GO WITH THE FLO

The Touch Cruise, the third Touch phone to be launched by HTC, has built on its predecessors—the HTC Touch and Touch Dual. Apart from its built-in GPS, the Cruise also features HSDPA wireless connectivity, which can deliver three to four times the data capacity and three to four times the data access rates possible with earlier 3G technology. Another area where the Cruise excels over its older siblings is its 3MP camera with autofocus.

HTC’s TouchFLO technology makes scrolling and browsing through Web pages, documents, messages and contact lists easier. TouchFLO also lets you view photographs and slideshows using on-screen controls, all the while letting you zoom and rotate images. This feature can be controlled by simply sweeping a finger across the screen, upwards to activate it, downwards to return to normal mode. The animated, three-dimensional interface comprises three screens — contacts, media and applications—and you swipe a finger right or left across the display for quick access to most-used features.

Apart from HSDPA connectivity, the Cruise also boasts Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. Other features include an FM radio and a microSD memory card slot for adding to the 256MB ROM and 128MB internal memory. (A 1GB microSD memory card comes with the phone) The phone also comes with WorldCard Mobile to manage business cards more efficiently.

The Cruise’s 2.8” LCD screen delivers an excellent multimedia experience. The phone has a Windows Mobile 6 Professional base and features the Windows Media Player for playing music and movies. Its Audio Manager, an alternative to the media player, is a pleasant surprise. It only works with the hands-free/headphones plugged in and lets you adjust bass, treble and even 3D sound. All this in addition to the graphic equaliser. While it can play Windows Media Player playlists, the Audio Manager also lets you set your favourite tracks as ringtones.

However, the earphones provided with the phone are uncomfortable at best. They are perhaps meant for oversized ears and you will have to keep the volume at maximum to get something out of them. The single and unique charger/data cable/hands-free port also means you can’t go in for noise-cancelling headphones from other manufacturers.

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