Hardware Tour of the HTC Touch Pro

[Brandon Miniman]

In this video, I cover the hardware of the phone.

As I mention in the video, although the Touch Pro is almost as thick as the TyTN II/Kaiser (it's just 1-2mm thinner), it doesn't feel thick in hand or in the pocket because of its smaller width and height. HTC has also added the rubbery-like coating to the back of the Touch Pro, giving it a more secure feel in-hand.

The keyboard has an extra row at the top for numbers, which is a welcomed addition for the sake of not having to press the function key to get to a number. The feel of the keyboard is fantastic, and it could be as good as or better than the keyboard of the Motorola Q9h. Unfortunately, I sensed a bit of play in the keyboard that for such a high end phone shouldn't be present.

The microSD card slot is behind the battery cover, but it's hot swappable so that you don't have to turn off the device to change the card.

More to come.

See also:
Unboxing video
Detailed specs of the Touch Pro

So, no softkeys?

[Brandon Miniman]

Nope!

[kanzlr]

buh!

I want my softkeys!

Hmm, well I guess we'll have to wait for the Software review, but do you think HTC's done a good job mitigating that shortfall with other positives?

[adamz]

Originally Posted by sgwill

So, no softkeys?

No start menu or OK hardware buttons either. The back button on the front functions like an OK button (unless you're in Opera), but that looks like a long reach if you're in landscape mode with the keyboard extended.

How do you access other programs when in the keyboard extended landscape mode? Other programs isn't even an option on the landscape mode TouchFLO 3D. It seems like the only way would be to take your hand off the keyboard, press your finger on the start menu button on the screen all the way on the upper left corner, then put your hand back on the keyboard to type in the keyboard mnemonics for accessing applications. Unless, did they take my advice and make the Home key open the Start menu with a double press or something?