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HTC has caught quite a bit of attention lately with 2 new members of the HTC Touch family. On 16th April 2009, HTC launched the 2 devices in Singapore, namely Touch Diamond2 and Touch Pro2. PPCSG was invited to the press launch event and here we present to you the highlights of the 2 new gadgets.

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The event was held at The Arts House (aka Old Parliament House). The event kicked off in the afternoon with an opening address by Mr Kevin Hou, Managing Director of HTC SEA (South East Asia).





Next, the 3 representatives from HTC were invited to unveil the Touch Diamond2 and the Touch Pro2.



After the unveiling of the 2 devices, we were treated to a fashion show by the apparel sponsor G2000. The first 2 models paraded the ground with the Touch Pro2 in their hands.



Dressed more casually, the next 2 models stride their stuff with the Touch Diamond2 in their hands. There was even scene play where they used the Touch Diamond2 to take a few camera shots.

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After the fashion show, Mr John Wang, Chief Marketing Officer of HTC, proceeded to highlight some of HTC's achievements in 2008, with that being the Touch Diamond, the Dream (Android phone) and the HTC Footprints feature found on HTC Touch Cruise (codenamed HTC Iolite). He even highlighted HTC's company culture, how serious they take customer feedback and how they innovate. The keywords were "Listening. Observing. Learning."



Thereafter, he brought the focus over to the 2 new stars of the afternoon and also highlighted the new features of the improved TouchFLO 3D experience.



The newly promoted Country Manager of HTC Singapore, Mr Melvin Chua, makes a quick introduction.



And the event ended with the Q&A session, where members of the press flooded the HTC team with interesting questions and feedbacks.

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Outside at the refreshments area, the models posed for photos with the 2 devices.





PPCSG was even invited to a demo session by Mr John Wang with a smaller audience.

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"Push Internet" feature being demonstrated. This feature allows a list of predefined webpages to be downloaded according to schedule. This is a very useful feature to have your favorite webpages load faster while on the go.


Showcasing the new calendar tab. Tap on a date in the month view and you will get to the day's agendas and weather forecast.


Demonstrating closer integration of TouchFLO 3D with the OS, for example the enlarged menus and simpler bluetooth pairing process.

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The stars of the afternoon were the Touch Diamond2 and Touch Pro2, so let's proceed with the facts and quick thoughts of the devices.



HTC Touch Diamond2

Specifications at a glance:
- Qualcomm® MSM7200A™, 528 MHz
- Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
- ROM: 512 MB
- RAM: 288 MB
- Dimensions: 107.85 mm (L) x 53.1 mm (W) x 13.7 mm (H)
- Weight: 117.5 g (with battery)
- Display: 3.2-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with 480 X 800 WVGA resolution
- HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz. Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds
- Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
- Device Control: TouchFLO™ 3D; Zoom bar
- Internal GPS antenna
- Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets
- Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g
- HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
- 5.0 megapixel camera with auto focus
- Second camera: VGA CMOS camera
- 1100 mAh Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
- microSD™ memory slot (up to 16GB)
- FM Radio, G-Sensor, Chinese support





Product Highlight

The Touch Diamond2 is an evolution which improves on the likes of the prior Touch Diamond and Touch HD. Featuring a 3.2" WVGA screen in a small form factor, it certainly felt very good in the hands. It was only slightly taller than my Touch Pro, which is really impressive considering the larger and higher resolution screen.

The device features a higher capacity battery than the Touch Diamond. It's only a 20% boost in terms of battery capacity but it was highlighted that the battery performance has been boosted by 50% thanks to improved power management.

The device also features the improved TouchFLO 3D experience. A new calendar tab which shows a month view was spotted in the home screen. Upon tapping on a day, you will be able to view the agenda and weather forecast for that day.

A new feature called "Push Internet" was introduced in the Internet tab of the 2 devices. This feature allows the user to define a list of webpages to download at scheduled intervals. In this way, you can visit your favorite websites on the go and see the start pages launch faster due to the cached pages.

The address book of the devices have also been improved greatly. Upon launching a contact in the contacts tab, you will get to see an interface with 4 tabs. The first tab features the particulars of the person. The next 3 tabs feature the text messages, e-mails and call history associated with the contact. You can even continue your SMS threads from this user interface. This is one feature that really got me very interested and drooling over the user interface and the devices. This is certainly a great and well-thought add-on!

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HTC Touch Pro2

Specifications at a glance:
- Qualcomm® MSM7200A™, 528 MHz
- Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
- ROM: 512 MB
- RAM: 288 MB
- Dimensions: 116 mm (L) x 59.2 mm (W) x 17.25 mm (H)
- Weight: 187.5 g with battery
- 3.6-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with 480x800 WVGA resolution
- Adjustable tilt screen
- HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz. Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds
- Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
- Device Control: TouchFLO™ 3D; Zoom bar
- Slide-out 5-row QWERTY keyboard
- Internal GPS antenna
- Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets
- Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g
- HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
- 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus
- Second camera: VGA CMOS camera
- 1500 mAh Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
- microSD™ memory slot (SD 2.0 compatible)
- G-Sensor, Straight Talk™, Noise-cancelling dual microphones and speakers, auto speakerphone on when facing down the device

Product Highlight

The Touch Pro2 leverages on the likes of the prior Touch Pro and Touch HD. Featuring a huge 3.6" WVGA screen and a slide-out keyboard with tilt mechanism, it is certainly targetted for the business professionals and the power users.

It features the same 5 row keyboard layout as the Touch Pro, but with bigger buttons and more widely spaced out. The feel of the keyboard buttons was at least as good as the Touch Pro. I got a hang of the keyboard quickly while I handled the device briefly. The tilt mechanism sure brings back the good old memories of the TyTN II.

Another pleasant surprise is that the improved TouchFLO 3D interface now supports landscape mode, which is one of the highly requested feature by existing Touch Pro users.

The device also features a proximity sensor that is really useful for making calls. When the device is placed near the face during a call, the screen is toggled off. But when the device is not near the face during the call, the screen is toggled back on. This is very useful when the user needs to make a quick note or need to do some quick reference, etc. Kudos for this feature!

One of the highlights of the Touch Pro2 is the newly introduced HTC Straight Talk™ functionality. The call button is now conveniently placed in the SMS/e-mail screens, where you can make a quick call to the sender(s).

Single or multi-party conference calls were also made more convenient and simpler. You can even store details of conference calls like dialling number along with notes of pass-code, etc.

The device features 2 assymetric speakers at the back of the device. When the device is flipped over during a call, it automatically switches to speaker mode and provides a 3D sound effect. This also facilitates the usage for conference calls like the conference speaker phone speakers found in corporate boardrooms.

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Pricing & Availability

The new HTC Touch Diamond2 and HTC Touch Pro2 will be available from mid May and end June 2009 at all authorized resellers at a suggested retail price of SGD $1,088 and $1,328. (inclusive of 7% GST) respectively.

Are you drooling over the devices already? :grin:

Official Press Release Article Link

*More photos have been uploaded here.

[Symphony]

Drool...Saliva dropped out! Did HTC make mention of any free WM6.5 Upgrade for them? One thing HTC has not listened from customer is the audio jack...still that proprietary HTC thing...and not 3.5 mm like SEX1.

[lmf2501]

Should have the upgrade, get from Marketplace maybe... :grin: