Gizmodo
When's the last time you saw anyone make the slightest bit of innovation on the input scheme for Windows Mobile? Never? We thought so. But that's just what HTC's done with their TouchFLO app on the new Touch smartphone. TouchFLO actually lets you use the pads of your fingers—not just the tip like a stylus—to control things on the phone.
First, let's get the question everyone's asking out of the way. No, this is not an iPhone killer. It's not even close to being an iPhone killer. The TouchFLO app—which is the majority of where your touching is going to take place—is just a fancy launcher app on top of the Today street. Once you get past there and into the meat of Windows Mobile 6, there's not much touching to be had. And if you hate Windows Mobile, you'll still hate Windows Mobile.
That's not to say this isn't a step in the right direction.
This is how TouchFLO works: You can swipe your thumb (or any other finger) from the bottom of the screen toward the top in any phone to activate TouchFLO. Doing so actually takes a bit of pressure on the phone, as if you were pushing down with a stylus. Once you get it working, the TouchFLO app pops up.
You now have three screens you can swipe left-to-right or right-to-left to transition between. The effect is pretty much identical to Apple's Fast User Switching cube effect—though since this has only three screens, is more of a triangle than a cube. Each screen is essentially a bunch of shortcuts to the apps most commonly used on Windows Mobile, and serves as an improved launchpad over the Today screen or the start menu. There's email, SMS, IE, task list, Comm Manager, calendar, music, photos, video, call lists, contacts and even a Brady Bunch-style board with your nine favorite contacts.
So where does the touch come in? That was it. Swiping up to launch TouchFLO, swiping down to release it, and swiping left and right to transition between screens. There's also the large buttons that you can use your fingers to press, and the fact that you can scroll around in some apps with your fingers now as well. You can see why this isn't a real competitor to the iPhone.
And underneath all this touchy exterior, you still have the same old Windows Mobile 6. Once you get past the launcher and into the apps, if you hate WM6 you're still going to hate WM6. This is really the most important note. If you can't stand Windows Mobile, the Touch isn't going to change your mind. The specs of a 201MHz OMAP 850 processor, 128MB ROM, 64MB RAM, quad-band GSM, EDGE, and Wi-Fi have been seen in many other HTC phones like the Wing, and won't wow you in the realm of performance. But it gets the job done.
What is notable about this phone is the form factor. It's half as thick as the 8525 or the T-Mobile MDA, but still contains touchscreen and runs Windows Mobile 6 professional. The only thing missing is the slide-out keyboard, which makes this phone less a messaging and emailing device and more a read-only organizer. Boy, do we miss that keyboard.
But the Touch does have the rubbery texture found on both the T-Mobile Wing and the T-Mobile Dash, which still feels great. It's essentially a Dash if it ran WM6 Professional instead of WM6 Gimped, and you made the screen bigger and took out almost all the buttons save for call and end, a volume switch, the camera, the D-pad, camera and the on/off switch.
The call quality (including speakerphone) was excellent, just like it is all HTC phones we've used recently. The screen is flush with the rest of the phone, which is nice, and feels a bit harder to press than other HTC phones. That's probably due to the fact that you're going to be jamming your thumb into it for TouchFLO.
So in the end, what does the Touch bring to the table? A fancy launcher, somewhat usable touchscreen features, fancy graphics and even a revised home screen with a large clock, weather and another launcher. Do you need to buy an entirely new phone to get this? No, there are similar launchers on the market now, but none with the TouchFLO technology. But do you need to buy this phone if you want the thinnest Windows Mobile 6 Professional phone available? Yes.
It's available now in the UK, and will be coming to the US later this year.
Product Page [HTC Touch]
Comments
I'd rather have the Wing. That is actually a very nice phone to have, but WM6 is not that great...the tiny menu bars demand a stylus almost always.
iPhone Killer woohooo!!!!
"First, let's get the question everyone's asking out of the way. No, this is not an iPhone killer. It's not even close to being an iPhone killer."
What is an iPhone killer? (besides a hammer)
Is it a phone that looks better, works better, sells better or all three?
If the iPhone winds up with 30% of the touch phone market and 14 other phones average around 5% for a total of 70% is the iPhone still the top phone? The other phones will probably be using Windows Mobile for thier OS. So, the touch phone market would look more like: Apple 30%, Microsoft 70%. Is Microsoft the iPhone killer without ever even making a phone? Kind of reminds me of something that happened back around 1984.
Will you be reviewing potential Jason Chen Killers?
I'm normally tolerant of the macfanboyish that goes down on Gizmodo, but this whole "iPhone killer" thing really is just silly. I mean the iPhone hasn't even been "born", so it can't have a killer yet. It may kill itself.
Just because it has a large screen that's touch friendly doesn't mean it's after the same market as the iPhone.
IF the iPhone's released and everybody loves it and IF it becomes an industry leader and IF it's a phone that's targetting similar people as the iPhone (people that want what I'm deeming a "moderately-smart-phone").... then "iPhone killer" is a fine and dandy term.
But till then, let's wait and see if it lives up to the hype.
I think the iphone will be a still born....there will be no reason to kill it
I am glad to see HTC becoming more mainstream because they make some great phones and have for a while. My next HTC phone will be the Kaiser and this phone will have UMTS/HSDPA capabilities by the end of the year and will sell more.
Not to take away from HTC's coolness, SPB has been interface usability innovations on top of Windos mobile for a long time. Maybe nothing like this swiping, but still.
wm5 is great, except for a few things:
1) doesn't make/receive calls well
2) only has an 8-10 hour battery life (treo 700w)
3) loses ram somehow
4) doesn't actually CLOSE programs when you click on the 'X' (without 3rd party apps)
5) needs a soft reset every day
6) pocket IE sucks
so nevermind. although some of those are due to my POS phone (3rd one, btw), i hate windows mobile. just went to the verizon store to see about an upgrade to bb 8830, and i was informed it will cost $699.99 because I'm not eligable for a upgrade discount until 22 mths into my contract, which is next July. i guess they'd rather have my $175 cancellation fee than my $120 bill payments.
at this point, i'd take ANYTHING that make calls, access my email, handle IM, be teathered for a wireless broadband connection, and not cost 7 bills- "iPhone killer" or not.
But, but, but ... you didn't mention anything about how you actually *type* an SMS or en email? Do you have to use the stylus? Can you use your fingers? What?
I've used several HTC's PDA/smartphone before. They are pretty much just the same. One thing I don't understand. The outfit of their smartphones, always look ugly.
I am on both sides.. I do realized how bad WM series can get, because even newest version 6, still acts just like old version. Not much improvement on it. Sure! You can make buttons larger, so it acts with your thumb instead of a stylus. Other than that, that's pretty much all you can do with WM OS compare to iphone's new interactive interface idea.
One thing people always get it wrong. iphone isn't out yet. However, what has been demo on expo, is just not a "REGULAR" touch screen with larger buttons or larger pointer "sensor area". In fact, there is no multi-touch or anything similar to what iphone is going to be. Only thing comes close, is the TABLE microsoft trying to invent. Basically that won't be on smartphone for a long while.
Yes, I do know many engineer friends told me about same thing over and over. Iphone isn't new, idea is not completely new, and technology was there already. But get this damn thing straight people! Apple's innovation, isn't just "creating" some new technology. On the contrast, Apple is trying to make "somewhat new, but stable" feature on their products.
An user interface doesn't just include what's on the screen. It's the ENTIRE user experiences that counts. That's not going to be just finger action on the screen that matters. It's the look, the feel, the smoothness of the transaction between animation, the stability of main features, and even when you use specific feature on this phone, it works like it should be.
The biggest complain to many mp3 player out there compare to Ipod, is that most of them don't care much about user interface. Iriver/iAudio uses more bottons for action. You need to remember how to activate them. I own a H320 series of iriver. even till today, I still have to press and see if that's the button I want to activate the feature I want. (I simple can't remember if I press once, twice, or press down longer than 2 sec. to get the thing I want).
How about MP3 on cellphone? Before Razer, SONY walkman series coming along, there is no such thing as MP3 on a phone that allows "good quality of music playback" with "long playback time". Anything older than SONY W750 or W800i, the battery life allows you playback no longer than 3 hours of music, then it will take your phone with it. (You just won't have enough battery for the phone even it's on standby).
What about Internet browsing? Don't joke with me please! Blackberry only browse "baby website" instead of full size. Nothing until N80,N95 (nokia) or iphone can promise. And wait! The zoom effect wasn't even offered till iphone came out on the demo. YES! WE KNOW THAT CPU onboard is powerful enough to do the zoom, but is there any company doing it? NOPE!!!!!
Apple's iphone isn't just combine everything that people need. It's simply saying.. we want all those features, but we want to do it "RIGHT". that's all there is to it.
In case people are still arguing.. why don't you think Apple want multi-touch on their iphone instead of "larger buttons"? Because larger buttons still suffer from the typing issue if you don't have a keypad. Secondly, multi-touch is exact the answer for "faster" typing on a touch pad. Which was the current limitation for all the touch pannels. You don't believe me? Let's see how you can type fast on a touch pannel notebook, you will be surprised! (Extremely slow, due to it accepts a stylus input on particular x, y value each time).
Iphone isn't out yet.. but I am sure if multi-touch works like Jobs said.. then it will speed up the typing. (In theory).
I'd say that putting an iPhone-like finger-touch interface on a WM6 device gives you a pretty good chance at the title. After all, if you were interested in the iPhone, and if the Touch can give you most of what you want from the iPhone (a small, pretty phone with an easy to use and innovative touch interface) with all the things you absolutely need from a PDA phone (the ability to synch with your business contacts in Outlook and/or Exchange and run custom business apps on the road with a stylus when needed), why WOUDN'T you want one if you were part of the 95% of people who already use smartphones (e.g. businesspeople)? The only thing missing is the ability to synch with iTunes, and with the slow-but-sure march towards removing DRM from items on there (as well as the various other means of getting music and video content) that's not much of an issue. This could very will be the iPhone for the 96% of the world who uses Windows.....
So where can I get one? I've read about 15 posts on this phone from various sites all claiming it's 'out now in Europe', but I still can't find an online retailer that's selling it...
Yup, great to see innovation, allright.
Assuming of course "Hey, that iPhone sure is cool. Let's make a fifth-rate copy, I'm sure someone will buy it" qualifies as innovation.
Pass.
Hmm, if you hate the fact this doesn't have a keyboard, you're gonna hate the iPhone.
What about skinning my Tmobile Wing with the TouchFLO app? Will that be possible?
Htc Kaiser will be the iphone killer.
First of all any smart phone without an actual qwerty keyboard is a piece of crap. It makes no sense to me whatsoever to market a device such as the iphone as fully functioning messaging and internet browsing device, and then have it not have a keyboard. And what I find even more amazing is that people some how look past this major handicap and say that the iphone will be the jesus phone. Especially since the iphone is being marketed as not needing a stylus for some reason. The stylus was made so that you would smudge the crap out of your screen, and more practically to allow the user to have a more precise input, also allowing them to see what they are clicking on. I just cant wait till the iphone comes out and people see how nice and easy using your their fingers really is.
Great, we're back in 2002 when PocketPCs had touch screens and 200-mhz processors. And a QVGA screen!
the iPhone might be Newton 2 - does anyone here remember that product?
its got to do a LOT to beat the PEARL - out of the box....
does anybody know if the touchflow is vailable for download yet?
I d be interested in trying it out on my 8525.
Mobile Shell by SBP Softwarehouse is a VERY nice GUI upgrade to Windows Mobile, and it's only $30. Really gives you the ability to control most functions without the need for a stylus. It doesn't have the fancy 3D stuff, and none of the scrolling features, but nice addition nonetheless.
www.spbsoftwarehouse.com
1) Please stop mis-using the word "multi-touch", when what you really mean is "gesture based UI". Multi-touch is just the ability to use more than one finger at a time. The gestures and eye candy are what's actually made people interested.
2) Many Pocket PC and Windows Mobile users can tell you all about touch keyboards, especially if you have bought the nice SPB full screen version, as seen here:
www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/fsk/screenshots.html?en
Even if the soft keyboard tries to guess what you're typing, it's still an enormous pain!
We have been testing the latest version of Microsoft's new mobile operating system, Windows Mobile 6, this week on what we believe is an excellent new mobile device called the Touch from HTC. The Touch is an innovation in touch screen PDA's with a new front end user interface for the Windows Mobile platform. First of all, a look at the physical device.
[www.airtimemanager.co.uk]
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