HTC Touch Pro2 Review

Interface:

If you have been reading attentively, you must have noticed that the HTC Touch Pro2 shares many features with the thinner Touch Diamond2, with the resemblance becoming striking at software level. The handset is powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional again, but the HTC´s own TouchFLO 3D customization pack lends some color to the software, adding richly functional home screen, comfortable Contacts and ultimately making the operating system and its many menus much more appealing. Well, you can still feel it´s the same clumsy, old-timer we know well, but still, the personalization shell remains one of the best when it comes to Windows Mobile. Despite the fact everything looks quite like what you would see on the Diamond2, the device brings out several really nice novelty features.

HTC has tried to bring the troubles you may have with the standard Windows Mobile interface down to a minimum introducing a carousel at the bottom to help you switch between the many home screen tabs.


•   Home screen showing a clock, date and information regarding missed call, left out tasks etc. Clicking on the clock gets you to the brushed-up world clock and alarm setting menus, both of which look really upbeat.
•   Favorite contacts sporting cute picture and shortcuts to your call register and email or message inbox
•   Messaging – you can browse through them, but if you get down to typing one in, you are faced with the well-known, old-fashioned interface.
•   Email – what you see is pretty much the same as in the messages menu, but it´s visualized as an animated letter where you can only see the top part of the text.
•   Calendar is the only new tab available. It allows you to scroll through your task list for any given date. What we don´t like is noticing any newly added entries could´ve been done better and more obvious. Weather forecast, if you keep an eye on this, appears in the relevant tab when you pick out any of the next five days (more on this in a minute).
•   Internet tab gives you a Google search pane, links to Opera mobile browser, YouTube app and favorite push pages application. If you add more to its list, you need to choose how often they are to be refreshed (1/3/6/12/24 hours) so you can take a look at new content in a snap, while if they haven´t been updated recently, you will be able to do that manually.
•   „Stock” – helps you keeps tabs on the stock market.
•   Pictures and video – allows you to browse your albums and there are camera snapshot/video Mode icons
•   Music – gives you quick access music album selection and song playback without leaving the home screen. You can also start the really comfy music player from here.
•   Weather forecast clearly suggest what the app does, the important thing is animations are really cool and you can pick up to ten different locations and get info what the weather will be like in five days running.
•    Settings - allows you to access your overused settings and saves you the trouble of entering the chaotic Windows Mobile menus. We do like the variety of sound notifications and communication options. What´s new here? A link that gets you to your business card customization and HTC menu to set up new email accounts. We disliked we had to wait until almost 500 emails got downloaded, because the email app didn´t ask how many or how old letters it was supposed to show/sync.



Opening the keyboard of its predecessor used to call up a list of shortcuts on screen that allowed best use of the keyboard. Now the software simply switches the screen to landscape when it registers the action. It´s far from being properly optimized, but is usable as a whole.



A rather pleasing Task manager shows up when you press against the top, right part of the screen, while tapping the left band in the middle brings the brand new Notification in front of you. It provides information about missed calls, messages etc. and shows all available wireless networks in range. Pleasing novelty indeed, since the corresponding interface on typical Windows Mobile phones can throw you into despair.

The application shortcuts that used to be in a separate tab have disappeared and similarly looking menu with 29 shortcuts has taken the place of the standard Start menu. It´s opened through tapping on the upper left corner or pressing the dedicated Windows button and causes a vertical list to unfold on screen – it allows you to access all applications you have on the device. We do find it appealing, since it´s really easy to use with your bare fingers, but there is no way we hold back saying HTC must´ve been inspired by the upcoming Windows Mobile ver.6.5 and the changes it´s expected to bring forth.