HTC Touch Pro 3 rumoured for summer, likely to disappoint

March 14, 2010 | By Surur

A poster at XDA-Developers who claims to have inside knowledge of HTC’s release plans has said HTC intends to release the latest version of HTC Touch Pro franchise this summer.

Just had a dinner with a friend of mine who is the main distributor for HTC in Europe, and he informed that they will receive the first shipment of Touch Pro3′s this summer and they will be on sale in Europe third quarter of this year. This is my main contact for HTC devices and he arranges a Touch Pro2 for me 4 months before it was officially released…He told me that the device will be much smaller and thinner, and soon he will provide me with the evidence including the full specifications Do you guys think this would be something you would purchase or would you rather wait for the Windows Phone 7?

With the claimed device said to be smaller, the poster is likely referring to the HTC Tera, a QWERTY slider with a 3.0 inch WQVGA resistive screen. Given that Microsoft is basically sunsetting Windows Mobile, it is unlikely HTC will release any high end Windows Mobile handsets until the arrival of Windows Phone 7.

Is there a market for these low-end devices? Let us know below.

Via Techie-buzz.com

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged htc touch pro 3

Goel

Probably there is a market for that … for people who don't know anything about the upcoming WP7.

But not me, I won't buy anything unless WP7 is officially released and the hardware is certified for it.
http://intensedebate.com/people/l3v5y l3v5y

This is at least confirming that there will be some support for a low end business oriented platform. There have been numerous rumours of a Windows Mobile (or Phone) 6.6, that is effectively an upgrade to 6.5, but with an interface more similar to that of WP7.

We may end up with some kind of three tiered strategy:
WP7 – premium, consumer oriented phones
WP6.6 – highend (ish) business oriented devices
WP6.5 – low end, developing market, no 3G etc

Or WP6.6 and 6.5 could be the same OS covering both of those markets.
Sarkis

Resistive screens are DEAD…..move on !

http://twitter.com/Rovex @Rovex

Capacitive screens are limited and annoying. They are not progress.

andyr

I may be interested. It depends on the specs. I personally don't care about the screen. WQVGA was fine on my Omnia, but my next phone needs to be faster, better than the TP2, and I still like the tilting screen. I'm thinking about all my apps that I won't be able to use on Series7…
http://twitter.com/peterpulmonary1 @peterpulmonary1

the tilting screen is special. nothing like it for working on docs.
it would be good if they could make them compatible with wp7. that would be a powerful tool

its wonderful and amazing that at release, the tp2 was pinnacle of wm phones, abruptly eclipsed by hd2, in turn made obsolete in the midst of its roll out, by wp7.
Moaske

Funny to see how the cutting edge TPRO2 smartphone became a mere lowend phone in peoples perception…
I just switched to android, but i can tell you all that WinMO is the best businessphone there is….even with the aging OS which performs these tasks perfectly

I might even get one to replace my recently deceased TPro/Fuze…. ;-0

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=5401995 Christopher Hippolyte

Is it really suprising that people percieve the TP2 mid-end,considering how the Touch Pro and X1 brought everything that the TP2 has an entire year earlier?

blanket

i don't see how the tp3 would be the 'upgrade' from tp2, or even tp1 if it's the htc tera as rumoured and specs are indeed as leaked

in fact, it seems like a downgrade and a complete disgrace to the 'touch pro' line (although it only consists of 2 phones, 4 if u include the tytn and tytn 2)

wqvga and a 600mhz qualcomm cpu which STILL doesn't have proper drivers?

http://intensedebate.com/people/peterfares peterfares

I agree with this. Those specifications are almost all worse than the Touch Pro 2.
There have actually been 5 generations of sliders, you forgot the first generation (HTC Wizard).

andyr

Okaaaay… I may have to retract what I said. 600mhz!!! UGH! Where can I get these specs?

http://intensedebate.com/people/mohsen7x8 mighty

Yeah there is a market for these phones. Actually, the more the HTC brand gets famous and the more people decide to buy from it, the need for low-end phones rises. Most people don't wanna spend 600-700 dollars on a phone.
Somy

If this is true then it is less impressive than my Xperia which was/is a great phone……. two years ago.

I was hoping for something of a cross between the HD2 and TP2. A 1GHz Snapdragon with a 4" WVGA capacitive screen would be nice, even better if it had a multitouch resistive screen. A 3.5mm headphone jack is a must, and video out via HDMI would make it an awesome business phone.

Seems kinda strange for HTC to go backward in specs, especially resolution, and that fact that they still have not got the message that we no longer want OLD Qualcomm chipsets astounds me!
Rusty

The SERO owner in me loves anything that might be compatible with my plan. But the Xbox/Zune-loving realist in me knows that my butt will likely be transitioning over to a WP7 device.
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Abdallah Awayda

I think that the HTC touch pro 2 was the best phone released by HTC till now and it’s a disgrace if the touch pro 3 was released with less than the following specs:
1.5 GHz CPU Snapdragon.
1 GB Ram
1 GB Rom
Multitouch touch screen 3.8 inch
Slimmer design while maintaining the cool hard keyboard and the tilting Screen
Operator windows mobile 6.5 upgradable to windows mobile 7
Abdallah Awayda

I think that the HTC touch pro 2 was the best phone released by HTC till now and it’s a disgrace if the touch pro 3 was released with less than the following specs:
1.5 GHz CPU Snapdragon.
1 GB Ram
1 GB Rom
Multitouch touch screen 3.8 inch
Audio 3.5 , Mini usb, and hdmi output
Slimmer design while maintaining the cool hard keyboard and the tilting Screen
Operator windows mobile 6.5 upgradable to windows mobile 7

JTH

I agree – the speed and response must be better. Snap Dragon, and ample storage are a must

Kingpinda

There are several rumours but most stating 1 or 1.5 ghz. 600 mhz would be indeed a letdown and well frankly I wouldnt want to have WP 7 on my new phone. Have you seen the demo´s? They are primarily targetting youngsters and young adults who extensively make use of community networks like, blogs, facebook, twitter and what not. No doubt this new OS will be very handy and appealing in that perspective. For me however I want to use it for work and so i don´t need to carry around a laptop. The latest builds of WM6.5 will do nicely for me. I love to tweak my phone and install beta apps. I flash my phone once a week and still are able to use it for work. With WP7 what i hear is that only apps through the market can be installed. both internal and external sd will be jumbled together data wise and you don´t know on which sd particular data is present. All these factors might be for the better for most consumers but not for me. I want to be in control of my phone.
Kingpinda

Further more I tried capacitive screens but i can´t get used to it. I accidently start up things on my girlfriends android phone, you need japanese sausages during winter times. I think future developed multi resistive touchscreens would be very big competition compared to capacitive screens still.
Kingpinda

Oeh forgot the most important part though hehe. Owning now a htc touch pro (Raphael) My next phone will be most probably be the HTC touch pro 3. Was thinking about HD 3 but still bit worried about the capacitive screen not to mention lack of hardware keyboard. Whatever OS will be present I´ll take for granted then and if not happy i´ll wait so i can HSPL it and go back to WM6.5
Cerealfreak

For those of us wanting the WM6.5.X experience I think we will still get it for at least a couple of years, yet. HTC will still release phones and I think any Touch Pro 3 will be a massive improvement. It will likely be similar in size to the HD2 and better specs, there are some dream mock ups out there on what I'd like in a phone but I have to be realistic.

1ghz+ Snapdragon
512MB Rom
8GB Storage
4"(minimum) Multitouch
Sliding hardware keyboard only thinner
Tilting screen
5mp camera (minimum with flash)
2100Ma Li-Ion battery

These are necessary minimal specs IMHO, on top of this I would like to see

Built in mobile projector
12mp Carl Zeiss Xenon Flash Camera

WM6.5.X NRG Rom
Zoot

The photo shows a four-line keyboard. A non-starter. People who buy on of these want a keyboard – why deny them a proper keyboard and go backwards?
SnittyKitty

I own a T-Mobile Touch Pro 2 (HTC Rhodium). My 20 year old stepson has the HTC HD 2 (Leo). I love his device with one exception; a physical keyboard. For the life of me I do not understand why HTC didn't simply upgrade the Touch Pro 2s hardware and bring it up to speed with the Leo in the exact same form factor as the TP2 and call it the Touch Pro 3 (TP3). Do I think there's a market for a smaller TP2; yes, the damn thing with my Body Glove hard case is the size of a brick and about as heavy too. A smaller "business" phone or consumer "true" smartphone does have its place but calling it the Touch Pro 3 is just plains stupid. Upgrades go up, not backwards.

Eric

I agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have the HDC HD2 and if it had a QWERTY I would consider it to be the last phone I would ever buy simply because it does all I need it to. I'm not buying into WM7, The iphone or even android. I have no interest in loosing the number of file formats I can handle. Its bad enough I had to give up resistive for a hyper sensitive capacitive touchscreen & loose my QWERTY Keyboard all in the name of a better camera, more user friendly OS & faster processor but the Buck stops here! I'm not moving anymore as their is nothing else I want but a god dammed QWERTY on my HD2!

mariano3113

+1 @SnittyKitty

A TP2 with updated hardware = Best Smartphone on the market. After being impressed with the speed of the HD2 but disappointed with the build quality and lack of both a harware keyboard and TV-Out……….I went back to my TP2. Also after playing with the clockspeed and running the TP2 overclocked at anyhting above 672MHz yields fluid response. The lag is gone and the interface feels refreshed almost feeling as smooth as the Capacitive HD2 and the animations move at almost the same speed it is amazing. But that also causes it to hang when certain apps are opened or calls are placed.( Reason the HD2 isn't as fast as it should be is 1) Drivers and 2)WinMO 6.5 or Windows Mobile in general wasn't ment to be run on a Capacitive screen so there are a lot of conflicts that need to be addressed.

I agree HTC should not stray from the TP2's design……. While it may appear bulky- I think a larger screen screen would be too much device to carry around if we want to retain the tilting hardware keyboard.

I also don't feel it really needs a camera larger than 3.2 Megapixels…………How many of us can afford a display to view 3. 2 megapixels natively on 1:1 pixel count………….I myself could not. However I would prefer if they had a Carl Zeiss camera with proper drivers and a decent flash. As for the screen I prefer either a multi-touch resistive or the hybrid capacitve-resitstive screen ( http://pocketnow.com/tech-news/hybrid-capacitive-… ) even though RIM applied for a patent for the latter. Specs any Snapdragon would be fine preferrably the one that allows for TV-Out and has the better battery life. Enlarge the battery's capacity……..and what the heck offer it in multiple flavors. One with Android and one with Windows Mobile……………….

And if they could they could possibly sell it as a developer's type phone and just make a CDMA-GSM World Phone……………..I'm sure that there are enough people that would appreciate the device to justify buying it without a contract and just purchasing it unlocked. It would be perfect……….heck they can just skip the 3 mniker and call it the Touch Pro Elite
Alan

I just want the HTC Touch Pro3 to be better than the Samsung Epic and Evo, they need to just make upgrades. If htc made it a good planner phone, for scheduling, and meetings, etc, keep the stylus pen and slide out qwerty keyboard Htc would get a lot of sales. I would never get the new Samsung Epic I hate SAMSUNG and all there other products they suck. HTC needs to compete and bring out there new phone. Anyone agree. I want a new HTC TOUCH PRO3 bad, never owned a HTC phone but I'm hoping HTC is the future for me I want there PDA I know they can match the samsung epic and they will. This HTC TP3 will be the bomb when its out. I'll be the first one to purchase it thats for sure.