[Touch Pro, Fuze General] thehyecircus:
There’s an accelerometer in it too so it can do the flip to landscape mode when you turn it round. Unfortunately, this isn’t as responsive as I would have liked, due to the delay in re-rendering the page.

Unfortunately there’s no 3.5mm headphone socket, so you’ll either need to use the typically poor supplied headphones with their mini USB connector, or invest in a Windows mobile remote into which you can plug your own headphones.

However, while it should be possible to scroll up and down between messages like this I found that I instead found that I usually just opened the email as soon as I touched the screen. Once you do, you’re left with the regular clunky Windows Mobile interface, which means getting out the stylus.

A true indicator of the limits of Touch Flo 3D is that it doesn’t present a consistent interface across the whole device. When in regular portrait mode, pressing on the on-screen soft menu buttons in any given application will bring up a list of enlarged, and therefore easy to use with the fingers, menu options, but when you open the keyboard and turn it sideways you get standard Windows Mobile menus.

The inconsistencies carry over to web browsing. While in portrait mode the default page gives you a search box. By contrast, when you open the keyboard and select the Web Search button, it fires up Google.com instead. Furthermore, in portrait mode, double tapping the address bar brings up the search box, into which you can type using the on-screen keyboard. However if you flip open the keyboard and try and do the same the box keeps on disappearing, which is slightly maddening.

Furthermore, while Opera Mobile does a great job of reflowing text to fit the screen, and is generally very good, it does seem to strain the processing power of the device and the browser has a hard job differentiating between taps to cause the page to zoom, and taps to click through on links. Try converting currencies at www.xe.com using the Opera browser as an example – it’s an exercise in frustration.

However, while it all seems smooth at first, when one gets to use the phone for a prolonged period problems start to surface. The issue is that Windows Mobile as an operating system is decidedly sluggish and nothing HTC has done on the surface can disguise this. When the phone rings, there seems to be an unnerving hesitation between pressing the answer button and the call connecting – and ending a call is worse.

Other bugs encountered include the camera application having a tendency to freeze up, and frequent ‘manila.exe’ crash messages that seems to occur when it’s asked to do too much, too quickly.

If you put up with these, you’ll find a very capable device, that’s brimming with useful features but it has to be said that there are rather too many for it to earn a recommendation.

There’s much to be impressed about with the Touch Pro, and much of the time, impress it does, but the irritations of the interface of Windows Mobile and the responsiveness are never too far off, despite HTC’s best efforts.

If you’re set on, or restricted to, Windows Mobile, and want a keyboard, the Touch Pro has to be recommended as the best of the bunch. If you’re happy to cast your net wider however, we’d have to say that we’d choose a Blackberry Bold, Nokia E71, or indeed iPhone over this every time.