We finally try a North American version of the HTC Touch Dual, with a better keyboard for typing. Is this phone worth skipping the carrier contract?
Review summary of the HTC Touch Dual (SureType):
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_it00.jpg) The HTC Touch Dual with the SureType keyboard is the best version of this phone we've seen, and we've seen quite a few, but now we're ready for what's next. We liked the SureType keyboard plenty, and it definitely improved not only the messaging experience on this phone, but it also improved simpler tasks like entering new appointments and Web addresses. Still, the TouchFLO interface was great the day before the Apple iPhone was introduced, but it hasn't been competitive with that touchscreen phone ever since, and at such a high price for an unlocked model, we're wondering if it really makes Windows Mobile that much more bearable. The answer is yes, it does, but we're still not going to shell out the cash. Release: June 2008. Price: $550.
Pros: Best HTC Touch we've seen, with SureType keyboard. Easy tethered modem support. Calls sound good, nice address book features.
Cons: Keys a bit rickety. Lacks IM clients. Still not as slick or responsive as the iPhone.
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Full HTC Touch Dual (SureType) Review:
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We originally tested a European model of the HTC Touch Dual in Amsterdam, using a Vodafone SIM card. Recently, the Touch Dual was released in the U.S. and is available unlocked from Best Buy. The model featured here is the U.S. version with the 20-key SureType keyboard, as opposed to the numeric 12-key pad we saw originally. Our newer review unit is also running Windows Mobile 6.1.
Design - Very good
The HTC Touch Dual comes in two varieties, and we definitely prefer the one with the SureType keyboard. It is a slim little touchscreen phone with a solid sliding mechanism and a great soft touch paint finish. It's very classy, and the slide-out keyboard doesn't add much bulk compared to the regular HTC Touch.
HTC has improved upon the Windows Mobile interface with their own TouchFLO overlay, and we found TouchFLO to be very responsive on this Touch Dual. We especially like the Brady Bunch-style speed dialing screen, and we discovered a pop-up menu for messaging that appeared whenever we opened the SureType keyboard, with easy access to e-mail, messaging and a few other features in which typing is useful. It isn't as slick or clever as the Apple iPhone interface, but it makes Windows Mobile a much more pleasant experience. Of course, this overshadows some of the visual advances made in WinMo 6.1, which comes loaded on this phone, but that only goes to show that HTC's designs are still more functional.
Calling - Good
Calls on this HTC Touch Dual sounded as good as they did on the European version we tested recently, which is to say very good. We also like some of the call management features HTC has added to Windows Mobile with the Touch. Entering contacts was easier with the SureType model, thanks to the 20-key keyboard, and the system was fairly good at guessing proper names. Still, quite a few entries required multi-tapping, but with SureType this means we only had to tap twice. Battery life wasn't as good during this testing session as it was when we tested the European model, but that's probably because this version uses AT&T's 3G HSDPA networks, as the corresponding radio drains the battery quicker. We were still pleased to get more than four hours from the phone during a single call.
Messaging - Good
The SureType keyboard on the HTC Touch Dual makes e-mail and SMS messaging much easier. Unfortunately, HTC hasn't preloaded any instant messaging clients, which is a real shame. Still, the phone did a great job guessing our words, though we would have preferred better recognition for contractions. "Don't" was recognized as "font" when we didn't insert the apostrophe, and this is a trick other phones, like the Apple iPhone, have mastered. HTC does have a few tricks of their own, though, and we liked that holding down a letter key activated the corresponding punctuation mark. Still, this isn't the best SureType keyboard we've used, and the keys felt a bit rickety and loose on our review unit. BlackBerry Pearl keyboards are also notoriously loose, so we'd like to see this keyboard design tightened up.
Web browsing - Good
With a more responsive screen comes better Web browsing and easier navigation. Though the Touch Dual didn't come close to the responsiveness of the Apple iPhone, it was still a better Web browsing device than its predecessors. The hardware keys made the most difference here, as they helped us type addresses more reliably (a serious problem with T9 input) and gave us easier shortcuts to use in Google Reader on our mobile browser. Ultimately, though, we're looking forward to a new browser for Windows Mobile phones.
Camera - Mediocre
The lens on the Touch Dual impressed us no more than the lens on the original Touch. Pictures didn't look great but were passable in good lighting. HTC has updated its photo gallery to take better advantage of the touch interface and has added a nifty zoom capability to show off. If you draw a circle around something in an image, the phone zooms in to show you what you circled. Draw a circle counterclockwise and you zoom out. It's a neat gimmick, and we would have liked to see more fun and useful tricks like this elsewhere in the phone.
Music - Good
The Touch Dual features an updated music player, and it's somewhat easier to use with the touch interface. Buttons are larger and more square and lists are easier to read in the Touch's dark black menu color scheme. HTC bundles a nice pair of earbuds, but gadget aficionados will appreciate the A2DP Bluetooth profile for stereo streaming. The Touch Dual also takes microSDHC cards, and we filled an 8GB microSDHC card with music and pics to test the phone's capabilities.
Laptop sidekick - Very good
One of the best features to make its way from the European version of the HTC Touch Dual is the Internet Sharing app. This is the simplest way to use a cell phone as a tethered modem, and it worked flawlessly with our Touch Dual and Dell D420 laptops. Once we hit "Connect" on the phone, we plugged it into the laptop and were immediately surfing at speeds that averaged around 600Kbps. We topped out just over the megabit speed marker, but we also dipped low into the 200Kbps range, but that's just cellular networking for you. We also liked that the phone uses a standard mini-USB port, so you won't need to bring extra cables on the road.
Value - Mediocre
Undoubtedly, there are customers who avoid contract agreements at all costs, and people who need an unlocked phone for traveling or other nefarious plans. For these folks, the $550 that Best Buy is charging for this unlocked HTC Touch Dual might be reasonable, but not to anyone willing to brave a carrier agreement in return for subsidies. Now that the Apple iPhone 3G will cost only $200, we have to wonder whether the HTC Touch Dual is worth almost three times as much? Of course not. We're not fans of early termination fees or the other pitfalls of carrier contracts, but we still think that the market for unlocked phones will be tough in this country until these prices can come down to compete.
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