We tap on the HTC Touch, again and again, to see if the TouchFLO interface has improved since the GSM version. Did Sprint's new smartphone win us over?
Review summary of the HTC Touch (Sprint):
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_it00.jpg) We're not surprised that the TouchFLO interface doesn't work properly on this device, since it didn't work properly on the GSM version we reviewed back in July. We're disappointed that the touch screen technology wasn't improved since then, and we had such difficulties with this phone that we would discourage anyone from considering it without giving it a proper hands-on test. If TouchFLO worked flawlessly, the Touch might have been an easy-to-use Windows Mobile phone, but even then it would have suffered from input issues that limit the usability of WM6's most powerful features, the calendar and productivity apps. Yet, on the horizon there is hope, as a few updates to the Touch have already been announced. If these issues were fixed, we would love to take another look. Release: November 2007. Price: $200.
Pros: Small design. Good for multimedia; videos looked good, stereo Bluetooth for music. Might make a nice, small tethered modem for travelers.
Cons: Screen is not sensitive enough, loses calibration easily. TouchFLO interface overlay suffers due to ineffective touch screen. Onscreen keyboards are difficult to use, inaccurate.
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55%
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Full review of the HTC Touch (Sprint):
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Design - Mediocre
The TouchFLO interface that HTC has laid on top of Windows Mobile simply does not work properly. Supposedly, you activate the overlay by swiping your finger from the bottom of the screen to the top, but most of the time this did not work. Similarly, sideswipes, which should rotate the cube-like menu screens, were also ineffective. We also had to recalibrate just about every day, or else the screen would register stylus taps far from where we were actually pressing down.
The entire Windows Mobile 6 interface seems poorly designed for touch. If there is a scroll bar you need to move, better break out the stylus, because the device will assume you're making a selection, and not scrolling to the next option. Though HTC provided alternatives to the original Windows Mobile onscreen keyboard, even their improved QWERTY pad has problems. For one, the keyboard doesn't get out of the way of the fields into which you're typing, nor does it tell you what keys you've already pressed. You have to guess, or hope that enough of the letter is peeking over the keyboard so that you can figure it out. For another, the 20-key, SureType-like onscreen option makes better use of screen real estate, but the auto-completion feature was inaccurate, and difficult to correct on the fly. Of course, a version of the HTC Touch is already being sold with a full QWERTY keyboard, but that device is only available in Europe at the moment.
Finally, beneath HTC's TouchFLO interface, Windows Mobile 6 is clearly not meant to manage a touch screen-only phone. All of the system icons, especially the notification and task manager icons in the menu bar, are much too small for even our dainty digits. When we tapped on a button at the bottom of the screen, "Notifications, for instance, we could clearly see the word highlighted, but the Touch was so unresponsive that often these taps were just ignored, forcing us to poke again and again. Finally, Windows Mobile is a menu-heavy system, requiring numerous taps for just about any function. At least on larger HTC smartphones, like the Sprint Mogul, you get plenty of buttons to cut down on menu drilling. On the Touch, you either have to hope that the TouchFLO overlay works properly (it doesn't), or you have to tap and tap to get what you need.
Calling - Mediocre
Admittedly, call quality on the Touch was actually quite good, better than most consumer level phones and as good as most smartphones. It wasn't audio quality that gave us problems on the Touch. It was call management and dialing. Dialing keys on the onscreen pad were very wide, but not tall. We misdialed often, and just as frequently the Touch didn't register our taps unless we pressed very hard. Though the Touch easily synchronized with our desktop using ActiveSync, entering new contacts was an experience we wouldn't want to try twice. Once they are entered, you can sort the onto Sprint's fantastic contact screen, which organizes icons or pictures into a grid. We liked the look of this screen, especially when full of pictures, but we wish getting contacts into the phone was easier.
The Touch has good calling features, though we're deducting points here for anything that takes too much menu digging. Conference calling was easy, since it required simply tapping the talk button to connect two calls, though dialing should be easier. Bluetooth wasn't bad either, since HTC wisely bundles their own Comm Manager, bring Bluetooth up to a second-tier menu. Voice tagging is available, but to access it you have to navigate menus, or reorder the TouchFLO interface, neither of which are pleasant options. At least the speakerphone is nice and loud, and also a top-level choice while calls are active.
Messaging - Mediocre
One guess why we weren't fond of messaging on the HTC Touch (rhymes with "Shmeyboard"). As iPhone owners, we might forgive an onscreen keyboard its foibles, but the iPhone's screen seems so much more sensitive than the screen on the Touch, at least on our iPhone we feel responsible for our mistakes. On the Touch, HTC has included a variety of keyboard options, but none of them satisfy The keyboard switching menu was buggy, and often didn't appear when we needed it. Handwriting recognition couldn't recognize our writing, and the 20-key and full QWERTY keyboards didn't do a much better job.
Keyboard problems aside, the Touch makes accessing your messaging accounts difficult. We had trouble signing into our MSN IM account because our password is complicated, and because the phone seems to always choose the worst keyboard layout for the active field. It never settled on the number pad for zip codes, and we often had to turn off predictive input in proper name fields. The phone has all the e-mail options of Windows Mobile 6, with SMS and MMS, as well as IM for AOL, Yahoo and MSN, but it would be wise to set up as much as you can on the PC side first, then set aside some time to set up the phone for the rest.
Multimedia - Good
Multimedia is what the Touch does best. Perhaps, rather than a touch screen Windows Mobile phone, HTC should have built a portable media player instead. Videos looked pretty good on the Touch's screen, and though they were limited to the clips you'll find on Sprint TV, full screen mode moved along at a nice clip, streaming starting and stopping on a dime. Video controls were limited, and many videos looked stretched, but the network speeds and the device's processor were up to the task. The Sprint Music store has also seen a facelift on the Touch, and has a nicely-designed interface for the touch screen. You won't want to search for anything, but if you like the top selections, it's easy to download them. We were even impressed by the 512MB microSD card Sprint provides, which isn't a lot, but is more than you'll get from some other, larger carriers. We would have liked a 3.5mm headphone jack, but the Touch can handle stereo Bluetooth (using A2DP) and this worked fine on our Bluetooth speakers.
Web browsing - Good
Once you have a page fully loaded and you're in the right spot, reading what you want to read, the Web browser on the HTC Touch is actually quite nice. Images look good, rendered pages are accurate, and text was very legible on the Touch's screen. Unfortunately, getting to that point is very difficult. Entering long strings of text, like URLs, is difficult, and navigating the pages should have been much easier. Dragging pages works, after a long lag time for the device to figure out what you're doing, and even then it never quite tracks your finger properly. This is nothing like the iPhone, though it is a sad state of affairs that we still prefer the Touch's laggy navigation to the endless scrolling you're forced into on the Motorola Q9h.
Camera - Mediocre
On the Touch, images tended to look blurry and washed out. Though the device features a 2-megapixel sensor, we rarely found images acceptable even at XGA resolutions on our laptops. Management was fine, showing off the improved interface designed by HTC, but it should be much better. Again, this is a feature that is deliriously fun on the iPhone. When we want to show off Apple's device, we turn straight to photo handling. On the Touch, the photo gallery is a slight improvement over the standard Windows Mobile fare, but doesn't offer anything new or interesting. Videos, similarly, were not completely unacceptable in a pinch, or an emergency, we suppose, but were far from ideal.
Productivity and scheduling - Mediocre
Not to beat up on the phone with this point, but once again the Touch proves itself fine at viewing, not so much for input. So, when you need to view a Word document, or a PowerPoint deck, the Touch can do whatever you'd find on a full-QWERTY Windows Mobile 6 Professional phone. You can edit, if you dare, but if you really want to create a spreadsheet, you should probably find a different phone. For scheduling, you get all the robust handling of Outlook, but again, if you want to start creating complicated appointments, you should either set aside some time, or find a different device.
Laptop sidekick - Very good
The Touch is a fine travel companion. It's small and light, offers info at a quick glance, and it accompanies a laptop well. It charges using miniUSB, and it can act as a tethered modem. Tethered modem speeds were okay in our lower Manhattan office, hovering above 500Kbps in our tests.
Price and availability
The HTC Touch is available from Sprint for $200 with a contract agreement. A mail-in rebate of $100 is available when signing up for a qualifying plan.
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