HTC Touch - iPhone competitor?

HTC presents a new Windows Mobile 6 based smartphone with a 2.8-inch touchscreen. The firm says the Touch offers a new and unique way of controlling touch screen-based devices by recognising and responding to the sweep of a finger across the screen. The device is also intelligent enough to distinguish between finger and stylus input and then respond accordingly.

The HTC Touch is the first device to feature TouchFLO, the new underlying touch screen technology developed by HTC. Consumers simply sweep their finger up the display to launch an animated, three-dimensional interface comprising three screens: Contacts, Media and Applications. The interface can be spun by swiping a finger right or left across the display, providing efficient access to the features consumers use most. TouchFLO also enhances finger touch scrolling and browsing of Web pages, documents, messages and contact lists.

Here's a look at the features:

Dimensions: 99.9mm (L) x 58mm (W) x 13.9mm (T)

Weight: 112g with battery

1GB microSD storage card included / 64MB RAM, 128MB ROM

2.8" LCD touch screen with backlight, 240 x 320 dots resolution with 65,536 colours

Battery Life: Rechargeable Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 1100 mAh

Standby time: Up to 200 / Talk time: Up to 5 hours

Camera: 2.0 mega-pixel CMOS colour camera

Windows Mobile 6 Professional with Direct Push Email and HTML email support

Wireless Connectivity: GSM/GPRS/EDGE Tri-band: 900, 1800,1900, Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth 2.0

Choice of two colors at launch - elegant soft black or alluring wasabi green

The HTC Touch is available immediately in the U.K., Asia and Europe will follow later this month and North and South America will get the HTC Touch in the second half of this year.