HTC Hopes Smartphone Will Touch Business Users

Mobile professionals who like the touch-screen interface of an iPhone but demand tactile keys may want to take a close look at High Tech Computer's newly unveiled Touch Pro.

As with the iPhone, users can navigate HTC's smartphone with a touch-sensitive screen, but the Touch Pro also packs a large, five-row sliding QWERTY keyboard. This is an important differentiator, as some analysts see the lack of tactile feedback as a chink in Apple's armor for business users.

The Touch Pro is essentially a Touch Diamond with a full keyboard. The slide-out keyboard does add some thickness to the device, as it is 18.5 millimeters thick, compared with 11.4 millimeters for the Diamond.

The Touch Pro runs on Windows Mobile 6.1, allows viewing and editing documents, and can utilize carriers' 3G broadband-like networks for Web browsing and checking e-mails. The smartphone also has integrated Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth support.

The Pro sports a 2.8-inch touch-sensitive screen with VGA resolution, a 3.2-megapixel camera, and 4 GB of internal storage. There's also a built-in microphone, FM radio, and multimedia player. Users can get up to four hours of talk time on a full battery, the company said.

The company plans to offer the Touch Pro through all major European carriers in "late summer," and versions for North America and Latin America should roll out by the end of the year.

With the success of HTC's Touch line of smartphones -- which includes the Touch, Touch Dual, Touch Diamond, and the Touch Cruise -- the company's profits increased 15% last year to $949.4 million on $3.8 billion in revenue.