HTC says Touch Pro2 will be "broadly available," North America included

In October of last year, HTC informed us that the Touch HD would sadly not be coming to the States via its Twitter feed. Shortly after Mobile World Congress, that same feed has delivered much, much better news in regard to the Touch Pro2. Directly from HTC: "And to answer the big question on everyone's minds, the Touch Pro2 will be broadly available in all major markets, including North America." A followup tweet affirmed that a launch date and country wasn't yet set in stone, but that the phone would begin shipping out in "late Q2." Oh, where art thou, May through July time frame?

[Via Brighthand]

Read - HTC tweet I
Read - HTC tweet II

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 22nd 2009 2:44PM]

This phone is a MUST-GET.
To be honest, this looks like an iPhone with an external keyboard, which many think Apple would release,
some sort of iPhone Pro or something.
Good for HTC to release it first, or else they would look like the copycats.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 22nd 2009 3:46PM]

Except for the fact that it's running the same old bland WM OS... HTC makes great hardware but unfortunately it keeps getting hampered by a junk OS that just never seems to get any better. I'm sure this thing will run WM 6.5 (another temporary patch to calm the masses) but I think the 7.0 ground up rewrite WM OS is what will truly make a difference on great hardware such as this.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 22nd 2009 9:20PM]

Carries over the same CPU chipset so same lag issues and under performance. Just a fresh-coat of paint to try to resell you on the same old dog.

Check out the Acer M900 which offers a slightly bigger screen without the Qualcomm problems.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 24th 2009 11:13AM]

ill wait for the N97, but this device looks like it might be fun to play with.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 22nd 2009 3:45PM]

If this thing has a touch sensitive touchscreen, it will rock. If it has a pressure sensitive touchscreen, it will just be meh.
Multi-touch would be great, but it seems difficult to pry from Apple's hands.
How 'bout a headphone jack too?

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 22nd 2009 4:16PM]

If by that you mean a capacitive screen vs a resistive one, then it will be resistive because that's all WinMo supports.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 22nd 2009 5:50PM]

I'm pretty sure WinMo can support capacitive.
http://discuss.pocketnow.com/showthread.php?threadid=23389

My definition of supporting "touch" would be the support recognizing touch without pressure, which a resistive screen is not. You can touch a resistive screen all you want, but unless you apply some level of pressure, it's not going to recognize it.

Ideally, we could have both, where you could touch the screen to navigate using a cursor and use pressure to perform a selection or "click," like what I've seen the Storm do in demos.

If I had a choice between capacitive or resistive, I would choose capacitive any day. Smoother navigation is more important to me than being able to take hand written notes on my device.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 22nd 2009 6:58PM]

@bernardino: Your "touch" screen is what's called a capacitive touch screen, like the iPhone and the G1.

The Touch Pro is resistive (pressure-responsive), but you can set the pressure sensitivity to be pretty light, so it gets pretty close to feeling like a capacitive screen...except around the edges, sadly.

Note that HTC's website lists all their phones' screens as "touch-sensitive", yet we know the G1 is capacitive and the Touch Pro 1 is resistive.

I would say it's a safe bet that the Touch Pro 2 is resistive.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 22nd 2009 4:22PM]

Touch sensitive screen - http://www.htc.com/www/product/touchpro2/product-tour.html

Have to say, I have been looking at an iPhone (ATT's network is the draw back) and a BB Storm, but since I am on Sprint I might have to wait until this and the Diamond 2 come along - though I doubt this will happen until Q3 at Sprint.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 22nd 2009 4:53PM]

If you're on Sprint - wait for the Pre - way better phone all the way around.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 22nd 2009 5:34PM]

@ haX0r: And... how long have you owned your Pre?

When will people stop jumping on the bandwagon for phones that haven't even been released yet? Look at the G1. As anticipated as it was, it turned out to be a major let down. Same with the Storm. People really need to just reserve judgment until they try these phones out for themselves.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 22nd 2009 9:16PM]

I will be looking for the Pre, but I just have a feeling the display is not going to be big enough for me. I passed on the Touch Pro this past year due to that reason. And while the Pre's screen is a little bit bigger, it might still be smaller than I want. I had a Storm for a few weeks - the display is excellent. I return it b/c the call quality was not so good and VZW costs 40% more than my Sprint plan! I really like the looks of the Pro 2 - and that speaker phone. I suggest every one search for HTC Touch Pro 2 on YpuTube and watch some of the videos. Sweet features.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 22nd 2009 5:13PM]

@ haXor
I disagree the only thing Pre has over this is is Web OS and maybe a better processor.

This beats the Pre in
1. Screen size
2. Screen resolution
3. Keyboard size
4. Expandable memory

Now if you take this Touch Pro 2 and put Web OS on it then you have a world beater

[Sarig Posted Feb 22nd 2009 7:02PM]

And you know webOS to be the end all mobile OS that's perfect with no problems?

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 23rd 2009 6:55AM]

Same reasons i havent gotten one of the 'top unique phones:' iPhone, G1, or soon to be released Pre: the screen resolution. Sure the iphone has a large screen but its only HVGA.. how underwhelming.. no wonder it has no issues with graphics.

This device though has a 3.6inch WVGA screen (read:insane) and a full qwerty. Im currently using the diamond but this device might convince me to go back to the slide out qwertys.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 22nd 2009 6:53PM]

Any word on the BATTERY? Looks like the same 1500mAh?

That's my biggest gripe with the current Touch Pro. All these big-screen phones are great...for the 3/4 day that they last with active usage. If you have a phone that does almost everything...you're probably going to use it a lot, so it would be nice if it had more staying power.

Sure, Mugen and Seido make good extended batteries, and truthfully I don't mind the size and weight, but no one makes /cases/ for the super-sized versions.... :-(

And I think they took away the camera flash on the Touch Pro 2...bummer. Not crucial, but was nice to have.

[Ucbigmike20 Posted Feb 22nd 2009 9:02PM]

I'll believe it when I see it because they might have to take the front cam away like they've been doing on all their 3G phones for North American market.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 22nd 2009 9:32PM]

There's a reason why the front cameras are removed from North American models:
Our mobile phone network, unlike other countries and nations, does not support video calling. Period.
As close as you'll get here is AT&T's VideoShare, which unfortunately only works one way.

The US is extremely behind on mobile networks. Look at frickin' Canada even - THEY'VE got 2-way video calling.

[VDubb Posted Feb 24th 2009 2:43PM]

Our networks do support Video Calling, but why put a strain on your network for a feature that isn't in demand. AT&T/T-Mobile could support true video calling (since W-CDMA supports simultaneous voice/data) and Sprint/Verizon could do Video and Voice-over-IP on their EVDO networks.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 23rd 2009 8:15AM]

Same old boring, slow, laggy processor. Come on HTC. I want to ditch my iPhone since I miss the functionality of WinMo. But looks like I have to stick with the iphone for a couple more years.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 23rd 2009 1:38PM]

Is it really the processor though? The iPhone has a slower processor/less RAM than the new HTCs but the UI is more fluid/responsive. I think the software is more to blame.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 26th 2009 9:04AM]

Any see the screenshot? I want to know how to do 5-way conferencing with my cell phone... Anyone know any more about this?