Detailed HTC Touch Review

Detailed HTC Touch Review
Page content

HTC Touch

The HTC Touch is a compact mobile phone with a sophisticated touch screen that allows users to operate it using their fingers. This smartphone features a 2 megapixel camera and connections using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Unfortunately the tiny onscreen keyboard can be quite difficult to use.

Design (4 out of 5)

The HTC Touch, or simply Touch, is one of the smallest touch screen phones in recent years. It only measure 3.9 inches in length, 2.8 inches in width and 0.5 inches in thickness. It also weighs a mere 3.98 ounces. The phone also comes in a nice, soft touch finish and its rubber-like texture makes it very easy to grip.

The touch screen is 2.8 inches measured diagonally and capable of supporting 65,000 colors at a resolution of 240x320 pixels. With the TouchFLO technology incorporated in this handset, users can operate certain portions by just swiping or tapping the phone.

On the left side of the phone is a volume rocker and mini-USB port. On the bottom edge is a lanyard loop while at the top is the power on button. The speaker and camera are located on the rear of the phone. Below the main screen are buttons for Talk and End, plus a five-way navigational key.

User Interface (4 out of 5)

The phone comes with one-touch access to the apps that users frequently use such as inbox, call list, frequently used apps, and media player. From the main menu, users can access the various tools and folders by dragging their thumb from the lower part of the screen to the top of the display. This should take the user to a new screen with a 3D interface featuring three menu choices: Media, Applications, and Contacts. The program can be launched by tapping the appropriate action. Sweeping the display from the top to bottom of the screen will bring the user back to the home page.

The screen is also designed to differentiate a finger sweep from a tap, so there should be no problem at all in scrolling through web pages and e-mails. The phone is also very user-friendly as users will only take a few minutes to understand the various commands it makes use of.

The Touch however gets a lot of flak for its tiny virtual keyboard that requires the use of a stylus. The tiny keyboard can also be difficult to use especially for those who have big hands and fingers. The virtual keypad is, however, spacious enough for dialing numbers.

Features (4 out of 5)

HTC Touch

The HTC Touch features the Windows Mobile 6 operating system. It comes with basic features like smart dialing, speakerphone, voice command, text and multimedia messaging. The address book is capable of storing up to 250 contacts, with space for a maximum of 12 numbers in every entry. The user can also store information like e-mail, home address, work address, birthday, and instant messaging contact details.

There are wireless connectivity options available on this phone such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. There is no 3G support, however, so users would have to be content surfing the Internet via EDGE connectivity. The Bluetooth function of the phone supports hands-free kits, file sharing, object exchange, and wireless handsets.

The phone also comes with a 2 megapixel camera capable of up to 8x zoom plus video recording. The options are quite standard for a camera phone, with five resolution settings and four quality settings. While there is no flash support, the camera comes with white balance setting, time stamp, picture counter as well as flicker adjustment. The video recorder can support video files like Motion JPEG and MPEG4.

Performance (4 out of 5)

The camera of the phone can be depended upon to deliver good quality images. The picture quality is OK, with good definition and bright colors. Blurring in the central part of the picture is noticeable, with hints of yellow overtone. Video quality using the camera recorder is also subpar, with pixelated clips.

The HTC Touch also gets good grades in terms of voice calls, as users can hear loud and clear voices on the other line. The speakerphone also works well, and using the Touch with a Bluetooth headset is also pretty decent.

The Touch comes with a 201 Mhz processor and memory of 128 MB ROM, but it can be pretty slow in opening certain applications. Users should not be surprised if the phone will hang for a few seconds before it launches certain applications, particularly multimedia applications. The media player is also pretty nice as it can play songs with good audio quality.

The phone has a talk time of 5 hours and standby time of 8.3 days.

Verdict (4 out of 5)

The HTC Touch is a good smartphone to have thanks to its user friendly interface and good design. The multimedia features are not exactly the best, but they are good enough for a mid-priced device.

Make the most out of your HTC Touch by downloading the Best HTC Touch Free Games and the Top 5 HTC Touch Themes.