Review of the HTC Touch Pro (Raphael)

HTC’s Touch Diamond has gained immense popularity but lacked features such as memory expansion and a keypad. Maybe this prompted HTC to release a superior version of the HTC Touch, they revamped most features present on it and built a new platform called Raphael for future phones. The HTC Touch Pro is based on the Raphael platform, with the TouchFlo interface, more memory and many more features. It is also available under the name HTC Touch Fuze from AT&T. A very apt name, since the HTC Touch Pro ignites the fuse of current mobile phone standards. The full five-row QWERTY keypad, a powerful processor and 288MB of RAM, VGA screen and Global connectivity are sure to tease any phone enthusiast. Come see what we’ve found out in our exclusive review of the HTC Touch Pro / Fuze.

Look, Design, Feel (10/10)

The HTC Touch Pro is a sibling of the HTC Touch Diamond. Hence the design is much similar, except for the slide-out QWERTY keypad. The black glossy design of the Touch Pro is sure to lure anybody. The Touch Pro also is heavier than her elder sibling by 55 grams, which means it weighs 165 gms. Being 18mm thick still doesn’t make it a brick, there are other heavy and feature-lacking phones worthy to be called that. The QWERTY keypad on the Touch Pro can only be termed flawless, HTC has done a good job this time. Though it is small, we found it to have first-class ergonomics.

Features (9/10)

HTC’s TouchFlo interface shouldn’t be new to those of you who used other versions of HTC Touch phones. However it is now replaced with a full-featured 3D interface which is amazingly fluid and easy to navigate. The finger-swipe navigation is very convenient for anyone and greatly improves the otherwise poor navigation on Windows Mobile 6.1. Almost all features you would use on the phone are integrated into this interface itself, so you would rarely run into the old boring WinMo menus. Thanks to the dedicated graphics chip, the TouchFlo interface adds some stunning visual effects to the gallery, music player, e-mail, text and application menus. The iPhone-style selection and navigation of music was cool to use. There’s no lag found on this new interface on the Touch Pro as in some smartphones covered up with fancy eye candy. Apart from these features, the Touch Pro is a complete multimedia dream! The powerful Qualcomm 528MHz processor and its graphics chip can handle VGA DivX video playback without skipping a frame. The 2.8” crisp VGA screen fits this purpose nicely and is very pleasing for browsing and games apart from Multimedia. Besides the screen, the Touch Pro supports TV-out functionality. Bundled with the Touch Pro is the new Opera Mobile 9.5 browser. Audio quality on the HTC Touch Pro isn’t poor but not acceptable for such a high-end device. Bundled headphones are average too. HTC has also loaded an FM Radio with RDS on the Touch Pro. GPS and Navigation software on the Touch Pro was pleasant to use; moreover, you can easily find many feature-rich navigation programs that work splendidly with Windows Mobile. Camera present on the Touch Pro is the same as on the Touch Diamond, a 3.15 MP with poor Flash. Come on HTC, give us a better camera with Xenon Flash!

Connectivity (10/10)

We have nothing to complain about the connectivity present on the Touch Pro, it’s Quadband GSM compatible along with 3G and HSDPA 7.2Mbps connectivity. There’s Bluetooth 2.0 A2DP and WLAN 802.11 b/g for all local connectivity needs. There’s also HTC’s special ExtUSB feature which lets Audio, Data and TV-out on the same port. There’s no infrared on the Touch Pro but we all know infrared is out of the limelight now.

Performance (9/10)

The HTC Touch Pro had loud Speakerphone volume; however ringing volume could’ve been louder. The 1380mAH battery is definitely an improvement over the Touch Diamond’s 900mAH. Expect a talk-time of over 8 hours, but beware the HTC Touch Pro is power-hungry in other aspects. The large battery still warrants around a day and half of moderate to heavy usage.

Value for Money (10/10)

No doubt the HTC Touch Pro is the most powerful Windows Mobile phone on earth to date. Given its outstanding performance and the completely new interface along with Global connectivity features, we don’t expect the HTC Touch Pro to be any cheaper. If you want the most powerful mobile phone money can buy, then by all means go for the Touch Pro. It simply offers the best bang for your buck.