Box Content

Inside the box you get a pair of headphones which we must point out are an all-in-one piece that has to be attached to the USB port (no 3.5mm socket here). Then you have 2 x Stylus Pens, Pouch Case, 1120mAh Battery, miniUSB Connection Cable, UK AC Adapter, Getting Started & Applications CD, plus a Screen Protector.

Specification

• OS: Windows Mobile 6 Professional
• Processor: Qualcomm MSM 7200, 400MHz
• Memory: ROM: 256MB; RAM: 128MB SDRAM
• Display: 2.6” TFT-LCD with backlight LED, touch-sensitive screen
• Network: HSDPA/UMTS: 2100 MHz
• HSDPA: Up to 384kbps for upload and 3.6Mbps for download
• UMTS: Up to 384kbps for upload and download
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE: Tri-band 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz
• Keyboard: Slide-out 16-key QWERTY keyboard
• Device Control: HTC TouchFLO, 5-Way navigation control
• Camera: Main camera: 2 mega-pixel colour CMOS camera, second camera: CIF CMOS colour camera
• Expansion Slot: microSD memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
• Battery: 1,120 mAh rechargeable Li-polymer battery, Standby time: Up to 250 hours for UMTS, Up to 180 hours for GSM, Talk time: Up to 3 hours for UMTS, Up to 5 hours for GSM
• Up to 1.78 hours for video call.
• Weight: 120g with battery
• Dimensions: 107 mm (L) X 55 mm (W) X 15.8 mm (T)

Design

For a start the Touch Dual is more like a mobile than a PDA - despite of its Windows Mobile 6 Professional OS - and will benefit those who are making the transition from a traditional mobile to the more versatile Windows range.

The slide-out keyboard comes in two flavours a 16 or 20 key version, we reviewed the 16-key version. The keys are comfortable to press for double tap operation and when you slide the screen up you get a useful shortcut menu for fast access to creating text messages.

The backlight also comes on for viewing the keys in the dark, but the power saving mode does kick in quickly, so you will find the keys become non-illuminated after a fashion.

Also the phone does become top heavy when open, so not so comfortable for long term typing.

To the left side you have your USB port/volume controls and to the right you will find your microSD card slot handily placed and a camera button.

Interface

If you happen to be passing by the HTC Touch Dual you would be hard pushed to find any difference between the Touch Dual and a normal Windows Interface and this is one of the problems with the TouchFlo system, its usefulness is still hampered by relying on the Windows software beneath it.

Essentially the TouchFlo system is activated by moving your finger up the front of the screen - which activates the first shortcut menu - further left to right swipes will access additional shortcut options that will point to your Windows programs.

Further implementation of the TouchFlo system comes into play when you are viewing pictures in your gallery, here you can swipe your finger from left to right, to move between the pictures and rotate/ zoom in-out of an image with a circular motion of your finger.

Whilst useful it lacks the quality of the iPhones interface and as mentioned earlier the TouchFlo system is not as functional due to its dependence on the Windows OS.

We nearly forgot as well as the physical keypad you also get a virtual version - which is slightly larger than the one that you can use with your Stylus pen. We found this a bit tougher to use due to the size of the screen, but at least you have an alternative option to input text.

Connectivity

On the one hand the inclusion of 3G HSDPA is a great step-up form the original Touch, which made web browsing and accessing video streaming services a lot quicker, however for those upgrading from the aforementioned Touch you will be surprised by the removal of the Wi-Fi option.

If you have become accustomed to the latter, the thought of loosing this feature may make you move elsewhere and we feel this is a bad move by HTC to drop this feature.

Software/Performance

HTC have once again done a good job of adding extra utilities and software to their device. As well as the full suite of Office Mobile software (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), Windows Live and Windows Media Player you get a customised Home screen, Adobe Reader, Video Steaming software, Audio manager and a zip program.

General performance was good, plus from a system memory point of view we found nearly 70MB available, which made it excellent for multitasking. For storage you get around 113MB before needing to add a microSD card, which incidentally will accept 8GB cards.

Videos had no problems playing back on the 2.6" screen and general sound quality via the internal back speaker was acceptable (but nothing outstanding ). Placing the device on the desk (due to its speaker placement) is also a negative, due to the desk muffling out the sound.

Battery

Battery performance from the 1120mAH battery was reasonable, with 250h standby and up to 5hours of talk time for GSM, but as you can see from the spec list these figures are hindered when using standard 3G access.