Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 04 February 2008 08:26
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
Clearly HTC understands the limitations of Touch FLO and know just how far they have to go to compete with the iPhone, but already the word on the web is that Touch FLO 2.0 is on the way, with an
early alpha leaked to the web for those both brave enough to try it, willing to look for it and illegally download it as it not yet an official release.
The biggest criticism of Touch FLO in its current form is that it has very obviously been bolted on top of the standard Windows Mobile 6 interface.
What does this mean? It means that while Touch FLO works to let you ‘swipe’ through a series of screens that have touchable icons in iPhone style, so you can easily ring contacts, look at and swipe through your photos, start up applications, listen to music and other shortcuts.
But once you go past the Touch FLO interface you find yourself in the same old Windows Mobile interface that has only incrementally changed with each new version, effectively forcing you to get out the stylus or use the keyboard to enter in information.
Touch FLO also requires you to swipe from the edge of the screen first, instead of just from anywhere, so it’s just not as easy to use as the iPhone’s touch interface.
But at least it’s a start. Before Touch FLO, plenty of people used their fingers to press buttons and scroll through information, but it was never a smooth, simple process – indeed, it was often quite fiddly, requiring the stylus.
Touch FLO 1.0 goes some way to truly advancing the Windows Mobile interface for the first time and making the finger the focus of input and interaction, and version 2.0 promises to be even better – something we’re sure to see later this year.
Hopefully, the upgrade to Touch FLO 2.0 will be free and available to all existing HTC Touch users, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
So, what else is in the HTC Touch Dual 850, what does it cost, and what’s my verdict? Please read onto page 3.
