If the still relatively new Windows Mobile 6.5 is already boring you, you still have a bit of a wait before Windows Phone 7 appears. Luckily there’s a halfway compromise: HTC’s TouchFlo software, which sits over WinMo and neatly upgrades the interface.

 

Style and handling on the HTC Touch2

 

The HTC Touch2 is a svelte, nice looking device with a satisfactory, 2.8-inch screen taking up most of the front of the phone. Like with most Windows Mobile phones, the Touch2 has a resistive, rather than capacitive, screen. Resistive screens aren’t as sharp but you can use them even if you’ve got your gloves on. A slim stylus is built into the device that does the job, but you won’t be wanting to use it too often. Obviously, resistive screens take more pressure to operate than capacitive ones, but even with this in mind, it is frustrating that waking the screen by sliding the WinMo padlock across the screen can take a couple of attempts.

 

Below the screen sit five hard keys – for call, end, home, back and Windows start.

 

TouchFlo on the HTC Touch2

 

Anyone familiar with HTC smartphones will likely know the animated weather screen, which has become something of a feature in the manufacturer’s handsets recently. Another example of TouchFlo adds a bit of style to the user interface is the shortcut carousel at the bottom of the screen, which will take you to your messages, camera, browser and so on.

 

The best has also been made of the screen. 2.8 inches is not huge, and the nature of the resistive touch-screen puts a stop to iPhone-like pinch-zooming. To get round this, HTC has put a touch-sensitive magnification bar at the bottom of the screen so all you need to do is swipe your finger across to quickly zoom in or out of the page you are viewing.

 

For entering text, there’s a choice of the standard 3x4 keypad, a compact QWERTY with two letters on each virtual key, and a full QWERTY. The full keyboard has small keys, but the predictive text function is effective so you can still type quickly. It would have been nice to have a landscape option with slightly bigger keys, though.

 

Windows Mobile 6.5 on the HTC Touch2

 

Despite the TouchFlo interface, you will eventually hit the Windows Mobile 6.5/. It’s easy to find via the physical Windows button, but you may not want to go back too soon: many of the programs look dated, and the fonts on the calendar are too tiny to read easily.

 

However, Microsoft MyPhone is a handy feature, synchronising your contacts, calendar, photos, music and more with a remote Microsoft server. It’s rather like the iPhone’s MobileMe but that costs £60 a year, whereas MyPhone is free.

 

We’re always happy to see the inclusion of a 3.5mm audio port – a surprising number of smartphones still leave this feature out – so you can listen to your tunes through your favourite headphones.

 

There’s a 3.2-megapixel camera that does the job, even if it’s not the best smartphone snapper we’ve seen. There’s no dedicated camera launch button so you have to access it via the photos and video shortcut. No flash means you can only take pictures in good lighting, and the shutter delay and below-average results are disappointing.

 

GPS is present and correct and the signal is strong, although it takes a little while to get a fix. A free trial of Co-Pilot Live helps you make the most of the function.

 

The verdict on the HTC Touch2

 

The HTC Touch2 isn’t HTC’s best Windows Mobile smartphone – that accolade goes to the Touch HD and forthcoming HD Mini – but for a small Windows Mobile handset at a reasonable price, this is the best you will get.

 

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