“With Apple’s iPhone quickly approaching its release date, HTC and Microsoft knew they had to squeeze something out to compete,” Vince Veneziani reports for CrunchGear.
MacDailyNews Take: Descriptions for the HTC Touch don’t get more apt than “HTC and Microsoft had to squeeze something out.” It’s positively Zune-like.
Veneziani continues, “It uses Windows Mobile 6 combined with an overlaying GUI called “TouchFLO” that provides a similar experience to that of the iPhone. But can it compete with the #1 product that isn’t even out yet? No…”
The full review is here, but we can cut right to the chase. Compare the two videos below to see the HTC Touch sufferer struggling to accomplish even a subset of the things the iPhone user does with complete ease. The HTC Touch provides a “similar experience” to iPhone the same way Windows Vista provides a “similar experience” to Mac OS X. As in: it’s not similar at all; just ugly veneer. Cheesy new paneling over rotten wood. The HTC’s UI is a complete mishmash with old Windows mobile junk commingled with HTC’s iPhony icons; Microsoft must have “helped” HTC immensely with this piece. Just count the clicks, see all the hoops through which the HTC requires the sufferer to jump, and look at the many tiny, virtually “untouchable” targets he’s asked to click… and click… and click… and click some more…
Apple’s iPhone:
HTC Touch:
MacDailyNews Take: This is no different than the frustration of watching a Windows sufferer trying (and failing) to match what Mac OS X users do with ease. Why anyone would want to subject themselves to struggling with cheap fakes of vastly superior products remains well beyond our comprehension.
haha. what a joke. touchFLO – more like fumbleFLO
i suppose there will be lots of “me-too” products in the wake of iPhone, but anything running on Windows is going to be clumsy and slow…
It’s got Windows Mobile (you even have to use a menu bar to operate it). Not even close…
TouchFLO? Man, this “GUI” should be called LooseFLO — as in, this is what happens when you mix the same company that designed the Zune with a little Montezuma’s Revenge.
Truly craptacular.
I don’t know what the F i’m looking at, but it definitely comes from Microsoft.
*shudder
*vomit
Hideous.
Gosh… how unoriginal… I can sorta do the same thing the iphone does…see…SEE!
I can’t believe he didn’t retake it when he messed up with the menu bar thing. SOOOO GAY…
It was so frustrating to watch I had to watch the iphone one again just to make me happy…
Oh, yeah almost forgot to add..
iPhone BITCH!
I feel like bashing my head into the wall now….
After watching the iPhone ad, sitting through and watching the HTC video is very excruciating.
Ummmmm… blech.
This thing’s got 64MB of RAM!
WOW!
Definitely the best Microsoft can offer.
How do they always excel?
MW = not ha ha
Wow, guess this takes out a lot of the FUD directed at the iPhone – when everyone of those M$ zombies said touchpad for keys wouldn’t work.
Even with this M$’s interface the writer said touchpad screen typing wasn’t that bad.
that thing is not multi-touch,and is very small for big eyes to see
LMFAO!!!
It is just hilarious to watch that iPhone commercial and then see the HTC Touch video.
Bravo, MDN.
It’s so slow compared to the iPhone. You have to go through so many menus to get to a video or anything. YUCK!!!
Mm-hmm. I justlove it.
Look who copied right off Apple’s ads. “Steak” instead of “Calamari”: “steak” seems a little hard to type, “seafood” is so much easier, even for two more letters. And is HTC Touch using <strike>Google Maps and not</strike> Microsoft Virtual Earth? Huh.
Apple’s “How To” really beats the HTC Touch “How To”. I shouldn’t need to explain why. I won’t even talk about the HTC Touch’s little things you need to catch, an Internet Explorer on the HTC Touch (will Apple release Safari for Windows Mobile?!), the soporific voice-over, etc.
Oops. Just did.
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“Never Been a Windows Mobile Device”? How about, “Never Been a Zune”? But then it says at the end, “Now available in UK”. And Europe’s never gonna see the Zune this year. But still, “Never Been an iPod” is still the more simplistic of the two ads. And I didn’t get to see all of the “Never Been a Windows Mobile Device” – the YouTube video provided didn’t have all of it.
HTC Touch is too far from the camera for us to see the exact actions the user must do in order to reach a simple goal. Maybe the YouTube videos are too slow, but it sure looks like the HTC Touch will beat the iPhone in at least one thing – the Total Ripoff Test.
@ JadisOne
Hideous.
So should I say I liked the beauty of simplicity in that, or should I complain about the lack of completeness?
MW: “her” … that’s not how anyone should refer to their HTC Touch.
Let’s try that opening again…
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Mm-hmm. I just love it.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
All patched.
MW: “that” … now that’s how to refer to an HTC Touch. And say it with “thing”, too!
how can ANYONE knock the iPhone after seeing what everyone else has to offer?
Sadly, for some, being “just as good” as the iPhone (and a lot cheaper) will do.
However, my personal belief is most people will not be satisfied with a cheap knock-off as they were 20 years ago:
http://thesmallwave.blogspot.com/2007/06/just-like-iphone-ha-this-isnt-1987.html
It’s sweet, when the competition is a cargo cult. They reek with fear.
Check the time on each demo.
1:25 for Touch.
0:30 for iPhone.
Pretty pathetic and very poorly executed.
However, they do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
For some reason, though, I just can’t picture MS being either sincere or flattering about anything.
That video was not made by the real company.
” HTC and Microsoft knew they had to squeeze something out to compete”
Squeeze it out? Isn’t that what you do with a zune just before it drops into the toilet? Oooo dat feels gud.