I picked up a Sprint Touch Pro today, so I thought I’d write about my experience with it thus far, and what the future might hold for it…
The Sprint Touch Pro is, dare I say, the best phone you can buy for the CDMA market. I’d go even further to say that the Sprint Touch Pro is the best phone you can buy in the United States. Yes, AT&T has the Fuze, which is essentially the same thing, with nicer looks, you’ll be locked to AT&T’s poor excuse for a data network. Granted, its not nearly as bad as T-Mobile’s nonexistent network, you’ll probably get only sub-par speeds on AT&T, as their HSDPA deployment is rather weak. Sprint, on the other hand, has EvDO well deployed in pretty much all metropolitan areas. On top of that, Sprint’s data plan is very affordable, while AT&T’s data plan costs a ridiculous $60/month. But enough about the carrier, and more about why this phone is pure bliss…
Reason 1: The Keyboard
I’m not going to post pictures of the keyboard you probably already have seen (if not, search for it, now!), but the five row full QWERTY keyboard is unprecedented in CDMA land. The keys are very comfortable to type on, and you don’t have to use function combinations to type numbers. The keys are also nicely sized and give a nice amount of tactile feedback when pressed. While I thought the Titan’s keyboard was one of the best, this completely blows the Titan (Sprint Mogul)’s keyboard out of the water. If anything distinguishes the Touch Pro from its predecessors, BlackBerry and iPhone devices, it is this keyboard. Once again, HTC’s engineering at its best….
Reason 2: The VGA Screen
While the VGA screen is smaller than that of other phones, the VGA resolution gives crisp clear images that really make up for the small size. If you’ve never used a VGA phone before, and are using a QVGA device like the Sprint Touch/Mogul, its a real world of difference. A VGA screen lets you be much more productive, and Internet browsing is much more relaxing instead of a task. The text is CRISP and CLEAR unlike on a QVGA screen. I’ll even let you in on a secret….. I’m typing this entire blog entry on the Touch Pro over remote desktop (RDP) to my Vista Machine using Windows Live Writer. This would have been have been painful on the Titan, but, on the Touch Pro, its excellent. I can even use FireFox over RDP to surf the web, and applications such as HydraIRC and Visual Studio are actually useable! (Note that I’m young, and I actually like small text, your result may vary due to your eyesight).
Reason 3: The Extras
For years, CDMA users have always complained that we are left behind and our carriers never release phones as good as GSM ones. With the Touch PRO, this has changed… as it is practically loaded with every feature that HTC could pack in this package. Extras such as the Stylus Switch, Multi-Touch Navigation Pad (yes, it can detect multiple taps!) , Flash LED, and TV-out, GPS, wifi, 3D acceleration, 288MB RAM, 524MHz MSM7501A , 3.2MP Camera and light sensor to name a few. A lot of stuff to pack in such a little package, if you ask me. Its almost as if HTC and Sprint were listening to our complaints, making a list and.. secretly making the answer behind our backs! I’m not even sure what I would add to the phone, if asked…
Reason 4: The Software (?!)
Although this seems like something ROM developers are constantly criticizing and tweaking, I’d have to say that HTC is finally getting on the ball with software development. Unlike the Mogul/Touch, where HTC just slapped on a few third party apps (+HTC home/Touchflo for Touch), HTC seems to be loading the Touch Pro/Diamond with a nice amount of software. While pre-loaded software might not be important for the enthusiast, I think it contributes a big deal to the adoptability of a phone. HTC really tries to make up for WM’s shortcomings, and I think they do it fairly well. I think most users will find the software on the phone very competitive with other phones on the market. TouchFLO3D , the YouTUBE app, Opera, EnlargeStartMenu, MS Voice Command, etc. are all products that the non-enthusiast who runs a stock ROM will appreciate. A few new apps are included as well : ClearVue Presentation - a powerpoint viewer, JETCET Print 5, which allows you to connect to printers, a link to Sprint Titan – a next generation JAVA VM, and WorldCard mobile, a Business card scanner/recognizer really complete the package. I’d have to say I’m impressed with Sprint/HTC finally trying to get the Stock ROM to a nicely useable state.
Reason 5 – The Community
One of the advantages of WM based phones is that they allow customization that might only be rivaled by Android. The Touch PRO is no different, and I think the power of this device lends it to being a powerful platform for development for a long time to come. The community especially lets us overlook software flaws, because intuition tells us that the community can fix it, as long as we have a solid piece of hardware, which the HTC Touch Pro clearly is. I’m pretty confident about HTC’s engineering – their devices have been extremely well built and they have years of experience in the business – I’ve pretty much dropped my Titan countless times, and it essentially functions as new. Other phones I’ve had would have totally broken on me.
Cons
Well, I suppose the device isn’t 100% perfect. I suppose the two most glaring cons of the device is the small 1340mAh battery, and the fact that HTC didn’t supply the TV out cable. To HTC’s credit, the Mogul battery is almost twice as long but only 1500 mAh, so its not like its a major downgrade. I guess with the small size of the device and all the stuff they packed in, there's only so much space left for the battery. It would have been nice for HTC to supply a TV Out cable as well, but I suppose you could order one for about $20 at various sites online.
So, there we have it. In my opinion a revolutionary device that finally puts a CDMA device at GSM’s equal. Lets not mention that its a total steal if you can pick it from Best Buy for $239 (w/2 yr upgrade) or about $360 (w/1 yr upgrade).
As for community development, that should begin soon, beginning with a HardSPL of some sort. Rest assured though, I haven’t forgotten about the Titan, and I still have mine lying around. Enough typing for now though… this entire review… written on the Touch Pro over RDP!