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Technology news and Jobs 
Fuzzy Logic HTC Touch: The iPhone “clone wars” start
Fuzzy Logic HTC Touch: The iPhone “clone wars” start | HTC Touch: The iPhone “clone wars” start |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Wednesday, 06 June 2007 | |
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Page 2 of 2 And given that it’s a Windows Mobile 6 Professional device, the rest of the usual additions are present, including Outlook Mobile, Office Mobile, Windows Live and the capabilities to run thousands of third-party applications. The Touch measures, 99.9mm (L) x 58mm (W) x 13.9mm (T), making it slightly thicker than the iPhone at 11.6mm. It weighs 112g with the battery and sports a 2.8-inch screen at 240x320 resolution, making it a little smaller than the iPhone which has a 3.5-inch screen and a higher resolution of 320x480. The standard internal memory of Window Mobile devices is present: 64MB RAM and 128MB ROM, but a 1GB microSD storage card is included, with the phone presumed to be compatible with up to 2GB microSD cards. Sadly there's no 3.5mm headphone socket like the iPhone, you must use the Touch's included headphones to listen in private. Just like the iPhone, the HTC Touch is only a triband GSM/GPRS/EDGE phone that’s usable in most parts of the world, but there’s no 3G or video call capabilities in this model. But also like the iPhone, the HTC touch sports an 802.11 b/g wireless connection as well as Bluetooth 2.0 with stereo and A2DP capabilities, although the iPhone is rumoured to also be adding 802.11n to the mix for an ever faster Wi-Fi experience where available. Sadly, the included camera is only 2 megapixels – quite when HTC will move beyond 2 megapixels is unknown, but it’s certainly long overdue. The battery is your standard lithium-ion jobbie but it’s not clear if it’s replaceable or not, but a talk time of 5 hours is quoted with a standby of up to 200 hours. The Touch will come in a choice of two colours, an ‘elegant soft black’ or what HTC calls an ‘alluring’ wasabi green. The HTC Touch is currently only available in the UK, but later this month (June) is set for release in Asia and the rest of Europe at a price of €449. At this price the phone will be unlocked and could be shipped anywhere, including the US. As the Touch isn’t due to hit North and South American until the US Autumn (fall), those really wanting it will find it being grey imported into the country, where the US price as a direct conversion of the Euro price is US $605, making it $6 more expensive than an 8Gb iPhone but without having that 2 year contract to worry about. The HTC Touch looks like a good first attempt at giving new prominence to the touch controls that have been in Microsoft smartphones since day one, with HTC deserving kudos for getting the phone out into at least the UK marketplace before the iPhone hits US store shelves. But even with this initial analysis, the revenge of the iPhone will simply be in its far more eloquent and much more capable user interface, coupled with the hipness and cool that the Apple brand brings. HTC might be sitting alongside LG and their Prada in releasing a phone that looks similar to an iPhone with touch controls to boot, but on June 29 the world will see the Apple empire strike back. Whatever the eventual popularity of the LG Prade, the iPhone and/or the HTC Touch, the new push towards ‘natural user interfaces’ shows a return to real competition in modernizing the cell phone is well and truly back For that, we’re grateful, and can only say that it’s about time! {moscomment}
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