HTC Touch Pro2 review

Go with the FLO

The Touch Pro2 employs the same latest version of HTC's Windows Mobile cloaking software, TouchFLO 3D, which we so enjoyed using on the Touch Diamond2. This includes HTC's zoom bar, a touch-sensitive area below the screen that allows you to quickly zoom in and out of web pages and other views by dragging a finger left or right.

More importantly, TouchFLO 3D now casts such a heavy veil over the iniquities of Microsoft's mobile operating system that you hardly realise it's there. We particularly like the new Start menu, which replaces the old list of applications with a scrolling, customisable icon grid, although the loss of the compact Qwerty onscreen keyboard layout is a sad one.

It's worth poking around a bit, though, as hidden in the depths of the Programs listing is Internet Explorer Mobile 6 - Microsoft's first stab at a proper full-page mobile web browser. We suspect most users will stick to Opera Mobile (TouchFLO 3D's principal browser) for convenience, but this long-overdue improvement is a welcome sight.

The Touch Pro2 also comes stacked with all the smartphone features you'd expect a flagship HTC product. There's high-speed 7.2Mbits/sec HSDPA data, 802.11bg Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2. You get GPS for navigation, a microSD slot, a 3.2-megapixel camera (with no flash or light) and a front-facing VGA one for video calls. There's also an accelerometer (dubbed the G-sensor by HTC) that enables the phone to sense the orientation of the screen and switch between landscape and portrait modes automatically.

Not content with all that, HTC has also added a proximity sensor, which allows you to flip the phone over when a call comes in to silence the ring or automatically activate the speakerphone mode when a call is in progress - and a light sensor that adjusts the screen brightness according to how bright or dark the room is that you're in.

It's no surprise to find that there's no 3.5mm headphone jack - as usual with HTC phones you have to purchase an adapter to plug your own in - but in recompense there's a TV out facility via the phone's ExtUSB socket.

Despite all this, and no matter how good this phone's keyboard and screen is, or how good the speakerphone, how sumptuous the design and the engineering, there's simply no getting around its sheer bulk. Indeed, with all of this power at its disposal it could justifiably claim to be the ultimate corporate smartphone, but it's just too big for us to recommend it.

Author: Jonathan Bray