HTC Touch Dual

By John Chan
Nov 13, 2007

Based on popularity and sales charts tabulated for our monthly Top 5 handhelds feature, the HTC Touch seems to be a very popular WM6 (Windows Mobile 6) PDA-phone. This is not surprising because the Touch has a very attractive design and, especially if you are getting an operator discount, a very accessible price.

Just a few months on, HTC has a new handheld in the same series, the Touch Dual. If you don't go into the details, you will only notice that it has no Wi-Fi (like in the original) but comes with 3G and a slide-out keyboard as its main advantages. It may seem like the Dual's improvements are canceled out by its lack of Wi-Fi connectivity, but this is not the case. This new PDA-phone is quite a big leap over the original Touch, so much so that a potential buyer may be able to brush aside the fact that it cannot connect to free wireless hotspots.

Design

At first glance, the physical differences between the Touch and Touch Dual may not be immediately apparent. With the keypad closed, the Dual is longer than, but not as wide as, the original. It is slightly thicker, too, but at 15.8mm is still incredibly slim for a PDA-phone. This is quite a feat considering the Dual has a slide-out keypad hidden under the display.

The material used for the chassis of the Dual is made of a soft-touch plastic which feels good in the hands. The LCD is flush with the body, so the only protrusions you feel on the front are the directional pad, call/hang up buttons and a raised bump below the screen which helps the thumb get a grip when sliding the screen up. A silver strip which runs around the entire edge of the Dual has a few more buttons including volume control, camera shutter and the power button. Like many other 3G phones, the Touch Dual comes with two cameras--a rear-mounted one for 2-megapixel snapshots and a front-facing VGA one for video calls.

A little force is all that's required to move the screen up because of a spring mechanism. A numeric keypad with a total of 16 keys is then exposed. The number keys are laid out like you'd expect in a regular mobile phone with three shortcut keys along with the backspace key flanking them on the left and right. Though there isn't much space between keys, we did not encounter problems getting used to the layout and tactility of these buttons. One thing that can be improved in this keypad is an OK key to get out of screens. Without one, you have to stretch out your thumb or use another hand to tap the top right corner of the display to get out of applications or move back a screen.

The mini-USB port and microSD slot are both found on the left side of the device. The mini-USB is the only connector on the Dual, which means regular wired headsets using the 2.5mm audio connector cannot be used or will require a converter to mini-USB.

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