HTC Touch Pro2 Review

HTC used to equip their top range smart phones with wide, side sliding, full QWERTY keyboards that seem to have been largely successful, since the first, fifth generation device with the same form factor, the HTC Touch Pro2, has just been released. Unlike its predecessor, it´s larger rather than smaller and brings the round-shape design back into the game, chucking the edgy form all latest handsets of the same manufacturer stake on. The phone sports a huge 3.6-inch screen, awesome 5 row keyboard, mechanism that lets you tilt the display so you can see things better and a bunch of extra business features to drool over.

A small pouch comes in the box (just a belt case though) along with wall charger, USB cable, headset, spare stylus, screen protector, software CD and manuals.

Design:

If you happen to be into small smart phones, you are definitely reading the wrong review. The HTC Touch Pro2 measures pretty much the same size as the iPhone, the difference being it´s several millimeters thicker and much heftier. Carrying it about in your pocket is far from unnoticeable and we would like to, once again, lash the manufacturer for providing a belt case only. Its large size allows integration of huge screen and that´s exactly what HTC have done – display measures healthy 3.6 inches and comes with a stunning resolution of 480x800 pixels and overall quality that is pretty much the same as the one its junior sibling delivers, i.e. screen is extremely sensitive, so even the slightest flicks get registered and this is great. While image quality is stunning indoors, display is instantaneously rendered unusable once you´ve taken the phone outdoors. There are other elements here that we know well from the Touch Diamond2 – the band that controls the zoom level is at the bottom, along with four keys – send and end, Windows and “back” buttons. Video call camera is right above the screen with two LED indicators elegantly located on either side of the earpiece.




You can compare the HTC Touch Pro2 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

One of the key features of the new business phone is its loudspeaker. Turn it face down and you will see the enormous grid-guard and a button to mute the microphone. Once you´ve removed the back cover though, you will face reality – the loudspeaker is actually fairly standard in size and the huge grid is just an ornamental grating that is all about fancy design.



The only issue we seem to have is the side buttons – the volume rocker on its left hand side and the power button on the opposite are almost flush with the surface and don´t provide enough travel. Still, they are comfy enough when you get used to them.


The HTC Touch Pro2 delivers an excellent keyboard, but its successor certainly cuts it out of all feathers. Keys are huge thanks to its large size of the device and there is enough space among them. They are aligned in 5 rows in a checkerboard style and all alt symbols are arranged as if on a standard computer keyboard, so they are easy to find and use. The greenish-white backlighting makes them easily discernible plus it looks pretty cool.

While open, display can be set at an angle against the keyboard which makes for a laptop-like experience. Actually, we have already seen something similar with the TyTN II (Tilt) and we can´t be happier to see it in real life once again.

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.

Software:

A brand new feature is to be found in your contacts. The interface looks great and quite out of character of typical Windows based phones. Names are showed in large fields with a single, small picture next to each one. You can scroll the list, pick out the first letter or search any name. Adding new contacts reveals huge “most used details” boxes that let you use your fingers comfortably. Another novelty feature is that you can link any phone contact to their relevant Facebook profiles when you assign your contact a picture. You´ll have to fall back on the stylus In case you need to see all available information fields (and there are many on Windows Mobile devices), because that gets you to the standard interface of the device.



Clicking onto a contact makes a pleasing information screen spring up on the screen, but that´s just the first of all tabs. The next one shows you all exchanged messages in a threaded messaging style, the emails you´ve sent to one another as well as more details on received/dialed calls. Basically, all communication can be easily accessed in one place, which comes in handy indeed. This is somewhat reminiscent of the software found on Palm devices.

HTC Touch Pro2 delivers the very same onscreen keyboard as the Diamond2 – you can either use a landscape or vertical (checkerboard) QWERTY layout, with the latter being by far the easier to type away with your bare fingers.



Unfortunately, there are cases when you don´t have a choice and will have to get back to the standard Windows Mobile 6.1 interface, which as we have been saying all over again, is far from being the most good looking thing on the planet. To help ease the pain, HTC has increased the number of customized menus that pop up when clicking software buttons.

The HTC Pro2 sports a 3-megapixel autofocus camera without flash. It´s fairly pleasing to work with, you start it, click the shutter and it does its job. There are several available options that pertain to taking pictures – white balance, brightness and ISO and the only interesting one is to define the object it’s supposed to focus through pressing against the display. It´s a shame picture quality of even outdoor snapshots is truly mediocre. We cannot really say video capture is any better as well, compression is virtually terrible and sound volume is low and muffled.




As we mentioned already, the audio player looks really nice in spite of the fact the Touch Pro2 can hardly be defined as a multimedia device. Unlike the Diamond2, sound through the loudspeaker is much better, but the earphone set that comes with the phone is below par yet again. We do recommend that all music buffs shell out for a converter from miniUSB to standard 3.5mm jack.



The HTC Pro2 supports MP4 H.264 and H.263, so we threw several video files at the integrated player. Playback of content with resolution of 800x480 pixels at even lower bitrates like 500 kbps is sluggish and stuttering, so such videos can be considered unplayable for all practical purposes. On the other hand videos with resolutions like 640x384 run smoothly and picture is really nice even at heavier bitrates such as, say, 1000 kbps. Third party video players like CorePlayer allow you to watch DivX and Xvid content without any issues.

The HTC Diamond2 doesn’t come brimming with preloaded software, but Windows Mobile 6.1 features loads of apps anyway. You will almost immediately take notice of the Teeter game, Google Maps and QuickGPS that helps pinpoint satellites fast, RSS Hub, Adobe Reader LE and of course, Office Mobile.
 

Performance:

The HTC Pro2 is certainly an extremely snappy device for a mere Windows Mobile cell phone, just like its thinner sibling the Diamond2 is, plus, like we said before, the fast and responsive touch screen is an undeniable pleasure to use.

Unfortunately, we are pretty displeased with the phone during calls. People on the other end can hear you loud and clear, but what comes out of the earpiece is noisy, crackling voices that are really hard to distinguish. Rather taken aback, we decided to switch to the built-in loudspeaker that is one of the most heavily advertised features of the Touch Pro2 and … Oh, Dear! Sound was really loud, but voices were downright repulsive to hear and almost unintelligible, which is rather odd given music through it is just fine. People on the other end complained that despite being loud, voices had suddenly lost clarity. We have to say the button in the middle blinks in green and red quite nicely, although this can hardly make up for the appalling in-call quality.

Conclusion:

At a fell swoop, the HTC Touch Pro2 has managed to irreversibly crush our understanding of cell phones as they are. Well, no, not really. As a whole it is an excellent Windows Mobile device, just as we expected. Again we emphasize it´s a nicely performing device for its operating system, despite the fact the TouchFLO 3D cannot be referred to as the best customization pack on the market - you are bound to face the “good, old WinMo” sooner or later and we all know what its weaknesses are. We also have no gripes in terms of hardware; the phone is bulky and we mean it, but this is fine with us given the awesome 3.6-inch display. The fact that it´s rendered virtually useless in direct sunlight is something we are willing to… turn a blind eye to. The only hardware part we are totally disappointed with is the mediocre loudspeaker, not to mention we did have our hopes on high after seeing all that ad hype over it, but this is something can live with. If you happen to be looking for an ultra-functional Windows Mobile cell phone, the HTC Touch Pro2 is the best option you have as of now. If you would rather go for something trendy looking, the Diamond2 offers pretty much the same, save the keyboard.

HTC Touch Pro2 Video Review: