By ONG BOON KIAT

See the phone

SMARTPHONES are getting more powerful, but harnessing all that computing power to deliver palm-sized applications that work well is no mean feat.

Much-touted: The multi-party conference calling feature is impressive.Put the phone face-down on a table with its rear-facing speakers facing up, and the phone turns into a workplace collaboration tool
Count Taiwanese vendor HTC's new smartphone Touch Pro2 as another step forward in this direction.

Since its unveiling at February's GSMA Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, the Pro2 has generated plenty of buzz - for its bag of features, for the updated and even-snazzier TouchFLO interface, and for the sheer computing power on tap.

Out of the box, the phone's solid-hewn body gives it a reassuring and luxurious feel. Flip it over, and it turns into a group audio-conferencing device - one of the raft of excellent business-centric features served up by HTC.

Beating to a Qualcomm 528MHz processor heart, the Pro2 is on paper one of the most powerful phones in the market. It runs on the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system, itself cloaked and made easier to use by HTC's famed TouchFLO 3D interface. It comes with two cameras: a 3.2-megapixel main camera for picture-taking and video-shooting, and a front-facing VGA camera for video-calls. A microSD card slot lets users beef up the paltry onboard 288MB memory.

The Pro2 immediately impresses with its bright and razor-sharp 3.6-inch touchscreen display, which packs plenty of image resolution (480x800 pixels). It is also extremely sensitive to touch. Using the finger to operate on-screen menus and applications proved fast and accurate, while flicking-and-scrolling is a cinch. For the more hamfisted, a stylus is provided.

As connectivity goes, the Pro2 won't be found wanting: quadband (850,900,1800,1900 MHz) radio, High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), stereo Bluetooth, Web-assisted Global Positioning System (GPS) and a TV-out option.

A built-in gravity sensor, or accelerometer, automatically rotates the display to its right orientation when the phone is titled, as well as mutes incoming call rings when the phone is turned face-down. A proximity sensor automatically switches off the display when the phone is at the ear, and turns it back on when it is held at an arm's length for, say, note-taking during a call.

The Pro2 packs a raft of productivity and business-centric goodies, among them calendar, contact-management and mobile office applications. The much-touted multi-party conference calling feature is also impressive. Put the phone face-down on a boardroom table with its rear-facing speakers facing up, and the phone turns into a workplace collaboration tool.

Business users will also warm up to the superb slide-out Qwerty keypad. Its subtle backlighting, well-spaced layout, bevelled keys and tactile feel of the keys makes typing long email messages a joy on a smartphone, for a change.

And top marks to HTC for paying attention to the basic chore of handling phone calls, and making it work better. Via a simple call interface, users are able to easily perform a number of call-related chores while speaking on the phone, like checking call history of the number they are dialling, take notes, activate voice recording, amend calendars and send out text messages. Nice touch, HTC.

Audio quality - both through the headphones and speakers - is superb. But here also lies my main peeve with the Pro2 - the lack of a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. Having one would have allowed users to plug in their favourite headphones, handsfree kits and speaker systems. Instead, a niggly multi-function mini USB plug is used to provide audio output, as well as battery-charging and TV output.

My other quibbles are the occasionally laggy response of the phone and its pocket-unfriendly heft. To be fair, responsiveness was generally a non-issue during the review period - even though the Pro2's TouchFLO interface feels overall more laggy than, say, the HTC Magic. But the issue becomes noticeable when browsing large music libraries and accessing multimedia Web resources such as YouTube.

With the phone so well-endowed, its bulk is perhaps understandable. But weighing 188g, the Pro2 will sag pockets uncomfortably. It is also one of the chunkier phones around, measuring 116mm x59mmx17mm.

The bottomline: the HTC Touch Pro2 is arguably the best smartphone yet to run on the Windows Mobile platform, and a great tool for business executives and power users - if they don't mind lugging a bit of extra weight around. Available at $1,328 without operator contract.

This story was first published in The Business Times.