Bellevue, Wash. – T-Mobile will expand its selection of HTC-made
smartphones with the nationwide Aug. 12 launch of HTC’s Touch Pro 2, an
upgraded version of HTC’s Touch Pro.
Other HTC-made
phones offered by the carrier include the Dash and Dash 3G, Shadow, Android-based
G1, and on Aug. 5, the Android-based myTouch.
T-Mobile didn’t disclose pricing of the Touch Pro 2, a 3G phone equipped
with slide-out QWERTY keyboard and tilting touchscreen. The carrier did say it
plans to sell the device in
mid-August through T-Mobile retail stores, select authorized dealers and T-Mobile’s
Web site.
Earlier this year,
HTC disclosed
to TWICE that its Touch Pro 2 would be available this summer in the U.S. but
didn’t disclose the carrier. T-Mobile will be the first U.S. carrier to get the
device.
The 3G phone, based
on the Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS, is an upgraded version of the
3G Touch Pro available through CDMA carriers and, under the Fuze name, carrier
AT&T. Enhancements include a larger touchscreen, faster Web page loading,
sorting of previous communications by person, and an improved 3-D motion user
interface.
Both Touch Pro models feature slide-out QWERTY keyboard and
touchscreen with swiping 3-D user interface, but the Pro 2 features a larger
3.6-inch WVGA screen vs. the Pro’s 2.8-inch VGA display. Their screens slide back and tilt up to reveal a
full-QWERTY keyboard enabling both devices to be used in landscape mode
like a mini laptop.
Another upgrade is a people-centric viewing history of conversations, sorting all communications
– including voice, SMS and email — by person. The Pro2 will be HTC’s first
U.S.-market phone with the technology.
The Touch Pro 2 will
also be the first U.S.-market HTC phone with Straight Talk technology, which
lets users initiate calls and conference calls directly from an email’s “from,
to and cc” lists. Users then flip the phone over to automatically activate a speakerphone
with high fidelity delivered by asymmetric speakers, noise suppression, and
full-duplex acoustics.
Other features appearing
for the first time in a U.S. market HTC phone include zero-waiting Push Internet,
which accelerates Web page rendering and lets users preselect favorite sites
for immediate access.
Another U.S.-market
first will be an enhanced version of the company’s TouchFLO 3D motion
user interface, which delivers 3-D touch access to applications and to
functions within those applications. The upgraded version will be more deeply
integrated into a customized version of Windows Mobile 6.1 to deliver more
consistency among Windows Mobile applications and menus. It also makes navigation
easier by bringing the most important information to the top level of the user
interface, enabling quick access to people, messaging, email, photos, music and
weather.
T-Mobile is
expanding its 1.7/2.1GHz 3G network to cover about 200 million people by the
end of the year. At the end of 2008, 3G was available to more than 100 million
people in more than 130 U.S. cities, the carrier said.
