HTC Touch Dual Review

The phone’s appearance catches theeye extremely easy. If you pull the phone out of the suede bag,included in the box and people around you don’t start asking youquestions like “Is this Prada?” or “Is that a new model by Samsung?",then most likely, you are surrounded by individuals, who have spent thelast year in a Buddhist temple. Confusion like that could be explained,by the large display, which when inactive, offers extremely beautifulmirror-like effect. The TFT display has a 240x320 pixel resolution andsupports up to 65k colors. Its high contrast, providing good visibilityin daylight, as well as the easy to clean surface, leave us with a verygood impression. Just over its upper right corner is the video callingcamera.


Overall, the phone is designed so it can be usedsingle-handedly, and the annoying play, seen in the N95 for example,when sliding the phone, is not present. The body has dimensions of 4.2x 2.2 x 0.6 inches (107 x 55 x 15.8 mm) and weight of 4.2 oz (120 g) andis very well balanced. It is slightly longer and narrower than theTouch. When extended, the phone offers a very convenient shape, closeto the one of a regular receiver and extreme comfort during aconversation.


You can compare the HTC Touch Dual to many other phones, using PhoneArena's Visual Size Compare tool.

The silvery line, which encircles the whole body,also contributes for the confusing similarity with LG’s fashion phone.The camera button and the volume control key are located in it,respectively on the right and on the left, as well as the charger andaccessory connector. All of them have a relief and shape allowing easyoperating. Luckily for us (and for you), Touch Dual uses the universalminiUSB standard. Over it is the microSD slot. The power button is ontop of the phone.


Once you open the phone, the similaritieswith Prada are gone. This gives you access to the keyboard. We testedthe model with the 12 standard keys, plus four functionality ones. Themanufacturer offers a 20-key QWERTY version also.

All buttonsare transparent, with mirror-like effect similar to the display. Thepresence of a “back” button instead of an “OK” one, is not typical fora Windows Mobile 6 Professional. It is used to delete symbols, inputthrough the keyboard. The Internet Explorer one is located under it. Onthe other side of the numeric keypad is located the standard start menushortcut and one for direct access to SMS and e-mail writing. Overall,this part of the phone is made very well fitting the design of thedevice. The keys are in relief and can't be felt by touch, but arelarge and easy enough to press, which makes writing with themconvenient. The keyboards white colored illumination eases its use atnight.

The D-pad and the accept/reject buttons are located in the upper half of the slider. After holding the latter, the phone goes to programming mode. The two buttons are easy to press, but are too small and are probably victims to the clear design. On the other hand, the navigational pad is very convenient, and the bulge easing the sliding up/down, is slightly above it.

The lack of software buttons and of one, which to correspond to the “close the window” function” or an “OK” button makes the utilizing the touch screen necessary. In order to take advantage of full functionality of the PocketPC, you still have to use your fingers or the stylus included in the set.

The main 2-megapixel camera and the speaker are located on the back. The back panel is fully covered by the lid of the battery, which has to be removed in order to install a SIM card.

Currently, the model is only offered in black. Considering the audience it targets, we expect it to be offered in other colors.