The one thing that hampers the Touch 2 is its size. Yes, it's a compact touchscreen phone, but even dirt-cheap touchscreen phones like the LG Cookie or Samsung Tocco Lite manage to fit in larger screens. Call us shallow, if you will, but sometimes size does count. Windows Mobile 6.5 we can't get enough of, but on a 2.8 inch screen with only modest resolution? We're not so sure.
The Touch 2 packs in a fair number of advanced features to justify itself. It includes a GPS receiver, WiFi, HSPA offering blisteringly fast download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The battery life is surprisingly good for such a compact phone. It gives you easy access to Facebook and other cool apps. But the camera is fixed focus and comes nowhere near the quality of Nokia's 5530 touchscreen phone, which costs much less than the Touch 2, and has a larger screen to boot. It seems as though everything has been compromised to fit it into the small body.
If you want a compact, relatively inexpensive phone running Windows Mobile 6.5 (and who wouldn't?), the HTC Touch 2 is your phone. It's your only choice in fact. But we'd suggest that the reason why no-one else has made such a phone is because the compromises that must be made are just too great. The fact is that the phone needs a bigger screen. If HTC had realised that, the Touch 2 could have been a winner. As it is, it's an interesting concept that widens the choice of handsets available, but for us, it just doesn't cut it.
Features of the HTC Touch 2 include:
3.2 megapixel camera
Video recording
Display: TFT, 65k colours, 320 x 240 pixels (2.8 inches)
GPS receiver
Music player (MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA formats)
Messaging: SMS, EMS, MMS, Email
Ringtones: 40 voice polyphonic ringtones / MP3 ringtones
Wallpaper
Java
Internet: GPRS, EDGE, HSPA (7.2 Mbps download)
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1 with Enhanced Data Rate, mini-USB 2.0, Wi-Fi, 3.5mm audio jack
Memory: 256 MB RAM plus microSD memory card
Vibration alert
Quadband GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) plus HSPA/WCDMA (900/2100 MHz)
Size: 104 x 54 x 13 mm
Weight: 110g
Talktime: 370 - 440 minutes
Battery standby: 370 - 500 hours
