Today (yes, I do mean the day that has just started) HTC announced three new members of the Touch family. I don't think anyone saw that coming!
Click here to read the press release about the HTC Touch 3G and the HTC Touch Viva.
Click here to read the press release about the HTC Touch HD.

Now, it is the middle of the night (I do have work tomorrow), but I have done some preliminary investigations of the specification of the devices. Here are my conclusions so far:

HTC Touch Viva
Basically, the HTC Touch, but with more ROM, more RAM, TouchFLO 3D and Windows Mobile 6.1. Quad-band.

HTC Touch 3G
A HTC Touch Diamond in the style of the original HTC Touch. Bigger battery (1100mAh - the same as the original Touch). Quad-band. The screen is only QVGA (240x320rather than VGA (480x640). The 4GB of internal memory has been dropped in favour of a microSD expansion slot. The buttons below the screen are in the style of the old Touch, so there are no home or back buttons, nor is there an area with capacitive touch sensitivity. Very light (96g). HSDPA, but no secondary camera.

HTC Touch HD
(Covered this in the previous post, so I'll be brief). A HTC Touch Diamond in the style of the iPhone. Lots of ROM and RAM. 3.8 inch screen (yet the device is virtually the same size as the iPhone 3G - how did HTC do that, Apple fanboys?), WVGA (480x800) resolution. 5MP camera. 3.5mm audio jack (finally). Large battery (1350mAh). microSD expansion slot.

TouchFLO 3D?
In the specifications, the Touch HD claims to have TouchFLO 3D, whereas the other two devices only claim to have TouchFLO. However, looking at what the devices are depicted displaying, it looks like the Touch 3G and Touch Viva have QVGA versions of TouchFLO 3D - and these versions look as if they might have been cut-down a bit to conserve resources (the contents of several tabs are different, and more 2D, which may have inspired the use of the old name). It's worth noting that the Touch 3G and Touch Viva seem to have analogue clocks on the home tab and a differnt background image throughout TouchFLO - the clock is most probably another thing that has changed because of the removal of 3D stuff, but the background image on the QVGA version of TouchFLO may be changable (after all, a lot of the changes in those devices are exactly what people wanted). TouchFLO also seems to be acquiring new tabs, randomly - the 2D version seems to have a "Map Search" tab, whereas the 3D version has a tab that looks like it might have something to to with tracking stocks.

General conclusion
At first glance, HTC looks like it's aiming for a key market with each device:
HTC Touch Viva - For the budget market. HTC has been selling expensive devices lately, and I think they hope to gain more normal customers with this device.
HTC Touch 3D - For people who had members of the first generation of the Touch Family (the Touch, Touch Dual and Touch Cruise) who didn't like the Diamond's small battery, lack of memory expansion, vulnerability to fingerprints and price. (I really did like my Touch, but I prefer the Touch Diamond - however, many people didn't, for good personal reasons).
HTC Touch HD - A direct iPhone competitor, and actually a better device on paper - just to put Apple in its place. One of the main reasons HTC decided to make this device, in my opinion, is to raise its profile through direct comparison of their device (a member of the 8-strong HTC Touch Family) with the much smaller and less diverse Apple iPhone family.

Anyway, we'll hardly have time to absorb this news, before two of the three begin hitting markets in "early October 2008". The HTC Touch HD is due in "Q4 2008" - also in time for Christmas!
Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:04 WEST | Category: Technology
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