Confirmed: HTC's big-screen Touch HD smartphone

HTC has finally broken its silence over rumours it’s developing a smartphone called the Touch HD. It has also confirmed what the phone’s specs are and even roughly when it’ll land in the UK. The Touch HD measures 115 x 63 x 12mm and is equipped with a 3.8in, 480 x 800 display. So although the phone has HD in the name, don’t be …

[Giles Jones]

More of the same

HTC produce yet another handset with minor improvements over the last one. When will people realise that it's the windows mobile platform that needs all the work. It's still stuck in the 90s. I mean cmon, requiring a PC to install software onto the phone or going to a website and downloading a cab file?

Toshiba have had 800x480 handsets out for some time. But they were buggy and very average. Much like most HTC phones are.

I've never seen a Windows Mobile device with a good camera. So I doubt even 5mp counts for much.

[OrsonX]

I can hear people crying...

...must be all those Touch Diamond users who wish they knew this baby was around the corner

[Neil Stansbury]

Uugh - WM(D)

....and it will still be a complete piece of crap because it runs Windows Mobile Disaster 6x. I've just dumped my HTC Touch on some poor unsuspecting fool - I won't be going anywhere near WMD ever again.

[TeeCee]

Nearly there.

I'll just hang on for the inevitable HTC Touch HD Pro with the slidey-out keyboard thanks.

A world-beater so obvious I'm amazed they've bothered shipping the intermediate object.

[Valan Chan]

480x800 grumble!

"don’t be fooled into thinking you’ll be able to watch full HD-quality video on it."

Damn, only DVD resolution ;)

Would anyone be capable to discern the resolution difference at 3.8" size? Especially when the quality of picture at HD sizes are poor at best.

I hope screen resolutions on such devices does not become a pizzing contest.

The quality is much more important than the resolution size.

Paris, cos she'd think this was a bummer too.

[Richard]

Nice kit shame about the OS ...

Put the Apple iPhone 2.1 OS on it and I would be interested.

Power without control is no power at all 8-)

[Robert Grant]

Don't be fooled

It's not phone-sized, it's a bloody pda!

http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=5875

[Jamie]

I have a dream...

that one day a manufacturer will come out with a phone that is not tied to a single OS and I can install a Linux distro yet still be able to use the phone without all the additional crap on Windows.

[Anonymous Coward]

Android is the only answer

Since MS don't appear to have any ability (or interest) in making WM a decent OS in the near future. WM7 looks to be another disaster as bad as WM6, and WM8 is years off.

So it'll have to be Android, otherwise I'll end up buying an iPhone. :-\

[Andrew Fenton]

First genuine ihpone competitor

All the rest have had far too small screens, and too low res. This has a slightly larger screen than the iphone, near double the screen area of the n95/touch diamond, yet is physically about the same size as the iphone. Double the iphone's resolution is good for displaying a whole web page at once - even if it's not terribly readable at that size, you can more quickly see which bit to zoom in on.

[Mr Spoon]

@Richard

Sorry did you say control? I presume you mean Apple's control over what you can run? I'm no fan of WM or Windows in general (all my computers are running Linux) but at least you can install whatever apps you like.

[Anonymous Coward]

crappy cameras

HTC should start fitting a flash into their phones to help their crappy cameras take slightly less crappy photos.

Hate to think what that would do to the already crappy battery life though....

[Repo]

Cool!

At last - a decent PDA to replace my dead VGA Dell Axim X50v. My Orange SPV M700 is a good piece of kit but QVGA sucks. It looks like it has integrated GPS as well :-)

[Anonymous Coward]

@Robert Grant

isn't the iphone a pda as well then, there both the same size.

Never had a problem with HTC though windows mobile 7 is buggy but the alternatives have there own issues. The big question is how much?

[Andrew Fenton]

@valan

"Would anyone be capable to discern the resolution difference at 3.8" size? "

Yes, but only if you hold it really close. Assuming 20/20 sight, a 1280*720 display would need to be about 9 inches away from your eyes to resolve all the pixels. A SD display only needs about 14 inches distance, a lot more practical for video playback.

[Richard]

@Mr Spoon

Actually it's the control that the OS gives a user over the power of the hardware. Great kit is a paperweight without a decent OS and UI.

Yeah, blah blah, Apple are bad guys (tm) to limit access blah, whatever. I have an iPod Touch and have a wide choice of software and if not then I can write my own using the free SDK and IDE.

All my computers run OS X or FreeBSD or embedded Linux ... so they are all usable.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmmm.....

I too would have to wait for a slipey-slidey-out keyboard version as I now couldn't go back to the normal phone/txt ballacks that gives you school girls txt thumbs.

The size doesnt bother me - I prefer putting up with that for the features/connectivity options.

The HTC nav menu looks like a bit of a halfway house between WM and Apple, so perhaps M$ might take note and make their front end a little more sexy in the future..... I hold my breath not !!

Yes - you could say this sux a liitle like Paris. So it can't be all that bad then !!

[Anonymous Coward]

wot?

no HiDef and not even a HardDisk :)

[Jon Hill]

390 hours standby

As the owner of a Touch Diamond, I am fully aware of HTC's claims re 'up to x hours' standby time - you might get half that if all the radios are switched off and you don't actually use it for anything other than a desk ornament. Other than that, I can see that this would sell like hot cakes if the underlying WM6 UI was improved. TouchFlo 3D is good, but it's only a skin. If Android or iPhoneOS was installed on it, HTC could become a top 3 manufacturer...

[brimful]

What's the point

of having a music player on this system if they inist on using that crappy socket known as a headphone jack? Come on HTC, give me an onboard 3.5mm headphone hack / jack so I can plug in my Ipod headphones without having to go through a converter kit of some description.,

[Pete]

what's the point????

@brimful

It's got a 3.5 jack. and it's not recessed either!

But seriously, Enough of the fanboy behaviour from both sides! Sheesh, as soon as a mobile phone gets released and reviewed these days, all you get is a flame war...getting a bit boring now!

[Rob Haswell]

Wut no keys?

Argh not another fking phone with no fkin keys! WHAT IS IT WITH THESE PEOPLE?! Touchscreens never have and never WILL be an acceptable text input method, especially for something in the PDA size bracket.

@brimful - 3.5mm is perfect, 2.5mm is good ehough (flexible adaptors are £2 on ebay)

Paris, cos she's got no problem with people touching her buttons

[Dave]

Yet another failure

Sorry guys, I've yet to see a phone with Windows Mobile that I'd be prepared to pay money for. Perhaps if they could put Linux or Symbian on it I might consider it. In the meantime I continue to use my old phone, discovering that I don't actually need any of the gimmicks and widgets attached to modern phones.

[Anonymous Coward]

@Brimful, RE: What's the point?

Err, the Touch HD has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack on the top of the device. You can just about make it out on the Reg pics (just to the right of the camera on the rear view) and see it clearly on HTCs own website.

I for one will be the first in line for this phone. I've had a i-Mate Jam for ages now and I've never really had a problem with it. Yeah, WinMob isn't great but I couldn't go back to using a "normal" phone... the geek in me just won't let me! Now if it could be hacked to get Android on it... I'd be able to design my own custom UI... how cool would that be!

[Robert Hill]

@Jamie

"that one day a manufacturer will come out with a phone that is not tied to a single OS and I can install a Linux distro yet still be able to use the phone without all the additional crap on Windows."

Never going to happen - any Linux distro you could install yourself would be so bloated that it would never fit on a smartphone. Linux on smartphones has been CAREFULLY pared down from the original distros, and usually have UIs custom tailored for small screens. And don't forget that most Linux distros don't have drivers to actually RUN a phone and the radio/data chips inside it.

I was an early adopter of Linux on smartphones, and paid huge money for anMoto A780 in the US. It had a great formfactor (a clamshell with a keyboard on the outside), but was absolute rubbish to use the UI, and the battery life was horrendous. And, oh yeah, an absolute DEARTH of applications to actually run on it.

My iPhone 3G is simply much better in every way frankly...having given up my HTC Touch and Win Mobile was the best phone decision I ever made, although I do miss one or two applications. Can't have everything...

[V.B.N.]

More of the same, yet...

Its more of the same, yet we don't find as many complaining about Apple releasing the same object over and over again with only minor aesthetic differences. Its had the same shape/form factor for ever and has only ever gained/lost weight and size. For me its still the same cuboid with the same wheel stuck in the middle.

For me its Paris because even she must be worried about the economy.

[Robert E A Harvey]

nearly good enough

This is almost exactly what I want to replace my failing Ipaq, except it's Windoze Mobile, and I have sworn never to have another one of those.

[Anonymous Coward]

RE: Windows Mobile; RE: touchscreen

My XDA Orbit with WM5 works very well thank you very much. It hasn't crashed once in the 18 months I have had it.

I can use the touchscreen keyboard quite well thanks, I couldn't text whilst walking or driving I admit but the latter is illegal and the former is just far too sad.

[Maryland, USA]

I beg to differ with the nay-sayers

No pocket computer currently on the market that could take the place of my four-month-old HTC 6800 (Verizon XV6800), which has a 2.8-inch display. But this baby probably will! I text extensively, but I usually forget to use the 6800's pull-out keyboard; instead, I use one of two commercial soft keyboards (Resco and SPB). But a large keyboard alone can't completely replace a stylus; to brows the Web, sometimes your finger is just too big. But give me the Touch HD, with a 3.8-inch display, I'd NEVER need a stylus OR a physical keyboard. I WILL say this for my 2.8-inch screen: I've become so used to squinting that, at age 51, I no longer need my -1.75 reading glasses!

[Anonymous Coward]

Whats the problem here

You guys dont like WM devices, why? ive used different WM PDAs from WM2002 to WM 6.1, Currently i have an Orbit running 6.1, ive never had an issue with any of the, they have got progressively faster over the years and my Orbit flys, ive played with the Diamond and find it eve faster, ive never been limited to any network, ive never had problems running software, I can buy software if i choose or use free open source software, i can change and upgrade batteries and buy dozens of add-ons for it, if i drop it i can have it repaired in a few days.

Battery life does last the rated amount, if you read the talk time and standby times you will notice the difference, if you use the wifi, bluetooth and or GPRS/3G it will use more power but they generally last about a day with heavy usage including propper GPS usage. so please tell me why ive not had any issues after using WM devices for years with heavy usage of all there features?

and let me get this straight, you would rather use an unreleasd OS that may not be any good than WM? get real people

[Tankut Erinc]

i get it

Yes, I get all the hostility against all things labeled Windows. It's popular and easy to pile sxit on it. Hell I do it too sometimes, it's so easy..

In my deepest humble opinion the best mobile interface was the Palm. I do no hold the Windows Mobile way of doing things, with its myriad drop-down lists and fiddly controls in high regard. Quite the contrary. Palm had it for a while, then they .. you know.

I am an unwilling (and still kicking) convert to WM due to a lack of alternatives (this is quite personal): I like the ability to fiddle and tweak, add to and change default apps. I like the ease of personalization. I am not like most people, just one of the crowd referred to as "power user" slash "geek", or just labelled "socially not adept just because he knows the 'puter stuff".

That said and hopefully out of way, the WM 6.x works just as advertised. It works. It is not pretty (but can be prettified to some extent). But it does work, and strangely enough is quite robust and reliable. It handles all the contacts / calendar / tasks / notes thing without hiccup (I am also a shameless fan of Pocket Informant). It multitasks gracefully in my palm. I can be downloading stuff of internet while uploading files to some shared folder on the network, while reading some e-book to pass some asocial time. I can even take some voice calls if required, and if I am wearing the earbuds, I can take notes about it while speaking (I am quite absentminded, so taking notes on business calls is a Good Thing).

Anyway, the myriad apps exist for WM and though there isn't an Official Draconian (ND)Appstore for it, it is elementary for any non-idiot to find them through google or somesuch. They are there for the evaluation and the taking. Fsxck the MS, you can just install them.

I got carried away. WM works better than you might think. And I've tried them all after Palm, excepting Android (and yes, including the jesus phone). I am currently using the HTC Diamond and not ashamed to admit it. It's not an iphone, but at least I can watch xvid videos on it without converting, and read iSilo and palmDb and (crxp)Lit documents, and draw a diagram with a freeware app (or basic notes) and send it via MMS. It is not only an ipod with a phone + a good browser and very good advertising. I can do stuff on the teensy black slab besides accessing my facebook account.

Just to underline: I like BeOS most of all, and Windows the least. IMHO the current most open and prolific handheld OS sadly happens to be WinMob. The others, while meaning well, don't quite cut it. I would love a Linux or PalmOS or Amiga or whatever device that could. It's just that there is nothing besides WM that half can at the moment.