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"This update amends the internal management of SMS functionality, and enhances SMS transmission stability."

With this simple note, HTC's European support site has announced a software upgrade for the HTC Touch Pro2 and HD mini that enhances SMS transmission stability. If you have one of these phones you might want to scurry over to the support site and get updating! Note that this update is suitable for ROM versions less than or equal to 1.36.XXX.X.

If you're an HTC Touch Pro2 or HTC Snap owner, HTC has released the Windows Mobile 6.5 software update for those devices - though I'm a bit unclear on whether this update is only for European phones, or for any phone that matches the generic spec of these two phones. This is the generic version, so you'll be losing any carrier-branded updates - but that might be a blessing in disguise...

Product Category: PDA Phone

Manufacturer: HTC

Where to Buy: Expansys [Affiliate]

Price: $699.99 USD

Specifications: From the Expansys site

Pros:

• Elegant design;
• Large, sharp and vibrant screen;
• The best, most "touch friendly" version of TouchFlo 3D yet;
• Excellent speakerphone;
• Nicely designed hardware keyboard will satisfy those for whom only a hardware keyboard will do.

Cons:

• Very expensive;
• Large and heavy.

Summary: As rival phone manufacturers continue to strive to emulate the success of the iPhone, HTC weighs in with its most sophisticated finger friendly WinMo Professional phones yet. The Touch Pro2, the topic of this review, supersedes last year's Touch Pro, with a revamped version of Touch Flo 3D, which strives to make stylus use a thing of the past. Have HTC been successful? Let's put the Touch Pro2 through its paces...

Read more...

"T-Mobile USA, Inc., and HTC Corp. today announced the upcoming availability of the HTC Touch Pro2TM, a powerful, stylish device with an intuitive touch screen and user interface that enables customers to simplify their communication and mobile Internet experience while staying connected, informed and in control of work and life. The device will be available in a mocha finish to T-Mobile customers beginning Aug. 12.

Enabled for T-Mobile's expanding high-speed 3G network and Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), the HTC Touch Pro2 offers fast data delivery and an enhanced Web-browsing experience along with popular features such as built-in GPS and location-based services. Featuring a 3.6-inch color WVGA touchscreen that slides back and tilts up to reveal a full-QWERTY keyboard, the screen is perfectly positioned for reading and creating e-mail, browsing the Web, using applications, and playing videos and games. A 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus also provides customers with an easy way to capture and share high-quality images and video as well as view that content on the crisp display."

Image courtesy of Engadget Mobile.

I've had a chance to use the Touch Pro2 over the past week, and I've got to say, this is one impressive device. T-Mobile is the first US-based carrier to release this uber-device, but they won't be the last. I'm not sure how I feel about the "mocha" colouring on this though. Any of you T-Mobile users plan on picking this up?

That HTC Touch Pro2 coming from Canadian carrier Telus that I posted about last week? It seems the press information I received forgot to mention one important little fact: that this phone was going to be among the first Touch Pro2's to feature a 3.5mm headphone jack, something that HTC had pledged to make more common in upcoming phones. That was quick!

"Available later this month, the HTC Touch Pro2 smartphone will help TELUS clients stay in touch easily with a large sliding 3.6" touchscreen and full QWERTY keypad. The enhanced Windows Mobile 6.1 professional platform will enable users to sync their email, contacts and calendar with Microsoft ActiveSync, plus access applications such as YouTube on TELUS' 3G network and almost anywhere they travel around the world with TELUS international roaming."

The above quote is from a Telus press release, which seems to be impossible to find online, but here are some other quotes from it:

• Network support: 3G EVDO Rev A, HSPA, Quad-band EDGE to stay productive and entertained on-the-go while travelling abroad or across Canada
• Optional microSD memory expandable to 16 GB to store documents, music, videos and photos
• 3.6" 65k WVGA (800x 480) touchscreen
• 3.2 MP camera/video with auto focus to take and share pictures with family and friends
• Easy access to You Tube, Digital Photo Frame and weather
• TELUS Navigator, TELUS Visual Voice Mail, TELUS mobile TV and more

The interesting thing here is that this is a CDMA phone with EVDO Rev A but also quad-band GSM - so when you're in North America you can rock the better speed and range of CDMA, and when you travel you'll roam onto the GSM network. That's a big deal for anyone that has a CDMA phone and is used to leaving it behind when they travel internationally. No word on exact pricing.

"The display is beautiful. Though not as vivid as the AMOLED display on the Samsung Impression QWERTY feature phone for AT&T, it's one of the nicer on the market. The mind-boggling 800 x 480 resolution is in itself impressive (a resolution shared with the HTC Touch HD and the HTC Touch Diamond2). The screen is very sharp (even tiny text is legible), colorful and bright. The phone's ambient light sensor can control display brightness and we found that it rarely raised brightness above 50%. Use manual brightness (at the possible expense of battery life) for an impressively bright display. The display is legible outdoors but does fade, making it hard to get a good sense of what you're shooting with the camera."

Yup, another HTC Touch Pro2 review - this time it's from our friends at MobileTechReview. They do a great job drilling down on everything that this new device from HTC has to offer...but they probably share my weariness in reviewing a swanky new phone and not being able to take full advantage of it in North America because it's stuck on pokey 2G speeds. I hope HTC evolves to the point where they can crank out a single phone that has all 3G bands in it, or can release a North American version at the same time as the Euro/Asian version.

"HTC used to equip their top range smart phones with wide, side sliding, full QWERTY keyboards that seem to have been largely successful, since the first, fifth generation device with the same form factor, the HTC Touch Pro2, has just been released. Unlike its predecessor, it´s larger rather than smaller and brings the round-shape design back into the game, chucking the edgy form all latest handsets of the same manufacturer stake on. The phone sports a huge 3.6-inch screen, awesome 5 row keyboard, mechanism that lets you tilt the display so you can see things better and a bunch of extra business features to drool over."

phoneArena does their usual excellent job looking at the latest and greatest from HTC: the Touch Pro2 [Affiliate]. This is HTC's flagship business professional phone, and it's both beautiful and big. phoneArena has a few gripes - apparently the call quality in terms of how others sound to you isn't that great - but the hardware is fast and responsive. And look at that keyboard! It practically screams "Type fast on me!". Video walkthrough after the break. Read more...

"There's a reason companies around the world often go to HTC when they need to outsource handsets - they're without a doubt among the best when it comes to build, form and design. This year at CTIA, the HTC Snap announced this morning was the only new addition the company showed off, but that doesn't mean we can't take another look at two of the most exciting upcoming handsets currently on deck too, right? Hit the jump and get your gawk on."

Want to have a look at some of the new models HTC have come up with? Boy Genius Report dropped in at the HTC booth at CTIA and took some nice snaps (pun intended) of three upcoming models, including the Snap, Touch Pro2 and Touch Diamond2. Hit the link for the gallery.

"So this thing's definitely got some heft to it -- and honestly, especially for a business-centric device in this class, we don't think that's a bad thing. As with just about everything HTC churns out, the Touch Pro2 is exquisitely manufactured, feels rock-solid, and the WVGA is absolutely awesome -- we noticed that the gestures and animations are totally smooth and responsive, proving that WinMo is perfectly capable of handling this kind of UI dazzle."

The Engadget gang have another video for us, this time it's of the Touch Pro2. The second video (go to the Engadget article to see it) shows some of the new UI elements in TouchFlo 3D. HTC is really amping up the "special sauce" in their software - there are some seriously cool things that HTC has added. You can also see HTC's Eric Lin nearly drop this lovely device in the second video. Good thing he caught it! Engadget mentions the heft of this new phone, and sure enough, it's 10 grams heavier than the Touch Pro - but it's also 0.8mm thinner. My big problem with slider phones is how thick they are, so it's nice to see HTC making it a bit thinner. I have the impossible dream of seeing a slider phone that's 13mm thin someday - maybe by 2012?

"Building upon the iconic design of the first HTC Touch Diamond, the HTC Touch Diamond2 is a full touchscreen device with a 3.2 inch WVGA display that incorporates a new touch sensitive zoom bar. The device uses HTC's latest HTC TouchFLO 3D technology which has been even more deeply integrated into Windows Mobile 6.1. Additional specifications are below..."

First impressions? I love the look of this phone! It seems pretty similar to the previous generation Touch Diamond though in terms of specs, though it's larger (in a good way). The processor is a Qualcomm MSM7200ATM 528 MHz, the OS is Windows Mobile 6.1 (why not 6.5? just wait...), memory is 512 MB ROM and 288 MB RAM. Unlike the previous generation Touch Diamond, this one features a microSD memory card slot - too bad it's not SDXC compatible, I guess we'll have to "make due" with 32 GB of storage. Dimensions? 4.25 X 2.09 X 0.54 inches (HxWxT). Weight? 4.15 ounces (with battery). The display is a much bigger 3.2 inch TFT-LCD WVGA (480x800) touchscreen - love that resolution! Another big jump is in the camera: the Touch Diamond2 now boasts a 5 megapixel autofocus camera. Question is, will it be decent? HTC cameras in the past have tended to be rather shoddy - let's hope this one is an improvement. The whole lot is powered by a 1100mAh LiIon battery. Will that be enough to get decent run-time from that bigger, higher-resolution screen? We'll see.

After the break, the Touch Pro2 - and new software additions from HTC dubbed "Push Internet" (looks like pre-fetch caching of favourite pages), and "Straight Talk", an integrated email, voice, and speakerphone experience. When you flip the Touch Pro2 over it turns into a conference room speakerphone system. Sweet! Read more...