The HTC Touch range of devices is growing, the latest handset to be graced with the name is the HTC Touch Cruise, a familiar looking device that features integrated GPS so that you'll never be lost! So how does it rank against the ever-popular HTC Touch and Touch Dual? Read on to find out...

HTC Touch Cruise - box

In the box

• HTC Touch Cruise device
• Battery
• Mains Charger
• USB Data Cable
• Stereo Hands free Kit
• Software CD-ROM
• User Guide

HTC Touch Cruise - headset

HTC Touch Cruise - plug

Specification

• Windows Mobile 6 Professional
• Dimensions: 110mm x 58mm x 15.5mm
• Weight: 130g
• Processor: 400Mhz Qualcomm MSM7200
• RAM: 128Mb
• ROM: 256Mb
• Screen: 2.8" TFT LCD Touchscreen
• Resolution: QVGA, 240 x 320 pixels
• Communications: Tri-Band HSDPA/UMTS 2100Mhz (Europe), 850/1900Mhz (USA). HSDPA up to 384kbps for upload and 3.6Mbps for download. UMTS up to 384kbps for upload and download. Quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
• Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g up to 54mbps
• Bluetooth version 2.0
• Camera: 3.0 Megapixel main camera with Auto-Focus, secondary VGA forward-facing video-call camera
• Power Adapter: UK mains plug, 100~240V AC, output DC 5V 1A
• Battery: 1350mAh Lithium Ion
• Battery Standby: Up to 450hrs UMTS use, up to 400hrs GSM use
• Battery Talk Time: Up to 4hrs UTMS use, up to 7hrs HSM use
• Battery Additional: Up to 2.3hrs video-call use
• Speaker: Built-in
• Microphone: Built-in
• Additional Audio: Ring tone supported formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WAV, and AMR-NB. 40 polyphonic and standard MIDI format 0 and 1(SMF)/SP MIDI
• Network: SIM free and unlocked
• USB Interface: HTC ExtUSB (11pin MiniUSB and audio jack in one), full USB 2.0 speed
• SIM Interface: Standard SIM
• User Interface: HTC TouchFlo™ Touchcreen User Interface
• Applications: TomTom Navigator 6 (Single-City "Taster" Version)
• Chipset: chipset plus inbuilt GPS satellite location receiver, FM Radio
• Expansion Slots: MicroSD card slot (SD 2.0 compatible)
• Pointing Device: 4 way navigation wheel with Enter button
• Warranty: 2 Year

HTC Touch Cruise

The device

Front:

HTC Touch Cruise - front

The front of the HTC Touch Cruise is mirrored on the whole with its flush screen and chrome button panel at the bottom. There is the usual green dial and red hang up buttons at the top of the button panel and below a communications button that funnily enough launches the messaging application by default. Next to this is an Internet Explorer button which is quite self explanatory really. At the top of the device is the earpiece and at the top right is a forward facing camera for video calls. For navigation there is a rotating jog wheel which features an action button in its centre.

Right:

HTC Touch Cruise - right

On the right is a microSD slot (with cover) and a camera button both of which are contained within a chrome layer, there is also a stylus silo below this in black.

Top:

HTC Touch Cruise - top

The top of the HTC Touch Cruise simply features the device's power button and nothing else.

Left:

HTC Touch Cruise - left

The left hand side of the device features a volume slider, again inside of a chrome bar.

Bottom:

HTC Touch Cruise - bottom

The bottom of the Touch Cruise features the microphone, miniUSB (squared like other modern HTC devices) and a lanyard loop.

Back:

HTC Touch Cruise - back

Finally, the back of the Touch Cruise features an aerial gromit (for linking the phone up to an external aerial), GPS gromit (again for linking the phone up to an external aerial, this time for GPS), speaker vent, 3.0 megapixel camera lens (with chrome accent) and battery cover with chrome button for removing.

Integrated GPS in Pocket PCs is starting to become a standard feature and why not? They suit it well with their large touch-screens mimicking standalone GPS units whilst offering more portability and the added extra of always being in your pocket as a result of being your main phone. GPS purists may argue that the sensitivity of many receivers integrated into convergence devices such as Pocket PCs is compromised but in reality the vast majority of users will be more than happy with the quality of signal that they receive from the HTC Touch Cruise. Pair it with any one of the popular software solutions on the market such as TomTom or CoPilot Live and you'll find yourselves in possession of a very powerful GPS navigation solution. To set the record straight too, anyone who doubts the capabilities of such a solution should know that it got me from Hampshire to the south of Paris and back not so long ago, had it not been available to me I would probably be writing this en Francais...

One characteristic that makes the Touch Cruise familiar is the rotary navigational dial which also doubles as a standard navigational pad. It works well making navigation easy and is a welcome change to the standard method. It provides some distant familiarity as it is similar to that featured on its older brother, the HTC P3300 (Artemis).

The 400Mhz processor is a welcome step up from the slower alternatives available in some devices, the original HTC Touch included. The TouchFLO interface is far more responsive for example which is great, its not something you realise you need until you experience it to be honest which surprised me. The additional integrated memory is also a welcome feature and is something that every user of the HTC Touch will have noticed there is a lack of so its great to see it rectified in the Touch Cruise.

With regards conectivity, the HTC Touch Cruise is a real winner featuring (deep breath...) Tri-Band HSDPA/UMTS 2100Mhz (Europe), 850/1900Mhz (USA), HSDPA up to 384kbps for upload and 3.6Mbps for download, UMTS up to 384kbps for upload and download and Quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz/HSDPA. In other words it has the lot! Include WiFi and GPS into the equation and you'll be wondering what its missing? In reality the answer is nothing and its not often we can say that about a device!

The camera is a 3.0 megapixel auto-focus offering, this is my first encounter with an auto-focus offering from HTC. Its a welcome addition but still comes up short of the market leaders in mobile photography currently, Sony Ericsson. As I said though, its a positive step for HTC and definitely an improvement over the standard 2.0 megapixel offering that seemed to be being added to all of HTC's devices in the near memorable past.

Software 

HTC Touch Cruise - Windows Mobile 6

The HTC Touch Cruise comes with Windows Mobile 6 pre-installed, we all know the OS well and despite its quirks, it works well. If Microsoft could just work on those little annoyances and improve the user interface to add some wow value then this would be a real winner. Being an HTC Touch device the Touch Cruise features TouchFLO (see our video here), its great to use and provides an impressive and easy to use way to perform 90% of the actions that you'll want. It features a slight revision of the software over the original version to include a Rolodex type addition to the contacts list allowing the user to slide their finger down the right hand side of the screen to select a letter, upon release the list will be showing you names beginning with the letter you chose. This works well and is a great development, the second notable improvement is the task manager which is activated from the homescreen by tapping the top right of the screen. It now shows more information and more importantly, is larger so its easier to use with your finger which, lets be honest, is the whole point of the TouchFLO interface.

HTC Touch Cruise - next to the HTC Touch

HTC Touch Cruise - below the HTC Touch

Conclusion

The HTC Touch Cruise is packed with features, HSDPA, GPS, WiFi, improved CPU and memory over its predecessor and HTC's TouchFLO interface. From this perspective its a real winner, its easy to use and you'll want to use it as it'll do everything you want it to (and more!). The only real drawback in my opinion is that its not as appealing aesthetically as the other HTC Touch devices, its clearly an evolution of the HTC P3300 (Artemis) design which is simply not as nice to hold as the original Touch, its also larger although I guess this is a trade off with the clearly improved specification.

So who is the HTC Touch Cruise ideal for in my opinion? Put simply, its a super-user device, its feature list alone is justification of this. Anyone who uses their device for connecting to mobile and WiFi networks regularly and would also benefit from GPS navigation and mobile email connectivity (Exchange supported) should seriously consider the HTC Touch Cruise.

Availability

As the first UK stockist of the device, the HTC Touch Cruise is available from devicewire.co.uk.