| The Taiwan mobile phone maker HTC is updating its | | | | away at high speeds. You get Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR |
| first Touch smartphone released more than two years | | | | and A2DP. Built-in GPS/A-GPS as well as WiFi 802.11 |
| ago with a new makeover aptly called the HTC Touch | | | | b/g and a modest 512 MB RAM expandable to 15GB |
| 2. Why it took that long is anybody's guess but if that's | | | | from its microSD slot |
| any indication, one should expect the Touch 2 to bring | | | | Budget Features |
| with it all the innovative features of a 2009 | | | | You have a 2.8-inch LCD resistive touchscreen display |
| smartphone. Sadly, it's as if HTC resurrected a | | | | that basically screams 2008 as the right year when |
| smartphone blueprint meant for release last year. The | | | | HTC should have released this. It's got a mere 240 x |
| second generation Touch handset could have | | | | 320 pixels or QVGA resolution when it's clear you |
| benefited with a more upbeat hardware feature set | | | | could easily squeeze in a more dense Wide-VGA |
| but what we now hope to get this Christmas is | | | | resolution seen on other smartphones in the same |
| souped-up but dated handset, both in looks and | | | | screen size. |
| features. | | | | This, together with the Windows OS that remains |
| So what gives? | | | | incapable of having 16 million color depth, makes the |
| The Touch 2 looks like its predecessor, inheriting the | | | | Touch2 display one of the least appealing out there. |
| same build quality and materials as the first Touch on a | | | | The HTC Touch 2 does get the job done alright, |
| similarly compact and hand-friendly body weighing just | | | | despite its sluggish response. |
| 110g. What endears it the most is its non-glossy | | | | There's an average 3.2 megapixel camera that has no |
| surfaces that are not a fingerprint magnet as many | | | | autofocus, no flash and comes out with mediocre shot |
| touchscreen monoblock handsets are. | | | | that are often good indoors with artificially saturated |
| HTC is laying claim to have its first Windows Mobile | | | | colors. Don't go macro as you lose focus at close |
| smartphone on the Touch 2. There's no argument that | | | | range. Don't expect a lot from its camera. |
| the Windows Mobile 6.5 OS is giving the Touch 2 | | | | HTC has managed to deliver a smartphone with |
| something to look forward to in terms of multitasking | | | | features that work and matter most. Rather than |
| capabilities and an updated user interface in the | | | | taking out the bells and whistles, HTC must have |
| TouchFlo2. But there's only so much that cosmetics | | | | thought that putting them in even with mediocre quality, |
| can do. What you get is a great looking, easy to use | | | | can give value to the handset. Good thing this is a |
| user interface that is slow to respond compared with | | | | budget phone so it's not polite to ask too much. Expect |
| other HTC handsets sporting the same UI. | | | | this to be offered free by the major carriers with an |
| But not to worry, this is still a quad band GSM and a tri | | | | affordable contract when it hits the market late this |
| band UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA on 3g so you can surf | | | | year. |