Windows-Based iPhone Rival for Business Users

MsManhattan writes "High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC) has unveiled a touch-screen mobile device that offers many of the same features as the iPhone but with an emphasis on business applications vs. entertainment value. The HTC Touch is based on Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6 Professional OS and features a 2.8-inch touch screen offering access to emails, contacts and appointments. But unlike the iPhone, which will feature large internal flash memory capacity for music and movie storage, the HTC Touch offers a microSD drive, and a 1G-byte microSD card comes with the handset."

Interface, not features

[virgil_disgr4ce]

I'm going to reiterate what I said yesterday about the iPhone:

It's not features that will make or break a smartphone device as the iPhone comes out, it's the ingenuity of the interface. Just because this has a touch-screen doesn't mean it's going to be a fraction as intuitive or usable for the average person. Windows Mobile is not a platform based on new ideas. --Ted

Re:Pictures!

[timeOday]

What is the logic of positioning this new device as an iPhone competitor, anyways? Everybody and their dog makes a smartphone, and it's not as if Apple is an established leader in the market.

C'mon

[u-bend]

You know, it's pretty easy to get tired of the direction that some here always try pushing a conversation that has anything to do with Apple. Yes, I like Apple machines. But that's because the accomplish for me what I want them to do, with ease. If they looked (and here's where the style-over-substance folks get it wrong) like a pile of dump, I'd still use them. If the reverse were true (they look as they do, but don't deliver the goods that I need), I'd never have bought my last one just to have a brushed-metal two grand doorstop. And yes, I do use non-mac stuff too. In fact I have a highly useful Linux box at home, that looks, from the outside, well, like a pile of beige dump.

I guess what I'm saying, is that it's not too useful to immediately start making fun of the iPhone with the substance argument, in a discussion that's about a different product. We've seen the picture now, thanks to a previous poster. Let's talk about that--looks pretty nice, wouldn't buy it for personal use, wouldn't buy an iPhone either. /rant

Re:Buyer beware...

[DWIM]

This is not informative unless you can link to evidence that shows there is a general problem with the product. Your post alone is an anecdote. If, say, 10% of these phones suffer the same problem as yours did, that would be informative. Otherwise, there is no useful information here.

Re:Pictures!

[profplump]

But it's an established leader in marketing and hype, and it's easier to get people to spread your story about an iPhone competitor than it is to get them to spread the same story without the spin.

Re:iPhone not out yet...

[svendsen]

"prestige"

Your kidding me right? Nobel laureates have prestige. Having an apple product which anyone can buy does not give you prestige. In fact I can't think of any generic tech consumer item which would give you any prestige. You know what I think when I see someone with a windows machine, apple, linux, etc. They have a computer good for them how nice.

Re:Pictures!

[p0tat03]

They STILL don't get it, do they?

Look at that HTC Touch pic. See those two buttons on the bottom? This is proof conclusive, to me anyway, that these guys just don't get it. You have a touch screen for God's sake, why in the world are you still dealing with the "binary choice" UI of old phones? That is absolutely one thing I despise the most about current cell phone UI - they have all adopted the two-button interface. For every menu you are in, there are only ever two choices (unless you want to risk bringing up yet another menu). Sure, this is a limitation due to hardware, so why are we keeping it now that we have the freedom to allow the user to interact in ANY way with the device?

Usability, resolution, memory...

[Andy_R]

Who do I trust to make a slick usable media playing phone, Apple, or HTC? Well, HTC's hype site for the phone showed me nothing but a progress bar for 10 seconds, then asked me (in English) if I wanted to read the site in English. Not a good start!

What's the Spec like? Half the screen resolution of the iPhone, and 1/4 the memory?

I'll pass on this one, thanks.

This device isn't multi-touch

[arsheive]

So how is it going to rival the iPhone? From htc.com: "Building on its rich ten year history of mobile phone innovations, the HTC Touch(TM) represents extensive research and development and the conviction that fingertip control will enable more efficient, natural and intuitive touch screen navigation. The groundbreaking HTC Touch(TM) offers a new and unique way of controlling touch screen-based devices by recognising and responding to the sweep of a finger across the screen. It is even intelligent enough to distinguish between finger and stylus input and then respond accordingly." So it has some nice features allowing the user to use single-touch more effectively. This does not come close to the wow factor and the _crazy_ levels of input freedom provided by a multi-touch interface.

Re:Pictures!

[jimstapleton]

Many things require a "yes/no" answer, and more options, while nice, are silly. Sometimes it's nice to have a quick option that you can do by reflex.

Example:

"Save this phone number?"
[yes][no]

vs.

"Save this phone number?"
[yes][no][go to the apple website][go to the microsoft website][eat a burrito]

One look

[Tom]

One look at a picture is enough to convince me that this is no competitor because they (MS, and the MS Mobile devision) simply still don't get it.

Why? There's the "Start" bar right up on the screen. Aside from the 12-year-old nonsense of the start menu itself, the bar takes up precious screen estate all the time. On a desktop screen, that's a nuissance. On a mobile screen where every pixel counts, it plain out sucks.

More importantly: It's a brilliant indicator for the mindset. MS insists on cluttering the screen with its logo and a couple status icons. Apple builds as if they wanted to actually use the thing.

HTC Universal

[Animaether]

so why didn't you go to the HTC Universal? Full VGA (640x480)

seriously, there's so many non-arguments about the iPhone vs everything else based on individual aspects. the iPhone will kick ass because of the overall package. It will still have its shortcomings (i.e. resolution, no buttons (it's a feature!), etc.) but overall it will be a better package than most everything out there. There'll always be people who need something that the iPhone can't offer, and they will go with something else... or deal with it and remain looking hip with an iPhone that doesn't do entirely what they need it to.

Re:Pictures!

[Anonymous Coward]

something tired and old? ...and instantly recognizable for who makes the product and what the product does.

But you know, keep up the hate. Easier than actually thinking.

Re:Pictures!

[Anonymous Coward]

Remember, the iPod itself uses a capacitive touch sensor in the scroll wheel. Few people complain they are hard to use in cold weather, with wet or dirty hands, or while driving (Well, some people have probably complained at some point, but it hasn't been a problem for the commercial adoption of the product). Perhaps the touch screen will be similar.

Re:For working geeks as opposed to gadget crazed

[Reaperducer]

Call me a hater

OK, you're a hater. Or more accurately, as someone entrenched in a dying platform ("Palm software engineer") you don't understand that the world is moving on without you.

you'd be crazy to buy a phone now that doesn't have 3G.

Why? Most phones in people's hands right now aren't 3G. Most of the United States, where the iPhone will be released later this month doesn't have 3G service. Jobs has already said in front of hundreds of people that the 3G version will be next. It makes sense that it will coincide with the release of the European iPhone which (IIRC) is set for this fall. If 3G is such a necessity for you, wait six months and import one. Problem solved.

if I want to make an mp3 into my ringtones, the 8525 says "go right ahead!" On the Iphone, you have to buy ringtones from ITMS.

You must have gone from Palm engineer to Microsoft engineer, because this is pure FUD. Please provide documentation that shows that iPhone ringtones must be purchased from iTunes. The phone's not out, so you have no idea what it requires. Since the iPhone syncs with iTunes and iTunes handles non-ITMS music just fine, it's only logical to assume that I can use my already-ripped-from-CD-into-iTunes music as a ringtone. You have provided no convincing evidence to the contrary. You're just so used to a culture of vendor lock-in that you don't understand the Mac biosphere. Yes, there is a certain amount of lock-in with the hardware, but Apple is all about pioneering and implementation of standards. It's Verizon and the other legacy telcos that lock people out of the features of their phones (like Bluetooth) in order to extract money from them, not Apple.

Find someone who has a 3G phone, and try using google maps for mobile with a super highspeed connection.

Like the built-in WiFi that the iPhone has? We've all seen Jobs and others demoing Google Maps on the iPhone and it's slick. And the Google integration is specialized for the iPhone. Remember the location thingy? If you haven't watched the demo video, you should.

SSH over 3G is pretty damn good.

I SSH over GPRS every day. It's pretty damn good, too. You don't need broadband for text applications.

I wanted to sync my address book and calendar from my device with my gmail account. Both WM5 and Google are open APIs! So I'm writing it (which means it will suck, but still). Apple does not to seem to want you to be able to do that.

Again, the phone's not out. How do you know it can't? More accurately, how do you know that a month from now someone won't write an iSync plug-in that enables what you want? There are entire companies that specialize in this (The Missing Sync comes to mind). I'm not sure how you "seem" to know what Apple wants. Referencing my above point, Google appears to be interested in the iPhone. Maybe that interest expands beyond maps. I don't know. And neither do you.

Windows Mobile Platform is MUCH more open than the IPhone.

According to the New York Times, Apple is working on a way to allow developers to port their applications to the iPhone. I don't see how Windows is MUCH more open, other than the fact that it's had a five year head start.

When I worked at Palm we worked HARD to court independent developers, who cranked out great apps for the Palm platform.

Good for you. Do you want a cookie? Palm is worse than dead. It's a zombie that doesn't even know it's dead. I loved my original US Robotics Palm 1000. I loved my IIIe. I bought my wife an M100. But Palm stagnated. It's over. Get over it.

when I think of the IPhone I think NO CARRIER.

90% of the world doesn't know what "NO CARRIER" means anymore. We've all gone broadband. Most were born after the modem market shriveled up. You're just demonstrating that you're another Microsoft dinosaur that doesn't get it.