HTC Touch 3G

Available now
16th September 2008
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One of the most attractive Windows smartphones on the market, the HTC Touch 3G is a compact 3.5G smartphone that also features WiFi and GPS.

Before we look at the Touch 3G, it's perhaps worth noting the demise of the similarly specified and wonderfully named HTC Touch Cruise, because the Touch 3G does pretty much everything the Touch Cruise does.. but with a rather more boring name.

Weighing just 96 grams, the HTC Touch 3G has a 2.8" QVGA touchscreen display, 900 / 2100 MHz UMTS with HSDPA (giving a maximum download speed of 7.2 Mbps), 802.11 b and g WiFi, GPS (and A-GPS) support, stereo Bluetooth, microSD expandable memory and a 3.2 megapixel fixed focus camera. What is impressive is that the HTC Touch 3G can do all this, and still be 34 grams lighter than the almost identical Touch Cruise.

The operating system on the HTC Touch 3G is Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional with HTC's TouchFLO interface on top. Underneath is a Qualcomm MSM7225 processor running at 528 MHz, combined with 192MB of RAM which should help to alleviate the sluggishness of some previous HTC Touch devices. Talktime on 3G is quoted as an impressive 6 hours with up to 18 days standby time.

The HTC Touch 3G scores highly when it comes to looks. Its predecessor, the Touch Cruise, was a bit chunky and bulky.. but the touch 3G reflects the attractive, slightly curved design that made the original HTC Touch such a success. Four colour combinations of Noble Gold, Sparkle Blue, Modern Brown and Sophisticated Black add to the Touch 3G's "wow factor".

HTC say that the Touch 3G should be available during early October 2008, but did not give any guidance on price. Our best guess is that the HTC Touch 3G will have a SIM-free street price of around £400 / €560 / $760 at launch.