Wednesday, November 26, 2008 15:27

Chicago (IL) - HTC today unveiled its most ambitious take on the iPhone yet: The HTC Touch HD smartphone sports the kind of hardware you would expect from high-end Nokia phones and tops the iPhone with a larger screen and 2.5x more pixels, a 5-megapixel camera and a additional VGA camera for video chats. Is this the iPhone killer we have been waiting for?

The Touch HD extends HTC's already capable lineup lead by the Touch Diamond and the Touch Pro, which are both available in the U.S. for $249 and $299, respectively (with a two-year Sprint service plans and a $100 mail-in rebate). The new phone is 115 mm tall, 62.8 mm wide and 12 mm thick, very similar to the iPhone, and weighs 147 grams (iPhone: 133 grams). The handset works on WCDMA 900/2100MHz bands, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, and supports HSUPA and HSDPA with up to 7.2 Mb/s downlinks and up to 2 Mb/s up-link speeds. It comes with built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g and mini-USB for syncing with a computer as well as a GPS module. The GPS hardware works in tandem with Google Maps.

The front of the handset is dominated by a 3.8” TFT-LCD touchscreen that HTC officials describe as "the most responsive yet." The Touch HD features a 480 x 800 resolution, which matches the SonyEricsson's Xperia X1, packing two and a half times more pixels than the iPhone's 320 x 480 pixel 3.5” display. There is also a 5-megapixel camera with auto focus that lets users shoot crisp high-resolution photos and record videos. The second VGA CMOS color camera is used for video conferencing over the cellular network.

Additionally, the handset is equipped with Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR, A2DP) that allows the use of wireless stereo handsets and comes with a built-in FM radio. Regular headphones and common audio equipment is supported through a standard 3.5 mm audio jack. The phone comes with 288 MB on-board memory and an extra 8GB microSD memory card that is included in the package.

The Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional handset is powered by a Qualcomm 7201A processor that runs on 528 MHz, which is also used in the Touch Diamond. The same Qualcomm processor also powers SonyEricsson's Xperia X1 handset. The user interface is HTC’s TouchFlo 3D that features large, crisp icons, smooth animations and eye candy that matches the iPhone, although Apple's handset still leads in ease of use. A new Stocks tab uses widgets to pull the latest stock quotes off the Internet, while a re-designed Home screen allows quick access to email, messages and calendar applications.

The Touch HD lacks Apple’s patented multi-finger gesture support, which is used, for example, for pinch-zooming.

HTC claims that the rechargeable Lithium-ion battery delivers up to 7 hours of 3G talk time (8 hours on GSM), up to 140 minutes of video call time and a whopping 28 days of 3G standby time (18 days on GSM). The Touch HD is offered in Taiwan through Taiwan Mobile for a NT$25,900 (US$776).