HTC, one of the biggest Windows Mobile devices maker, announced global launch of the HTC Touch™, a deceptively small and stylish mobile phone that ushers in an innovative new concept in intuitive touch screen navigation. Orange is the first pan-European operator to launch the HTC Touch™.

The groundbreaking HTC 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. It is intelligent enough to distinguish between finger and stylus input and then respond accordingly.

Smart, stylish and versatile, the HTC Touch™ brings together a wide variety of communication, entertainment and professional capabilities that enable mobile consumers to balance work and play. The new HTC-designed homescreen provides one-touch access to emails, text messages, calendar appointments and contacts, as well as current weather conditions and forecasts for hundreds of cities around the world.

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. Leveraging the broad functionality of Windows Mobile 6 Professional, the HTC Touch™ includes Outlook Mobile, Office Mobile and the capabilities to run thousands of third-party applications. Users can surf the web with Internet Explorer®, send and receive emails, chat and upload files to the internet. The HTC Touch™ also features a 2 mega-pixel camera, a large 2.8-inch colour LCD screen and comes with a 1GB microSD card, giving users the versatility to store, upload and share multimedia content with ease.

The HTC Touch™ will be available to customers across Europe and Asia this month, beginning today in the United Kingdom. The HTC Touch™ will be initially available to Orange customers in the UK, France, Spain and the Netherlands.

HTC Touch™ key 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 colours at launch – elegant soft black or alluring wasabi