HTC Touch Cruise Review

Introduction:

Did you ever get lost going somewhere? If you answered yes, HTC has a solution for you and not only. The new Touch Cruise, successor to the P3300 Artemis should make you feel like a discoverer wherever you go. It not only offers a built-in GPS with TomTom Navigator 6 software, but WiFi, FM radio and a 3-megapixel camera. Aside from that, the phone is a quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) with a tri-band UMTS (850/1900/2100 MHz), which makes it usable anywhere in the world.

In the box you will find:

We were kind of surprised that there was no car charger in the box, since you will mostly need the GPS while driving. We recommend buying one of these for about $20 (15 Euro).


Design:

There are some modifications in the design of the Touch Cruise, which makes it a valued member of the family. Its overall appearance has changed, making the phone much more beautiful and classy compared to the last model. The quality plastic used to make the phone’s body, which is gentle to the touch and feels like rubber coated, contributes for that as well. Its weight has remained the same (130 g/4.6 oz), and it has dimensions 4.3 x 2.3 x 0.6 inches (110 x 58 x 15.5 mm) , slightly smaller than those of Artemis.



You can compare the HP iPAQ 614 to many other phones, using PhoneArena's Visual Size Compare tool.

Cruise has a new front vision, which looks very impressive. This is mainly because of the shiny glass, covering the 2.8” TFT display – the flat surface is very convenient for taking advantage of the touch feature, but is a fingerprint-magnet. It has the same specifications (240 x 320 pixels, 65k colors) as the previous model.

On a flat metal surface, positioned under the screen and fitting the design of the phone, we have the two call/end buttons and two shortcuts leading to GPS and Internet Explorer. Here, we still have the 4-way, rotating navigation wheel with the enter key in the middle, but their form has been change to make them easier to use. The manufacturer has removed the OK and Start buttons, which were facilitating the single-hand use, making it obligatory to take advantage of the touch screen when operating the phone.


The volume slider and the voice command button are on the left where we are used to see them, but the Reset key has been moved next to the miniUSB and the connection slot on the bottom of the device. The hard to press camera key has also remained at the same place accompanied by the regular stylus. The manufacturer has moved the microSD slot, on the same in order to make it easily accessible, and not under the lid as in the Artemis. The power button has been relocated on the top of the phone, which seems logical for a WM device.


The camera with the small mirror, the loudspeaker, and the slot for the additional GPS antenna, are to be found on the back of the phone. Even the design of the back is nice, but still comfortable, because of the rubber coat.