Photos: HTC Touch Dual, Shift, S730 and P6500
We got our hands on the new additions to the HTC mobile device range -- calling them phones does them an injustice -- and here are the photos to prove it
On Monday we went along to an HTC unveiling at London's swanky Kensington Roof Gardens. Which was nice, because it was pouring with rain and the Tube was broken, but nothing could dampen our excitement over what we saw at the event -- not even excessive dampness all around us.
HTC has been going hell for leather recently, releasing new phones like a lady rabbit releases baby bunnies. The most recent additions to the line-up are three email-capable phones and a whacking great mobile computer.
The four new devices, called the Shift, S730, P6500 and the Touch Dual should all be available in the near future and are bound to appeal to business people and avid emailers alike. Click through for more pics.
Update: Full reviews of the HTC Touch Dual and HTC S730 are now available on the site. -Ian Morris
The headline product was the HTC Touch Dual, which is very similar to the HTC Touch, except it also features a full keyboard, to enable you to tap in those troublesome text messages and emails.
Excitingly, the Dual also features 3G, a boon for business users who are sick of the sluggish speeds of 2G and EDGE.
The Touch Dual is available in two flavours -- the one above and an additional model...
...which we have a close-up of here. The difference is the keypad, which is available as a standard phone keypad, and as a 20-key Qwerty affair. Sadly, the UK service providers are opting for the traditional 10-key keypad, so if you want the Qwerty model, you'll need to buy it yourself, without the accompanying subsidy.
Impressing everyone with its sleek looks and large screen, the HTC Shift is a PDA on some sort of growth hormone. It's larger than any PDA you've seen before, but then it's packing Vista and is a completely Internet-capable machine. The 7-inch screen is also touch sensitive and the whole thing only weighs 800g.
Web surfing can be done via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and HSDPA, offering potential speeds of 3Mbps. We can see this model being incredibly popular with the sort of person you see on the train frantically peering at a BlackBerry. Except at least with the Shift, the screen is large enough for you to read what they're writing over their shoulder. You also get a full Qwerty keyboard, which you can fold out of sight when it isn't needed.
The HTC S730 has a fair amount in common with the HTC TyTN II, except that the S730 cunningly adds a keyboard to the front of the device, which will be useful for people who just want to tap in a phone number or a quick text message without opening the Qwerty keypad.
You can surf using the built-in HSDPA and Wi-Fi and you can travel the world and surf using EDGE, which is handy if you spend any time in the US. The S730 has 256MB of flash memory, 64MB of RAM and an microSD card slot for additional memory.
For those who need a more secure mobile device, the P6500 offers a fingerprint scanner, which should prevent anyone gaining access to your confidential data should you leave it on the train.
Offering Internet access via any one of the four GSM frequencies or the three 3G HSDPA ones worldwide, this phone should be able to connect anywhere on the planet that has a mobile phone mast. It also features GPS, so you can find out which jungle you're surfing the Net from.
Plus there's a 3-megapixel camera with business-card recognition, a feature that will appeal to the City worker who can't fit cards in his cash-stuffed wallet.