HTC Touch HD and HTC Touch 3G Preview

A week ago, HTC has officially revealed three new devices under its Touch family, namely the HTC Touch HD, Touch 3G and finally the Touch Viva. We've made a few calls and managed to secure a first hand preview of both the Touch HD and Touch 3G, so hit the jump to learn more about these new Windows Mobile 6.1 devices!

By HardwareZone Team - 23 Sep 2008

HTC Touch HD - Highly Distinguished

How long has it been since we've reviewed the HTC Touch Pro? Less than a month. And in less than a month, HTC has given us another treat in the form of three new Windows Mobile 6.1 devices that's sure to give you something to look out for during the Christmas season. Of course, we're talking about the HTC Touch HD, HTC Touch 3G and finally, the HTC Touch Viva.

For the acute eyes, you'll notice that this is a preview of both the Touch HD and Touch 3G only. The Touch Viva, at this moment, hasn't been confirmed to make an appearance in the Singapore market, but we won't be ruling that out for the Asia Pacific region, as mentioned by the folks at HTC. Nonetheless, if it's either the Touch HD or the Touch 3G that has caught your eyes, read on as we give you a quick preview of the Touch HD and the Touch 3G in the next few minutes.

The HD initials have, in recent times, been associated with high-definition TVs and such. Of course, one might surmise that the Touch HD does go along that line, and right you are if that was your guess. The Touch HD, like its earlier siblings such as the Touch Diamond and Touch Pro, comes with a full VGA screen for greater image quality on your display. What really got us interested in this HTC device, is the huge 3.8-inch screen with WVGA support at 480 x 800 resolution. Beyond the visual aspect, the Touch HD also now comes with a 3.5mm audio jack, something that was sorely lacking on its Touch predecessors. On the software front, the TouchFlo 3D remains, and is now equipped with an additional Stock tab that gives you the stock market updates with a quick data download. Here's a list of the specifications to make things easier on the eyes and brain to comprehend.

Images of the HTC Touch HD

As you can see, the 3.8" HTC Touch HD is huge on screen size, and our above average sized hands fitted just nice around the Touch HD.

Normally, the USB port will be heavily utilized for functions such as data transfer, power conduit and of course, audio connectivity. But surprisingly, HTC has taken a different and more popular approach...

...with the 3.5mm audio jack located at the crown of the device, alongside the flushed power button.

The Touch HD also comes with a 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus, and as you can see, won't come as a fingerprint magnet with its non-glossy backing.

To give you a better gauge of the huge screen size, we placed the iPhone 3G with the Touch HD side by side. As you can see, the Touch HD has the advantage with its larger 3.8" screen as opposed to the iPhone 3G's 3.5" screen.

When it comes to the slimness of a device, the difference between the iPhone 3G's 12.3mm profile and the Touch HD's 12mm is almost negligible.

HTC Touch 3G - Leveling Up

It has been more than a year since the Touch was launched, amidst some talk and speculation of why the Touch had no 3G support for a region with a strong 3G infrastructure. The Touch 3G, on the other hand, has gotten a few things right. Lest anyone gets confused though, HTC is positioning the Touch 3G as a brand new device that caters to the 3G market, and won't be discontinuing its first HTC Touch anytime soon, so for the original HTC Touch supporters, you can breathe easy for now.

Simply put, the Touch 3G comes with 3G support and a few hardware add-ons to boost its performance, such as a juiced up Qualcomm MSM7225 528 MHz processor and GPS capabilities on top of a 3.2-megapixel camera (without auto-focus though, unfortunately). And it's not all about additions too, HTC has shaved off some weight on the Touch 3G, pushing its weight below 100g, and to be exact, it weighs in at a mere 96g. The TouchFlo interface also gets an overhaul, and follows the basic design of the TouchFlo 3D minus the interactive animation found on the other high-end Touch devices.

Images of the HTC Touch 3G

The HTC Touch 3G, on the other hand, tells a different story with its smaller waistline and under 100g weight, which fitted nicely in our hands, and just nice from a female perspective.

Like the Touch HD, the Touch 3G's side buttons and power button is now designed as a thin strip, but our initial impressions were that it might take some getting used to to hit the buttons due to its flushed nature.

We thought the Power button was the big chunk to the right of the device as seen here. But turns out, it is that thin vertical strip instead.

The Touch 3G also comes with a 3.2-megapixel camera, but as you can see, lacks an LED flash and an auto-focus feature.

For those of you who might be thinking that the Touch 3G is the successor to the first HTC touch that was launched in 2007, the truth is far from that. The Touch 3G will be placed as a new member of the Touch family, and won't be replacing the original Touch anytime soon.

Hidden Level

But there's a whole lot more surprises coming from HTC. The reason we're mentioning this is due to the annoucement of the T-Mobile G1 by HTC, which won't be landing on our shores anytime soon. Being the first device that supports the open-source Google Android operating system, there's a whole lot of expectations riding on the G1. We do have some misgivings on the aesthetic nature of the G1 based on what we've been seeing on the web, but appearances can be deceiving. In a market saturated with both Windows Mobile and the Symbian platform, it'll be something refreshing for consumers to have an alternative choice when it comes to mobile device OSes. We know some of you might be wondering how the G1 looks like, so here's an image as taken from the HTC website to give you a better idea.

And that's it for our preview of the HTC Touch HD and Touch 3G. We'll be leaving you with a parting shot of the HTC Touch Diamond and the HTC Touch Pro, both of which are currently available at retail stores, which will soon be followed by the upcoming HTC Touch 3G and HTC Touch HD by the end of 2008. Check back with www.hardwarezone.com regularly as we follow the trail of both the Touch HD and Touch 3G when both devices make its inaugural appearance on the sunny island of Singapore.

The HTC Touch Diamond and HTC Touch Pro which are now available at major retail stores. Both the HTC Touch 3G and HTC Touch HD will be looking at an estimated November to December launch, so do check back at www.hardwarezone.com for the full review of the Touch HD when it reaches our labs!

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