BostonPocketPC

HTC announced its latest handset at formerly known as the HTC Raphael, will now be known as the HTC Touch Pro.

HTC Corp., a global leader in mobile phone innovation and design, today unveiled its advanced next generation business phone, the HTC Touch Pro™. Bringing a beautiful new angle to mobile business productivity, the HTC Touch Pro utilizes similar styling and functionality of the highly anticipated Touch Diamond™ and introduces a variety of business-focused enhancements that make getting work done on the go quick and easy.

The rest of the Press release is here. HTC also announced some accessories for both the Touch Diamond and Touch Pro with similarly designed desktop cradles,a travel charger accessory pack, an extended battery and slim collapsible case for the Touch Diamond.

Compared to the HTC Touch Diamond, which is available this week online for the price of $795.95 (Check some great videos of it on YouTube), Touch Pro is basically the same device with a 5 row keyboard which only adds 6.77mm about 60% thickness. The Touch Pro also has a larger battery (1350mAh vs. 900mAh), but it also has less storage space due to the fact that the Touch Pro adds a microSD slot for expansion,which is more aligned for Power Users and people like myself, who like the ability for expandability.  Another interesting thing that is added is the HTC Ext USB that is 11-pin miniUSB 2.0 port, audio jack and TV out so you can display your PowerPoint presentations on the big screen. I don't know if the Touch Pro has the same magnet in the stylus like the Touch Diamond, that turns the device on when removed, but one can only assume it does. It looks like HTC is covering all their bases and has another nice looking device on their hands and looks to be the sole competitor to the Sony Xperia for my next device.

Also before you ask, HTC won’t be releasing this in the US yet due to the lack of the 850 band support, but I am sure many will still order one via online retailers according to HTC in late 2008. Hopefully retail outlets like BestBuy will also make these available in the US for easy purchasing of nice unlocked phones.

HTC Touch Pro Specifications:

• Processor:Qualcomm® MSM7201A™ 528 MHz
• Operating System: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Memory: ROM: 512 MB and RAM: 288MB
• Dimensions: 102 mm (L) X 51 mm (W) X 18.05 mm (T)
• Weight: 165 g (with battery)
• Display: 2.8-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with VGA resolution
• HSDPA/WCDMA: in Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz - Up to 384 kbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds
• Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE in Europe/Asia: 900/1800/1900 MHz (Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent.)
• Device Control:
  TouchFLO™ 3D
  Touch-sensitive navigation control
• Keyboard:Slide-out 5-row QWERTY keyboard
• GPS: GPS and A-GPS ready
• Connectivity:
  Bluetooth® 2.0 with EDR
  Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g
  HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0, audio jack, and TV Out* all in one)
• Main camera: 3.2 megapixel color camera with auto focus and flash light
• Second camera: VGA CMOS color camera
• Audio:40 polyphonic and standard MIDI format 0 and 1 (SMF)/SP MIDI
  Built-in microphone, speaker and FM radio with RDS
  Ring tone supported formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WAV, and AMR-NB
• Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-ion or Lithium-ion polymer battery
  Capacity: 1340 mAh
• Talk time: Up to 397 minutes for WCDMA /Up to 485 minutes for GSM
• Standby time: Up to 503 hours for WCDMA / Up to 406 hours for GSM
• Video call time: Up to 201 minutes for WCDMA
  (The above are subject to network and phone usage.)
• Expansion Slot:microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
• AC Adapter:Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz
  DC output: 5V and 1A

* HTC TV Out cable needed.

There are more pictures of the Touch Pro in their gallery here.