THE MOBILE HORNET … for those who get turned on by mobile devices

2 OF MY WISH LIST ITEMS FOR A MOBILE DEVICE ARE :

1. TV-OUT 
2. PROJECTOR

The HTC Touch Pro has followed the HTC Advantage and O2 Flame’s standard by including the TV-OUT feature.  To me the TV-OUT feature is very useful for showing out your photos or doing business presentations. 

Many were surprised that HTC drop the Tilt feature of the TyTN II and only have the slide out keyboard in the Touch Pro.  I have used the TyTN II and found that despite it having a tilt feature to allow it to sit on the desk, you still have the tendency to take it up and see the screen.  Unlike the HTC Advantage which has a 5″ screen, the TyTN II’s screen is too small to be sitting down.

 The TV-OUT feature will be more useful than the Tilt feature and it earns my top marks.  My only regret is that HTC did not bundle the TV-OUT cable in the package.

IT’S OFFICIAL !
THE HTC RAPHAEL WILL NOW BE KNOWN AS
HTC TOUCH PRO

HTC Touch Pro Bridges Mobile Work With Mobile Play

Advanced 3D Touch User Interface, Desktop-like browsing, 5-row sliding QWERTY Keyboard and Window Mobile 6.1 create hybrid business phone.

HTC Corp., today unveiled its advanced next generation business phone, the HTC Touch Pro. Bringing a beautiful new angle to mobile business productivity, the HTC Touch Pro utilizes similar styling and functionality of the highly anticipated Touch Diamond and introduces a variety of business-focused enhancements that make getting work done on the go quick and easy.

“The HTC Touch Pro and Touch Diamond have created a new generation of HTC touch devices that make the promise of the one-hand, one-touch mobile Internet a reality,” said Peter Chou, president and CEO, HTC Corp. “HTC Touch Pro is for those customers that demand the ease of use and enjoyment of TouchFLO 3D and want the styling of the Touch Diamond but also need the powerful mobile business experience that HTC delivers.”

A New Dimension To Touch - One hand, one touch
HTC has taken a great leap forward in touch screen innovation with its 3D touch interface called TouchFLO 3D. TouchFLO 3D provides a stunningly intuitive way to zip through common tasks like messaging, calendar appointments or making calls with just one touch. Delve a little deeper to find that your music, photos, contacts and surfing the web are also responsive to the touch. In addition, the Touch Pro includes a new innovative touch-sensitive control for device interaction.

Making The Mobile Internet Useful and Fun
With the introduction of Touch Diamond and Touch Pro, HTC delivers an entirely new mobile Internet experience that utilizes broadband-like speeds with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA wireless connectivity. Committed to improving Web browsing, HTC provides a new customized mobile Web browser that enables easy viewing and effortless navigation of Websites in the way they are designed to be viewed on a PC. As part of this browsing experience users can zoom and pan Websites with one-hand and automatically view optimized content that has been specially created to fit the display. Turning the device sideways automatically rotates the web page view from a portrait to landscape view.

In addition to Web browsing, the Touch Pro includes an HTC-developed, YouTube application for watching a variety of user generated video content as well as including Google Maps for mobile for mapping and traffic data.

Unmatched Style With Complete Productivity
Like the Touch Diamond, Touch Pro is crafted with precision to fit comfortably in a user’s hand and brings together elegant touch screen response with the direct precision of HTC’s trademark sliding keyboard design. Introducing a new five-row QWERTY keyboard layout that makes typing-intensive tasks like composing email or working on Microsoft Office® documents quick and easy. Built-in TV-out functionality means users can deliver the perfect PowerPoint® presentation from the Touch Pro.

Bursting with Innovation
The Touch Pro delivers an unrivalled combination of features and functionality. The 2.8 inch display provides near-print quality viewing that enables beautiful Web browsing and viewing of photographs. The built-in camera includes an optical auto-focus lens that ensures the photos you take will be clear and consistent. Advanced wireless and auto sensor screen pivoting are just a few of the features that make the Touch Pro experience a stand out.

Availability
The HTC Touch Pro will be available to customers across all major European, Asian and the Middle East markets in late summer. The North American and Latin American versions of Touch Pro will be available later in 2008.

Key HTC Touch Pro Specifications

• Size: 102 x 51 x 18.05mm
• Weight: 165 g
• Connectivity: WCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA
• Operating system: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Display: 2.8-inch VGA touch screen
• Camera: 3.2MP, with video calling
• Internal memory: 512 MB flash, 288 MB RAM
• Expansion Slot: microSD memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
• Keyboard: Slide-out 5 row QWERTY keyboard
• Bluetooth: 2.0 with EDR
• Wireless: WiFi 802.11b/g
• GPS: GPS/AGPS
• Interface: HTC ExtUSB (mini-USB and audio jack and TV OUT* in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed).  *HTC TV OUT cable needed.
• Battery: 1350 mAh
• Talk time: GSM: up to 8 hours
• Standby time: GSM: up to two-weeks
• Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM 7201A 528MHz

More photos of the T-Mobile MDA Compact IV and Vario IV which are variants of the HTC Touch Diamond and Raphael respectively:

The HTC Raphael will be my choice over the Touch Diamond.

The HTC Raphael is smaller in size than the TyTN II:

• TyTN II - 112 x 59 x 19 mm
• Raphael - 103 x 52 x 18.1 mm
• Touch Diamond - 102 x 51 x 11.35 mm

The T-Mobile Vario IV is the ACTUAL variant of the HTC Raphael.  So if you want to know more of the specs of the HTC Raphael, take a look at the OFFICIAL Vario IV specs below:

The Hardware:
Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
Qualcomm MSM 7200 CPU at 528 MHz
Supports triband GSM/GPRS/EDGE (900/1800/1900 MHz), dualband UMTS/HSDPA (850/2100 MHz) up to 7.2 Mbps
Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
WiFi b/g and GPS (an FM radio isn’t mentioned)
256 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM which is expandable through microSD memory cards
5-rows slide-out QWERTY keyboard (with a dedicated number row)
Frameless 2.8″ touchscreen supports VGA (640 x 480 pixel)
CMOS autofocus camera supports a resolution up to 3.2 megapixel
GPS receiver
FM radio
Size - 103 x 52 x 18.1 mm
Weight - around 158 g (including the 1340 mAh battery)

Programs included:
Office Mobile (Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, OneNote Mobile)
Adobe PDF-Reader
Outlook Mobile
Media Player 10 Mobile
Opera Mobile 9.5
Internet Explorer Mobile
Google Maps
YouTube Mobile
HTC’s TouchFLO 3D

Final sales pack (In the box):
MDA Vario IV
battery
charger
mini USB to USB sync cable
replacement stylus
wired Stereo-headset
pouch
CD-ROM including the quick start guide
manual
additional software.

UPDATE:
The Vario MDA IV is not featuring UMTS/HSDPA at 850 MHz but 900 MHz. No tilt for the slide-out keyboard.

Following the launch of the Touch Diamond, HTC is now planning for the launch of the RAPHAEL.

The HTC RAPHAEL has the following specs:

• FM Radio
• HSDPA for fast data access
• VGA touchscree (looks like VGA is going to be HTC Standard
• 256 RAM
• Bluetooth
• WIFI
• GPS
• 3 megapixel camera

Actually I was expecting the Raphael to be launched on the same day as the Touch Diamond.  But after seeing the photo above, you should know why.  It will outshine the HTC Touch Diamond.   It is the Touch Diamond with a sliding keyboard.

The HTC Raphael is an excellent replacement to the TyTN II.