HTC Touch Pro: Like the Diamond, but with a QWERTY keypad

Think of it as the Diamond—HTC's recently announced touchscreen phone—plus a slide-out QWERTY keypad, all the better for navigating tricky Windows Mobile menus and tapping out e-mails.

Unveiled earlier today in Taiwan, the just-announced Touch Pro and the Diamond are practically identical when it comes to their respective specs. Both phones can access speedy HSDPA data networks, both do Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and they each pack in Opera HTML Web browsers (turning the phone sideways switches pages to landscape view), not to mention GPS and 3.2MP digital cameras (although the Touch Pro adds a front-facing VGA camera for video conferencing). The Touch Pro only has 512MB of internal memory, compared to 4GB for the Diamond, but both handsets come with slots for microSD memory expansion.

The two phones also share the same screen: a 2.8-inch, VGA touch-enabled display that comes with HTC's snazzy TouchFlo UI, an animated 3D interface that lets you access your contacts, events, music, pictures, phone widgets, and calling features with a few swipes of your fingertip.

All well and good—but as with the Diamond, the Touch Pro runs the professional edition of Windows Mobile 6.1, a powerful and highly configurable mobile OS that can be a bear to use when you're out and about, especially if you're relying on a touch interface.

That's why I'm bullish about the Touch Pro's slide-out, five-row QWERTY keypad, which will come in handy when you're tapping out messages or editing mobile Office documents.

Of course, a slide-out QWERTY keypad makes for a bulky phone—in the Touch Pro's case, it means a 4 by 2 by 0.7-inch shell, which tips the scales at a hefty 5.8 ounces.

Still, I'm anxious to get some hands-on time with the Touch Pro—indeed, it looks like a worthy competitor to Sony Ericsson's upcoming Xperia X1, another Windows Mobile 6.1 handset with a slide-out keypad (not to mention its innovative, panel-based touch interface).

So far, no word on pricing for the Touch Pro—although I'm sure it'll go for upwards of $200, even if it's subsidized by a carrier.

HTC promises that the North American version of the Touch Pro will arrive before the year is out, while Europe, Asia, and the Middle east will get the phone by late summer.

Related:
Press release