Product Name: HTC Touch Pro2
Price: £504.85
Supplied by: Clove
Reviewer: Shaun McGill

Read Part One Here

Read Part Two Here

Two days in and I have had some serious play time with the Touch Pro2 and the results have been largely positive, with a minor complaint here and there to offer balance. Let’s continue to look at the features-

General Performance

Performance is obviously crucial in any smartphone and this differs from platform to platform. BlackBerry, iPhone and Symbian devices tend to feel snappy, but Windows Mobile can sometimes lag when multiple applications are running. This is not always the case and some devices sprint along perfectly well no matter how many applications are running at a particular time.

I was ready to write a stinging statement about the Pro2 in terms of performance, but persevered and my final judgement is very different to my initial experience. It suffered from serious lags and freezes when an 8GB card was inserted and the device seemed to struggle to scroll through large numbers of photos and videos, at times stopping completely until it eventually woke up and started playing nicely again. This turned out to be a bit of a lesson for me because once I had backed up the card, formatted it and then loaded it up again things moved along nicely. The card used to sit in a BlackBerry so maybe there is an issue there.

Now and then the Pro2 does lag, but only for a second or two and only with many applications running. It is much less noticeable without TouchFLO running though and I would put this device up as a competent performer generally. It is more than capable of delivering video playback smoothly and dealing with anything that is thrown at it, but the way of Windows Mobile is that serious power users will push it to the limit and then slow downs may occur. One reader asked if it was as quick as the Touch HD and I would say yes it is. At some point I would expect to see a small software update appear though and this will resolve any remaining niggles.

Battery

There is a huge 1500mAh battery in the Pro2 and it is huge in size as well as the rating. On the first charge I managed over 2 hours of Wi-Fi use including a YouTube fest and much surfing, ten calls which totalled 23 minutes and twenty minutes of standard video playback. This brought the battery down to 40% so it would not be unreasonable to expect 1.5 days usage for a reasonably heavy per charge once it has been charged a few times.

Internet

You certainly have all the connectivity options you need built into this device, but how is the actual mobile web experience? HTC has made Opera the default browser in TouchFLO and with good reason. It looks great and is pretty fast at loading even the busiest of sites. As you can see, the main BBC site looks very similar to the desktop version and double tapping will bring you into a particular section just like the iPhone.

Pocket IE is also included for no other reason that it has to be there. There is little point in even opening this though because Opera provides a rich experience and the large screen and fast connection make the experience all the better.

Software Extras

As with any Windows Mobile device these days you can expect most of the bases to be covered in terms of included software. There is a game called Teeter included which takes full advantage of the G-sensor, and it is rather addictive once you get the hang of it. Audio booster is design to boost audio (there’s a surprise) when the headset is plugged in and it can make the music very loud which is good for me personally. JBlend is onboard to tackle Java installations and JETCET Presenter 5 is also there for the business brains among you.

Remote Desktop Mobile is expected from HTC devices these days and could well be one of the applications you use more than any other. WorldCard Mobile is included which is a neat application allowing the photographing of business cards and then automatically storing them as digital contacts. This rounds off a business centric set of software which is also able to cope with personal entertainment; YouTube, Streaming Media and RSS Hub ensure that.

The following line from the marketing literature caught my eye as well- “A contact centric system ensures that all your communications from individuals within your address book are close to hand.  Open a contact and with a simple tap you can access current and historic information including emails, calls and text messages, all from the one screen.  No longer is there the need to search your inbox or call history.  Open your contact and it is there.”

This feels like it has jumped from the Palm Pre, but it really does work and within a day I had a whole new way to manage my contact history. It feels as though HTC has made some strides in the area of PIM under Windows Mobile, and if this is an example of what is to come this platform has a secure future ahead.

Conclusion

It is very easy when you have reviewed many HTC devices to get battle weary and to just look at each one as a slight variation on the previous models, and this is true of many of them. The Touch Pro2 does feel like a Touch HD squeezed into a TyTN II and this is most definitely a good thing.

It is a power users dream, but one which will also suit people who need to keep in contact throughout the day and thus it covers many of the areas power users want in a smartphone. It does not have the finesse of an iPhone, but then again nothing does. It does, however, offer top of the range features in almost every area.

Of course specifications are not everything, but it is to some people and the Pro2 feels like it will fit perfectly into the hands of anyone who has the slightest inkling towards Windows Mobile.

Build Quality- 9
Ease of use- 7
Battery- 8
Screen clarity- 9
Value for money- 7
Total score- 90%

Available from Clove for £504.85