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7th April 2009 Author: Kinny Cheng - - Views:

It hasn’t even been a year, and Taiwan-based HTC has already pulled another pair of power products out of their rather-deep hats.

The Touch Diamond2 and Touch Pro2, slated for release in early Q2 and late Q2 respectively, have managed to set new boundaries once again - yet this time, more so in the area of true device usability. This is not to say that styling has become of lesser importance...

TouchFLO 3D - quicker, smoother, deeper
Both models come with HTC’s latest implementation of the TouchFLO 3D (TF3D) overlay, the front-end user interface responsible for enriching the overall experience of utilising a Windows Mobile device. While most would probably agree that TF3D does an exemplary job, there is also the camp of users who sees it to be “slow” and “irresponsive”, demonstrated by the slowness in visual animations and poorer loading times of in-built functions.

I personally am quite fond of the TF3D offered on the previous HTC models (Touch Diamond, Touch Pro, Touch HD). But the one thing that made it difficult for me to fully embrace the UI was response time, which I found to be troubling at times.

After my short encounter with the Diamond2 a bit earlier on, a sense of relief had finally set in. It was the surprisingly quick and smooth performance of the upgraded TF3D interface which has, once again, opened my eyes to its true potential.

Of course, performance tweaks wasn’t all that it had to show for itself. The tighter integration between it (TF3D) and the base Windows Mobile platform was also one of the major steps forward, and is represented by the following new features/functionalities.

(Do refer to my other post, which has two videos demonstrating the upgraded TF3D’s real-world performance).

Single contact view (aka “people-centric communication”)
Before, it was just a quick-dial setup. Now, TF3D takes over the job of the ‘Contacts’ application completely. In addition to offering *just* contact entries and those respective details, it can now provide any associated information related to the very same contact - whether it be emails, text messages, or even call logs. Each of these are presented as a tab on another TouchFLO slide bar, with the info tucked away until it is required - and can be used whilst viewing contacts or during a call.

This is one very smart implementation that does away with the troubling question of accessing user-based info across different apps.

Push Internet
In plain English, this is basically a feature that allows for the pre-downloading of specific (commonly-accessed) web pages, and have these stored away for anytime-anywhere access. Say, for example, that you frequently read the BBC News web site for the latest news stories. With Push Internet activated, the very same web page will (in most cases) appear almost instantaneously upon its selection.

This is because the browser has downloaded the latest version of the web page, and has that stored on the device for the user’s later reference.

Probably a very handy feature to make use of if you frequently use a handheld to access a specific list of sites.

Straight Talk (Touch Pro2 only)
Another example of tighter integration between smartphone features is this - that is, the ability to seamlessly conduct email- and voice-based communications without the need of moving in-and-out of different phone applications. Straight Talk achieves this by provisioning calling capabilities within an email view, whether it’s to a single individual or to a group of respondents via a multi-party conference call.

There is also a hardware component to the Straight Talk feature - and I quote the official HTC press release here (because of its perfect description):

In addition to the new simplified calling experience, Straight Talk includes an innovative mechanical and acoustic design that features a sophisticated speakerphone experience similar to those found in corporate boardrooms. Straight Talk delivers a high-fidelity voice and sound experience enhanced by asymmetric speakers and advanced noise suppression with full duplex acoustics. When the Touch Pro2 is flipped over it automatically turns into a conference room speakerphone system.

There is absolutely no doubt that many business users would simply *love* something like this!

Feature-wise, both the Touch Diamond2 and Touch Pro2 come with the following upgrades over its predecessors:

800-by-480-pixel (WVGA) touch-enabled display - up from VGA;
3.2-inch viewable diagonal on the Diamond2, 3.6-inch on the Pro2;
5-megapixel AF camera - up from 3.2-megapixel;
New touch-sensitive zoom bar (for quick-and-easy zooming of messages, photos, web pages); and
Windows Mobile 6.5 ready (free update upon its release from HTC).

For the Touch Pro2 specifically, it will also get:

an upgraded (thumb-based) keyboard design which allows for the display to tilt-up (like its TyTN II predecessor);
a dual-microphone setup for its calling function (works in tandem to provide enhanced noise-cancelling capabilities);
a pair of asymmetric speakers for speakerphone use;
a proximity sensor (for disabling the display when on a call and the device is placed next to the ear); and
a dedicated “mute” button on the back of the phone usable whenever the device is in speakerphone mode.

Personally, I was very impressed with both devices, and can’t wait to give them a good run for their money upon their release. Not only are they worthy successors, but I believe HTC may have just set a new precedent with those interesting features previously mentioned above.

FYI: HTC Touch Diamond2 info @ HTC.com | HTC Touch Pro2 info @ HTC.com

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