The HTC Touch Cruise is a bit of an enigma. It’s feature heavy, and with a distinctive design, but here at Mobile Choice we just don’t think it has the ‘wow’ factor to really sit at the top of our list of ‘most desirable’ Windows Mobile smartphones.
 
Touch-screen

The Touch Cruise’s 240x320-pixel screen is sharp, bright and clear, and is flush to its surroundings. This is unusual for Windows Mobile devices, which more usually have recessed screens.

Visually, the flush screen is stunning, but, as we find so often with this design, it doesn’t respond as well as we would like when tapping the screen. It isn’t a huge issue, but you do need to take extra care, especially if you use a fingertip rather than the more accurate stylus. You may also find that the screen is prone to scratching. A screen protector may be in order, which rather mars the good looks of the flush design.
 
Navigating the Touch Cruise

We are, however, big fans of the fabulous navigation button. As

well as its usual up, down, left and right options, you can rotate the button under a finger. This scrolls you through the contents of the screen, highlighting options, and when you get to what you want, you press the central button to select.
 
Built-in GPS smartphone

It seems that built-in GPS is becoming a pretty common feature in smartphones. You can use the Touch Dual in wide-screen format for navigation, which helps it resemble stand-alone navigation systems.

There is Wi-Fi and HSDPA on-board the device, so your data communications should be fast and furious. And a front-facing camera is in a prime position for video calling.

Meanwhile, the main camera shoots stills at halfway decent three megapixels. HTC has come up with a user interface that makes it really easy to get around the various settings. You can even flick straight into the camera album at the tap of an on-screen button.
 
Touch Cruise verdict

The main problem with the HTC Touch Cruise is its less than perfect touch-screen. But that on its own is not enough to account for our relative ambivalence. We’re just going to have to put that down to personality. Or rather the Cruise’s lack of it.
HTC Touch Cruise Brings Personal GPS Navigation

HTC launched the HTC Touch Cruise ( above ), the third member of the HTC Touch product family and the first to feature in-built GPS for personal navigation. Building on the popularity of the HTC Touch™ and the HTC Touch Dual™, the HTC Touch Cruise also includes 3G-HSDPA wireless connectivity.

Users on the move will easily be able to interact with the HTC Touch Cruise’s navigation functionality and can take advantage of HTC’s TouchFLO technology, which enhances finger touch scrolling and browsing of Web pages, documents, messages and contact lists, controlled by simply sweeping a finger across the screen. TouchFLO also offers the ability to view photos and photo slideshows using on-screen controls and to zoom and rotate images with only one hand.

Stylish and sleek in design, the HTC Touch Cruise is a further illustration of HTC’s commitment to innovation and to building a suite of touchscreen devices that cater to a variety of customer needs and styles.  The HTC Home screen will provide one-touch access to emails, text messages, calendar appointments and contacts, as well as current weather conditions and forecasts for hundreds of cities around the world. Users then simply sweep their finger up the display to launch an animated, three-dimensional interface comprising three screens: Contacts, Media and Applications. The interface can be spun by swiping a finger right or left across the display, providing efficient access to the features consumers use most.

The new Touch Cruise boasts super fast HSDPA/3.5G connectivity plus Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, making it a highly connected device for consumers on the move. Its 2.8” screen is great for enjoying mobile multimedia and because it runs on Windows Mobile 6, the built-in Windows Media Player is ideal for music and movies.

Florian Seiche, VP of HTC Europe, commented, “The original HTC Touch has already been a phenomenal success, and the HTC Touch Cruise™ with fully integrated GPS adds another dimension to our leading touchscreen device family. We firmly believe in the importance of choice – one device does not fit everyone’s needs – and we’re proud to have been able to launch three HTC Touch devices since June.”

The HTC Touch Cruise utilizes mapping and navigation solutions from TomTom. This navigation software comes complete with a taster city map or the option of full maps of Western Europe. Other key features include a three megapixel auto focus camera, FM radio and Micro SD memory card slot for adding to the 128MB RAM. The device will be available form both retailers and SIM free from HTC from this month.

Launched in June 2007, the HTC Touch was the first member of the HTC Touch family and has proven to be a massive hit since it launched. The HTC Touch Dual, which features HSDPA connectivity and a sliding keypad, was launched in October 2007.


Look and Feel

The Touch Cruise has a slightly angular appearance which makes it look distinctive. Its flat screen is relatively unusual – we are more used to seeing indented screens on Windows Mobile devices.
 
Ease of Use

The touch-screen is not as responsive as some, but we love the navigation button which you can rotate for scrolling as well as pressing in the usual up, down, left and right configuration.
 
Features

The HSDPA is welcome as are the Wi-Fi, GPS and FM radio, but it is niggling that mains power and audio have to share the same mini USB socket.
 
Performance

We found nothing intrinsically wrong with this smartphone, but it just doesn’t have the buzz that some others can offer.
 
Battery Life

Battery life is slightly above average, although you can really go to town depleting it with all the power-hungry features that are here.