While still using the U1000, I have always wanted a big screen device.  I would not have decided to part with my U1000 if it can function as a phone without having my conversation broadcasted for everyone to hear.  I guess HTC has at last answered my wishlist: Big display, easy to use interface, powerful processor, and lots of program memory … by bringing in the HTC TOUCH HD.

You will love the Touch HD when you see it, touch it and use it.  That’s how I feel about the Touch HD.

WHEN YOU SEE IT ….
The HTC TOUCH HD is really smooth and has rounded corners. The whole front of the Touch HD is covered with glass.  Though it looks very shiny and classy it is also a fingerprint magnet. When you turn to the back you will notice the 5MP camera but without a flash.  I wonder why HTC omit the flash.

The display is a BIG 3.8″ screen with a WVGA 800 x 480 resolution.  You won’t want to go back to QVGA after that.  The display is rather sensitive to the touch.  A soft touch and it executes your response.  There are less buttons to play with. One Power button, one volume button, plus 4 touch-sensitive buttons for Answer, End, Home and Back.  It took me a little while to get used to it unlike the Touch Pro and Xperia X1.  The D-pad which to me is a useful button has been omitted.

The 3.5mm headphone jack which is on everyone’s wishlist will allow you to use your favourite headphones for better sound quality.

WHEN YOU TOUCH IT ….
The HTC TOUCH HD feels so smooth and slippery you fear that it can slip out of your hand.  I would have prefered HTC to allow for a lanyard slot.   It is very slim, in fact it is so much slimmer than the Touch Pro and Xperia X1.  And it fit in so well in your shirt or pants pocket that you cannot notice it.

The stylus is on the lower right corner and has the same magnetic slot to keep the stylus in place.  Like the Touch Pro, pulling out the stylus will power up the Touch HD.  

There is no reset hole for you to easily reset your phone….sorry I mean no reset hole on the outside…the red reset hole is beneath the battery cover, between the slots for the SIM card and Memory card.  HTC must have improved the HD so much that you may not need to reset it all the time. And the reason for keeping the micro-SD card slot inside may be because the memory capacity is so very high nowadays,  you will not need to change cards all the time.

WHEN YOU USE IT ….
The HTC TOUCH HD comes with Windows Mobile 6.1 plus the popular TouchFlo 3D interface.  It has the usual tabs plus an additional new tab for stock prices.   The newly added Stock tab keeps you informed of the latest stock quotes, while the connected Home screen puts e-mail, messages and calendar only a finger-stroke away.

The bigger screen provide easier typing than the Touch Pro.  I am going to install the SPB keyboard which I feel will work very well with the Touch HD.  HTC should buy over this software and make it a standard keyboard for all their devices.

CHECK OUT THE SPECS HERE:

• Processor 
  • Qualcomm® MSM 7201A™ 528 MHz
• Operating system 
  • Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Memory 
  • ROM: 512 MB
  • RAM: 288 MB
• Dimensions 
  • 115 mm (L) x 62.8 mm (W) x 12 mm (T)
  • Weight 147g (with battery)
• Display 
  • 3.8-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with 480 x 800 WVGA resolution
• Network 
  • HSDPA/WCDMA:
    • Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz
    • Up to 2 Mbps upload and 7.2 Mbps download speeds
  • Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE:
    • 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
      (Band frequency, HSUPA availability, and data speed are operator dependent.)
• Device Control 
  • HTC TouchFLO™ 3D
  • Touch-sensitive front panel buttons
• GPS 
  • Internal GPS Antenna
• Connectivity 
  • Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets
  • Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g
  • HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0)
• Camera 
  • Main camera: 5 megapixel color camera with auto focus and touch focus
  • Second camera: VGA CMOS color camera
• Audio 
  • Built-in 3.5 mm audio jack, microphone, speaker, and FM radio
• Ring tone formats: 
  • AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, QCP, MP3, WMA, WAV
  • 40 polyphonic and standard MIDI format 0 and 1 (SMF)/SP MIDI
• Battery 
  • Rechargeable Lithium-ion polymer battery
  • Capacity: 1350 mATalk time:
    • Up to 420 minutes for WCDMA
    • Up to 480 minutes for GSM
  • Standby time:
    • Up to 680 hours for WCDMA
    • Up to 440 hours for GSM
  • Video call time: Up to 140 minutes
    (The above are subject to network and phone usage.)
• Expansion Slot 
  • microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
• AC Adapter Voltage range/frequency:
  • 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz
• DC output:
  • 5V and 1A
• Value Added Applications
  • TouchFLO™ 3D, Microsoft® Office Outlook® Mobile, Internet Explorer® Mobile, Opera Mobile™, Microsoft® Office Mobile (Microsoft® Office Word Mobile, Microsoft® Office Excel® Mobile, Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® Mobile, Microsoft® OneNote Mobile), Windows Media® Player 10 Mobile, Windows Live™, Adobe Reader LE, ZIP, Comm Manager, Task Manager, Audio Manager, Audio Booster, MP3 Trimmer, FM Radio, YouTube™, Connection Setup, Cyberon Voice Commander, 3G Video Telephony, Internet Sharing, Album, RSS Hub, Quick GPS, WorldCard Mobile(CD), Sprite Backup(CD), GPRS Monitor(CD), Chinese support through CE-Star (CD), Talking Dictionary (CD), G-Sensor

More to come….Watch out for Part 2