When it comes to touch screen mobiles, the name that often pops to mind is probably a certain Apple device. But, and as may have heard mentioned, the iPhone is not available in Canada. However, it the world of sleek touchscreens, the iPhone is not the only game in town. Among others, HTC has been quietly innovating ever more interesting touch phones based on the Windows Mobile platform.
All the big Canadian operators are carrying the HTC now, and offering some interesting deals as well. See: HTC Touch now “free” from Bell and Telus for example. So is this thing any good? Nothing but a poor cousin to the iPhone – or – great device that can stand on it’s own? we asked two wirelessnorth contributors to give us each their side of the story. The Conclusion? seems to be that it depends what you use it for.
Vinesha Perera is a Canadian engineer who “was planning on using it as my primary mobile device, but after using it only for 1 week, I returned it. I went back to my previous device which is a HTC P4000 model. Note: HTC4000 model has a touch screen as well as a full keyboard.”
Rick Claus pointed me to his blog review: “I was very happy to receive the device as other members of the team purchased the HTC Touch, raved about it, and I really wanted to see what al the fuss was about.”
What do you like about it?
Vinesha: “I like the physical appearance of the HTC touch. I also like the fact it is light weight and thin.”
Rick: “the fact that the device is small and light and really just about the perfect size to hold in your hand when making a phone call… The neatest thing about the HTC Touch is the way that you work with it when reading email or doing anything on the touchscreen.”
What do you dislike?
Rick: The supplied Touch Keyboard was OK and pretty smart at figuring out what I meant, but it was not the full thumb keyboard I was used to. Perhaps having some time to think about response to an email before sending it out is a good thing, but that was about the only thing that I found a tad cumbersome.
Vinesha: “I don’t like the fact the battery life is very low compared to my HTC P4000 device. (eg: I have to charge it everyday, compared to my other HTC device which I do not have to charge for a few days before the battery runs out.
Note: I use this device as my primary device where I check email, schedule meetings, take videos / photos etc.I could not type an email that was more than a word or two long in the HTC touch phone as it was very difficult to type on the touch screen keypad.
Also, the phone kept on trying to guess the word I was about to type and after a while, it became really annoying as it guessed the wrong word. It was also difficult to figure out how to turn off this feature.
Sometimes, I was not able to select certain items on the drop down menu as I could never get to it, since the phone kept on selecting the wrong menu item.
What features do you use the most?
Vinesha: “I like the ability to switch between applications, just like in the iPhone. I also like the built in camera features with pre-loaded templates.”
Rick: “What I especially liked about the HTC Touch supplied to me by Bell was all the additional things that Bell put around the device. Key to these is the Bell Full Track Music Service … [and] the Fun Bundle $25 with Music which adds Call Display, Message Centre, and unlimited text, picture and video messages to the unlimited music and browser.”
The iPhone isn’t officially available in Canada, do you think of the HTC as an alternative?
Vinesha: “I have not used the iPhone, so, I am not sure about the usability of the iPhone touch screen keyboard. I think iPhone still looks better than the HTC touch. And since iPhone is a better brand, I personally would get an iPhone over the HTC touch. In my opinion, I do not think HTC as an alternative to the iPhone.”
Rick: “if HTC just added a keyboard to help my fat fingers, I’d be head over heels in love with the device instead of just in love with it. I’m not sure I want to give it back.”
Vinesha and Ricks’s opinions match up with other reviews around the net. The HTC is great at certain tasks, the touchflo interface is really good for casual interaction. However, the device suffers from the weakness of all touchscreens that, when it comes to input, you just can’t beat a real keypad for typing. So, if you are a heavy email user, you may want to skip the HTC and the Iphone. The Blackberry Curve remains today’s king of email. (or the HTC4000 as Vinesha also recommends)