ITWire

The Snap was one of three new Windows Mobile devices previewed by HTC in Australia at the end of June. It is similar in layout to the standard Blackberry with full qwerty keyboard and trackball. It is billed as "an affordable straightforward choice for remotely synchronising email, calendar and contacts with Microsoft Exchange server, yet simple and flexible enough for first time smartphone users wanting to keep their family life organised."

Its key user-interface innovation is a feature known as "Inner Circle". This enable users to nominate selected contacts as members of their "inner circle" then, when faced with a deluge of unread email messages, they can simply select "inner circle" to have messages from those people move to the top of the list.

The HTC Snap will be available from August 11 for $0 upfront to Telstra Business and Consumer customers on a $60, or higher, Telstra phone plan. No outright price has been given.

HTC's late June announcement also flagged the new TouchPro 2 as being initially available exclusively through Telstra and Telstra's website now lists this product at an upfront price of $1499.

You can read more stories on telecommunications in our newsletter ExchangeDaily, click here to sign up for a free trial...