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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Although the HTC Touch2 didn't come to revolutionize anything, its Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system was expected to be the key to save Microsoft's failing mobile platform.
The Touch2 shares the design of many other HTC smartphones. It does not bring any innovation, but rather variety for the consumer.
Going by the user interface, HTC's own TouchFLO 3D, one could assume the device is targeted at both business and multimedia consumers, but unfortunately, Windows Mobile destroys that. As the reader will observe at a later stage in this review, the new version of Microsoft's mobile platform improved little, with a long way to go in the user interface factor.
The handset is a mid-range smartphone, which will primarily attract business users who need Windows Mobile to work (emphasis on "need"). Although I do not want to sound prejucided towards Windows Mobile, which actually has its own unique, positive features, it did fall short of my expectations.
In this segment of the mobile market, the Touch2 will find a wide range of competitors, running on all smartphone operating systems: Google Android, Symbian and even iPhone OS.
Today screen on the TouchFLO-powered interface
The HTC Touch2 offers a 2.8" touchscreen display with 240x320 pixels in resolution, a 3.2 megapixel camera with support for video recording, Wi-Fi and HSDPA connectivity, A-GPS, microSD memory card support, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a 1000mAh battery which offers up to 7.5 hours in talk time.
The touch-sensitive zoom bar, first introduced on the Touch Diamond2, is also incorporated on this handset.
As said previously, the HTC Touch2 is a Windows Phone as it runs on Windows Mobile 6.5, with HTC's TouchFLO user interface to complement it. The system is powered by a Qualcomm MSM7225 processor at 528MHz, and 256MB of RAM.
In its market segment, the Touch2 faces competition from the Symbian-based Nokia E72 (which does not have a touchscreen, but shares the same target audience), the BlackBerry Curve 8900 (also lacking a touchscreen), the Samsung OmniaLITE (sharing the same operating system) and Google Android-based Samsung i5700.
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