HTC Touch Cruise

Expected November 2007
12th November 2007
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Winning the prize for the campest sounding phone of 2007, the HTC Touch Cruise is the third HTC handset in the "Touch" line, and it's the most powerful to date.

Before we get into the nitty gritty of what's inside the Touch Cruise, we really have to say two words - brand stretching. This is a big, lumpy phone that is nothing like the original HTC Touch, which was very stylish and compact. Yes, the Touch Cruise has HTC's TouchFLO interface, but then so does the TyTN II. In essence, this is just an HTC P-series smartphone with a snazzy interface, and HTC have lumbered the Touch brand somewhat by plonking this slablike design in the range.

Let's be blunt, the HTC Touch Cruise is a fairly plain looking phone - but it is very interesting underneath. This is an HSDPA capable Windows Mobile 6 Professional smartphone with WiFi, a 3 megapixel digital camera with autofocus, video calling, a large 2.8" touch-sensitive 240x320 pixel display, microSD expandable memory and Bluetooth. The TouchFLO interface is installed on top of Windows to make it easier to use. Windows Mobile 6 Professional is pretty well known, so we won't run through the software again here.

Another major feature is GPS - the HTC Touch Cruise gets the Cruise part of its name from the built-in GPS receiver and TomTom navigation software. In other words, the Touch Cruise will make a pretty decent SatNav unit.

It's a quad-band GSM phone with tri-band UMTS - so it can be used on GSM and 3G networks worldwide. The Touch Cruise also has GPRS and EDGE data. Talktime is up to 4 hours for 3G, 7 hours for 2G with 16-18 days standby time. Overall, the Touch Cruise measures 110 x 58 x 15.5mm and weighs 130 grams.

So, if you can ignore the silly name the and pointless "Touch" tag, this handset looks to be very capable indeed. Think of it as the TyTN II's little brother rather than a member of the Touch family, and it all makes a lot more sense.

HTC say that the Touch Cruise will be available during November 2007.