SCI FI PI

CAN’T WAIT FOR THE IPHONE? NEITHER CAN WE – SO WE TRIED OUT THE HTC TOUCH.



The touchability that is the sex-drive behind Apple’s iPhone is making the consumers of the world somewhat silly as they turn that product’s sales into a phenomenon. However, calmer heads may prevail as Apple’s product’s limitations (including not being available at this very minute in Oz) become apparent.

If you want something similar, without having to wait - and without being tied down to a particular provider, a good place to start looking is the HTC touch. The steaming hot looks and the promise of access to Outlook email and other Office apps, web surfing, music and the sexy TouchFLO system promise much. But what happens when we put it in the hands of a tech newbie?

Here’s the ordinary person’s response to the HTC Touch:

Okay, first things first, is it retard-proof? Retard-proof technology means that you can pull it out of the box, switch it on and away you go. Unfortunately for our reviewer, no.

However, there is a nice touch – a manual, for normal adult sensible people, and a smaller ‘read me first flyer’ which gives the most basic of instructions, helping the tech retard and the manual-o-phobic into the world of the HTC Touch without all that bothersome ‘reading’.

It soon becomes apparent that ignoring the instructions is foolish is a foolish move. It’s not that you can’t make the Touch work, it’s just that there’s so much going on in this little gadget that you really do want to find out everything you can get out of it. You really should get your money’s worth, as it retails north of 500 clams.

One geeky little extra - a voice commander, which works, straight out of the box, no training. Switch it on, say call er... who do I call... let’s say Steven... I say “call Steven” and it says and shows me “Call Steven, Yes? No?” and I say “yes” and it starts dialling. Nice. Good for the conscientious driver, awesome for the angry geek who has previously always had to put up with “do you mean phome? Are you clome? Want a gnome?” when all you want to do is call home. Although we did not try to ring anybody called Unteringenbergerhoffensherm. That might be dicey.

On to the interface. If you’re retarded (like me) then the touch system won’t come instantly to you. The trick is to be firm. Yes. Treat her rough boys. If you have a giant thumb it can be tricky, but when you start pressing and sliding the cubey spinning TouchFLO screen and flick the interface around to phone, extras, and main screen, it all becomes worthwhile. You do have to stick with it, though, but once you get the knack, it’s straightforward.

If you do have banana hands, then you have stylus that can be used in the traditional PDA manner, and I think that’s where we really should stop and look around if you’re trying to compare the iPhone to this baby. Frankly, it’s oranges and apples. The HTC Touch is a PDA, synching with your Windows Office, downloading your email over the network (or if you’re a cheap scuzzball like myself, by any unlocked WIFI, so you can check if that special Ebay massage about your missile-launching Boba Fett prototype has come through.


You then add on top of this – voice recorder, music player (both headphones and speaker!) camera, video camera, calendar organiser, word processor, games, - there’s even a doodling device for er, doodling. Oh, and you can use it as a phone.


If you want the screen to go wide instead of landscape, a press of a button is all it takes. Which makes reading the internet easy.

Battery time is immense, phone ringers are loud and clear and the ring off/vibrate/system is an easier little button on the side, so if you’re heading into a movie or a meeting it’s a snap.


A nice touch as you dial, the numbers that you dial start to produce a list of possible contacts candidates from your contacts list, so if Steven’s number began 0432 12 – by the time I was half way through dialling, I could just press the phone button and away we go. You can also have 9 quick contacts – make them up with photos and just press their face and away you go again.


The iTouch iPod has shown that the Apple’s interface is retard proof, and the glass screen is pretty indestructible, but it’s a plaything, not a work thing. The HTC’s Touch FLO system is slightly clunkier, but it is logical. It does take a bit of patience, but the ability to press the HTC on, then flick with the thumb, then press the plastic coated glass with your thumb to dial a phone number is pretty easily gained. The only thing if you do use your fingers as your primary input - smudges. Get ready to understand just how disgusting the human body is when compared to a nice clean piece of technology. OCD germ free types may stick to the stylus.

This is a monstrously powerful machine, but it requires you to train your mind (and fingers) to enter its intense PDA world. If you’re wanting to buy it, then chances are you’re already there.

So the HTC Touch isn’t retard proof – but then if you’re a retard, what are you doing with a PDA? Get an animal noise phone instead.

RRP. is $699.


Geeky stuff for people who know about this sort of thing:
Processor - TI’s OMAP™ 850, 201 MHz
Operating System - Windows Mobile® 6 Professional
Memory - ROM: 128MB; SDRAM: 64MB DDR
Dimensions - 99.9mm (L) x 58mm (W) x 13.9mm (T)
Weight - 112g with battery
Display - 2.8’’ LCD touch screen with backlight
- 240 x 320 dots resolution with 65,536 colours
Network - GSM/GPRS/EDGE Tri-band: 900, 1800,1900 (The device will operate on frequencies available from the cellular network)
Device Control - HTC TouchFLOTM
- 5-way navigation key
Connectivity - Bluetooth® 2.0
- Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g
- HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB and audio jack in one)
Camera - 2.0 mega-pixel CMOS colour camera
Audio - Built-in microphone and 3-in-1 speaker
- Windows Media® Player supported formats: AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, WMA, WAV, QCELP, MPEG4, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, MIDI
Battery - Rechargeable Li-Ion battery
- Capacity: 1100 mAh
- Standby time: Up to 200 hours
- Talk time: Up to 5 hours
Expansion Slot - microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
AC Adapter - Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC
50/60Hz DC output: 5V and 1A