HTC Touch Pro hands-on

After spending a few minutes with it, there's no question to us that the Touch Pro is HTC's most impressive handset to date (even if you count the Xperia X1). Okay, the phone is still a bit thick (roughly the same as a Tilt), and there's no 3.5mm headphone jack, but it's got a very small footprint and a very comfortably proportioned keyboard. We can also really definitely appreciate the lengths HTC is going to trying to make Windows Mobile a bit less doggish these days -- but were they to spice up the Touch Pro with a capacitive touchscreen and Android, HTC might just have a game-changer on their hands.

Gallery: HTC Touch Pro hands-on

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[ShogunMaster @ Aug 11th 2008 5:12PM]

GIMME GIMME GIMME!!!!

[aaron @ Aug 11th 2008 5:32PM]

Hmmm...where is the soft reset button?

[Phoenix @ Aug 11th 2008 5:35PM]

Inside the stylus slot. if it's like the diamonds

[booger @ Aug 11th 2008 5:46PM]

LMFAO at the WM phones and their soft reset buttons. They are MADE knowing that they will eventually and often crash. ;-)

[JerryA @ Aug 11th 2008 6:45PM]

@booger: No, it's because sometimes you want to restart your phone after installing something or flashing a new ROM and it's nice to have that control. There are few things that require me to soft reset but occasionally a program that alters the UI or something else fundamental requires a soft reset.

[Grant @ Aug 11th 2008 6:29PM]

Technically a soft reset button is more often called a "Power button".
and even your precious iPhone has one of those booger.
and they both have hard resets too if you were wondering, that little pin head button on most phones, and probably the touch pro, and by holding down the hold and home button on the iPhone.

[Kris @ Aug 11th 2008 6:48PM]

@Grant, actually that's not true at all. Have you ever owned a phone before? When someone refers to a soft reset button they're referring to the tiny hole with a button typically on the back or under a battery cover. Most phones have them.

A power button is just that... a power button.......

[Phoenix @ Aug 11th 2008 7:01PM]

turning off and on = a soft reset

the physical button is just to speed it up. like restarting your PC rather than shutting it down and then pressing the power button.

[Grant @ Aug 11th 2008 9:42PM]

@ Kris
Like Pheonix said, a soft reset is a reset done by software means, such as pressing the power button on the phone to tell it to shut down.
A hard reset is when a soft reset is not working/the phone is frozen and you need to cut the power to restart. a similar effect can be achieved by just removing the battery, if possible.
The small button (i referred to as a pinhead button) you mention is a hard reset button, and is usually only used when the previously mentioned software means to shut down the phone just don't work.

So if you're ever in doubt again: Soft(ware) reset, Hard(ware) reset.

[maveric101 @ Aug 11th 2008 9:45PM]

booger, you're an ass. i have an iphone, i have friends with iphones, and the apps cause the phone to crash far more frequently than i'd like. at least WM would tend to quit the program than completely fail.

[Betatester @ Aug 11th 2008 10:33PM]

for the record. i voted you up. im tired of the 2% of the marketshare loud mouthed apple fantards

[Phoenix @ Aug 11th 2008 11:13PM]

nonono.

The small pinhole button is a soft reset. If the phone is frozen that's what you do. Power on and off does the same thing.

A HARD reset is a complete wipe back to factory settings. In WinMo it's does via the settings menu

[Tony @ Aug 12th 2008 12:33AM]

Phoenix is right; a soft-reset is rebooting the phone, be it via software or removing and replacing the battery.

A hard reset is resetting the phone to its ROM or factory state; done by following a special sequence or by using the proper commands in the UI.

[Bunson @ Oct 11th 2008 10:17PM]

iphones crash a million times a second

[DooM @ Aug 11th 2008 5:12PM]

IPHOnE IS SUPREIOT

[J-Rad @ Aug 11th 2008 5:27PM]

So is your spelling abilities



Jk, of course

[Bunson @ Aug 11th 2008 5:43PM]

As annoying as DooM is he has a point. The iPhone has superior processing power. Although I think I'd rather own one of these.

[Bunson @ Aug 11th 2008 6:22PM]

A quick comparison between the 3G iPhone and the HTC Touch Pro

3G iPhone: 620 Mhz ARM CPU
HTC Touch Pro: 528 Mhz CPU

3G iPhone: 8/16 GB Shared, no-slot
HTC Touch Pro: 288 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM + Micro SD slot

3G iPhone: Capacitive touchscreen
HTC: TFT touchscreen + keyboard.

3G iPhone: 320x480 3.5in 16m color display
HTC: 480x640 2.8in 65k color display

3G iPhone: 2 MP camera, 1600x1200 pixels
HTC: 3.15 MP camera, 2048x1536 pixels

Full comparison at http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone2=2424&idPhone1=2413

[T Dub @ Aug 12th 2008 10:58AM]

@Bunson

The iPhones processor runs at less than 500Mhz.

[Phoenix @ Aug 11th 2008 7:01PM]

jah, the processor is underclocked

[Bunson @ Aug 11th 2008 7:09PM]

Hey, your right. Just looked it up, it ran during version 1.2 roughly 412 Mhz depending on battery and the processing load. That settles it. I'm going to get one of these as soon as they come out.

[willyboy @ Aug 11th 2008 8:47PM]

@Bunson
You forgot the most important feature, the OS.

[xValentine @ Aug 11th 2008 9:24PM]

Yeah,cause the OS can make your 400Mhz CPU runs like an 800.

[Kamokazi @ Aug 12th 2008 1:01AM]

So my 4...ack 5(!) year old Axim with a 624Mhz CPU is faster than an iPhone? Just like a 3.0Ghz Pentium 4 is faster than a Core 2 Duo at 1.8Ghz?

No, of course not. The CPUs are different. The only way to test is to get them running the same OS and benchmark the CPU. (And the iPhone one runs underclocked, as stated previously.)

Also the memory comparison is not valid. The 8/16GB is not RAM, it is storage memory only (iPhone has 128MB for the record). And the storage on the Touch Pro is fully upgradable and interchangable. 8GB cards are fairly inexpensive, and the cost will only go down. MicroSD is highly portable and you could even carry a few to carry more stuff. You're stuck with the iPhone's memory.

And let's see...higher resolution screen or more accurate color reproduction. Considering I'm not running Photoshop, I'd like those extra pixels to view webpages.

[Patrick Austin @ Aug 12th 2008 10:28AM]

Resolution is great, but that thing is pushing 300 lines per inch, which is right at the edge of your ability to see detail with a viewing distance of a foot and a half or so. It's not exactly necessary for web browsing.

Either display is going to be fine. People never seem to gripe about with the iphone is the quality of the display. Part of display usability is how well text is rendered and how easy it is to move the viewing window around a document, which is an area where Apple does a damn good job.

Comparing hardware is one factor in this, but it's the software that really matters. Remember, people were still buying macs back when they were putting G3 and G4 processors up against Intels running twice as fast...not because they were (all) idiots, but because the OS experience was better.

Ideally, everyone would get to try out several phones for a few days before buying them, because I think you need to live with it for a while before you can properly evaluate it. I'd love to get my hands on one of these things for a week or two to try out.

[Aaron @ Aug 11th 2008 5:13PM]

Any speed improvements for the TouchFlo 3D UI?

[TheJalAbides @ Aug 12th 2008 1:16AM]

... or how bout any useful information in this "hands on?" Yeah, I'd like that.

[celticchrys @ Aug 15th 2008 7:35AM]

They recently released a bios update for the Touch that gave TouchFlo a big speed increase from the initial release.

[Homeboy @ Aug 11th 2008 5:20PM]

Very tempting and sexy until I saw the oversized thickness. As if didn't expect it to be so.

[jacubious @ Aug 11th 2008 6:04PM]

If it is too thick, just get a touch diamond. Keyboards tend to add some girth......

[Jason @ Aug 11th 2008 6:40PM]

Blame the QWERTY. If it didnt have the QWERTY it would be as thin as the Diamond.

[Cool8man @ Aug 11th 2008 7:14PM]

Actually it's not the QWERTY that's adding all that thickness, it is the larger battery. The Touch Pro battery itself is the same thickness as the Diamond.

[OziD @ Aug 11th 2008 5:13PM]

DO WANT NAO PLZ

[MrGam3r @ Aug 11th 2008 5:17PM]

sprint? pretty please?? I might have gotten an instinct, but I'd like a hard keyboard..

[celticchrys @ Aug 12th 2008 1:48PM]

Sprint users:
This is coming soon in a CDMA version on Sprint, and is codenamed "HTC Herman".
http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Sprint-PCS-carrier-c_2_3.html

[Spiny Norman @ Aug 11th 2008 5:17PM]

I still don't understand why the screen is so damn small. My crappy 3 year old Palm TX has a 4" screen, and still manages to have a 5-way navigator and 4 hard button on the bottom of the device.

[Phoenix @ Aug 11th 2008 5:23PM]

To keep the DEVICE small. Not many people want a giant phone with a 4" screen as their primary phone, you have to hold it to your ear you know

[Spiny Norman @ Aug 11th 2008 5:43PM]

I'm not following you. You can have a 4" screen and still keep the device small. 'Just lose all the wasted space at the bottom. As I mentioned, a Palm TX is roughly the same size, and yet it manages to have a 5-way navigator and 4 hard buttons at the bottom.

The non-screen portion of the Touch Pro looks to be roughly 30% of the entire front of the phone. That's a big waste of valuable real estate.

[zephxiii @ Aug 11th 2008 5:47PM]

I would have to agree, the 2.8" screen is disappointing. They could have at least bumped it up a little bit...especially it being VGA and all...

[jeremy480 @ Aug 11th 2008 5:55PM]

Last I checked the Palm TX was neither a phone nor does it have touchscreen capabilities. You are comparing apples to oranges.

[Phoenix @ Aug 11th 2008 6:02PM]

to be fair, you NEVER said in your post that that phone was the same size.

[Christian Walters @ Aug 11th 2008 6:29PM]

@jeremey480:sorry to prove you wrong son, but the Palm TX does INDEED have a touchscreen....just like every other Palm made device that has ever existed.

[takashisenke @ Aug 11th 2008 8:15PM]

I don't mind a larger screen, it's too bad the Palm TX is equal to one and a half Touch Pros. It won't fit in my pocket.

http://www.sizeasy.com/page/size_comparison/15850-HTC-Touch-PRO-vs-Palm-TX

PMPhone. Mmmm.

[Spiny Norman @ Aug 12th 2008 9:51AM]

You must have very small pockets. I carry my TX in my pocket all the time with absolutely no problems. And yes, every Palm since the original Palm Pilot has had a touchscreen.

Yes, perhaps the TX is a bit bigger than the Pro, but that doesn't mean that the Prop couldn't use a bigger screen. How about 3.5" or 3.75"? Isn't that roughly the size of the iPhone?

If you're going to have VGA, don't waste it on a dinky screen.

I guess it boils down to the question as to whether the Pro is primarily a phone, or an internet device with phone capabilities. Many of us have been waiting impatiently for a 3G VGA internet device with a decent sized touchscreen and expandable memory. Unfortunately, the wait continues.

[morissen3k8 @ Aug 18th 2008 8:57PM]

You can't hold a phone to your ear when you're driving especially in CA it's against law...

[Bunson @ Aug 11th 2008 5:18PM]

I'm glad the first million comments are by people who have nothing intelligent to say. I would like a more thorough review. This really doesn't tell me half as much as I would like to know. I suppose I'll google for it, or give engadget a day or two to write something with actuall meaning about it.

[Jamma @ Aug 11th 2008 6:22PM]

Yeah, what is with the sudden increase with all the first!!!!!11!!!eleven!!!11! over the past few weeks? i know they have always been around, but there seem to be more now. It's happened on Digg a lot too....

[RoninWarrior @ Aug 11th 2008 5:19PM]

DO WANT!

I seriously can't wait for this to hit Sprint. I'll probably upgrade to the Unlimited Plan as well when it drops.

Just saw the article though about it might coming to AT&T. Just curious...why would anyone get it on AT&T when their unlimited plan is like 30 dollars MORE? And thats without some other things that Sprint includes in their plan.

[Laughing Man @ Aug 11th 2008 8:13PM]

Because if you were keeping track of Sprint, you would know that they are selling off their towers like iPhone 1's on e-bay. Sprint is dying slowly.

[Eli R. @ Aug 11th 2008 5:30PM]

Because, especially where I live, AT&T has MUCH better service than sprint, near my high school sprint has no service, AT&T has HSDPA