Hands On: Touch Pro 2

By Phil Nickinson
last updated

 

Every time I see the Touch Pro 2, it seems to get better and better. I finally got my hands on it for real yesterday and, well, it's a solid, incredible piece of hardware. Every time HTC iterates their slider design I always think to myself "Well, they've pretty much perfected this form factor" and every time a new one comes out I realize they're better at design than I am.  Ahem.

The Touch Pro 2 feels great in the hand and though it's a tad hefty, it's a good kind of heft. The tilting slider hinge is back and feels solid. You may not actually want to tilt it all the way up during normal use as it does block the number row (yes, a full number row) of the keyboard.

More thoughts and -- of course -- more photos after the break!

Speaking of that keyboard, it's incredibly good and HTC says that this demo unit's keyboard is actually not all that great shakes compared to what the production units will have.  All I know is there's good key travel and wide key separation, the keys are large and easy to see -- I'd almost be tempted to say it took its inspiration from recent MacBook keyboards, but that'd be heresy.

TouchFlo 3D was very very snappy and has all of the improvement from the Touch HD -- including Stocks and the ability to reorder or hide tabs.  The other nice new thing: it's fully there in landscape mode.  Actually the clever bit is that in landscape mode the tabs auto-hide, you tap on the left to bring them up and slide over to the one that you want to use.  Very intelligent use of space.

Lastly -- I'm told the speakphone is just flat-out stupendous.  It's loud, clear, and the noise cancellation is good enough that HTC employees actually use it by just slapping it down on the passenger seat as they drive.  This thing means business.

I know it's only February and there's plenty of 2009 left, but everybody (including HTC) is going to have their work cut out for them trying to top the Touch Pro 2.

Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson

Phil is the father of two beautiful girls and is the Dad behind Modern Dad. Before that he spent seven years at the helm of Android Central. Before that he spent a decade in a newsroom of a two-time Pulitzer Prize-finalist newspaper. Before that — well, we don't talk much about those days. Subscribe to the Modern Dad newsletter!

45 Comments
  • Dimensions? Looks a little slimmer.
  • I love it. It finally seems like a worthy upgrade to my Tilt :-). I noticed no hardware start and end call. Don't know how I feel about that yet. Also, how is it with finger prints? Thanks.
  • You noticed wrong, because it does have hardware send/end buttons.
  • Still no 3.5mm, it has a 3.2 mp camera while the diamond has a 5 mp, what is that about? i currently have a sprint touch pro, and i think the touch pro 2 looks good but not good enough to stop making think about WebOS and the Pre. i dont think its right that i bought my phone less than 6 months ago and i will not get an upgrade to windows mobile 6.5 or HTC's new touch flo. hopefully WebOS and the Pre will have constant updates like the iphone. this is one of the reason why windows mobile is not a long term investment, unless you want to go to XDA and get your upgrades from them , but for the premium that the touch pro costs, we shouldnt have to or we shouldnt have to buy a new phone every 10 months or less just for the latest software update. Microsoft doesnt seem like they are going to ever change this. Hopefully SPB's mobile shell 3.o will be an alternative to WM 6.5 for those of us that are not made of money.
  • firstly,
    the diamond probably the the major camera upgrade since it no long has any other huge advantages over the full size touch pro other than its slim for factor. it actually has less functionality, isn't as quick on typing AND for the first time has a much smaller screen. i would never expect my tilt to handle the UI, nor would i even want it to. i did a little comparison with my friend yesterday between the fuze and my tilt. both are phones, running very slim and quick ROMs found a huge difference in performance. with HTC audio manager and opera open on both phones, his phone only showed 41% of processes used...whereas the tilt was all the way up to 84, sometimes 86%. And this is just w/ HTC home, if i would have been using a ROM TF2D (which uses a boat load of resources) it would have been much worse. so as far as complaining about your upgrade window...i'm sorry buddy, but all your complaints are simply unwarranted. why would you even expect an upgrade to 6.5, you're one of the reasons that microsoft has always stuck w/ this lowest common denominator factor...and why the UI and OS is general have sucked for so long. this phone isn't supposed to drop until mid to late summer, so a 12-14 month time frame before upgrades wouldn't be unheard of.
  • Actually, the Touch Pro from Sprint was the first to come out and it released in November 08. So if the Pro2 comes out in June, that is only 7 months. Touch Pro users should get a free update and that is b.s. that you have to have a Windows logo button for phone to qualify. The new software should be able to convert the standard home button to the start menu if they really had to do it that way. Microsoft is losing customers and rightfully so. I have had nothing but WM phones but am going to the Pre when it is released. I will have to sacrifice at first because there won't be as much software available, but at least it will give software updates. Microsoft has a Windows Update icon which it chooses not to use and rather suck money out of people less than a year after purchasing a new device. The Touch Pro2 looks like a fine piece of hardware though.
  • A new rumor especially on Twitter and a few blogs is that the Touch Pro 2 will come out mid JUne on Sprint though no one from Sprint claims this. A Sprint labeled Touch Pro2 surface and the last time a Touch PRo 2 on Tmobile surfaced and it nearly immediately came out. I returned an htc mogul for the instinct. Worse phone ever in the history of mankind. ANYWAY do not. i repeat DO NOT Leave verizon for sprint. They are KNOWN for their bad customer service and have been all over the news. Verizon may be more expensive but do NOT leave unless it is for at&t. tht is the only comparable service.
  • I would never leave Sprint for Verizon. Why give money to a carrier who strips their phones and charge $50 per month more for everything. I have had Sprint for 9 years. Yes, they have had bad customer service in the past, but the last year it has changed. You can get taken care of on the same call and they have called me back every time they promised. Their 3G network is larger than AT&T and about equal to Verizon. Also, all current surveys rates Sprint customer service and #1 or #2. Maybe you had a bad experience with Sprint or just going off of what you read in the past but I have unlimited minutes, email, text, tv, navigation and data (web browsing) for $99 per month. Can't beat it!!
  • I read your comment and had to write. First off, Verizon has THREE times the 3G coverage of Sprint. So don't go saying they are almost to Verizon. Second, I don't know where you are reading the surveys but Alltel and Verizon are tied for 1...Sprint is toward the middle to back of the pack. I've had both Sprint and Verizon and there is 1000% difference in coverage, reliability, and customer service. I do agree that Verizon strips their phones but that is slowly changing i.e. Motorola Droid. So go ahead and spout off about how great Sprint is. I will remember that as I see the company lose more in a year than the company's net worth and slowly die into a has been carrier. Can you hear me now Sprint?
  • Dear JC:
    I am in a situation where i need to purchase a mobile 6.1 smartphone. You mentioned you had sprint service. I currently have verizon and am thinking of switching to sprint and purchasing the HTC touch pro. I'm not sure how sprint's service is and now i've discoverd there will be the new Pro coming out soon. Should i wait until then and get the touch pro 2? and how is sprint's service?
    thanks for your input
  • verizon does have the headphone jack
  • Nobody seems to be saying if the TYTN2 graphics problem still exists on this phone - I note its still using a Qalcomm chipset. Can anybody confirm DECENT playback of videos and games on this phone? I'm still very very upset with HTC that my $1000 TYTN2 plays back locally stored videos so poorly, and is almost useless for and graphical use at all. My 4 year old iMate JAM plays videos better than my 1 year old TYTN2.
  • holy shiet dude...i hope you're not talking about USD (maybe AUD?). because even when the oem tytn ii was brand new, i never saw it for more than the 700-800 range. if you got it for that much, u got ripped off.
  • I'd like to know the dimensions and possibly a side by side comparison the the Touch Pro 1. But wow, I'd definitely like one!!
  • 4.57 X 2.33 X 0.68 inches HTC has the TP2 and the Diamond2 up on their website. https://www.windowscentral.com/e?link=https2F2Fcli...
  • To JC: Get Coreplayer and your videos will play awesome. Yes I know it's not a real acceptable answer but it works. Also is that TP2's grey surface rubberized like the TP on Sprint. I hope so.
  • The fact there is no 3.5 jack or dpad kind of urks me. What specs does this have over the Touch HD(besides the keyboard)?
  • Any comments about the camera? Please tell me they put a better lens in there. I seriously can't stand having to pretend I'm Kabooki Mario when trying to take pictures.
  • I have an t-mobile wing, not so great. I have been re-searching for the past month trying to find the perfect phone and this looks like a winner. The reviews aren't bad. I know it was released Feb. 16, but when and where I am able to get it?? Any ideas how much?
  • Seriously? complaining about not having a 5mp camera? ITS A PHONE YOU IDIOTS!! you can get an 8mp canon camera for $250 and its actually made to take pictures. I'm glad the TP2 doesn't have to waste hardware (not to mention memory space) trying to store that size of picture. Anyways, i've been using the TouchPros 3.2 MP camera and the pictures are fantastic, and more than substantial for a PHONE.
  • Oh its a "phone" really? and we are idiots? Nice. It is is phone why isn't it $99 or free after rebate? Oh right, it is a $600 to $700 smartphone. A convergence device. BTW can you 8MP cannon upload your pics to Facebook a few seconds like this can? no? hmmm. Can that Cannon email a video right after taking it to anyone including to another smart phone owner? No? Can your cannon record the GPSP location of the pictures it takes? no. Are you an "idiot" to buy a phone that works as an mp3 player? An idiot to buy a phone that has GPS? Are you an "idiot" to use this "phone" for email and web surfing when you have laptop? I am sure you are asking yourself why this "phone" has a keyboard. More precisely, the only "idiot" here is you -- why are you here reading about a massively multifunctional device when you just want a "phone?"
  • I am with you JC. The TouchPro2 has the same CPU, same camera, similar if not same memory ... why WOULDN'T I expect a TF3D and/or WinMo6.5 upgrade? Simbadog, you're off the mark. Even 1st Gen iPhones/Touch are being supported by Apple firmware/feature updates every few months. I think there should be some support for the current and previous line 1 generation back. The whole point of having a standardized OS is to be able to issue modular upgrades. If I have to toss my phone out to get the latests version, there is little equity in the OS. MS needs to figure out how to roll out updates from their end rather than thru the OEM, and Carrier. Start tightening up what OEMs and carriers are allowed to modify so the platform actually starts to standardize. We are going to see this a little with 6.5 in that the LOCK options will be unchangeable by the OEM/carrier. Incidentally ditching the DPad is a bad move. One of the highlights of WinMo Pro phones was that you could completely operate the OS via touch screen, OR via hardware keys.
  • The updates to the iPhone are not evolutionary at this point, and it still can't MMS (yet). If you have a 1st gen iPhone, you won't ever, according to Engadget & CNET, ever enjoy MMS... That isn't a free update then... Aside from all that, the MS platform (and that from Nokia) need more marketing, UI, and user-friendly. The iPhone lacks many features like flash, and it can't even play quicktime videa streamed from the Univ. of Texas's language department... Apple iPhone not able to play streaming Apple Quicktime video... ARG! So, regardless of the "upgrade," I'll be ditching the iPhone. However, you are welcome to use it if it suits you...
  • I don't think I like the omission of the d pad. Also, does it have dedicated volume controls? Personally that annoyed me to no end on the Tilt, and one thing I love about the Fuze.
  • Proto, ditto bout the dPad... I navigate all my RSS feeds on my TouchPro with Dpad... How will I ever keep track of WMExperts now... :( And i forgot to mention the loss of the camera flash... That just makes me angry. I use my TP flash as a flashlight to find my shiz ALLLL the time. May be a dealbreaker for me... haha
  • SumoJam, if all people wanted was a phone they would still be using Moto StarTac's. Do you ignore all the other non-PHONE features most WinMo Phones have too? GPS, Web Browsing, Media Playing, Gaming, Email ...? I agree the 3.2 camera on my FUZE is pretty good and is good enough for me in most cases ... but if they are putting a 5mp in their more consumer oriented model, and Samsung (and others) have 8mp and 12mp models in the pipe ... why wouldn't you have upgraded it?
  • If it comes out on Sprint, I'm in all the way. I'm so happy with my Touch Pro, but the curves of the Touch Pro 2 will make me switch for that reason alone. Very Very cool device.
  • I understand but gps, bluetooth, wifi... they have all pretty much become standards for winmo devices. anywho... as for the d-pad, the touch hd doesnt have one so how bad could it be... a nice track ball or very small joystick like is in the center of your laptop keyboard would be great. i would love some trackball goodness like the blackberry.
  • What is the keyboard "standard" and why does this "phone" bother to have a different one?
  • So which provider will offer this pretty-lookin' thing? When? Price?
  • If the tilting screen really obscures the top row of the keyboard I hope not all carriers use it as the number row, but rather a symbol row (like how AT&T changed the original Touch Pro keyboard layout). Losing access to the numbers if tilted is a big deal.
  • awesome phone but wtf im not getting an upgrade to windows 6.5 on my current touch pro? that is the first reason why i ditch palm because they never realease one for treo 700wx other ones where that it just sucked lol! I HATE PALM! and i don't want to hate htc for not giving me what i pay for!
  • Stylus?
  • hidden but there is one inside the phone
  • I have to weigh in on the lack of a WM 6.5 and TFlO 3D upgrade. I just bought my Touch Pro at the end of December and am furious that I'll have to live with the fixable flaws that exist. My feeling is that the upgrades should be offered as long as the hardware will support it. The Touch Pro was my first foray into WM (I've been a Palm OS user since the Palm IIIc - just moved to the TP from a Treo 755p) and this really sours me toward WM. I'm going to sell off my Touch Pro and buy a Palm Pre as soon as they come out. Anyone want to buy a slightly used Touch Pro?
  • Phone looks great but still no 3.5mm.....HTC WORK IT OUT... read some forums. I
  • IS there any mention of release dates for the united states? Will it be available through At&t? ... I just got a htc fuze how will the touch pro 2 compare?
  • To all these people complaining about WinMo 6.5 and D-pad. Here's some condolence. D-Pad: there's a keyboard d-pad, which you can simply jus open up the screen to use. And looking at the finger-friendly styling of the TF3D...it doesnt seem you'll need much of a dpad to navigate around on that beautiful, HD-like screen! WinMo 6.5: First...Pro2 will be upgradable to 6.5, its been stated time and time again. Would you rather have them hold the phone til 6.5 is available. I know I wouldnt! Second...why would you even care? This new iteration of TF3D has completely covered everything WinMo like on this phone. You dont have to go into WinMo for contacts, textin, email, programs, settings...nothing. So what does it matter that its 6.1? The beauty of this new TF3D is that its not just a skin anymore. Its deep...so you will barely even know you're using a WinMo device. Thats the beauty.
  • If it comes out on Sprint, I'm in all the way. I'm so happy with my Touch Pro , but the curves of the Touch Pro 2 will make me switch for that reason alone. Very Very cool device.
  • More thoughts and -- of course -- more photos after the break! What break? What is that supposed to mean? Where are the extra photo's other than the 8 or so in this article? Where is the break? How does one "go after it"?
  • FINALLY!!!!! WHAT TOOK THEM SO LONG?! I've been waiting a LONG time for Tmo to get with the program and get a sleeker looking slider phone with Windows Mobile. Thank goodness because I was seriously annoyed/angry that all the phone carriers had way better phone selection then Tmo. I would have switched a long time ago if it weren't for the fact that I have been with Tmo a long time and have a VERY good plan that includes data and text. I'm soooooooooooooo excited for this phone!!!! YAY!!!! I will be pre-ordering it as soon as it's available.
  • Howcome no one is talking bout the security of these internet geared phones? I mean for a phone to be so high tech and do so much and cost so much. Should't security be a priority..? On my crapy little moto krazr i was able to lock each individual app.
  • I rep sprint till the end. AT&T and Verizon are MORE expensive. Plus my free roaming is Verizon service anyways. Sprint is horrible at billing. I have had them for 5 years. BUT although there billing is finiky and can get fudged up. They always fix it kindly and promptly. To me that's great customer service. Even if there billing is a little screwy sometimes. Iphone dick riders can ride it all day. But HTC Win Mo is where its at. For all you retards that cant figure out how to tweek such a powerful phone such as these HTC win Mo devices. I suggest you stick with AT&T and their over priced service and over played phone.
  • I've been an AT&T customer for a very long time. As much as I like AT&T, I agree, their plans are a bit expensive compared to T-mobile and Sprint. However, you get what you pay for. It wasn't until the last couple of years that Sprint could even contend with AT&T or Verizon in service area coverage,in my opinion, and everyone I knew and have known with Sprint complained about the constant dropped calls,customer service and billing. I'm not hating on Sprint. Hell, I almost decided to go with Sprint, when I couldn't find a phone from AT&T that I liked enough to upgrade. Then along came the BB Bold. Hell, Tmobile just started rolling out 3G networks, when the other major carriers have hade it for years! Although, to be fair, I've heard that their Edge network wasn't that slow or bad. Jury's still out on that one. Different phones, as well as different carriers have great features that I can find to like in them all. You will be very hard pressed to find a phone or carrier that can combine every great feature into one nice package. It would be nice though! It boils down to what works for you. If you can deal with the absence of a feature to gain a feature, then that phone or service is for you. With millions of users and likes and dislikes, we may never be happy with what we have. There always will be something bigger and better. The new TP 2 looks great and I hope it comes to AT&T, as well. It seems to have a lot of great features but, I do agree, not having that 3.5mm jack is a bad move. I don't want to have to buy an adapter to use any peripheral for any phone. It should be straight plug and play. Headsets, chargers, usb cords or whatever. One thing to be glad about though, mini usb will become the standard charging system for all phones. If they would just do that for headset jacks.
  • Oh its a "phone" really? and we are idiots? Nice. It is is phone why isn't it $99 or free after rebate? Oh right, it is a $600 to $700 smartphone. A convergence device. BTW can you 8MP cannon upload your pics to Facebook a few seconds like this can? no? hmmm. Can that Cannon email a video right after taking it to anyone including to another smart phone owner? No? Can your cannon record the GPSP location of the pictures it takes? no. Are you an "idiot" to buy a phone that works as an mp3 player? An idiot to buy a phone that has GPS? Are you an "idiot" to use this "phone" for email and web surfing when you have laptop? I am sure you are asking yourself why this "phone" has a keyboard. More precisely, the only "idiot" here is you -- why are you here reading about a massively multifunctional device when you just want a "phone?"