HTC Touch Smart Phone Goes 3G

Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC) has taken the wraps off a thinner, faster version of its Touch smartphone.

"This is the much anticipated 3G version of Touch," Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, said at a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday.

From the outside the HTC-1100 looks much like the existing Touch handset, which was launched in June this year and is based on the same Windows Mobile 6 operating system. But there are some changes inside.

While the original Touch works only on second-generation GSM (global system for mobile communications) networks, the HTC-1100 works on both GSM and 3G (third-generation) WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) networks. The data transfer capabilities include support for 3.6M bps (bit per second) HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) networks.

The Wi-Fi in the previous version is gone from the HT1100, however. That's because there was more of an emphasis on design, and the inclusion of Wi-Fi would have led to a thicker handset. Other changes include a slight reduction in screen size, from 2.8-inches to 2.6-inches.

The phone includes the same gesture-based touch-screen navigation system, called TouchFlo. Other features include an FM radio, an audio player and support for streaming media including YouTube Mobile. There's a 2-megapixel camera on the back for taking pictures, and a 100,000-pixel resolution camera on the front for video-conferencing.

The device measures 107 millimeters by 55 mm by 16.5 mm and weighs 120 grams. It will go on sale early next year through NTT DoCoMo Inc. in Japan. Plans for other countries have not been decided, HTC said.

The HTC-1100 was unveiled alongside the first smart phone from Japan's Fujitsu Ltd. Like the HTC-1100, the F1100 is a slider-type handset running Windows Mobile 6. It will be available early next year.

The device can function as both a conventional cell phone, via a WCDMA network, and as a VOIP handset using 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi networks. The device is designed to work with Fujitsu's corporate VOIP systems, allowing employees to make internal video calls in much the same way as they make cell phone calls.

The phone also supports 3.6M bps HSDPA and comes with a fingerprint reader and a 1.3-megapixel camera. It measures 112 mm by 51 mm by 16.9 mm.