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Touch posts

Amazon Germany asking ?619 for Touch HD

by Chris Ziegler, posted Sep 18th 2008 @ 5:07AM

Just how much is wide VGA worth to you? Amazon thinks the answer lies right around $890, apparently, now that its German site has the HTC Touch HD listed for €619. That puts it a mere 20 euro under the Sony Ericsson X1, which Amazon Germany also lists, meaning that the bump from 3.2 to 5 megapixels and the loss of the QWERTY keyboard basically work out to an even exchange. We normally don't put a lot of credence in retail pricing on prerelease products, but Amazon's a pretty big player to ignore -- and they're accepting preorders at these prices to boot. So: all things being equal, HD or X1?

[Thanks, derliebewolf]

HTC's Touch Diamond coming in white

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Sep 16th 2008 @ 10:15AM

If you're jazzed about the Touch Diamond, but have a thing for albino devices, a Danish site may have unearthed just what you're looking for. According to HTC-User, the company will be introducing a white version of their popular touchscreen device come October. ~~We can't say for sure if this intel is pure gold or a pile of festering garbage~~, but if the pics we see (just renders right now) and the retail order page the site is linking to are any indication, this magic will be a reality sooner or later. That's a good thing, too -- you don't want Apple cornering the market on white and black touchscreen phones, right? Check out one more huge picture after the break.

Update: Engadget Spanish has confirmed that these are -- in fact -- the real deal, and will be headed to store shelves come October.

[Via Engadget Spanish, HTC-User; Thanks, Jesper]

Continue reading HTC's Touch Diamond coming in white

Touch Viva: the "Opal" materializes as HTC's low-end champion

by Chris Ziegler, posted Sep 15th 2008 @ 11:40AM

Billed as an "affordable touch phone with the benefits of HTC's TouchFLO," the Touch Viva picks up where the original Touch left off and move things just a little bit downmarket for the benefit of smartphone lovers in emerging markets. To that end, the screen stays low-end with QVGA resolution, the radio tops out at EDGE speeds, and the camera's a mere 2-megapixel piece -- but by the same token, the Viva hangs onto WiFi, 256MB of ROM, and GPS. It also gets blessed with a tweaked version of TouchFLO that doesn't rely on 3D acceleration found in HTC's higher-end units. It'll be available starting next month for what we can only imagine will be a pretty reasonable price; backup smartphone, anyone?

HTC Touch 3G revealed

by Paul Miller, posted Sep 15th 2008 @ 10:14AM

HTC just can't stop the leakage. That Touch HD page was wild enough, but under the "Product Tour" section there's even more magic: instead of a Touch HD Product Tour, as the title would suggest, there's a colorful cadre of the unannounced phone referred to as the Touch 3G. Sporting a slightly refined design and, well, 3G, there's literally nothing else we know about the device. It does seem slightly different than the budget-friendly, EDGE-strapped Opal, but it's all hearsay until HTC actually announces these puppies.

Update: Wow. Just when you though HTC was out of the woods, our friendly neighborhood tipsters have tracked down the full product page for the Touch 3G. Peep the new read link for every spec, dimension and salty tear direct from HTC. Highlights include a 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen, Europe-friendly HSDPA, 3.2 megapixel camera and 14.5mm of thickness. Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS and 802.11g WiFi all make an appearance as well.

[Thanks, Ben]

Gallery: HTC Touch 3G revealed

Is ASUS prepping a 5-megapixel Omnia challenger?

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Sep 14th 2008 @ 6:07PM

It looks like ASUS has more in store when it comes to touchscreen phones than that P552w we saw the other day. According to pictures leaked to the Mobile01 forums, the company is planning an Omnia-esque device that will feature a large (WQVGA or WVGA) touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera, a trackball for non-touch navigation, and the predictable 3G radios / WiFi. Not much is known about the device at this point, though speculation is running rampant on the forum as to CPU specs and on-board memory. It's likely this will be at least competitive in comparison to recent Window Mobile devices we've seen of this variety, though nothing's certain till we get word from ASUS... which we're waiting patiently for, fellas.

[Via wmpoweruser]

Hands-on with Sprint's Touch Diamond

by Sean Cooper, posted Sep 10th 2008 @ 3:07PM

You know you love it, new Windows Mobile -- even new carrier is good enough for us -- hardware always gets us all thrilled and chirpy. Sprint's really blown it open today with the Touch Diamond and Touch Pro announcements, so to honor them we got our hands on the Touch diamond. We like this set, Sprint's version in red -- a well chosen, soft and kind red -- is no exception and while a bit husky, we expect it's going to be well accepted and will be finding its way into many pockets come September 14th. Sadly, the Touch Pro was absent at CTIA, but we'll do our best to dig it up before the show closes out. Enjoy the pics.

Gallery: Hands-on with Sprint's Touch Diamond

Sprint launches HTC Touch Diamond and Pro into officialdom

by Sean Cooper, posted Sep 10th 2008 @ 10:33AM

Yeah, we all knew -- or rather hoped with all digits crossed -- they were coming, and what better venue to make the announcement than at CTIA in San Francisco. We've talked about these two for what seems like ages so we won't bore you with the tech babble, the important bits are Touch Diamond on September 14th, Touch Pro on October 19th. Pricing? Touch Diamond will run you $249 on two years after $100 rebate and the Touch Pro $299 on the same term after the same $100 rebate. Job well done busting these two out Sprint, we can't wait to get hands-on.

HTC's Opal set to replace the aging Touch?

by Thomas Ricker, posted Sep 9th 2008 @ 7:53AM

Is this supposed HTC Opal the followup to last year's trailblazing HTC Touch? According to what looks like an internal HTC document gone viral, the Opal will run HTC's newest TouchFLO 3D UI band-aid for WinMo 6.1 atop the same TI OMAP 850 proc already powering the Touch. Looking a bit deeper reveals quad-band GSM / EDGE with the same WiFi, MicroSD slot, Bluetooth 2.0, 2 megapixel camera, and 2.8-inch 240 x 320 pixel touchscreen found in the aged Touch handset. Only HTC, with its Touch Diamond, Touch Pro, Dream, and Xperia X1 can force a flagship device down-market so quickly.

[Via coolsmartphone]

Apple's latest patent app: multi-touch plus (insert technology here)

by Chris Ziegler, posted Sep 4th 2008 @ 8:52PM

Multi-touch hasn't necessarily revolutionized the way we're interacting with our devices, but it's certainly a step in the right direction -- particularly when a touchscreen is such a huge part of the overall input equation as it is with the iPhone. But why stop there? A new patent app filed by Cupertino's finest suggests that touch and multi-touch data could be mixed in with all sorts of other inputs for more refined control of what we're trying to do; accelerometer control, force sensitivity, voice, and visual recognition are all mentioned as possibilities, meaning that theoretically we could one day be shaking and multi-pounding our iPhone 7Gs while screaming and flipping the bird. What device function that would actuate, we're not exactly sure -- but we're just throwing out ideas here.

[Via Unwired View]

Sprint's HTC Touch Diamond: September 14 for $249.99. Honest.

by Chris Ziegler, posted Sep 4th 2008 @ 4:34PM

Now that Uncle Walt has gone and opened the floodgates, details are starting to pour in on Sprint's imminent release of the Touch Diamond, a device that should actually manage to get the carrier damn close to the top of the Windows Mobile pile (for a short while, anyway). PC Magazine is now reporting that it'll be available on September 14 for $249.99 on a two-year contract after $100 rebate, a sum that would put it squarely in the "average" category for on-contract smartphone pricing in these parts. Of course, with the Touch Pro allegedly just around the corner, it remains to be seen just how much love this thing is going to get; nothing like a good, old-fashioned QWERTY-versus-touchscreen fight, is there?

WSJ reviews HTC Touch Diamond: "can't disguise WinMo's flaws"

by Darren Murph, posted Sep 3rd 2008 @ 11:45PM

It was only a matter of time before the WSJ (Katherine Boehret, in this case) got their hands around Sprint's still-not-official Touch Diamond, and we can't say that the conclusion she drew is at all shocking. As Mossberg and his partners so often do, Katherine mentions Apple's darling just as much as the topic of the review itself, and while she seemed impressed with the hardware, it was the software that suffered the brunt of her attacks. She proclaimed that "despite its handsome TouchFLO 3D software and animated icons, the device failed to disguise the frustrating interface of Windows Mobile often enough for [her] taste." Beyond that, she also found room to gripe about the "cramped" keyboard, which she felt was "next to impossible" to use with just her fingertips. On the plus side, she did give the browser a decent amount of praise, but if you were looking for support from this critic before picking up the forthcoming handset, you'll be sorely disappointed.

[Via phonescoop]

Leaked Sprint roadmap reveals Touch Pro, Touch Diamond dates and pricing

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Aug 31st 2008 @ 1:31PM

From the looks of it, Sprint has gone and gotten a decent chunk of its playbook leaked all over the interblogs, and it's chock-full of titillating information. Thanks to slippery fingers and loose lips, we already knew that the Touch Diamond and Touch Pro were headed to the carrier, but now we have some solid dates (mid-September for the Diamond, October 19th for the Pro), and pricing ($549.99 and $579.99 unsubsidized, $249.99 and $320 with contract). Of course, this is all according to the above document, which admittedly could be the work of an extremely bored Photoshopper -- but this jibes pretty tightly with a lot of other chatter we've been hearing.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Telus' HTC Touch Diamond gets video review

by Darren Murph, posted Aug 18th 2008 @ 12:25AM

While Sprint and Verizon consider final monikers for the HTC Touch Diamond, some North Americans are already enjoying the thing up in the Great North. The ecstatic folks over at Mobile Syrup were able to snap up Telus' version of the WinMo 6.1-packin' handset, and of course, they put together a video review for us Americans to drool over. The 7:15 clip includes a few comparison angles with other mobiles and a full walk-through of the user interface. Reviewers found the web browsing on Opera Mobile to be a real treat, and of course, they couldn't deny the awesomeness of the 640 x 480 resolution display. You can check the review in full just after the jump, but if you're easily made envious, we'd suggest you not.

Continue reading Telus' HTC Touch Diamond gets video review

HTC Touch coming to US Cellular

by Chris Ziegler, posted Aug 17th 2008 @ 1:18PM

Not only is good ol' US Cellular just now getting around to releasing the over year-old HTC Touch as its successor starts to hit the market, but it'll be doing so in a most unusual of colors: green. Oh, and it's not wasabi green, either -- more like a calming shade of forest, hunter, or myrtle. We don't know exactly when this sucker's going to hit, but dummies (pictured) are starting to show up in stores, so we suppose it won't be long.

[Thanks, uscc agent]

Update: Okay, so apparently the launch units are actually black, but does this dummy not look totally green? Probably just as well, since we can't think of anyone who'd take a forest green Touch over a black one.

Sprint readying a red HTC Touch Diamond?

by Darren Murph, posted Aug 15th 2008 @ 2:47AM

We won't even front with you -- we have some serious doubts about this one, but with all those other red handsets that have emerged on Sprint over the years, we suppose that image above has a sliver of credence. We've no details whatever outside of two more shots of the red HTC Touch Diamond (or Victor, to be proper) in the read link, but these could very well be someone's best shot at using Photoshop to gain 15 minutes of internet fame. What say you, dear readers? Real or fake?

[Via Brighthand]