Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"I'm in the market for a new phone and money isn't a limitation. I'm also not partial to any particular US carrier, but here are some of the features I'd like to have: WiFi, GPS, good coverage in lots of places, push Gmail (a must!), physical keyboard (a must!), a touchscreen, decent battery life and a relatively slim body. And please, nothing that has a fruit logo on it. No offense to the fruit fans, though. Thanks!"
Yes, indeed they did. The Neonode was increadibly buggy and sluggish though. But the finger sweeping seems to be very close to what the Neonode had. I _think_ they had some kind of patent on that technology and UI, but maybe htc uses something else. Or they have just picked up the pieces of Neonode and used them in a new product.