HTC Touch Cruise Review
Review by Dmitry Ryabinin (smape.com)
Many experts were a bit too quick to compare the novelty with such models as E-TEN glofiish X600, reasonably putting forward an argument that it presents the
same sequel of the last year's X500 as Touch Cruise with P3300. However that is totally false association for a very simple reason - HTC itself does not
position Polaris as a substitute for Artemis. A worthy sequel is going to appear only in next year and won’t be much more expensive than the original - as a
matter of fact, the situation loosely follows the link established between X500 and X600. The difference in price with the last one is so considerable (E-TEN
glofiish X600 costs about 450 euros, HTC Touch Cruise – almost 650 euros) that these devices are only comparable in terms of their release dates and that’s
not a fact that E-TEN won’t fail to meet the delivery dates again (the company are still having problems with X800). It is not difficult to understand that
X600 is little more than a copy of the last year's E-TEN development in new design (let’s remind that WM6 was available for X500 as well). And as for the
difference between P3300 and Touch Cruise, it is really great - comparing the both devices, HTC tried to consider all the possible complaints of those
displeased by P3300. In particular, memory card hot swap support, faster CPU, etc. As a result we get an unique offering – a top class navigation
communicator which has no direct competitors in the market. The nearest analogs (in terms of price as well) Gigabyte GSmart i350 and E-TEN glofiish X800 can
only boast a VGA-screen, but the value of this point can be easily understood by the example of other large WM players - at present no one has supported the
undertaking of said companies and that speaks for itself.
Touch Cruise (Polaris) cannot be considered a revolution either, after all the model is based off two well-known products – TyTN II (Kaiser) hardware stuff
and Touch Dual (Nike) software platform. Besides that an integrated FM-tuner module added for the rest a product is evolutional. The latter is only to HTC
advantage, after all the company products are on the rise recently - suffice it to mention a 15 million device plan for the next year which is a level of LG
world sales including the region of Asia. These are very good figures, the nearest WM competitors lagging behind not by times and to a degree! As a result
before ASUS or Samsung activation in this segment or Nokia entering it HTC will for long remain an absolute platform leader. For this very reason it isn’t
worth while expecting serious competition between WM and Symbian in the nearest future, for the latter is developed by such giants as Nokia, Samsung and
others (S60) as well as Sony Ericsson, Motorola and others (UIQ). The situation will change only with Microsoft’s desire to share the financial interests
with larger licensees of patent rights. However it is unprofitable for HTC themselves first of all that’s why the company shows active resistance to this
process though is well informed of negotiations (and even lots of ready Nokia on Windows Mobile prototype smartphones) of which it does not hesitate to speak
in public. In any case the next year for HTC will be really hectic not only because of sky-high sale amounts but also the release of smart Nokia phones with
touch screens. An interesting time is coming. Well, now let’s talk about the essential …
As evident, it is really a top model - excluding TouchFLO, it is a TyTN II flagman without keyboard moreover with the radio. Considering keyboard WM
communicators sell times worse than classical ones, such step is more than justified. At the same time let’s pay attention to size and weight - they are
moderate for the model functionality. To tell the truth it can hardly be said about the price which is above the average. The reason is simple once again -
HTC does not position Touch Cruise as a mass product. And nobody cancelled the price of a well-known brand; Nokia and Sony Ericsson are similarly overpriced
as compared with Sagem and Fly. If one needs the highest possible available decision he’d rather look closely at something less sophisticated like E-TEN and
others.
Sales Package
HTC Touch Cruise comes with a bundling typical to most PDA phones; there are no nice extras like a memory card that came with the original Touch or a cradle
that came with P3300. The latter decision, however, was taken under the pressure of retailers who complained of a decline in demand for accessories. The
sales package also includes a USB/HTC ExtUSB data cable, a wire stereo headset (suited to fit the ExtUSB standard), a battery, a software disk, a printed
manual and a case to carry the phone in. The package is a little bit poor taking note of considerable price on Cruise; one could expect a more complete set.
Design, ergonomics
HTC Touch Cruise is very wierdly built. And that’s not the matter of design itself; it is just the one you may dislike. The succession of models is more
important, for the novelty looks exactly like P3300 and the absence of screen-to-edge transition makes it allied to Touch. As a result the device combines
the tendencies of the company’s two bestsellers. The admirers of either will find something in this model, that fact helps reach maximal coverage. As for
Cruise design, smooth surface of the face panel looks disputable - it makes the device more easily soiled and less solid. The latter is particularly critical
for a high price range. However, this moment is subjective, we shall not pronounce sentences here, everyone will decide it for himself.
Soft-touch is employed everywhere except for the face panel, the side edges have glossy inserts. The casing is completely made out of plastic, that’s not to
top product’s advantage. However the quality is high – it doesn’t creak at squeezing at all, the back panel doesn’t play. The coating is wear-resistant, for
a month of active work it got neither worn nor scratched. The same concerns the smooth face panel, that’s why it cannot be considered absolutely
unsuccessful. According to popularity of this tendency among ordinary phones (smooth panel models are produced by Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and
others) there is quite a number of them.
As it was already mentioned the model enjoys moderately small dimensions, that’s why it sits in hand rather comfortably. The ExtUSB slot is put on the bottom
edge unlike with Dual (which had it on the left edge of the body) it is way more convenient - nothing interferes when the headset is plugged in. By
illustrations one can think that the navigation block is touch-sensitive, but it is not so – the stylization deceives (as with 8800 Arte). The keys are
ordinary with a good stroke but they are only four in number, HTC refused the habitual OK and Start. The loss is minor (when desired the keys can be
reassigned) as well as concerning the RollR trackball replacement by the ordinary key in comparison with P3300. The scroll wheel became more convenient and
reminds of a similar solution with Samsung, it is especially useful at web-pages scrolling - to some extent it is an equivalent to TyTN II side element. The
binding of this element to HTC gallery zoom management pleased, it is really simple and convenient.
Above the screen there is a front VGA-camera for video telephony and a speaker with two indicators. The left burns green, yellow and red - a signal, an event
and a charge. The right - blue, green and yellow - Bt, Wi-Fi and GPS. The system is rather consistent though sometimes not too obvious - the same Gigabyte
realized it in i350 much more successfully, the indicators are more noticeable. A new implementation of the memory expansion slot is a serious step forward
in comparison with P3300 and Touch; it keeps with the highest of standards allowing the long-expected hot swapping support. It’s simply wonderful that the
HTC guys were smart enough to notice the awkwardness of the side piece hosting expansion and SIM card slots in the earlier Touch model. An under-battery
microSD "geography" like with Artemis is a history now.
The power button blocks the keypad just like it used to, which is rather convenient. Besides, multimedia accessories appear gradually that makes Cruise
attractive to music fans as well. In November a 3.5 mm adapter will be available as an option and in December - a quality set with the control unit on a wire
and a 3.5 mm output on it. It will cost about 40 euros and the adapter will go for about 15 euros. Running a few steps forward let’s note that the Cruise
speaker’s maximal volume (as well as that of Dual) is a little bit higher than with Touch and P3300; the audio section is of high quality, even the volume
does not let down, there is no problem with Bluetooth (A2DP) as well.
The Touch Cruise device offers the user a unique software solution for data input - the trademark virtual keyboard , being an alternative to the regular
keyboard. Unlike the standard Windows Mobile keyboard, it supports stylusless text input - as long as you have at least one finger, you’ll be fine with it.
It’s not a critical point though; it allows using keypad without opening the device. The solution could have looked much more reasonable as a part of the
original Touch device, but it is better late, than never. Especially since nothing prevents you from installing it on the original of a series.
A significant improvement over touch is the heavily updated TouchFLO. Now the system behaves in a much more correct way, even an inexperienced user can
easily handle the 3D HTC interface - unlike the earlier models that could confuse the novice. A number of software additions took place; we’ll dwell upon it
in a more detailed way in the following part of the article. There’s the temptation to compare the device to iPhone, but there’s still the huge difference in
the concept, design and dimensions, Touch Cruiser being much smaller.
Let's compare the exterior design with HTC P3300 (Artemis):
Let’s dwell in detail upon the arrangement of control elements. The upper part hosts the power button and the bottom edge - the ‘ear’ used to fasten the
wrist band, the interface slot (ExtUSB), the stylus holder and a soft-reset socket as well. The two-position camera button is located on the right edge of
the handset’s body and so does the memory expansion slot (microSD), the left edge hosts the sound volume slide button and the voice control key. The SIM card
slot (unlike with Touch) is hidden under the battery cover, but that doesn’t pose any real trouble since you have to turn the phone off anyway.
Communications
HTC Touch Cruise right after Touch Dual and TyTN II is constructed on Qualcomm platform having considerable potential, particularly in the matter of
communications. As a result to find fault with something here is rather difficult, everything is perfectly realized indeed, there is even an FM-tuner. The
devices are designed to be used in GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and UMTS 850/1900/2100 networks; they support GPRS and EDGE, as well as HSDPA and HSUPA. Wire
communication is achieved through USB2.0 that makes use of the exclusively designed ExtUSB slot (analogous to the common microUSB). The data transfer speed
raises no objections. There's no support for the Mass Storage and PictPridge modes. The ExtUSB-to-3.5 mm adaptor is already available as an option.
The wireless communication of Touch Cruise is represented by the Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) module and Wi-Fi. Both work quite well and give
raise to no reprimands. AD2P enjoys a perfect support - the sound is of high quality and rather loud, the communication is almost never interrupted. It's a
pity though that should the connection be lost, the sound doesn't stop automatically, the built-in speaker is instantly activated. Besides of it, the
following profiles are supported:
- File Transfer
- Generic Access
- Generic Object Exchange
- Handsfree
- Headset
- HID
- Object Push
- Personal Area Networking
- Serial Port
- A2DP
- Audio/Video Remote Control
- SAP (SIM card access profile)
Document printing is also possible. There's also the Bluetooth synchronization, you just need to:
Install the Windows Mobile Media Control Centre or ActiveSync software to your PC.
On the PDA side, run - Start > Programs > ActiveSync.
Activate Bluetooth both on the PC and the PDA, than engage the visible mode.
On the PDA side, run - Menu > Connection > Bluetooth.
On the first run, start the Bluetooth Configuration Wizard.
Touch Cruise software part is remarkable for the new management application including lots of small improvements like the instant ON/OFF indicator. The
functionality is still on the same level, though.
As for the FM-tuner it has been essentially improved since P3300 times, it concerns the quality of reception as well. One will be pleased with the function
of switching-off in a certain time and an opportunity of automatic scan and save. The memory, to tell the truth, is moderate - just nine presets, six of
which is available from the quick access panel. But it supports RDS.
The GPS support is well done for TyTN II, this aspect of the PDA phone is based off the Quallcomm 7200 chipset. The device was able to detect some seven
sattelites on a clear day, which is quite in keeping with the Gygabite standarts and is slightly worse than Mio and E-Ten devices do. The GPS navigation
software supplier is TomTom, any card (Moscow, Berlin, etc.) one in number is installed free.
Memory
HTC Touch Cruise has a total of 256 Mb of hard disk storage and some 128 Mb of RAM at its disposal. That's quite sufficient for basic functionality but not
more than that. Unfortunately no memory card comes bundled, so it has to be purchased separately. The memory card slot is the standard microSD one, the most
universal variant for the time being. You can use memory cards up to the capacity of 4 Gb. SD 2.0 is fully supported. As it has already been mentioned, it
keeps with the hot swapping support - a pleasant surprise for P3300 owners who had to take the battery off for this ordinary procedure.
Display
The screen is powered by the TFT technology, its diagonal is 2,8’’ and the resolution is 320x240 quite in accordance with the QVGA standard. The color depth
is 65K colors, a solution typical of Window Mobile, the screen diagonal is on a level with Touch, and exceeds Dual’s 2,6’’. The image quality is high, yet
the maximum brightness is not as high as one might want. The image dearness is better in comparison with the Artemis, the view angles are much better.
Touch Cruise / P3300
The screen info stays quite legible in the sunlight; however the sun-resistance is not ideal.
User interface
Unlike the TyTN II model, Touch Cruise enjoys a full-fledged TouchFLO support, including a 3D interface - the same with Touch, but boosted with a number of
minor improvements and addition - almost the same with Touch Dual.
The virtual control block looks like a prism that can be rotated by moving the finger sideways, each of its facets acting as customizable quick call
shortcuts - contacts (up to 9 frequently called ones can be associated with them), multimedia folders (music, photo, video), PIM functions. It’s hard to say
how actually convenient this weird thingie is, but it goes without saying it does look cool.
In comparison with the original Touch, in Touch Cruise (as well as in Dual) this function has undergone a noticeable amount of changes towards a better
ergonomics. Additional functions like quick activation of the status line were added, - with a single slight move of the finger you can call up the status
line. The Start menu can be made larger so it would take more screen space and, accordingly, be easier to operate with finger strokes. Contact book filtering
has been improved by adding an alphabetical list to the right side of the screen.
The upper line is used for displaying service indicators like the battery life meter or signal quality, the clock and the telecom protocols availability,
Bluetooth visibility, GPRS/EDGE availability in the area, 3G, Wi-Fi, a list of launched application. The lower line contains info about context button
functions.
The main part of the desktop can be varied to your liking. By default it shows current day, the service provider info, the owner personal data, messaging
stats, the tasklist and schedule, and the indicator area (battery charge, display angle, wireless module manager and backlighting level). The user can
customize the order in which these fields follow or remove some of them from the screen completely. Today Desktop can feature a custom picture or a photo.
The extended functionality of HTC Home comes in handy. That's the brand Today screen which offers short stats. It shows the time and three sections showing
new messages and missed calls, favorite contacts, weather, launcher and ringtone settings. The lower part hosts the instrument panel which allows switching
between the two components. Let's have a look at each function separately:
Main Menu
The tab shows current weekday, the date and local time. When you receive messages or calls, the tab also shows the number of unread e-mails, SMS/MMS messages
or missed calls. If the reminders are set, a warning symbol is also displayed here.
Weather tab
This tab shows info about the current weather (through the AccuWeather sevice) and the weather forecast for the four next days. When you use this function
for the first time, you have to choose the city of residence, then the phone will automatically establish an internet connection and downloads the necessary
data. The weather info includes current temperature, the extremums and a weather icon (cloudy or rainy, etc.).
Launcher
The tab allows adding shortcuts to favorite applications and set access with a single touch. By default it contains shortcuts for comms manager, program
list, brightness adjustment, screen rotation, device blocking and ActiveSync. However everything on this tab is fully customizable.
Audio
The tab serves for audio profiles management and displays the selected ringtone.
As we see it, the Home module is surely a winning function for the phone itself and its designers, the HTC company. The weather forecast is probably the
biggest advantage offered here. You can get a detailed weather forecast with a single tap of stylus. In earlier models this function was only available
through 3rd party software. Another nice feature of HTC Touch is a better support for text scrolling - you can just move you finger along the screen to do
this, tapping the scrollbars with the stylus is no longer obligatory. This could be critical to people who often use public transport. In earlier models this
function was only available through third party software. Another nice feature of HTC Touch is a better support for text scrolling - you can just move you
finger along the screen to do this, tapping the scrollbars with the stylus is no longer obligatory. This could be critical to people who often use public
transport.
Another addition to the functionality of Touch Cruise is the Task Manager, displaying a list of running applications that allows to switch between them
quickly or shut any running task. Unfortunately this is only available in the Today screen.
There are two kinds of menus in this phone: the quick access menu and the main menu. The former is activated on pressing the Start button and essentially is
a vertical list that contains 7 items, info about the 5 recently launched applications as well as grants access to the main menu and settings. The main menu
is a list of applications very much similar to a regular Windows-styled window with icons and application names below them. A maximum of 12 icons per screen
is allowed.
The window interface has also been changed - the elements got rearranged and mixed with a bunch of nice effects, contributing to the overall style. Now the
interface looks more logical, but the functionality is almost the same (besides the above-mentioned feature of the contacts book).
Preinstalled software
The following applications are either preinstalled on Touch Cruise or come bundled on a disk...
The Office Mobile software packet includes:
Excel Mobile for creating, viewing and editing Excel files
PowerPoint Mobile for playing PowerPoint files
Word Mobile for creating, viewing and editing Word files
The Personal Manager Utilities include:
A calendar for scheduling events.
A list of current tasks.
A contacts application that helps you to store the contact info of your colleagues and friends.
A notebook for storing hand-written or typed reminders, pictures and voice records.
The Multimedia Utility package includes:
An application for photo and video files management
An audio manager that helps you find, sort and play audio files.
A voice recorder/player that also lets your records be sent by e-mail, MMS and misc protocols (Bluetooth etc.)
A voice dialing application that lets you record voice tags for quick dialing and program launching.
Windows Live, Messenger
Windows Media Player Mobile for playing audio and video files.
A streaming multimedia player for watching streaming video in real-time mode or on demand.
Two preinstalled games: Bubble Breaker and Solitaire.
A camera applications for taking pictures and shooting video clips.
An Audio Assistant application
The internet utilities include:
Internet Explorer Mobile is the Web and WAP browser that also allows downloading files from the Internet.
An internet connection manager for connecting to the Web.
Windows Mobile Opera and the Flash player
The communication applications include:
Comm Manager for handling GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth and ActiveSync connections, switching the phone on and off, swap between the ringtone and vibro mode,
activate and deactivate the Direct Push function.
ActiveSync for Phone/PC or Phone/Exchange server synchronization.
A Bluetooth network browser that enables searching for other Bluetooth devices that allow file exchange. Also this application grants access to
Bluetooth-shared folders.
SAP adjustment for remote access via Bluetooth or SIM card.
The GPS software package includes: The QuickGPS program that serves for downloading files from the Web to boost the GPS positioning.
TomTom NAVIGATOR - is a GPS navigation software.
The phone service software package includes:
Phone communicator - calls, switching between active calls and desktop conference capabilities.
Messaging Manager for sending and receiving e-mail, MMS and SMS messages.
SIM card manager for managing contacts stored on the USIM/SIM card.
Spb GPRS Monitor that monitors GPRS traffic and helps you to calculate your GPRS service costs.
SIM Tool Kit that allows to view SIM info and grants access to operator-specific services.
Miscellaneous applications include:
Adobe Reader LE for viewing PDF files (Portable Document Format)
Sprite Backup for making archived backups of your data
WorldCard Mobile for handling visit cards and export of corresponding data to the contacts book
A calculator
A file browser/file manager
A ZIP application for compressing your files into .zip archives
Java runtime package for launching Java applications
Settings
Private Data Tab
TTY, Input, Voice Dialing, Personal Data, Block, Sounds and Reminders, Keys, Menu, Today, Phone, Expanded Start Menu.
The System Tab
TouchFLO, Mic, Keypad block, Device Block, Exterior GPS, Task Manager, Information, Quick Tasks Keypad, Error Log, Purge Data Storage, Memory, Backlighting,
Certificates, Application Removal, Windows update Server, Time Settings and Alarms, Encryption, Display, Power Supply, Language and Standards.
Connections Tab
Bluetooth, HSDPA, Connection Setup Wizard, Comm Manager, GPRS Settings, USB to PC, Transfer, Connections, Wireless Lan, SMS System, CSD Communication
Manager.
As wee see, new options have been added to the traditional ones, for instance the blocking option. Unfortunately, it goes crazy upon contact with any magnet
so using a phone case with a magnet element will cause the device to unblock, which can be quite annoying.
Phonebook service
Conversations are in charge of the Phone application, which can be activated either by pressing the Call Button or by activating the corresponding menu item
in the Start menu. The main screen of the Phone application hosts three tabs - Calls, Quick Dial and Phone Settings.
Touch Cruise stores contacts within the Contacts application. The SIM-card stored contacts share the same list with the user-memory stored contacts. A SIM-
stored contact can be transferred to user memory and vice versa. The PDA phone supports three types of contacts:
MS Outlook contacts can either be created directly on the PDA phone or synchronized with a PC or an Exchange Server contacts database. Each contact
stores a few phone numbers, e-mail addresses, instant messaging contacts, home and work addresses and misc info like post, date of birth, etc. Each Outlook
contact can be associated with a unique picture and ringtone.
USIM/SIM card contacts. Any of those can only store a name and a phone number.
Windows Live Contacts are used by the Windows Live Messenger (MSN). likewise the Outlook contacts, Windows Live contacts can contain detailed data about
the person.
Only one phone number is allowed per USIM/SIM-card stored contact. If you copy a user memory contact to SIM/USIM, the SIM Card Manager program splits any
multiple phone numbers associated with a single contact into separate contact records for the USIM/SIM card memory. A special suffix is added automatically
to the names of such duplicate contacts to tell between them (by default "/M" stands for Mobile, "/W" for Work and "/H" for Home).
To make a phone call, you can equally use the Phone application, the Contacts book, the Quick Dial or the Calls menu as well as the SIM card manager.
Traditionally there's support for Smart Dialing which makes dialing easier than before. Once you input the initial symbols of the phone number or the
person's name, the phone filters all the contacts automatically to fit the search criteria. This sorting works automatically for contacts stored both in user
memory and on the SIM card and is applicable to the contacts book and the call log. This saves a bit of time while searching for some person's name in the
phonebook. By default, the call log displays information about all calls but it's customizable to filter missed, outgoing and incoming calls only, sorting by
name is also present. Besides the name and the number each record in the log stores the time, the date and the call or all calls length.
The only limit to the size of the contact book is the volume of free user memory. Up to 12 phone numbers of different types of phone numbers, 3 e-mail
addresses, home and work address, web page address and a plenty of other details like Assistant's Phone Number can be associated with every contact. It goes
without saying that each contact can enjoy its own ringtone and picture as well as belong to one of the customizable user groups.
Traditionally the Messaging application is used for composing, viewing and sending SMS and MMS messages as well as e-mail messages. Once you get a new
message, the Today screen displays a special reminder symbol. You can sort your messages in a number of ways, for example you can sort your e-mail messages
by topic.
An incoming message is indicated by a pop-up window regardless of the menu the user is currently browsing through. The message can be instantly opened,
deleted or ignored. That stands to reason that all the messages are stored within the same folder, at the same time shown in a tree-like structure allowing
for easier navigation. We viewed the text input with the help of keyboard above, there is no problem when using MioKeyboard, everything is highly convenient.
E-mail can be set to be delivered automatically (you specify the interval before each message is received or sent automatically). Sorting by date is
possible. You can activate simultaneous sending and receiving of mail, set a mailing schedule when roaming abroad and sort incoming messages by size prior to
downloading them to the phone.
If you use a Microsoft Exchange 2007 server the message will be delivered instantly and not on the next synchronization. Full HTML support is present. If the
message contains several attachments, all of them are downloaded, but you can activate delayed downloading mode. You can use hot key combinations for quick
access to the messaging functions like Reply, Forward, etc.
An able security system is in its place. For example, in ActiveSync any outgoing message can be digitally signed and encrypted automatically prior to
sending, an IRM (Information Rights Management) capability allows you to limit access to messages in the way you like.
PIM
The Calendar application is used for planning events and meetings, this day's schedule can be displayed on the Today screen. If your PC has a copy of Outlook
installed on it, you can synchronize the schedules. Reminders can be set in the form of sound signals or screen flickers.
The Calendar can also be used for arranging meetings via e-mail with the users of Outlook or Outlook Mobile. If the recipient accepts the proposition, the
meeting is automatically added to their schedule. When the person affirms to participate, your schedule is automatically updated with an acknowledgement. The
Windows Mobile platform has long been known for its strong points in the corporate sphere.
The standard vCalendar file format is supported for exchanging information about scheduled events; the corresponding files can be exported to the PC version
of Outlook.
The Tasks application is used for scheduling events which can either be set to be one-time or recurring. You can set up reminders and sort them by
categories. There's a tasklist which automatically highlights in red expired tasks. You can set a reminder that will be automatically activated on every
occasion when open your schedule to add a new event.
The Notes helps you to store quick notes. You can input the text from the keyboard, put it down in handwriting or use voice-to-text processing as well as
convert handwritten notes into text files or send your notes to other people. If a letter crosses more than three marking lines, it's processed as an image,
otherwise - as text. To select an image for further removal or copying just hold you stylus pressed to the screen where the image is for a few moments.
Office Mobile comprises three applications used to view and edit Microsoft Office documents - Word Mobile (viewing and editing of *.doc, *.rtf, *.txt and
*.dot files), Excel Mobile (viewing and editing of *.xls files), PowerPoint Mobile (playing *.ppt and *.pps files).
The traditional PDF-viewer Adober Reader LE is used to view *.pdf files, including those protected by a password with maximum key length of 128 bit.
Explorer is a basic file manager that serves for browsing media folders. Also a .zip archiver is included as well. A back-up functionality is provided by the
Sprite Backup software.
Multimedia
HTC Touch Cruise is compatible with the following graphic file formats: *.bmp, *.jpg, *.gif, *.png. A simple Photo Manager is preinstalled to help the user
make simple changes to the files, like rotation or trimming.
It does better at handling audio and video files:
The selected media file can be sent by e-mail, transferred to another devices, played as a sliede show, sent to a person through the Windows Live MySpace
network and so on.
The preinstalled Windows Media Player Mobile allows for executing video and audio records, both local and networks playback is possible. The three main
display windows are:
Playback control keys (Play, Pause, Next, Previous and Volume) and the video window.
The playlist.
The media library that stores playlists as well.
An alternative shell for music playback - the Audio Manager. There are main categories used for filtering files here - song title, performer, album and so
on. You can compose your own playlists and load them in the Music Player. You can launch an auto search for any music files like MP3, WMA, AAC or AAC+ both
in the user memory and on the memory card.
Before setting an MP3 song as the ringtone, you can trim the track and shrink the file size. The MP3 Cutter is just what helps you to do that.
Streaming Multimedia allows for 3GP and MP4 files to be played. It also handles SDP (or Session Description Protocol) files. In addition to that, Internet
Explorer can be used to open web-pages that employ RTSP-links (or Real Time Streaming Protocol) and host streaming media content.
The voice recorder serves, quite expectedly, for talk recording. The records can be further sent via MMS or e-mail, or transferred through a wireless
connection. Recorded fragments can also be used as ringtones. The records are stored in the AMR-NB (Adaptive Multi-Rate Narrowband) format. The default save
location is the My Voice Records folder.
An important improvement with Touch Cruise over the predecessors (except for Dual) is the photo and video gallery. It’s not the dull WM application found
with other devices (and looking hopelessly inferior as compared to trademark dedicated applications used in other platforms), but a very handy and nicely
looking file manager with an adjustable slide show. This reminds of latest Samsung handsets, and the G600 model in particular.
The highlighted file is marked among the rest of the files by a larger icon in a frame. Both horizontal and vertical browsing is supported in any of the view
modes. A quick menu is available, granting quick access to the most important functions like delete, Send, etc. The smartest part of the application is the
perfectly customizable slide show that also allows applying some special effects to the images being displayed; slide frequency and orientation can be
customized as well. A repeat option is also present. These features are quite new to WM, default applications found with other models only dispose a very
modest range of visualization settings.
The Audio Assistant applications added acts as an enhanced equalizer which allows for bass and tremble adjustment, as well as surround sound adjustment. The
sound section is of high quality, but the headset bundled leaves much to be desired.
Windows Mobile Opera
HTC Touch Cruise together with Dual came to be the world’s first WM-based PDA phone to feature a preinstalled Opera browser application (X 7500 and some
other brands had it at their disposal before). A very nice addition that’s sure to be warmly welcomed by the customers, considering the low ergonomics of the
default Internet Explorer browser native to the WM platform. The Cruise gadget sports a browser version of 8.65, the Opera application takes about 5 Mb of
ROM space. The main advantages include:
address line search (a - Answers.com, g - Google, s - Opera Web search, w – Wikipedia, y - Yahoo!, z - Amazon.com)
Flash animation support (with a separate utility to play flash games and animations)
an option to save pictures
Grab & Scroll – - a comfortable scrolling support
Bookmarks can be imported from the default Internet Explorer browser.
Camera
This option is one of the key features of HTC Touch Cruise; the model is supplied with a powerful camera which is quite a match to the camera phones of the
previous generation like Nokia N73, Sony Ericsson K790i and Samsung D900, which is a significant achievement for a PDA phone. The solution is typical of HTC,
it was used earlier in Advantage X7500. Analogous solutions could be found in even cheaper models like Mitac Mio A702. This devaluates the element, a top
model could have done along better with a solution like that of Samsung F700 (or the N95 Nokia smartphone, Sony Ericsson K850i and Samsung G600) - 5 Mpix.
As it has been already mentioned, Cruise doesn't have a protective cover for the camera, so it's highly advised to use the camera as carefully as possible -
the grease that sticks to the lens is able to cause serious photo quality degradation. No flashlight is present as well as there's no mirror for self
shooting. The shooting aspect is horizontal; a large touchscreen is used for controls and settings. The button is two-positioned; the exponometer settings
are very flexible. The phone is able of taking pictures at resolutions up to 2048x1536 and shoot video clips at resolutions up to 352x288. A 4x digital zoom
is available. The scroll wheel has no binding to the camera, it is used only as HTC gallery zoom management.
There's plethora of settings including everything necessary. The interface could be a bit more comfortable however the situation isn't bad at all, it's hard
to get lost in the menus. After a short learning curve you'll get a pretty good idea how to navigate through the options.
The Autoshoot menu
The timer can be set to Off, 2 sec or 10 sec.
The template menu
Available only in the Collage mode.
The Sport/Series settings menu.
Shooting interval. The interval between serial shots.
Still shots. The number of shots in a series. Only in the Sport mode.
Memory. Here you choose the location where the saved files will be stored - the main user memory or the flash card..
Panorama Settings.
Direction. The direction in which the panorama is shot for further completion of a series of pictures into a single landscape.
The number of stitches. The number of pictures to be sewn into a solid landscape.
Automatic stitching. Saving the acquired material as a set of files or as a solidly composed picture.
Environmental settings.
The white balance settings include 'Daylight lamp', 'Night shooting and so on, depending on the lighting conditions.
Effects. Grayscale, Sepia and per so. Effects are applied to saved photos and video clips.
You can't apply white balance adjustments and special effects simultaneously.
Shooting modes.
Resolution. The resolution of photos taken and clips shot.
Camera. Choose the active camera here - the main camera, the 2nd camera or 2nd camera in horizontal aspect.
Shooting quality. Varies from the lowest to ultra high.
Exponometer. The name says for itself.
Timestamp. Available in Photo, Sport and Series modes.
The shooting mode.
Here you choose the mode - Photo, Video, Contacts Photo and so on.
Miscellaneous functions.
Record format.
Shot click.
Shooting mode. Frequent presses of this button means that an additional push should be done to take the picture after the camera is focused. A long push
means that the picture will be taken automatically after the focusing is done.
Grid. In the shooting mode only. The net helps more easily and precisely center the frame and choose the composition.
Keep backlighting. A really strange option considering the lack of a flashlight in Cruise.
Viewing period.
Flickering adjustment. The screen may flicker while shooting indoors due to some technical limitations of the camera. To soften this flickering you can
set this option to auto or try adjusting manually.
Dubbing. You can add a music overlay to your video clip.
Prefix. By default, this option forces all the save files to bear the IMAGE_ or VIDEO_ prefix in their names. You can change this to a date or date/time
record to be used in the prefix. You can't set a prefix if the images or clips are saved to the memory card. The pictures' names follow a IMAGE****.jpg
template where **** is the number of the picture. That's in keeping with the DCIM (Digital Camera Images) naming standard. The saved pictures go to the
\DCIM\100MEDIA folder.
Files numeration.
Video clip length limit.
Templates folder. Available in the collage mode only.
Camera settings. Camera settings include Contrast, Saturation, Hue and Sharpness.
An opportunity of visiting cards’ recognition with Cyrillic support is available. It does not give rise to unfavourable criticism, working perfectly.
A few examples of how the camera of Touch Cruise works:
It's obvious that HTC new smartphone does well at taking pictures, but no more than that. It's still inferior in comparison to the latest top solutions and
some regular 3 Mpix phones as well. The camera should be viewed as a functional complement to the device and not an independent function. It's rather a kind
of a compromise. Particularly, as for the work of a view finder – pay attention to inertness in the video attached:
Performance
The hardware part of HTC Touch Cruise is based on the Qualcomm MSM 7200 CPU operating at a frequency of 400 Mhz - the same one is used in the top TyTN II
model. It’s a serious forward step and an important improvement over the predecessor, posing a strong challenge to any competitor within the price bracket.
| |
HTC Touch Cruise (Polaris) |
HTC P3300 (Artemis) |
HTC Touch (Elf) |
|
CPU index
|
1513.45
|
812.05
|
355.24
|
|
File system index
|
149.84
|
89.32
|
124.15
|
|
Graphics index
|
3490.21
|
3426.43
|
2964.42
|
|
ActiveSync index
|
4902.05
|
1740.38
|
2173.34
|
|
Spb Benchmark index
|
382.37
|
278.54
|
249.24
|
The ARM11 core, as you see, is enough to provide more than just a high performance. Sadly enough, there are some drawbacks in Java implementation - the
performance is high as well, but 3D profiles are not supported. Although it’s not critical for a PDA phone for there’s a good variety of 3rd party software
available.
| |
HTC Touch Cruise (Polaris) |
HTC P3300 (Artemis) |
HTC Touch (Elf) |
|
Jbenchmark 1.0.1 Score
|
18858
|
4033
|
14231
|
|
Text
|
1640
|
952
|
492
|
|
D Shapes
|
9108
|
1037
|
6969
|
|
D Shapes
|
2527
|
584
|
1871
|
|
Fill Rate
|
727
|
354
|
885
|
|
Animation
|
4856
|
1106
|
4014
|
|
Jbenchmark 2.0.1 Score
|
512
|
445
|
640
|
|
Image Manipulations
|
534
|
339
|
362
|
|
Text
|
1998
|
529
|
1690
|
|
Sprites
|
613
|
511
|
431
|
|
D Transform
|
864
|
646
|
637
|
|
User Interface
|
67
|
293
|
635
|
We can’t say the results are perfect, but neither can we call the stylish handset a failure on this front. Unfortunately there’s no visible improvement over
the original Touch and P3300. It's easily explained though by the fact that the Quallcomm 7200 core uses a video accelerator which is not supported by the
current version of media player software.
For comparison we give examples of equal in value WM-smartphones’ Spb Benchmark:
Spb Benchmark
|
Model
|
Mio A702
|
Gigabyte GSmart i350
|
E-TEN glofiish X800
|
|
CPU index
|
984.8
|
1898.53
|
1012.08
|
|
File system index
|
121.32
|
449.69
|
128.75
|
|
Graphics index
|
515.27
|
4165.2
|
236.04
|
|
ActiveSync index
|
5011.26
|
11158.59
|
2404.66
|
|
Spb Benchmark index
|
268.87
|
918.78
|
256.18
|
Battery life
The novelty makes use of a 1350 mAh battery. The manufacturer claims a total of 7 hours of talktime and up to 400 hours of standby mode. Our tests revealed
that the device in fact stay without recharging for about two days of moderately extensive usage. The multimedia cycle tests in comparison to the results
demonstrated by the original Touch and P3300 are given below:
|
HTC Touch Cruise (Polaris) |
HTC P3300 (Artemis) |
HTC Touch (Elf)) |
|
Multimedia-cycle, video (AVI)
|
4:08
|
5:20
|
5:38
|
|
Multimedia-cycle, audio (MP3)
|
13:49
|
21:34
|
18:07
|
SMAPE Opinion
HTC Touch Cruise smartphone represents a top class navigational device for exacting and well-to-do P3300 fans falling short of the opportunities available,
particularly a camera and which wouldn’t mind to TouchFLO support to come in handy.
+ TouchFLO support
+ Wi-Fi and a FM-tuner
+ Good camera
+ High-capacity memory
+ Good ergonomics
+ Excellent performance
- Considerable price
- Controversial design
- Average battery life time
- No VGA-screen (for the fancy)
Originally posted at Smape
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