High Tech Computer Corporation (HTC) started in Taiwan in 1997, and has designed mobile phones and PDA’s compatible for Microsoft Windows for distribution in all parts of the world. In June 2007, HTC proudly launches the HTC Touch, a petite but powerful smart phone that will surely make its competitors nervous. It’s named as such because of the keyboard-less design and the touch-sensitive screen that can do all the work.

The Touch comes unlocked and is now available in the US, Europe, and in many Asian countries. Let’s check the vital stats on this slim smart phone: 2.3 x 3.9 x 0.5 inches and weighs 3.98 ounces. This unit features TouchFLO technology, which allows users to perform various tasks by changing the motion of their finger. The HTC Touch can detect the difference between a tap and a swipe, as well as know if you are using the stylus or your thumb. Scrolling down web pages or documents can be done by swiping, and closing or opening applications by tapping. It takes a while to get used to the commands, but they are mighty handy. There is also a five-way toggle below the touch screen.

The LCD screen measures an impressive 2.8 inches, and displays 65,000 colors in 240 x 320 pixels resolution. The unit comes with a stylus and has the handwriting recognition feature. There is a virtual QWERTY keyboard for entering text, but since the buttons are too small, you can only do so with the stylus. The Touch has an internal memory of 64MB, and comes shipped with a 1GB micro SD card. The Touch runs on Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional. It has a web browser and can connect to the net with Wi-Fi and EDGE. The HTC Touch also has Bluetooth and USB connectivity.

The HTC Touch houses a 2.0 mega pixel digital camera with 8x zoom and camcorder at the back. Photo resolution can be as large as 1200 x 1600 pixels. The camera has night mode, self-timer, image effects, and quality settings. Videos can be captured with or without audio and saved as MPEG4 or motion JPEG format. You can attach your photos and videos to MMS, email, or share via IM.

Some comments from critics: the QWERTY keypad was hard to use and needs a stylus all the time. The Touch is perhaps not meant for hardcore messaging fanatics. When switching from various applications, the unit tends to be sluggish and may have a tendency to freeze. Regarding photo quality, you have to hold the camera really still to take decent photos. Speaker quality was slightly choppy, and needs improvement. It could also use faster packet data than EDGE.

The HTC Touch has Pocket Office applications where you can open documents in Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and PDF formats. Other useful goodies are Java games, multimedia player, video and audio album, and voice memo. The HTC Touch box comes with the unit, battery, stylus, wall charger, USB cable, pouch, stereo wired headset with microphone, user manual, Sync Software CD-ROM, and 1GB microSD card.