HTC Touch Pro2

From the old Dopod 838 Pro to the current Touch Pro, HTC's flagship business handhelds have always had landscape-orientated slide-out keyboards. While not the most compact of devices, these are usually packed with features and come with the best the company has to offer. Once again, this holds true for the Touch Pro2 announced at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.
Upside
As mentioned, this handheld is specced to the max. You get almost every single connectivity option including HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and built-in GPS for navigation. Another standout feature is the use of a 3.6-inch WVGA (800x480) display, up from the 2.8-inch VGA (640x480) version found on the Touch Pro. This is a significant increase in terms of both resolution and size, coming close to the 3.8 inches on the Touch HD, HTC's high-end handheld targeted at multimedia users.
The slide-out keyboard on the Pro2 features a layout similar to the Pro with five rows of keys including a dedicated top row for numbers, just like your desktop keyboard. A significant difference from the Pro is the fact that the keys are now clearly separated and raised off the chassis. This should make for a better typing experience as the user will be able to feel the keys more easily.
Aside from sliding out sideways, the screen on the Pro2 also tilts upwards. This was first seen on the TyTN II but did not make an appearance after that in the Touch Pro. The design gives the handheld the ability to stand with the screen facing the user, which is useful when watching video clips or during calls using the speakerphone.
The ability to make conference calls is something HTC is touting as a main feature of the Pro2. It's easy to get a multi-party call started, and when you are in one, there's even a nifty feature where you can tap on a single party's icon to go one-on-one with them, leaving out the rest of the participants temporarily.
It's not just the software, too, as HTC put a large dedicated speakerphone on the back along with a noise-cancelling microphone. This is accompanied by a dedicated mute button. HTC calls this entire package Straight Talk technology. This feature comes across as being incredibly niche but professionals who are travelling less this year because of cutbacks may find it useful when holding meetings with partners or colleagues from other countries.
Downside
Though we like larger screens, the downside to that is having less space for other things. In the case of the Pro2, the directional pad was sacrificed so navigating the Windows Mobile interface will have to be done by touching the screen. This is fine for most purposes, but having a D pad can be useful in applications such as spreadsheets or when moving between text fields in a browser.
At 17.3mm thick and weighing 175g, the Pro2 is a bulky device. Given the sheer number of features, this may be inevitable but it will definitely put off some buyers who prefer something more compact.
Like many other HTC devices, the Pro2 comes with a single mini-USB interface for charging, syncing and connecting a wired headset. We would have liked a 3.5mm audio jack for music lovers, something HTC still doesn't see fit to make it standard on its devices.
Outlook
Similar to HTC's Touch Diamond2, the Touch Pro2 will first come installed with WM6.1 and get a free upgrade to 6.5 later in the year. This feature-packed handheld will be available in Australia sometime in Q3. HTC has not announced its price so we'll have to wait for that information nearer to its launch date.

By John Chan