HTC Touch Pro with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional

INTRODUCTION

WHAT'S HOT

(all images link to larger versions)

The Touch Pro looks almost the same as the Diamond from the front, except for the corners which are more rounded.

Although the device is almost as thick as the TyTN II, it really doesn't feel that thick because it's not as wide and tall, as you'll see in the next image.

In this size comparison from sizeasy, we see the TyTN II in blue, the Touch Pro in yellow, and the Touch Diamond in red.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX

The unboxing experience for the Touch Pro was memorable...which is important when you spend this much on a phone.

Here is a shot of the box, which, like the Touch Diamond, isn't a conventional shape.

    HTC does a good job outfitting the user. Inside the box we have software, manuals/warranty, stereo headphones with extra felts, charging cable, miniUSB syncing cable, wall charger (with an interesting shape!), leather case (it's more like a sleeve), and extra stylus.

THE DEVICE

The screen of the Touch Pro is completely flush.

The keyboard slides out to the left and has a fair amount of spring assist, though it could be stronger to really "snap" it into place.

Although the buttons are a bit flat, the keyboard is generally easy to use and feels much better than that of the TyTN II.

    The bottom part of the phone is entirely touch sensitive - even multi-touch sensitive, but the inbuilt software on the Touch Pro doesn't take advantage of this. There are four tactile buttons that light up white when pressed including Home (takes you back to the Today screen), Call Start (which calls up the phone application, but you can configure the long press to open a program of choosing), Back (which works as an OK button), and Call End (with a long press will lock the device/end data connection/set ring/vibrate/turn on flight mode).

    In the center, there is a 4-way D-Pad. You can use the circular area as a touch-sensitive zooming mechanism to move in and out like in Opera and in the photo viewer, and to change text size in Word, Messaging, etc. I was hoping that this would offer scrolling functionality, but it doesn't. The center button inside of the D-Pad is another place that has touch-sensitivity, used in the camera application. Tap lightly to focus the camera, and press inwards to take the picture. Oh, and as you can tell, there are no soft keys. Ditto on the keyboard. I don't miss them, though some people may.

    I should also note that in the center of the D-Pad is a circular white lighting system that shows the phone status. When a call comes in, you get a rapidly blinking circle of light. When charging it will glow from bottom to top (and stay fully lit when charge is complete), and the top and bottom part of the ring flashes twice when there is a new message.

    On the top we see a light sensor, the earpiece, and a front-facing video camera. The Touch Pro does a good job at regulating screen brightness. When you turn on the phone out of standby, the screen fades on, rather than just coming on instantly, which is actually a pleasant touch.

The rear has the same faceted backing as the Touch Diamond, but it's made from the softer-plastic found on the T-Mobile Dash and others, making it feel more secure in hand.

No, there aren't two camera lenses, but it looks like it, right? Within this nice brush-metal triangle, we have the 3.2MP auto-focusing camera lens at the top, and the LED fill light on the bottom. Note the speaker on the left there.

If we slide off the back, we reveal the 1350mAh battery.

In the upper left, we have the hot-swappable microSD card slot. By hot-swappable, I mean that you can change cards while the device is still on. Also note the placement of the SIM card slot.

    Here is the right-side profile shot which shows just the stylus silo. The stylus, like the Diamond, is magnetic, so that when you pull it out, the screen turns on. Also, when on a call, removing the stylus will launch the notes application (which I think is silly, and there is no way to turn this off).

On the top of the device, we have a nice-feeling on/off/standby button.

Turning over to the other side, we see the volume up/down buttons, plus the text "HTC Innovation".

And on the bottom, we have HTC's proprietary ExtUSB jack (which works with miniUSB charging/syncing cables), plus a well-placed soft-reset hole, and the microphone up top.

    Ok, let's talk about the keyboard layout. One of the best features of the keyboard is the dedicated number row. Similar devices like the TyTN II (comparison pictures soon) don't have this row. Instead, the numbers are imbedded within the letters, and to get to them, you have to keep hitting the function key. Rumor has it that the US version of the Touch Pro will unfortunately replace this top row with symbols. That's a shame.

    Anyhow, the amount of shortcuts on the keyboard are slim. Using the function key, you can access programs like Opera, Email, SMS/MMS, and Connection Manager. HTC has left out soft keys, a Start menu button, OK button, or programmable hot keys. The function key will turn on a green LED light at the top of the keyboard, ditto for the CAPS button. I liked the double-sized shift button, though I wish they'd make the space bar one key-size larger, as sometimes it's hard to feel for.

And when it's dark, the entire keyboard is backlit.

COMPARISONS

Here we have a shot comparing (from left to right) the Apple iPhone, AT&T Tilt (TyTN II), HTC Touch Pro, CDMA HTC Touch on Verizon, and Samsung Omnia.

And here they are again in the same order, stacked. The Touch Pro is definitely one of the thickest here - just 1mm thinner than the ol' TyTN II.

And here is another profile shot.

    I keep talking about the keyboard in comparison to the TyTN II, so here is a close up of the two together. The keys on the TyTN II are indeed larger, but the tactile feedback on the Touch Pro feels much better...the keys travel the same distance across the entire keyboard, and it is easy to feel for the next key despite the smaller key size.

Flip on over to the next page, where we will cover all of the software enhancements made to the Touch Pro.