A brief video overview of the HTC Touch
With Apple’s iPhone quickly approaching its release date, HTC and Microsoft knew they had to squeeze something out to compete. Granted, they’ve been working on this concept for years before they even knew about the iPhone — that’s how the industry works. That said, HTC’s Touch looks to offer big features in a small package that relies heavily on a touch-interface. It uses Windows Mobile 6 combined with an overlaying GUI called “TouchFLO” that provides a similar experience to that of the iPhone. But can it compete with the #1 product that isn’t even out yet?
No, but it’s still an interesting phone. See, the HTC Touch won’t even be out in the US until Q4 of this year and will most likely see its way to T-Mobile. Recently released in Europe, the Touch has nice features that are becoming more commonplace on HTC devices. Inside you’ll find a 200MHz TI CPU, 64MB of RAM with 128MB ROM, an included 1GB microSD card, 802.11b/g WiFi, and Bluetooth. On the outside, the Touch features an impressive 2.8-inch QVGA screen with a 320×240 pixel resolution and a 2-megapixel camera. The Touch runs Windows Mobile 6.0. Looking for 3G? Like the iPhone, the Touch has also gotten the 3G shaft.
The interface is much better than that of previous HTC and Windows Mobile models. Windows Mobile 6 makes Windows Mobile remotely usable, unlike past versions. Add on the Touch’s special overlay GUI and the phone becomes interesting enough that you’ll want to constantly play with it. You can use the included stylus or your fingers if you have some fingernails worth typing with. A home screen features quick shortcuts to things like a weather widget, your contacts, and text messages. Overall it’s pretty easy to use.
To control the Touch like the iPhone, there are certain ways for you to swipe your index finger across the screen. For instance, swiping your thumb upward from bottom to top will bring up the TouchFLO GUI, which you can then browse through by rotating it like a cube with your thumb. Useful? I suppose, but it’s more of a gimmick.
The TouchFLO interface
You can access your media via the aforementioned interface and playback music and video you’ve recorded with the flick of a finger. Included are USB headphones, a data cable, and a carrying case to make your experience a little more enjoyable. Nothing fancy, but it’s always nice to get included earbuds for rocking out. It’s a shame that the Touch’s “2-megapixel” camera acts more like a glorified 1-megapixel camera. Don’t even try using this thing in low light or darkness. No flash is included and the CMOS sensor is downright terrible. One of the more disappointing cameras I’ve seen on a phone lately.
I do enjoy texting and making phone calls on the Touch however. The interface is “surprisingly” easy to control and doing simple things like calling a buddy in my contacts list is very easy to pull off. Just tap a button here, a button there, and I’m ordering a pizza. Big props to Microsoft and HTC for collaborating on this one.
As far as the WiFi and EDGE go, they work fine. Internet Explorer on WM6 works fine. Pages work fine. It works, it’s decent. There really isn’t much more to say. If you’re looking for something more, use a laptop. The Touch actually did come in handy when a friend and I were stuck looking for a house and we had to pull up Mapquest on it. It took a little longer than expected to load, but we got the directions and made it to our destination on time. That’s one way this device can be handy.
But is the Touch an iPhone competitor? Absolutely not. The Touch isn’t even released in the US yet and doesn’t really feature all the same technology as the iPhone. For instance, on the iPhone, I can rotate the phone and the screen knows I’ve flipped the device. On the Touch, I have to go into a menu to manually rotate the screen. Plus, the Touch will most likely be available for T-Mobile, which gives non-AT&T customers an option if they don’t want to leave their provider.
Overall, the HTC Touch is one of the better Windows Mobile phones I’ve seen in awhile. The lack of a QWERTY keyboard can be overlooked after a few days of practicing using the on-screen keyboard. Plus the screen looks fantastic, the WiFi is fast, and the TouchFLO interface is pretty fun to use. On the other hand, no US release date, a terrible camera, and the fact that it’s still a Windows Mobile device make the Touch seem unappealing at times. I’d recommend getting it when it comes out here if you’re a T-Mobile customer and don’t want to switch or if you don’t want to shell out the big bucks the iPhone commends.
A valiant effort by HTC, but it still falls short of Apple’s upcoming phone.
i’m confused. been looking around for Touch and came arross conflicting in info about whether this phone has built-in GPS or not.
I live in Australia and have been looking for Touch with GPS (mostly on ebay) but they dont seem to have GPS receiver…. hmmm….
Does anyone know where i can buy Touch with GPS (unlock of course). Arggh. I am after Touch because if the smaller size too. If it is not available who knows of another good phone with GPS, WiFi and touchscreen (I dont want iPhone!). thanks!
Not sure which version of the HTC Touch AtomicNYC has but mine works fine, I turn it off every night along with my Mac and the battery is fine. Maybe you need to switch off the Bluetooth connection in your sync software, I use USB.
I’m having a similar but slightly different problem. My battery doesn’t go dea, but the phone keeps shutting off whenever its in my pocket or in its case. I”ll use it, and half an hour later will take it out of its case and its off. But not only that, but it won’t turn on again unless I take the battery out and put it back in. Once its on, it works fine, and the battery is at full strength. But an hour later when I pull it out to use it, its dead again. This is driving me crazy!!! But what’s weird is if I’m working at home and leave it out on the desk all day, it will never turn off. Could it be it overheats in its case/pocket?? Can anyone help me?
Hello Franz,
I had the same problem, my HTC Touch kept shutting itself off. Especially when in my pocket. I tried ‘throwing’ (not too hard, just to simulate a normal bump) it on my desk and hitting it a little … and the phone turned off.
Then I found this link: http://www.modaco.com/content/HTC-Elf-Touch-Touch-MoDaCo-com/258484/Touch-switching-itself-off/#entry838230
Simply put in the SIM-card and battery again. After that the problem seems gone now.
Even if I ‘throw’ or ‘hit’ it …
Hopes it helps!
Cheers
Don’t know if this has already been posted or not….but you can download the software that the defective cd rom won’t provide directly from microsoft’s website. The only thing you won’t get is a Microsoft Office trial. You need some version of MS Office if you want to sync contacts.
Hey AtomicNYC and Dicky, I am a new HTC Touch owner through sprint and I also have the same issue with the battery draining extremely fast(about 10 hour on a full charge), and the active sync program keeps turning itself on while the phone is off….my bluetooth connection is always off so I don’t that’s the problem, what else could it be?
Howdy Dicky and Gsun-
When my battery dies at night, all of the radio functions are off (blue tooth-off, wifi- off, telephone – off). I noticed, as Gsun did, that the activesync function comes on when the radio is off, which makes me think it may be burning up processor cycles and draining the battery.
If I leave the phone on at night, I don’t have the battery drain problem. So, I’ve taken to muting the ringer and not turning the phone off.
Note that my calls to HTC have been greeted with overt hostility. HTC has no interest in hearing about this problem nor fixing it. Given the numerous posts both here and elsewhere about this problem, it seems silly that HTC wouldn’t make some effort to issue a patch.
For GPS fans, I saw an article this week that HTC will shortly be releasing a new Touch with GPS functions. Who knows if the new phone will also have the battery drainage issue.
Hey AtomicNYC…I took your advice and left the phone on while oncall at the hospital and guess what….the active sync still came on and drained my battery . I didn’t realize it until my waist started feeling warm from the phone heating up…lol. Oh well, I’m heading down to the Sprint store today in search of a miracle cure, wish me luck…
Hey guys
It’s very disappointing to hear HTC’s lack of interest in these technical problems :( I would have thought they’d jump on these issues trying to keep users on side as they battle against the iPhone craze!
It sounds like I’ve been lucky with the battery issues although I’m not a heavy user, the odd bit of music (30mins max) and bubble breaking twice a day (I’m addicted).
Maybe they’ve fixed the issue but don’t want to recall the thousands of handsets out there with the fault, but I could be way off the mark HTC??!!
i’m contemplating buying this fantastic lookin fone..jus a lil sceptic abt the camera and the music player, both of which are high on my priority list when buying a phone.. any touch user who cud help? thanks
I’ve a problem with the HTC touch. On many occassions, it cannot find the network. And resetting it, switching it off and on, hard reset, Network Wizard all do not work. It is forever searching for the network. However, when i switched took out the SIM card and use it on a normal Samsung phone, it detected the network instantly! Then i switched it back again, and the HTC Touch still can’t find the network!
I sent it back to HTC service centre @ Harbour Front (Singapore) and they tested it and found that the hardware is ok. and they said they’ve upgraded the software and even suggested that i get another SIM card.
I tested the phone. Can find the network and can make call. So i went back. Next day, the same problem occurred!
Did the same remedial action a few times and still cannot find the network. I called the service centre and they suggested that I switch to a 2.5G SIM card instead! (Mine is a 3G SIM card). But i had explained to them that the 3G SIM card had worked fine with my non-3G Samsung phone and why can’t it work with the 2.5G HTC Touch?
No resolution till today. Any one has the same experience?
Hey Vince -
If you are using Tmobile – go into the network settings and make certain it’s set to 850/whatever. The default setting makes connecting to Tmobile difficult, but changing it fixes the problem.
You might be able to do something about the activesync / battery issue:
http://www.mobiletopsoft.com/board/1751/how-to-prevent-wm-5-0-and-activesync-from-draining-your-battery.html
I’m having the same problem that Franz has. The phone turns off and doesn’t turn on after that (without taking off the battery). The first time it happened I noticed that the phone was really warm. Can the processor really overheat when carried in pocket?!
Hello Wide,
I had the same problem, my HTC Touch kept shutting itself off. Especially when in my pocket. I tried ‘throwing’ (not too hard, just to simulate a normal bump) it on my desk and hitting it a little … and the phone turned off.
Then I found this link: http://www.modaco.com/content/HTC-Elf-Touch-Touch-MoDaCo-com/258484/Touch-switching-itself-off/#entry838230
Simply put in the SIM-card and battery again. After that the problem seems gone now.
Even if I ‘throw’ or ‘hit’ it …
Hopes it helps!
Cheers
The touch phone sucks,
It does not ring while it is in sleep mode. It only rings when it is charging. And I constantly have to re-align the screen. The time also slows down or freezes sometimes when I have it on sleep mode.
I am returning it. I just would like to know if this is a problem with my phone or is anybody else experincing this problem?
I have had my touch for exactly a week. I got on impulse cuz i wanted a new toy LOL. So far it has been working ok although I have noticed the battery only last approx a day. as for FD’s issue with it not ringing when in sleep mode I have also noticed this and it was driving me nuts. I have found that after i activesync the phone thats when the problems occur and it doesn’t ring or notify me of anything when in sleep mode. If I reset the phone it works fine until the next time I sync it. Anyone else having this issue??
Thanx Rob
I have had the touch for about 2 weeks. After some intial problems connecting to the internet, all seems well so far. I have one HUGE problem… the phone doesn’t ring alot of times. Frinds have said that they try to call me several times and that it rings and rings before going to vm. The ringer doesn’t ring nor do i show any missed calls. If anyone else has had this problem and knows what i need to do to fix please let me know. I am ready to take back to the store.
To wantthis: If you’re looking for a anything other than a PDA with a neat UI with the bonus of having plenty of storage space for tunes and an adequate camera then the Touch isn’t for you. The speaker’s OK and the camera’s average.
To VincentTan: When I got my phone here in the UK I was told I needed a new SIM card as my old one (that I had for 3 years) wouldn’t work in it.
By the looks of things I’ve had a Touch with my phone (meaning a bit of luck in slang) but by the looks of the postings on here 1 out of every 5 isn’t a good tally for HTC :(
My touch locked up twice and has to remove the battery to get it working again. Also locked my screen up, couldn’t use any of the touch screen function (phone wasn’t in lock mode), had to turn of and on again to get the screen going again. Battery life sucks as well. When the phon is in my pocket and if I accidently touch the power button phone goes to sleep and I miss calls because the phone doesn’t ring.
hey..omg can someone help me wit the alignin business juss got my fone AND trust me i suck at operating it..any help really wanna use it..how do u align the screen trie that for a gud 2hr and nun happened
Hi,
I have a HTC touch. Out of a sudden my DCIM/100MEDIA folder in the storage card just went missing and I can’t retrieve my photos. Well..actually the DCIM folder is still there but the 100MEDIA photo went missing. I active sync and don’t see it on my PC either. I can’t create new folders in the DCIM folder either.
There’s no errors while taking photos and storing into the storage card, just that I can’t see where they went. I assume it’s in the 100MEDIA photo but nothing. The funny thing is that my contact pictures can still be seen (pulled from the 100MEDIA folder). I switch my storage card to another HTC and it’s the same thing.
Is it a problem with my storage card or the phone? Please help!!
dear VivienW,
did you find solution for your problem I am currently have the same problem and found no useful answers to guide me..
it is seriouse problem for me….
Same problem here. I believe somehow my pictures are still on the mem card because the pics showed up in the speed dial pics. They must be there. Ack! I will let you know if I find out how to recover.
I lost my 100Media file in the dcim folder and pics i take disappear. any suggestions? thanks
Is this phone worth it for music? I want to get one but after the disappointing music offering for the Moto MING (low volume speakers and earphone levels) I want a good music/ media phone. I could care less about the business offerings… I just want a cool music phone. Is the Touch worth it?
BTW, i’m anti-$ony after numerous bad experiences so I don’t want a Walkman phone.
Anothe quick question… since the OS is Windows based is it vulnerable to every virus, worm, etc created? I had a worm attact the other day that didn’t infect my MING cuz it was Linux based. If it was a Windos Mobile OS would it be affected?
I have had my HTC Touch a week now. I use around 2000 min a month. I really enjoy the HTC (once i learned some useful tips) Someone mentioned it their cheek activated other programs…might want to make some phone adjustments or use wireless earpiece. I have had many phones and devices, and i had held off for a long time till testing this device. It is very practical for contact management, appointments and navigates fairly well. The camera isnt the greatest and i found that it could of used a some type of stabilizer as it was hard to take a clear picture with either my hand moving or the person i was photographing. I have yet to find the “Golden Perfect Phone”, as our expectations from Technology is elvoving beyond deliverable results…and always will. Go back 2 Years ago….this would have been alien technology….and 2 years from now if they perfected the HTC Touch….we would expect more. I rate it 9 out of 10.
I have a htc touch and i like it alot. I cant stand when people compare it to the iphone. Its a Smartphone/PDA. Iphone is more social…where as the touch is more BUSINESS productive with applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. i never use the keyboard…i use the stylus to write my txt messages. battery goes out a little fast but u can get and extended battery. u can use the sprint music store player to listen to music or use the windows media player…sound quality is great! overall i really love my touch! i play with it all the time in my college classes! oh yeah sprint network is super fast. i browse websites easily and quick.
oh i just read some of the other comments…when u first get the phone it freezes often for like the first week (maybe 2) just use your stylus to hit the reset button at the bottom of the screen to the right of the charger port…and to align the screen just go to Settings – click the system tab at the bottom – scroll to screen button- and u will see an align option.
Its very frustrating that most of the iPHONE lovers are not techy and lack the basic knowledge of understanding. They need spoon feeding I guess ! Look at the features the TOUCH has , imagine the tweaks which you can do for your Windows mobile Phone. iPONE is only for the music lovers who just plug in the headsets close their eyes and enjoy music which an iPOD can do.
iPHONE is total junk except the looks.
Though Windows Mobile phones are sluggish it boasts of many features unless like an iPHONE which is just an USE and THROW phone. Its good for nothing. If you are a person with no work who loves to spend all day with music and no knowledge about softwares , emails , Internet go for iPHONE.
If you are a restless techy go for HTC TOUCH. Its amazing.
BTW I have both the iPHONE and HTC with me.
VIJAY, your comment was completely useless, thank you. There are 2 different types of people that would buy these 2 different devices, and they buy them for different reasons, same way some people drive smart cars for the fuel economy, and others pick-up truck for its hauling ability. Grow up.
I bought the HTC yesterday and so far I am less than impressed with it. I have had 3 PDA’s in the past all of which were with older versions of the WM software, and I can see nothing has changed in the newest version.
The device has needed to be soft-reset 3 times in the 18 hours that I have owned it, once when it had ‘gone to sleep’ I suppose and then wouldnt recover (green light blinking under the speaker grille, but no matter what I did there was no display) and twice it got stuck in the picture viewer app and would not let me back out, although I could view pictures like a champ.
I set it up to DL email from my hotmail account, and although I have checked every possible setting I can find it seems to keep dialing up my #777 data service every few minutes, but I have no idea what it is syncing (weather? email?) so I have to keep it turned off for now so I dont get nailed for too much data usage as it doesnt seem to disconnect on its own.
HTC did a real nice job with the ‘cube’ menu system; very finger friendly….but its too bad it dumps you into the standard WM apps which all but require you to pull the stylus out – I would like to have seen them build a new front end for some of the apps where you wouldnt NORMALLY need to use the stylus (obviously word & excel exempt)….how about a web browser that starts off as a nearly-full screen keyboard to put in the address, complete with some time saving www buttons and the like?
Speaking of keyboards, I downloaded the larger HTC keyboard, only to be completely BAFFLED that to enter a period (.), you have to not only press the symbol button, but then PAGE DOWN to the second page of symbols, yet { } % * ^ and the like are all on the first (and default) page, as if they are all somehow more common and useful.
On the plus side, it IS a very nice looking unit, with a nice display that doesnt hold fingerprints as badly as my standard PDA’s. Its also very compact for what it does, smaller than my PDA’s which dont have cell capabilities.
I have only put in 5 minutes of talk time on it, as I have 15-days or 15-minutes talk-time to return it for a full refund, and after reading many of these comments I think I should just take the damn thing back. I even told myself in the store while I was looking at it that software-driven phones are nothing but trouble in every case I have seen (friends & family), and the HTC is proving my point already.
To sum up my limited experience with it: very nice device, running very poor WM software, to which HTC added a fancy menu.
ThomasJ…before you critique the phone you should probably RTFM. You don’t have to go into the symbol menu on the Touch Keyboard. Simply hold down the “OP” button for a second. If you look at the keyboard, all the most common symbol characters and numbers 0-9 are available right from the first page of the keyboard. They are in blue above the letters. Secondly, if you are going to set it up to download your Hotmail e-mail the phone is obviously going to have to make some kind of data connection(that’s what’s happening when the phone dials #777), especially if you set up scheduled email syncs, or turn on push e-mail. If you want that stuff turned on you better get a data plan, or download the e-mail manually with the send/receive button to save money. Honestly, I’m a little baffled that anyone would buy a PDA phone without a good data plan. It’s like buying an HDTV without paying for the HD programming. Now, as far as the comment about software-driven phones being nothing but trouble, how the heck do you think any modern cell phone works without software to drive it. Unless you go and buy an old Motorolla brick phone that weighs 20 lbs. you’re going to own a phone that is works on some sort of operating system along with software applications to make all the features you need available. I don’t care if it’s a RAZR, iPhone, Touch, or even the most basic of cell phone…it’s all software.
Finally, I have validation! I have been trying to get HTC to fix this problem, and they have yet to confirm it. I have discovered that when I turn the phone on and then off using the Comm Manager, the battery drains at 10% per hour (which is greater than leaving the phone on). I love this product, and I want the software problem fixed. Any solutions? Are you aware of anyone else confirming this problem? I am trying to get HTC’s attention on this one. I welcome your reply to early@tcq.net. Thanks.
Here is a note that I sent to HTC in response to this review: HTC,
In August, I bought an HTC Touch. I love the device; it is a superb package! I noticed that when I turned my phone off that the battery would drain at 10% per hour. I contacted HTC and was told that this was an unknown problem – that mine was a special case.
I explored the problem further. Some HTC technician blamed it on incompatible applications; he told me to do a hard reset. Still, when I turned the phone from on to off using the Comm Manager, the battery would drain at the rate of 10% per hour, until I performed a soft reset. After reset, the battery drain was negligible (this proves it is a software problem). I continued resetting my device every time I used the phone and turned it off.
I contacted HTC again, and again the problem was denied. Finally, I found a review that validates the problem (see CrunchGear’s review attached). This problem has been brought to HTC’s attention, yet no solution is offered. What am I to think of a company that does not respond to such a significant problem?
I have contacted HTC technicians several times by now, and no one has admitted that there is a problem. Now, I ask for an honest response. Please confirm that you are aware of this problem, and let me know how you plan to address this software error. I have tried to work with you for long enough. Providing your customers with some answers is long overdue.
I eagerly await your reply. Thad Early
Hi,
Just scroll back up through the comments and you’ll find DOZENS of people complaining about your allegedly unique problem with the battery (don’t you just hate it when techs deny the blindingly obvious and blame the user?). I have given up on communicating with HTC but if you have their ear and the energy to pursue your problem, suggest you refer them to the many examples above that describe the same issue.
Another issue; having lost all my data from a Psion that was left uncharged for a month, I checked before I bought the HTC that if the battery runs down, you don’t lose all your data. ‘Oh no…’ the Orange sales person assured me, it’s not like a Psion, of course you don’t lose the data, it’s just like any other mobile phone!’ In your dreams. Let the battery die and al your carefully stored contacts etc. spreadsheets, music, pics etc. go with it. And as I have never been able to get the damned think it sync with my Mac -despite buying the recommended s/w etc. I lost it all for good and have had to gradually re-input everything by hand.
I hate this device, wish I’d waited for iPhone. The Touch looks good but it”s beauty is only skin deep. As evidenced by one of the comments in its defence above, I guess it’s fine if you’re a computer geek who likes fiddling with WIndows, but alas, for us mortals who do not enjoy computers for their own sake and want them just to do the job they’re designed for, this temperamental little device is not up to the job – and btw I have worked in the computer industry for 20 years and I did RTFM before deciding the device is shoddily designed. HTC should be mightily ashamed of their total indifference to its problems.
i have a HTC Touch phone it seemed great at firsrt but not so sure now,, i keep dropping calls eg. i am on a conversation and all of a sudden the phone goes into flight mode and the call is lost, ive tried a soft format and a hard format with no avail download the latest rom and still the same, but it doesnt seem to be as often
anyone outhere getting the same or have suggestions
louis
Oh My!
What a bunch of global cyber babies. Shame on you all. Just pick a phone and be done with it. I had a provider that offered the Touch but I terminated my contract and now have an iPhone. I’m a mac guy and like the iPhone better. If you like the Touch then get it. Done. Stop all this nonsense. Both phones offer great features just different.
Well just listen to you! Perhaps you’re not aware that many people are on 18 month contracts and will lose rather a lot of cash if they terminate early, or perhaps the loss of a not insubstantial amount of money doesn’t bother you. Well bully for you!
“A valiant effort by HTC, but still falls short of the iphone”
What the hell is that about, they are two totally different phones geared for different users,and besides, the iphone is way overpriced on contract. if you want a ipod and a phone integrated then an iphone is ideal, if you want a solid business device then touch is better. im sure most would agree
switched active sync to manual and all my battery problems seem resolved…now happy with the phone so far.
Wanting to be cool i got the 8gb Iphone, a week and 2 days later my gf got the HTC touch, the best thing that happened to me was her forgetting it over my house, I have to admit i was really discriminatig against anything that was trying to get compete with my new Itouch.
Personal Conclusion:
Iphone – very elegant, and the (limited) functionality that it has, it does a great job at it (gui/interface/response time etc) also you are pretty much forced to accept it the way it is (apple style)
HTC Touch – finger touch Technology (main selling point) , does not come close to the Iphone, but trust me , there is nothing (non apple pushed) that the itouch can do that the HTC Touch wont, i cannot believe how many things can be done with the HTC Touch, and not to mention that i didnt have to have no stupid 4mb iTunes hooks installed on my computer ( i actualy had another hook installed to unload the dll when itunes would be killed (kinda buggy) but i hate that i have to have that junk eating up memory (go ahead and argue it’s only 0.4% of my total memory (1 gb), but that hook is also using fair cpu time slices to monitor harware events/traps)
I was never an apple fan, untill the IPod (videos) came out (looks get you a far way when it comes to an mp3 player) not to mention the apple user input / navigation etc (excellent) but when it comes to a device that does more than play mp3’s (iphone is not the way to go)
I returned the iPhone, and got my HTC Touch, I am a happy person exept for when my gf laugs at me for being wrong to begin with.
PLEASE NOTE: looks will get you a far way, such as the IPhone (very elegant and human centic), functionality wise it lacks alot in compare with other phones out there. If you are in highschool (so to speak) you will get a kick out of the iphone, but for an adult world where you have to kinda use it as a data manager, interract with other products/services, the iphone will not do it for you). ie. the fact that i can ftp or vnc into my home pc from my phone was the point when i was sold not to the HTC but to the Pocket PC Phone World
i have had my touch for little over 4 months and couldnt be more satisfied with it. however i did replace the battery with a larger one due to the lack of talk time the first one had.
i am a text person and have no problem with it. my work email is on it before it even hits my work server.
pictures are great.
i couldnt ask for a better phone.
Dear Desperate, I had the same problem with very short ring time. I called T-Mobile and discovered it is not the phone, but a setting between the phone and the mobile provider. T-Mobile gave me a code to call which set the ring time for 15 seconds. This is just right for me, as it equals about 4 rings before it goes to voicemail. I hope this is helpful.
hey is there any way you can pm the code, i have the same problem
So what would be final verdict….Iphone or the HTC… I am using a Berry Curve now, need a second phone, i am looking to pick up either an Iphone or an HTC…
I definitely would not recommend HTC Touch, had one now for two months. I am excellent at dealing with technical issues. However this phone does not have tech issues it has some pretty serious design issues. I should have bought Blackberry Curve but bell mobility will not exchange. Now using my old phone TREO 650. I was warned about the Touch but i was too lured by the concept of the phone. Go with the Iphone.
You know, after having the HTC since December I’d have to say I totally love it for everything it can do. As far as choosing between it, and an iPhone? That’s a very subjective matter. I’ve played with both, and I love the iPhone’s interface. It’s definitely the smoothest, most reliable phone OS I’ve seen in a long time, BUT…the HTC wins hands-down in the features department. I can use it as a high-speed wireless modem, it supports my Office documents, I can add tons of apps to it, it supports stereo Bluetooth(A2DP), Bluetooth GPS receivers(mine is the size of a postage stamp and lasts eight hours), high bitrate Internet radio streams(I listen to 192kbit streams on my way to work all the time without ANY breakups in the signal), I was able to add 8GB of storage to it for music of almost any format, and it will soon have a browser that will absolutely DESTROY Safari(http://www.skyfire.com/). Those are more than enough reasons for me to stick with the Touch and recommend it to anyone that can put up with some of it’s quirks. The ONLY thing it is missing is the iPhone’s interface. It’s also probably a little more difficult to learn. It’s kinda like with computers…for myself I buy PCs because I’m more than comfortable with heavy technical stuff and troubleshooting, but for my mom? I buy her a Mac…I don’t want to be her tech-support guy twice a week.
I really liked this phone for JUST over the 1 month period. Now the phone will not ring on incoming calls when the screen goes blank. The forums are filled with this same issue. Sprint will not do ANYTHING to try to resolve the issue, simply saying the I have to deal with HTC directly. Sprint CS/TS sucks. They simply say that it is in need of a firmware upgrade and that HTC will release one – SOMEDAY. In the meantime, I have to guess when I have an incoming call – totally unacceptable – BUYER BEWARE!!!
If anyone experiences messages like ’storage memory running low’ which you will if you use the internet on the phone simply delete the history and files which freed up 15mb of memory on my phone!
Open Explorer > Menu > Tools > Options… > Memory
Clear History and Delete Files :)
I’m amazed any future buyer’s of the HTC Touch beware! I purchased this phone because I was a sprint customer for over 8 year’s based on many professional reviews that aren’t doing the consumer’s any good. I also Have a Mac. This phone is full of glitch’s,bugs and quit’s working on you when it’s most inconvient.
I returned the 1st one and got a 2nd one thinking that maybe things would get better! I had the same problems all over again. After this I quit lying to myself and purchased the Iphone and haven’t had any problems. It’s sad when people write reviews either professionally or as a consumer and don’t tell the truth however propective buyer’s read between the hype and notice how many of these “happy owner’s” are searching for fixes for a phone that’s not even a year old now, and Sprint & Htc are blaming each other and in the end the consumer gets caught in a 2 year contract with a phone that neither will ever fix, and notice that they just keep coming out with different hardware versions of the same phone. P.S.” I’m no longer in the computer field, however; I’ll bet that this phone’s biggest problem that no one will admit is that it’s a 400mhz processor running today’s robust data intensive software with a decent 128 ram which is most likely the reason for the constant glitches and software freezes and eventual crashes.” Think about it. A 400mhz processor for today’s software?
Have had the HTC touch now for 2 months. Having ongoing issues with synchronizing, must synch 2 – 3 times before task will complete. Text and email icons have become inoperable 3 times now. Had to do hard reboot 3 times. Have updated with new HTC touch patch but still having same issues. I love the concepts about this phone but feel it is exactly that- A CONCEPT! Not understanding why it is on the market. Bought this phone thinking it was a step ahead of the TREO 650, NOT! I am now using my trusty beautifully reliable TREO 650. I have tried returning the phone to Bell Mobility with no success. Still waiting (now for 2 weeks) for replacement. Bell will not guarantee new phone will not have same problems, HAH! Joke isk on me. HTC so far has not responded to my request to send me a phone that will work. Is anyone else dealing with same issues. Completely frustrated.
Hi,
I’ve just got a HTC Touch and at first it sync nicely. Now it doesn’t recognize the port. It doesnt communicate with the PC because the port is not available. That same message using usb sync or bluetooth.
Please help what to do. I’ve tried almost everything
This is a known software bug. It is accompanied by the ringer not working in sleep mode so you will miss about 90% of your calls. Ive had mine now for 6 months and had to take it in to the Sprint Service center for a hard reset. This mean you loose everything and start from scratch. The best plan is to resync often so when it inevitably chokes and you have to start over, youll have a recent backup on your home comp. Ive been told several times that a major software update is coming soon, and so far ive been waiting for it for the last 4 months.
Its too bad because the Touch is the best pda phone ive ever used, and looking around for a replacement for it is difficult because everything else out there is a step down
I’m very confused in which phone to buy. HTC touch or iphone? I have search many comparisons & comments on both phones which now has left me more confused. I was going to buy the iphone but the reviews have been very bad. Then was going to buy the HTC touch and after reading the comments, it’s just turned me off the HTC touch. I want a decent camera, able to assign a tone for sms, want GPS, long battery life. That’s not too much to ask in a phone these days?
HTC touch is really a awesome phone which has every options…. comparing with apple I-phone … I prefer HTC.. Simply the BEST ;-)
I have had the HTC Touch for about a year now and have had many of the same problems…
Dropped calls is the biggest problem I have had. I would be have a perfect 100% signal one second and nothing the next and I haven’t even moved an inch. I took the phone back to where I purchased it and they said that it was a bug with the Digital Codes or something to that effect. I was told to come back in a month and they should have a fix for it. I did that and they knew nothing about what I was talking about. Crazy!
Other faults…
Freezes up sometimes and you need to take the battery out and restart.
Sometimes won’t sync.
Some calls go right to VM and the phone doesn’t ring at all.
I have had to remove the battery to fix that.
Those are just a few of the things I hate about the phone.
But, as one person said earlier this is all software issues.
I really don’t think the phone is bad but the operating system that is being used… Microsoft sucks again. When are they going to get their act together?
Anyway… I love the size of the phone and it’s features. I thought it was the bomb when I purchased it on a plan for 3 years with no cost other than my monthly plan. Now I see it listed for about $350 everywhere.
Hopefully there is a fix to the software issues and we can all get on to using the phone without any problems.
please help…..i got my HTC touch about 3 months ago…still learning.
just got my mac, hasn’t been 1 month yet.
how to do sync my phone with my mac and please tell me how to get my music from i-tunes and limewire onto my phone.
i promise if you help i’ll be your bestest friend.
ginger
This phone is garbage. It’s slow and locks up all the time. I literally tell myself “I hate this phone” 10 times a day. It locks up constantly and when it does you have to reboot which takes a few minutes. Usually I discover it’s locked when I want to make a call. Hardly convenient. Just today I was using email and it crashed just like a computer. I wouldn’t recommend ANBODY get an HTC product. garbage
My battery also drains within a few hours and unfortunately it makes no difference if I keep the phone on or not.
The strange thing is the problem started after I took a flight and forgot to turn off the phone.
I even purchased an extended battery but that one is also empty within 6-8 hours.
ok so ive had this phone for a year. at the beggining i noticed it had some very slow functions not like the iphones which is way smoother but i did not complain. Today at about 1:30 pm my phone overloaded. Knowing how to fix this i tried the touch screen start menu. The TOUCH SCREEN IS NOT WORKING!!! i cant access the file explorer correctly so i cant take off alot of excess data that slows down the phone by a lot originally causeing the problem. the folder is like this Windows>profiles>cookies delete everything in it and theres another folder too. by doing this you can delete alot of unwanted data from the internet
The HTC Touch has to be the worst phone I have ever own in my life, continually crashes, always loses its settings, loses text messages.
Very poor for a potentially good phone, sadly this was a real waste of money.