HTC Touch Dual: Review
The HTC Touch Dual is an elegant, delicately-shaped smartphone with a touch-sensitive screen and sliding keypad. The touch screen accepts finger input, while a numeric or qwerty keypad slides out for pushing buttons. Windows Mobile 6 software powers this device that can be connected to GSM and 3G UMTS networks. The turbo-3G data connectivity, HSDPA, can also be used in those regions where the service is available.
HTC Touch Dual key features and specifications:
- 3G UMTS/WCDMA connectivity for 2100 MHz band networks. HSDPA enables a maximum download rate of 3.6Mbps. The maximum speed for uploads from the phone to the Internet is 384kbps.
- 2G GSM tri-band 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz phone. GPRS and EDGE data connectivity.
- 2.6-inch TFT-LCD screen. The screen is touch-sensitive and can be tapped with fingers – a stylus is not required.
- Two choices for keypad are available: a qwerty keypad (20 keys) and a normal numeric keypad (16 keys).
- Powered by the Windows Mobile 6 Pro operating system software.
- Qualcomm MSM 7200, 400MHz processor.
- Digital camera features a 2 megapixel CMOS image sensor.
- Ringtones: MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WAV, and AMR-NB. Also polyphonic and MIDI format can be used.
- 128MB of RAM memory space.
- MicroSD memory card slot.
- Bluetooth 2.0 wireless connectivity.
- HTC ExtUSB cable interface features a 11-pin mini-USB and an audio jack in one port.
- Li-polymer battery provides talk time for up to 3 hours on UMTS and up to 5 hours on GSM network. Standby time is about 180 hours when on UMTS and 250 hours on a GSM network. Up to 1.78 hours for video calls.
- Dimensions (length, width, depth): 107 x 55 x 15.8 mm/4.2 x 2.2 x 0.62 inches. Weight 120g/4.2 oz, including battery.
The HTC Touch Dual (as is its sibling, the HTC Touch), is a new-generation smartphone in the range of Windows Mobile-powered products. PDA devices, such as the iPAQ, that were popular a few years ago, were built on Microsoft Pocket PC software. PDAs had touch screens, but they could only be operated with a stylus. In addition to the Pocket PC, Microsoft had developed another piece of software that was specifically targeted at smartphones. This smartphone software is operated using a keypad alone.
Today, different versions of the Windows Mobile software products are called Standard, Pro, and Classic. Smartphones built on the Standard version can't have touch screen, while the Pro devices can.
The HTC Touch Dual is a mixture of smartphone and PDA software technologies. There's a smartphone mode, resembling a traditional smartphone menu system, which is used from the keypad. A stylus can be used to manage the device as well. Then, there's the touch-screen mode, with large icons that are easy to hit with a finger.
We quickly got used to the touch screen once we learned to make the right moves. The trick was to lightly push the screen, while swiping it with a finger (we used our thumb, which is the most natural choice). When the Home display is active, swiping the screen from the bottom up activates the touch screen mode.
In the touch screen mode, contacts, music, photos and videos can be accessed by finger. These items have their own touch screen-mode menus and windows. The technique to switch between the menus is new. When we swiped our thumb across the screen to the left or to the right, a new menu rotated to the screen. The menu literally rotated, because of the snazzy animation.
The software that manages the touch screen looks a bit like an add-on feature, an afterthought, implemented on top of the Windows Mobile 6 operating system software. Behind the touch screen interface and the new Home screen is the familiar Windows Mobile menu system.
We had an opportunity to try out a unit that had an ordinary numeric keypad. There is also a model available with a qwerty keypad. The keypad had large keys that gave good feedback.
The home screen (the familiar home or today screen on Windows Mobile devices) was excellent on the HTC Touch Dual. The digital clock displayed large numbers, and the screen contained plenty of other valuable information.
Other smartphones with touch-sensitive screens are, for example, the HTC Touch, Mio Digiwalker A501, Palm Treo 755p, and the Sony Ericsson P1
Style:
We like the design of this slim and elegant phone. Its corners have been rounded – and we mean seriously rounded. The unit feels soft and comfortable in the hand. The black matte color emphasizes its peaceful style, one that is likely to appeal adults rather than youngsters.
The unit is one of the smallest (if not the smallest) smartphones that has both a touch screen and a keypad that we have seen so far. If you like the overall style and features of the Touch Dual, but would like to have a slightly smaller and thinner unit, the HTC Touch is the product for you. It lacks the keypad, but otherwise, it is pretty similar to the Touch Dual.
Value for the money: 3 out of 5
The HTC Touch Dual is an attractive device. We like its elegant style and the ability to use a physical keypad to tap the screen. Although the dual input slightly increases the unit size, we appreciate the solution. Both input methods have their advantages, and both are available when needed. The super-high-speed 3G data connectivity satisfies Internet surfers in those regions where the HSDPA network is available. Nonetheless, the list price of the product is rather high when compared to competitive products that may include Wi-Fi and other extra features in a similar price range.
Rate the product:
pocket pc 26.02.2008 00:34
who needs a keyboard when the touch screen is great. HTC Touch is smaller and better.
jimwit 18.03.2008 02:08
yes.... HTC Touch without the keypad is much nicer....
xenonlite 04.04.2008 00:22
You haven't even used the Touch Dual. It's the best smartphone whatever iPhone fans say. Post your opinons after you have used the product yourselves.