HTC, aligned in lockstep with Windows Mobile as it is, still produces some of the best phones going, with the Advantage among the most interesting. Its latest, the Touch, is a more traditional design, but has a TouchFLO trick up its sleeve.
The idea is to allow operation of the phone by moving one's fingers over the 2.8" display's surface, a little like fingerpainting, with a variety of programmable gesture-macros performing useful functions such as tabbing through open applications or ending calls. Able to distinguish between a stylus tap and the pudgy meat of a human digit, the point is to make it less fiddly to get stuff done. And, as any smartphone owner will know, the damn things tend to be as fiddly as a square-bridged folk violin.
That's it for interesting features in this model:it's otherwise a standard "tablet"-like phone, running Windows Mobile 6 Professional edition, Bluetooth, WiFi, a MicroSD slot and a 2 mp camera. Clamed battery life is 5 hours talk time.
HTC's propensity for giving everything it makes three names is in evidence here: it's called the HTC Elf as well, and when it comes to the U.S., it may well have another moniker entirely. Check the link below for Crave's hands-on: it reports that TouchFLO was basically unusuable to a beginner, but might be doable with practice.
HTC Touch launches; first impressions and thoughts as an iPhone rival [Crave]
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