM]

As long as it doesn't try to convert me to Scientology.

[Grizz @ Oct 19th 2007 10:31AM]

Agreed, I hope noone minds if I continue to call it the Polaris, its simpler, yet feels more geeky.

[Richard @ Oct 19th 2007 10:19AM]

My sources tell me that in order to promote the release, the Touch Cruise will appear on Oprah. I'm sure that excited yelling and couch jumping will occur as well.

[Gwailo @ Oct 19th 2007 10:43AM]

According to theunwired.net, O2 will launch its own version of the Polaris too.
http://www.theunwired.net/?item=leaked-o2-germany-unveils-a-new-unknown-windows-mobile-xda-pocket-pc-phone

[PeterF @ Oct 19th 2007 10:52AM]

Looks like a Kaiser with the keyboard removed and stuck into an artemis case.

[Chrisphillers @ Oct 19th 2007 10:53AM]

What is spceial about this? Its not anything better than what is on the market at the moment - so can someone explain what the drooling is all about!? AND is with shite Windows Mobile.

[Ricardo @ Oct 19th 2007 11:08AM]

"Its not anything better than what is on the market at the moment" - like what?

[Chrisphillers @ Oct 19th 2007 11:31AM]

Um N95, N95 8Gb, Tytn III...

[Ricardo @ Oct 20th 2007 6:49AM]

Tytn II is really nice, but very very expensive.

N95 for me is almost useless because of its lack of a touch screen.

The HTC Touch is an almost decent phone with a good price. If they keep the same price on the new one, it might be very interesting.

[paul C @ Oct 19th 2007 10:59AM]

Does anyone know if you can sync a Windows mobile phone with a Mac running entourage?

[brian @ Oct 19th 2007 12:08PM]

Yes, you can. You do have to purchase an additional program, though. The one program I can remember is called The Missing Sync.

[Ricardo @ Oct 19th 2007 11:07AM]

I think QVGA is not a bad resolution for a 2.8" screen.

Much better than huge phones with bigger screens (iPhone anyone?).

And this new phone seems really nice, I never bought the original Touch because it was too damn slow. Even my phone has a much better processor, and it is more than a year older and runs Linux, which requires less of it. But I definately prefer WM, however with decent specs to support it.

[Alex @ Oct 19th 2007 11:07AM]

i wouldn't Touch Cruise with a 10ft pole

[Eugene @ Oct 19th 2007 1:21PM]

But would you touch him with the 10-inch pole?

[cjh6793 @ Oct 19th 2007 12:33PM]

Okay, tell me that isn't a dedicated Internet Explorer key on the bottom right?

[patsy @ Oct 19th 2007 1:15PM]

That isn't a dedicated Internet Explorer key on the bottom right.

[mdnetguru @ Oct 19th 2007 4:51PM]

Barf, as a web-dev, seeing IE get any promotion whatsoever makes me cringe to the core.

[yukiodinermobile @ Oct 19th 2007 1:24PM]

@Patsy - VGA does require a faster processor or you will feel a speed drop.

@ZSX - I have owned and used to death several different WM devices and have experienced a performance issue with VGA resolution.

The snappiest device I used was a Dell Axim X51v (WM 5, Intel PXA270 624 MHz, Intel 2700G graphics, VGA). My current Glofiish X500+ (WM6, Samsung SC32442 400 MHz, VGA) is slower than the previous X500 model. Same processor, but QVGA.

I won't be buying an HTC device with VGA until they bump up the processor and/or graphics subsystem.

[ronin @ Oct 19th 2007 1:46PM]

they should have named it maverick.

pshh.

[Sebastien @ Oct 19th 2007 1:52PM]

Let's wait for the Ultimate 8150 to arrive ... see how VGA works with more Mhz.
(true the X500+ was too slow, but maybe a real graphic chip + decent CPU will do the job)

[ZSX @ Oct 19th 2007 3:54PM]

http://www.coolsmartphone.com/article743.html

Coolsmartphone's review of the 8150/6150 seems to think the graphics accelerator makes page jumps very quick.

[boe @ Oct 19th 2007 4:40PM]

Anything less than VGA at this point is pathetic. While the iPHone is NOT VGA, it is TWICE the resolution of the cookie cutter crap HTC is releasing year after year for their standard phones. The iPhone gets MUCH better battery life and has a significantly faster display AND CPU. However the iPhone doesn't doe Exchange sync completely so I'm stuck either buying low end HTC hardware or getting an iPhone but not really getting much out of it since I need it for work.

I'm hoping someone finds a way to run WM6 on an iPhone.

[mdnetguru @ Oct 19th 2007 4:52PM]

"I'm hoping someone finds a way to run WM6 on an iPhone."

Doh! Blasphemy!

[Alex @ Oct 19th 2007 9:29PM]

This is a good point. The iPhone gets away with having a beefy processor and maintaining good battery life, so I can't see why HTC can't do the same. This device would be much better if it had the 520Mhz Marvell processor some other phones are getting and also VGA.

[Tom O @ Oct 20th 2007 12:35PM]

Is HTC going the same way with the touch as Moto was with the RAZR?

[highjumpman @ Oct 24th 2007 2:33PM]

From ballistic missile to couch jumper. Not a good omen...

[Dr Arun P @ Nov 21st 2007 1:15PM]

Good phone.. value for money.. Can anyone give me a solution for HTC not syncing all my nokia contacts through PC??