HTC Releases Touch Diamond2, Touch Pro2 Windows Mobile Phones

This morning in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress cell phone show, HTC launched two new follow-up devices that succeed both the Touch Pro and the Touch Diamond. Both are running Windows Mobile 6.1 The Touch Diamond2 sports a 3.2-inch display with a new touch-sensitive zoom bar below the screen which allows you to quickly zoom into images or Web sites with the swipe of a finger. It sports a zippy 528MHz processor, 288MB of RAM, a microSD expansion slot for adding additional memory, and measures 4.2  x 2 x .5 inches. It’s noticeably bulkier than the original Touch Diamond and not as sleek looking, but still sharp nonetheless. HTC added a 5MP camera this time around, replacing the 3.2MP one on the original Diamond. HTC followed up the Touch Pro with a new edition that brings back the slide and tilt-up display found on older HTC devices like the Mogul. The Touch Pro2 has similar specs to the Diamond 2, but has a larger 3.6-inch display and a full QWERTY keypad for typing. It offers the same 528MHz processor, along with 288MB of RAM. It doesn’t have the same 5MP camera; HTC opted for the lesser 3.2MP one on this device.  It’s targeted at the business bunch, and if you place it face down on a table there are two microphones and two speakers for conference calling. People Centric Both phones are also running HTC’s latest TouchFLO user interface which sits on top of Windows Mobile 6.1. It’s focused around HTC’s new “people-centric” approach which lets you view your entire history of communications with a single person, whether it’s a phone call, message, or e-mail, all from the contact page. You can view this contact card during a phone call as well. This is a feature we’ve seen other manufacturers like Nokia offer in the past with devices like its XpressMusic 5800. Straight Talk The new Straight Talk feature on these devices allows users to place a call from within an e-mail. Next to the contact’s name, there’s a green Call button. You can even call multiple people within a long CC list to setup an immediate conference call. A new reminder icon will pop up on your phone’s home screen 10 minutes ahead of any scheduled conference call, and it will pull the dial-in information out for you so that you can call directly from the home screen without having to search for a dial-in number. Push Internet HTC has added a new trick to its Browser app on the TouchFLO user interface. You can schedule it to pull down your favorite sites so that they’re preloaded when you’re ready to read them. So if you want to read ESPN.com or NYT.com at 8am every morning, you can schedule your phone to pull the Web site down for you so you don’t have to wait for it to load. It’s a compelling feature, but with news sites, you’re going to have to wait for content to load the second you choose a headline link anyway.