At A Glance:

In The Box
- HTC TyTN II
- Headphone
- Travel Charger
- Mini-USB Cable

The TyTN II is based on the Kaiser platform, where apparently three variants of the same model are available and the TyTN II is the one with the 3.15 megapixel camera and call camera with a flurry of features.

Design
The HTC TyTN II comes in a box with all gear to get you started – a charger, USB data cable, stereo headset, and a carrying case. The only thing we lacked was a memory card perhaps, but you can get one easily. We didn't like the case either, as it uses Velcro instead of a magnetic clip, which is always our preferred choice.

The phone comes off as a rather larger device, its dimensions are 112 x 59 x 19 mm, meanwhile it weighs 190g and is quite heavy and bulky. Its heaviness does means it is extremely solid and has a good weight to it. The HTC TyTN II is pretty comfortable to work with but you can't exactly call it pocketable, so this PocketPC is best carried in its case strapped on a belt - there's no doubt about that. However, we found it nice to hold in hand and working with it was a pleasure.

The phone is covered in soft rubber and it is rather difficult to smudge the device. The build of the phone seems catered to toughness and looks like it can sustain a 3 foot fall without damage. (Not that we tried it.)

The TyTN II has a 2.8-inch TFT touchscreen, the screen supports up to 65k colour. The main keypad is somewhat more complex compared to the Touch series, and has eight buttons. The call/end calls keys, shortcut keys, windows key, Internet Explorer key, messaging and an ok key.

The TyTN II has full-QWERTY keyboard that comes out from the side, unlike the HTC dual touch which slides out from the bottom like a slider. The TyTN II looks more like a PDA phone and the keyboard is a definite highlight. Once you slide out the keyboard, the display immediately changes from vertical to horizontal- naturally aligning it to the keyboard. The keyboard works in tandem with the front keypad, and typing with your thumbs is a joy. Naturally, we didn’t expect the device to be placed flat on the table and typed like an actual keyboard.

The left spine of the phone has a quick button for voice commands, and a Jog Dial much like Sony Ericsson’s devices. We like to point out that the Jog Dial is easy to use as it has got great tactile functionality. On the right spine, the standby/power button is there, and directly below that is the camera shortkey.

Touch Screen
Touch screen wise the improved Touch sensitivity for the TyTN II was really noticeable, it’s almost as if HTC decided to completely redesign their touch screen range. Between scrolling and poking the various icons on the screen, it doesn’t get any easier no matter how small icons are.

The TyTN II does not come with TouchFlo Cube unlike other HTC smartphones. We were quite surprised that HTC’s TouchFLO no longer features in this device, as it felt a little awkward without it.

Although overshadowed by the impressive QWERTY keyboard, we still love the handwriting recognition for this device; the Windows Mobile 6 transcriber is still reliable and useful.

Connectivity
The phone is loaded with connectivity options ranging from 3.6 Mbps HSDPA, EDGE/GPRS and Wi-Fi. The phone itself supports quad-band frequency (850/900/1800/1900 MHz). Wi-Fi is an enormously welcome addition to the TyTN II as it was much easier to access our emails and connect to the Internet compared to the HTC Touch series. It also cut down on our data charges.

Windows Mobile 6
Despite only having been in the market for a year the Windows Mobile 6 is certainly a venerable OS in the smartphone arena. So far the system has been around for a year now, but until Windows Mobile 7 drops, things have remained the same for the device.

The typical Windows Mobile 6 complaint comes back, the OS stills eats up the TyTN’s resources and is rather sluggish. It is especially telling when the OS is stressed with multiple programs, as it’ll take a few seconds for the on-board digital clock to display the correct time.

The task manager is close to the Windows version, and shows running programs and the amount of memory used. Other programs include Windows Media Player and Winzip. The taskbar has also been simplified- this time without the processor usage tab included, so there really is no telling whether or not you should cut down on processor loads compared to the HTC Dual Touch.

The TyTN II is powered by Windows Mobile 6- to start with all Windows Mobile devices are pretty much the same software-wise. Essentially, any PocketPC is just a software platform, which you can expand according to your needs – as there are so many applications out there.

The first thing you'll notice when you power up the HTC TyTN II is the custom HTC home screen. Of course, it's an add-on that simply comes pre-installed - you can install it on your PocketPC no matter what make it is. It's a really handy plug-in, as it offers five separate tabs with frequently used functions.

The Home tab displays info about the time and date plus status indicators for unread messages, mail or missed calls. The favourite people tab allows you to configure your favourite contacts unto the tab - tapping the contact will automatically call said person. The Weather tab is rather self-explanatory - it even gives you a weekly forecast, but the default screen displays only the current day forecast. The third tab is the Launcher that stores several configurable shortcuts. The TyTN II can also be viewed and operated in landscape mode, if you wish.

The office mobile programs are just as powerful as their desktop counterparts, coupled with the keyboard makes it easier to finish up documents on the go. The TyTN II also comes with Adobe Reader LE for PDF files. The Email system is managed by Outlook Express. MSN messenger and Windows Live are also still here with the Windows Mobile 6.

File management wise should be no problem for anyone that has used Windows explorer, with similar drop down menus, and expanding folders. Bluetooth transfers again drew ire with us, as Windows still has us transferring one difficult to search file at a time.

Let me put this on record that we found ActiveSync to be an inconvenient system to use, as we could not sync our TyTN with our desktop computer.

Camera
The TyTN II holds an interesting distinction within the Smartphone market by placing on the device a 3.15 megapixel camera.

PocketPCs are probably bottom of the ladder when it comes to camera performance. It's not about the megapixel count. It's just that their photos are really nothing to speak of. HTC were obviously addressing that and among the first results is the 3.15 megapixel camera with auto focus integrated into the HTC TyTN II.

As you probably imagine, the 2.8-inch TFT display is a really nice camera viewfinder to have. The TyTN II camera can be operated as a regular digital camera - a half press on the shutter key locks the auto focus and exposure, while pressing the key all the way down takes the actual snapshot.

The camera menu is easy to operate with your fingers only. White balance can be either automatic or custom set to daylight, night, incandescent or fluorescent. You can apply several colour effects (Grayscale, Sepia, Cool, Negative). In Sports mode, it takes a series of up to 10 photos. In Panorama mode, the camera takes three slightly overlapping images and stitches them automatically to create a panoramic shot. However, each individual shot is taken again at VGA resolution only. There is also self-timer and exposure compensation. The camera can also apply Date stamps on your photos. You can also use the front VGA video-call camera to take pictures or videos.

Games
The TyTN II has two Windows Mobile 6 games-Bubble Breaker and Solitaire, both of which are not new and require no introduction.

Verdict
The TyTN II is a solid, tough looking beast of phone with a boatload of features. The downsides we found with the TyTN II are that it doesn’t have a VGA resolution display and it’s not really pocketable. The 400 MHz Qualcomm processor is rather sluggish and is can’t play higher video resolution higher than QVGA. However, the pricing on the phone is not forgiving at RM 3,088 -it would deter many smartphone users, though the functionality of the phone is of no doubt.

• HTC TyTN II reviewed by JwY Design