HTC Touch Cruise First Look

The HTC Touch family has a new member, and it packs a punch. Sharing more of a family resemblance (specification wise) to the TyTn II, the Touch Cruise packs all the Tytn II features into a keyboard-less, slimmer form factor. With a flush 2.8 inch screen, the HTC's Touch Flo navigation becomes a pleasure to use. The Cruise features built-in GPS,Tri-band UMTS/HSDPA and Quad-band EDGE/GPRS. The following is an my first impressions of the Touch Cruise.

First Impressions

I have had the Cruise for a couple of days now. My first impressions are overwhelming....I like it!! With all the negative press HTC has been getting for not taking advantage of the graphics capability of the MSM7200 chipset I have to say that although the Cruise would benefit from the proper drivers, overall performance of the device, especially the use of TouchFlo is not really an issue. The device performs nicely and moves along with the help of the generous amount of RAM.

Phone quality has been excellent (on AT&T) and signal quality has been just a bit better than the Treo 750. Even at work, where I am surrounded by computer equipment and in the center of a large building, the Cruise does manage to keep a 3G lock where the Treo would be knocked down to a 2 bar EDGE signal.

Some have complained about the amount of pressure needed on the screen in order initiate an action. To be fair, I think some of those complaints are because the Cruise is compared to devices like the Apple iPhone and the Apple Touch. Out of the box the Touch Cruise does need a bit more pressure on the screen but nothing too extreme. There are several registry hacks that change the pressure sensitivity and scrolling speed which, when applied, improve the overall experience.

I have used the GPS briefly with both Google Maps and Windows Live Search. It it of the aGPS variety so the lock on time is assisted by using an active data connection to fix on your coordinates. The Cruise also includes an FM radio but can only be used if the included (mini USB) headphones are used since the headphone include the FM antenna.

Well what about the battery? The jury is still out on that. I am going to need to break in the battery to get a better idea of how well the 13050mah battery performs. During the first couple of days, I was able to get a full work day of moderate use out of the device. Overall, I would say it was no worse than any other Windows Mobile device I have used in the past. In effect, the battery performed just about the same as my 1600mah battery that I used in the Treo 750. Of course, the use of WiFi and GPS will affect how much time you get out of the standard battery. When I use such features, I try to use each in spurts only unless I am near a charging source.

Coming from a full qwerty device, I was concerned over losing the front facing keyboard. Keep in mind, since getting the Apple Touch, I have grown accustomed to a well designed software keyboard. The standard keyboards provided by HTC include a 20 key and 12 key solution based on XT9 and multi-tap. While they weren't too bad, I went ahead and purchased a copy of CooTek's TouchPal Pro and I am very happy with it. With TouchPal, I am not missing the Treo's keyboard at all. Keep in mind, that software keyboards are not for everyone. However, if light typing/texting or data entry is required, there are many options on the marketplace that do the job just fine.

HTC has done a nice job of packaging the Touch Cruise. First impressions are important!

Front of the Touch Cruise. As to be expected on a device touted as a "touch", the 2.8 inch flush screen is the highlight of the front. To the right of the phone speaker, is a front facing camera that can be used for video calling. Not much going on with regards to buttons. On the left you have phone start (upper) and GPS start (Lower). On the right, call end (upper) and browser start (lower). The application buttons are re-mappable.