After the original launch of the Touch back in 2007, HTC has sought improvement by releasing the Touch Dual. Although it may look similar to the original version, the Touch Dual is a different kettle of fish altogether, offering a slide out keyboard and 3G connectivity while retaining and greatly improving the TouchFLO interface.
The main difference of the Touch Dual lies in its design. Although it looks very similar to the original, the Dual is slightly thicker and longer than its predecessor thanks to its slide out keypad. The keypad design isn't great though – the buttons are small, flat and squashed closely together, so messaging or dialling phone numbers is often a hit and miss affair. Also, considering this is a business device, we would have preferred to see a full QWERTY keyboard. A comfortable five-way navigational pad, answer and end call keys, a power button, dedicated camera button and a volume slider all remain, while the stylus is neatly hidden into the top right-hand corner.
TouchFLO was first seen in the original Touch, but its been greatly improved on in the Touch Dual. Most of the same features remain but the home screen now has a sound mode tab, a convenient task manager application which displays memory information and larger start menu icons – meaning you won't have to use the stylus very often. The phonebook also has an alphabet on the right side, so it's easy to narrow down contacts for quick access. You'll still have to use a stylus for other tasks, such as the calendar, but overall the user experience of TouchFLO has been greatly improved.
The Touch was lambasted for its lack of 3G connectivity, so HTC has added HSDPA capabilities to the Touch Dual. Unfortunately, Wi-Fi has been omitted and this may be a deal breaker for many users. On the upside, the Touch Dual adds A2DP Bluetooth support, which was missing from the original model.
As a multimedia device, the Touch Dual is solid, but not outstanding. The lack of a standard 3.5mm headphone jack hasn't been corrected, and although the multimedia menu is well designed and easy to use without a stylus, finger touches and swipes are often inaccurate and fiddly.
In better news, the Touch Dual has received an upgraded 400MHz processor and 128MB of RAM, meaning it is far snappier than its sluggish predecessor. Most menus load swiftly, while scrolling through long lists and opening large files doesn't result in too long of a delay.
The Touch Dual has a 2-megapixel camera with a self-portrait mirror, but the lack of flash means night-time photography is near impossible. It includes a two- or 10-second self-timer, white balance adjustment and several effects.
