The Touch by HTC, which will be offered by Sprint on November 4, is hands down one of the best devices I’ve used in the past two years. That says a lot considering the number of devices that roll through the CrunchGear offices. But to each his own, I say. The Touch has been an integral part of my stay in the Bay Area and has saved me on more than one occasion.
When I first saw the GSM version of the Touch months ago, I wasn’t that impressed. I usually snub any device that runs Windows Mobile and I thought TouchFLO was just a gimmick, but I can admit when I’m wrong. I like the Touch and I don’t want to send it back! We’ll gloss over the specs and then move onto HTC’s unique UI that is better than the other phone with a touchscreen interface, which shall remain nameless in case there are fanboys or haters that feel like spouting off. These are two entirely different devices aimed at different groups.
The Touch features a microSD slot with support up to 4GB and includes a 512MB card. The 2-megapixel camera has 5x zoom with video capabilities. Stereo Bluetooth, which should be a norm with all phones! The Touch also has voice-activated dialing, which comes in handy while driving and something the other thing doesn’t have. It’s also one of the tiniest, 4.0x 2.4x 0.6-inch and weighs 4oz, and most powerful devices out on the market. Not to mention a 3-inch screen that’s nice and bright.
Does the phone work? Yes. Is voice quality sacrificed for smart phone features? Nope. Perfect. Moving on.
So how does Windows Mobile 6 look on the Touch? I never really knew it existed since TouchFLO masks the ugly beast. Everything about the UI is based on natural movements and I found it easier to use then the other phone with touch capabilities. The Touch served as my modem while scouring the aisles at CTIA and was simple to tether to the ole MacBook via Bluetooth (life saver #1). Sprint’s 3G network is wicked fast and got the job done. I think I tapped ‘Start’ once during my two weeks with the phone. I tend to forget about WinMo and I like that. That’s how it should be. The Touch didn’t have any noticeable lag time switching from app to app or when starting up the camera. I was pleasantly surprised. I found myself leaving the Ocean and Sidekick at home while bouncing around the Bay.
The main menu is effortless to read and only takes a few minutes to figure out what’s what. Need the current temperature and future forecast? Tap the sun and there you go. Everything is adjusted so that you only need to tap an icon once and it pulls up whatever you need without having to dive down through sub-menus. The neat part about TouchFLO is activated when you swipe from the bottom of the screen to the top. It’s here that you’ll find three different menus to flow through with a simple swipe. Rather than a “top 5” you can have nine contacts with their own picture or picture of your choice. You can also access Sprint’s Music, TV and On Demand stores with a tap of the finger. The last menu gives you six options that include an IM client, software store, IE (which kicks much ass since it’s a full Web browsing experience and this was life saver #2, I couldn’t find the suite where my meeting was and all my other devices couldn’t access my CG e-mail), SMS, Comm Manager and mailbox.
When viewing images you can draw a quick circle around a certain section of a photo and have it enlarged for you to inspect. Need to rotate the photo? Slide your finger across and it’s done. Well, let’s say you’ve got a long list of contacts or messages that you want to gloss over pretty quickly. You’re sort of unsure what or who you’re looking for, but you’ll recognize it when you see it type of thing. Jump into your contact list or message list and swipe down or up, which sends everything into motion and once you see what you want just tap the screen and it automatically stops. No need to continuously scroll or tap buttons to scroll through lists.
Sounds simple, right? That’s because it is!
What do I hate about the Touch? I like keyboards and I don’t use a stylus. But there is a Touch slider coming so that may be sufficient enough. Wi-Fi would be nice, but isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker. That’s pretty much it. If you’re a Sprint customer then I highly suggest you pick this up. If you’re not a Sprint customer then I suggest you switch. The Touch by HTC on Sprint is only $249.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate. Get it, you’ll love it.
Update: Well, I seemed to have failed to mention one of the most important things about the Touch. I’m not fond of the other phone’s touch keypad, but the HTC touch keypad is easier to use. With the other phone I found that you had to tap to the left of the desired key. You don’t have to worry about that with the Touch. The touch keys are significantly smaller, but the software running the touch input seems to work fairly well. It knows the difference between the stylus, finger nails and finger pads (is that right?). It’s responsive enough to touch and taps that I very rarely found myself having to re-tap anything. The XT9 predictive text sucks, but that’s only because I hate all predictive text since I’ve been using a full QWERTY keyboard for the last couple years. Walking and inputting text isn’t much fun, but it can be done. When I found myself in a hurry I whipped out the stylus, but the rest of the time I remained in its slot. Hope this helps.
How refreshing to find a reviewer who’s brains have not been entirely sucked out and replaced by the folks at Apple!
We’re huge, huge fans of the HTC Touch as well. Stay tuned for a full website about the product, and a forum for enthusiasts at Sprint Touch.
It’s http://www.sprinttouch.org
(should be up tomorrow)
why nomore? nyou stopped lovin it
Totally agree the only review I have seen that doesnt solely compare this phone to another of the touch screen genre.
Thank you for saving me from pulling all my hair out.
Refreshing indeed. Can you go a little deeper into the text input interface, the keyboardless thing is keeping me from dropping the cash though.
Just curious about the 2letter per key qwerty, is that what you are referring to as xt9? If you could show a picture of that interface next to your finger so we could see the size of the keys on that it would be much appreciated.
Thanks for the information , Peter. Do you have any information on whether there is GPS on the Touch or any navigation capabilities built in?
Thanks again.
The GPS is built-in, but won’t be unlocked until (i think) february, it’s in the same software update that will push it to REv-A. You should be able to use Sprint Navigation (telenav) as soon as that software update is out.
Good stuff, Thanks!
Thanks alot for the review Peter, I’ve been anxiously checking this (and any other site i can google) for a good review and this one is the best yet. I have decided I’m dropping the 500 on this phone anyway (i’m in the middle of my contract and an employee so I can’t just up and add a line), but was curious if it had the keypad similar to the BB Pearl. I had heard something about this keypad but haven’t seen anything on it yet. THanks again for the great review, can’t wait till sunday.
Steve:
I’m a current customer, and in the middle of a contract. I called the sprint help line and asked to be forwarded to the retentions department – they will help you out- you definitely don’t have to shell out the full $449 or whatever to upgrade to this phone.
I got to play with this phone and the pictures in this review don’t give its small size the proper justice it deserves. Not only is it small, but it’s super *thin*. A very nice package.
I am soo ready for this phone….
Thanks for not being a fanboy of the other phone.Seems like you really used the touch before just throwing up a review for the hell of it…..
Its strange that nowhere you compared this one with iphone!!
I really want to apologize for the horrible lighting in all the pictures. Definitely not my best work, but you can hit the link for better photos.
Hey Peter, I wanted to let you know I messed up when I criticized you for not having the review done as quickly as I had anticipated. It looks like you got to spend a good amount of time with the phone allowing you to recognize its true potential. Your review is the first review that actually pertains to the SPRINT Touch, unlike all the other mixed reviews that state it has WiFi and what not like the earlier Touch. Good review though… I’ll definitely be picking one up!
Awsome review. I am seriously considering changing from at&t to Sprint. The Tilt was a big disappointment. I need to get my hands on the new Pantech C810 and on this one.
i love you….
my sprint touch
A little light on the web-browsing experience. I’d love to know more about how it compares to the “other thing” in that arena. The phone looks fantastic! Peter – you’re not having any trouble with Sprint in the Bay Area? I don’t know a single person who uses them out here.
what about battery? any good?
From what I’ve been reading the one downside to the Touch is the browser is still PIE, which isn’t as good as Safari on the iPhone. However, Opera Mini is pretty damn good (though it lacks in the area of Javascript / AJAX which Safari still excels at), but when Opera Mobile 9 comes out, it should compete with Safari in power and ease of use.
I have a Mogul now and I love the keyboard though the bugs are annoying. I’d be curious to find out if the Touch has any problems with Bluetooth dropouts or volume problems that the Mogul has had.
I wanted to know if the Sprint Touch has a locking feature. For example the iphone requires you to drag a arrow to unlock it to prevent accidental movement?
It sure does. You can add a sirtcut to the “Today page” which locks the phone with one touch.
@ProfessionalGun
Sprint was rock solid in the Bay. As far as the Web browsing experience goes…like syntheticzero said, it’s still IE. One of the neat features with the Touch is that you can ‘grab’ a photo and drag it around, which shifts the entire page around. You wouldn’t be changing the orientation of the photo on the page, but you can shift the page side-to-side or up and down without using the scroll bars. Not sure if that makes sense.
@HChristianS
I mainly used the Touch to tether to my mac, but it lasted over a day with pretty heavy network use. On standby it can go a few days.
@Kevin
By pressing the power button on top, the Touch goes into a sleep mode and comes out of it with another push.
Picsel is available on Samsung phones and is a damned good browser. Has been out for over a year now. It is available as an add on software (unofficial cab file) and works well on the PPC Mogul and Touch.
Great Review! So after speaking on the phone with people from sprint a few times, i have recieved mixed answers as to whether the phone had WiFi or not? Also, how does the texting work (is it a full QWERTY keypad or is it just a reformed version of T9)? Thanks!
Just got my Sprint Touch on Monday. This device is FANTASTIC, and of the four people that I’ve already shown it to, four of them are planning on getting it now. No video or picture can do it justice…I actually gasped when I unboxed it and held it for the first time.
It’s not an “other” phone, but the price is better, the integration with Exchange is better, and the size/feel is better (IMHO). The UI isn’t as nice as the “other” phone, but it is way better than other WM devices and is “fun” to use as well. The power of the device is surprisingly snappy, and the Sprint data network is, too.
The lack of a keyboard seems to turn some people off, but for an old PalmPilot user like me I just use the Block Recognizer mode and write away (finger or stylus). New to this device is the “Touch Keypad” and the “Touch Keyboard” data entry options: the “Touch Keypad” is like a typical phone alphanumerica configuation that you can type with your finger; the “Touch Keyboard” sometimes displays a larger qwerty keyboard that you can actually use with your finger, and sometimes it displays the 20 key keyboard with two letters per key…this is the one that comes up for texting (at least on my phone).
The best example of what Peter was describing with the Photo Viewer can be seen on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx-OCjMKlfo .
@Kevin: as Peter said, pushing the power button on top puts it to sleep, so there isn’t much need for a “lock”. But if want a lock there is a button for this in the Launcher app off of the homescreen, and then when you try to access it you just touch the Unlock button that appears at the bottom of the screen. There is also a security Lock that you may need to set up if you want to use it in a corporate environment, but that is easy to set up as well (like other WM devices).
All in all, I am thrilled with this device so far. Sorry for the length of the post…hopefully it was helpful.
What qwerty keyboard is that? The second in the last section.
Also what keypad is that? The last pic in the last section.
I’ve had this phone for a little over a week now and love it. This replaces my AximX50 and old phone. I downloaded CalliGrapher 8.5, PocketTV Pro, and Space Reclaimer. All work great. I’m as old as dirt so I prefer to write my text messages with the help of CalliGrapher. I can keep up to my kids this way. PocketTV fills in for the short comings of Windows Media Player, and PocketPC people will understand the need for Space Reclaimer. The Qualcomm MSM 7500 400 MHZ processor works great. Love the Sprint 3G internet, fast for a phone. Overall not perfect, but better than any other phone I’ve used. I highly recommend this phone.
I want my Sprint Touch. The darn thing is still on back order & I ordered it on November 5th.
I need my fix. When will it arrive?? :)
Has anyone had any issues with the phone regarding the battery. When the phone is off the active synce coems on and killes the battery. I you are having thid issue type back
Thanks for th reviews. I just bought this phone & haven’t even “touched” it yet. I went soley on the looks & the comparison to the other phone. I really wanted to leave sprint after 10 plus years because I loved the concept of the “other” phone. After I bought this I decided to google it hoping I wouldn’t read a bunch of bad reviews about it. Thanks guys! I can’t wait for the mailman to come! My only complaint with sprint is the customer service but after threatening to leave them I got a great deal on this phone.
I had my touch for 4 days and returned it. It’s not a bad device at all and it would have been impressive before June 29th, but after using my iPhone, I find it impossible to be satisfied with anything else. I think the most dissapointing thing is the browsing experience with is just terrible. The phone itself is fine, but as a complete package it is merely a shadow of what the iPhone offers. Just giving a balanced look at what I saw. It may be perfect for some, but if you’ve used an iPhone, my guess is that it won’t satisfy you.
after reading this review i’m almost surely gonna buy this fone! i LOVE the looks and on paper the features look good..but im a lil sceptic about the camera-whether it works well in a lil less light or not and abt the music player..heard its no match to the “other phone”?
I bought this phone last Saturday at a Sprint store after having the Sprint Sanyo MM5600 for a couple of years. After trying it out for the last few days, I feel like I traded down. You cannot use Sprint Navigation on this phone, nor can you use Sprint Radio and I can no longer use Sprint Picture Mail. The “Ultimate Power Vision” that I upgraded to, is basically useless. It’s fun to play with, but I am disappointed in the features that cannot be used on the phone. It may soon go back to Sprint.
I received my Touch on November 6th, as Sprint overnighted it to me when I ordered it on the 4th release date. This is a truly awesome phone. I have been a Treo user for years, and this leaves that phone in the dust. My Treo had a penchant for resetting on its own, including the occasional hard reset when I was away from home. So far, the Touch has run with any significant issue.
The processor is plenty quick and the Sprint Evdo network is great. In January, they role out the EvdoPlus here, and I have been told that I can then use a software upgrade to activate the GPS feature. The broad band speed plus GPS will make this the best business power user device out.
Sorry for the typo…make that WITHOUT any significant issue.
Sorry for the typo. Make that without any significant issue.
LOVE this phone! Received it Wed and I haven’t been able to put it down… :) I like Seth had been a Treo user (since the 300), and this phone is by FAR better! Only things I missed was the threaded SMS and the MMS capabilities, but I found hacks that easily fixed those issues for me (google threaded SMS and Sprint MMS hack). The TouchFlo is pretty cool, and I can’t wait for the software update to enable the stand alone GPS (which sprint told me that update will be released early next year). I had a chance to play with the “other phone”, and the only thing I like better on that is that the browser leave’s PIE in the dust… but I downloaded Opera so now the Touch browsing experience comes close to the “other phone”!
I have been a treo user since the 600. I finally (and hesitantly) ditched my 755 for the touch and could literally, not be happier. I own a 3rd party sprint store and I know all of the devices inside and out. This is the device that I have been waiting for. If this device would have been released a year earlier (before the fruit guys spread their multi-billion dollar brainwashing ad campains) there would be a lot more Touch phones out there and a lot more satisified customers (with more money still in their pockets). The few drawbacks to the phone are hardly worth mentioning. For those that compare the full QWERTY keyboard of the “other Phone” to the touch typing systems, there are several 3rd party keyboard options, one of which is IDENTICLE to that “other keyboard” available for the touch. As for GPS, do a little research before you blast off, this option is available on the handset and will be open for use during Sprint’s first quarter. As for the web browsing, the IE works fine for most of my purposes, but the Opera browser is dang close to the safari browser, and the new opera 9 will blow it away. The touch offers several options overlooked on the other phone as well…picture messaging, video camera, stereo bluetooth (how was that overlooked?) And for the record, I am a huge mac fan. I use mac’s in my store because i prefer them to pcs. This device is just a superior device all around.
I agree with most of the pros and overall find the phone very useful…when it is working properly. Unfortunately, the software volume control turns the phone ringer off and vibrate off uncommanded several times each day. I must check it frequently to be sure it will receive calls, because it will turn off the ringer when simply laying on the desk with or without the charger attached. Have tried every remedy including calls to Sprint tech support without luck. Cannot afford to miss calls for my business and will return.
Also note the Sprint version will not work with the Sprint Navigation software. One of the reasons I bought the phone was to use the GPS capability when renting cars. Sprint also disabled the GSM simcard slot, making it useless for most of my international travel.
Did you ever figure out how to fix this problem? I am having the same problem. I am on call most nights and I need my phone to work. I am just looking for a soultion because I love the phone otherwise.
Nice Review… as a touch owner… I love this phone. I can now put my Samsung IP-830W on the Auction Block (I never travel int’l anyway)…. I use it for EVERYTHING!! Comes with nice strong belt pouch that I use to hold the touch while working out using it as My Mp3 player!
Also great for getting decent quality 2.0mp pics – surprisingly no Flash tho! ;-( . Net surfing is speedy… it wasn’t even 2 hrs after i bought it and I was already doing paypal transactions from the Touch!!!! Love it. The best Smart Phone ever invented IMHO (and I’ve owned most of them)
I sound like a Sprint or HTC rep… but I’m really not… I was ready to switch to AT&T after being a Sprint customer for 10 years straight…. simply because AT&T offer a better lineup of smartphones for business users.
Took a last chance visit to the Sprint Store and I was blown away by the Touch… it’s looks WAAAAAAAAAAAAY SEXIER in person!!!!! The online pics don’t do it ANY justice at all!!! For example, the silver two-tone bezzle around the screen is really like a black gun-metal color – which makes it look even better for those of us who are anal about phone cosmetics…
I’m sold… hands down… BEST COST-BENEFIT SMARTPHONE EVER MADE…. step on your i-phone… you won’t want it anymore!!!!
P.s. – Can’t wait for the GPS feature coming in Rev-A update.
On Oct. 29, Steve said…
The GPS is built-in, but won’t be unlocked until (i think) february, it’s in the same software update that will push it to REv-A. You should be able to use Sprint Navigation (telenav) as soon as that software update is out.
Is this GPS feature in any specs. from HTC or any provider.
This big selling feature which would put me over the line to buy the Touch, but this is the first time I’ve heard. I thought the upcoming HTC Cruise was the only GPS/Touch model.
What in the name of the soft keyboard that is the same as I phone keyboard?
i,m an old guy and the eyes are goin. Does anyone know if the text/font can be enlarged? I have the Katana and keep it cause the fonts for texting and messages are huge…. Thx, Jim
Just got the the Touch and made the letters bigger. You can make the fonts, menu and keyboard bigger. Love it!!!
Can Microsoft Voice be paired with thie unit.
John
.
Thanks for the blog & review.
Been thinking of going back to Sprint ever since att’s take over of Cingular.
Looks like another reason to do so.
Best.
I have been considering this phone ever since I saw it on the HTC website. The other touch ‘phone that shall not be named (PTSNBN)’ is sharp, but I have issues with AT&T as a carrier and “The Big Fruit’s” lockdown on third-party applications. Just slapping the word “New” in front of the AT&T name does not undo the horrible service experience that led me to ditch them as a carrier and loose my long standing cell number in the process (pre-number porting days).
Anyway … I was wondering about Sprint’s choice to ‘deactivate’ (lockout) the WiFi. I don’t like the idea that when at home or work I am restricted to Sprints network surfing only. I feel I would have better security accessing local network resources “locally” instead of the traffic passing through their network first. I understand that Sprint likes to control HOW you use phones on their network (especially when you are getting charged).
Any rumors of a hack to unlock the WiFi now or in the future?
There is a law on the books that when your contract is up, a cell phone company has to give you the ability to unlock your phone.
I realize this doesn’t necessarily answer your question, but if you cancel after your contract is up in theory you can unlock the phone and use the WiFi feature without having a Sprint account.
At least I hope so, because I have a WiFi phone and plan on canceling my Sprint account and I hope they don’t disable my WiFi capability. But you never know these days with everything locked down and proprietary.
“Been thinking of going back to Sprint ever since att’s take over of Cingular.”
Cingular took over AT&T and then used their name. Still want to switch ?
I call shenanigans on the web-browsing experience. PIE is barely usable for anything except WAP pages. Load up a full size page like CrunchGear and try to view it in PIE. It takes my Hermes 3 minutes (HSDPA) and gives a script error. It’s not even playing in the same sport as Safari. Now if you’re using Opera Mini 4 that’s something else (OM4 loads CG in 15 seconds), but PIE is complete crap. Unless the touch uses some alternate version of PIE that’s different than every other WM6 device.
The Touch is an excellent device though, I can’t personally do without a keyboard so I’ll be going to the Tilt/Kaiser as soon as my contract is up. If the iPhone had tethering (there’s a hack for this now IIRC), 3G, and GPS though it’d be my next phone. There’s just nothing else wrong with it.
I bought this phone on Black Friday and at first I was very pleased with it but that was until the phone started to go really, really slow on me. Simple tasks of pressing the Start button or running other programs have been lagging tremendously. Also, I’ve been getting numerous errors with the mail client and other random .exe files that I don’t know the name of off the top of my head. I am really disappointed with this phone. Hence, why I’m returning it on Friday back to where it came from.
A supposed huge breakthrough in the Smart phone era; this phone proves to show that nothing is perfect and technology isn’t perfect. HTC definitely needs to go back to the drawing board and tweak this baby a little bit more. I’d add more about this phone but I’m on a time constraint.
I am getting either this phone or the blackberry Pearl for Hanukkah, and this review was really helpful in my decision. I think I’m gonna go with it– no phone is perfect but this seems pretty close… thanks for the info., it was very helpful.
Hey Brooke, what’s Khanukkaah?
I was playing around with this phone in the sprint store and I’m pretty much stuck on it. However now that I’ve read your helpfull review
i’m not even double questiong it!
One quick question: While I was playing with it in sprint I couldnt figure out how to get the regular keyboard out. How would u do that?
Thanks a lot!