“If you reach too far, you can lose your balance and fall on your face,” Peter Svensson reports for The Associated Press.
“That’s what happened with the design process for the ‘Touch by HTC,’ one of the smart phones fighting for our attention this holiday season,” Svensson reports.
“The $249 Touch, carried by Sprint Nextel Corp., overreaches badly in trying to be a touch-screen phone just like the iPhone. The resulting mess is the worst phone I’ve tried in the last few years,” Svensson reports.
MacDailyNews Note: The HTC Touch runs (or tries to, at least) on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile software.
“Even with a stylus the Touch is full of problems. When I turned the screen on, I often found it cluttered with inscrutable error messages. The Windows Media music player would skip while playing MP3s, making it useless,” Svensson reports.
“With its first phone, Apple got it right, while the combined efforts of two veterans in the business, HTC and Microsoft, couldn’t make a decent touch-screen phone,” Svensson reports.
Full article here.
Yet another lovely review for the iPhony HTC Touch and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS.
HTC Touch vs. Apple iPhone:
Apple’s OS X-based iPhone:
Direct link via YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h5-VZoEhi0
HTC’s Windows Mobile-based HTC Touch:
Direct link via YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivxGe2znZQI
Apple ought to sue HTC and Microsoft for devaluing the word “touch.”
By the time I found where to get the steak with the HTC, I’d have lost my appetite (or died of starvation).
Sent from my iPhone
Just like the LG/Verizon and all those other copycats that are now calling all listing their phones as touch screens. Technically correct, but all they are doing is blatantly lying and trying to trick consumers that their phones works just like the iPhone. Sad really.
The only thing missing from this story is news of an equally pathetic Zune Touch. But Microsoft hasn’t had enough time to try and copy the iPhone/iPod Touch on that platform just yet…
Looking at the interface and user experience compared to the iPhone makes you realise how fantastic the interface is on the iPhone.
The HTC phone is a typical example what goes wrong almost everytime when you have more than one company developing a product – a mis-match of hardware and software, bundled together.
This is why I always love anything Apple does, because they design the hardware and software, Apple is in the unique position of controlling the whole user experience.
If HTC wants to make an iPhone killer (fat chance) then they need to get a software development team and not rely on Microsoft who has their own agenda anyway.
I think they should give up their “steak” in this phone….
The great thing about this review is that, since it is on the AP wire, it will run more or less EVERYWHERE. And just in time for holiday shopping!
Time to buy more AAPL…
I laugh each time I watch that steak commercial.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
Sent from my Touch…
Actually, this is a better commercial for the HTC Touch:
I don’t know what the “H” stands for but I know TC is an acronym for Total Crap!
The HTC thing uses a stylus and drop down menus! How quaint…
Reality Check:
I agree, the Xbox 360 can be fun, but even though Microsoft designed both hardware and software it is still plagued with problems. Random freezes. Red rings of death. They had previously set aside $1B to repair all the Xboxes that they think will be returned due to problems and, now, some think that number may not be enough…
> Apple ought to sue HTC and Microsoft for devaluing the word “touch.”
And for (conversely) implying that the iPhone is just as BAD as the HTC Touch.
The 360 is a piece of crap. And it loses Microsoft money hand over fist… spectacular!
Isn’t the Wii close to surpassing 360 if it hasn’t already?
To Reality Check –
What exactly makes the Xbox 360 the world’s #1 gaming console? It surely can’t be by units sold. If it weren’t for Halo 3 they wouldn’t have sold as many as they have. I was in Walmart the other day just going to check one out for a minute but alas there was a big system error on the screen. I thought to myself “typical”.
Kev, as much as I love Halo Combat Evolved, I will not put Vista on my iMac to play Halo 2 nor will I buy an Xbox 360 to play Halo 3.
And I don’t do Windows.
That’s how much I hate Microsoft.
However, I did but the Halo 3 soundtrack. That’s as close as I’ll get.
@ Reality Check,
Actually the Wii has outsold both the Xbox and the PS3 together except for about 1 month of seriously reduced prices by M$. The really telling feature is that the Home/Entertainment division of M$ has now lost over $1,000,000,000.00 (US). That’s equivalent to paying people to take the Xbox. If it weren’t for Windoze and Office lock in to 80+ percent profit margins, M$ would have finished circling the bowl long ago.
@Reality Check,
We all know you are a MS “fan”, but the Wii – NOT the XBox 360 – Is the top selling NEW game console. The OVERALL game console leader is still the PlayStation 2.
Hmm . . . unless I’m mistaken, it’s pretty much Halo that primarily has driven sales of the Xbox, and unless I am mistaken again, Microsoft didn’t have diddly to do with Halo, other than throwing a bunch of money at it. Would the Xbox still even exist if it weren’t for this franchise? I mean seriously, with the first console, there were just a couple of titles that were worth playing, nearly everything on it was a port from other systems. I had the first gen one, and I actually bought it for Jet Grind Radio. If you are looking for the company they stole from to make the Xbox a reality at all in the first place it was Sega and the Dreamcast (whom they ha partnered with. I do believe MS loves partners, but only because they are and always have been completely, utterly bereft of their own ideas) . . . Microsoft isn’t capable of doing anything well on their own. Sorry, Reality Check! Don’t mean to be rude, but your reality may need some checking too . . .
That HTC touch video is just so painful to watch. I can’t imagine anyone who would want to put themselves through that misery and waste a good $250 doing so.
Classic cargo cult engineering. Just Google “cargo cult.”
Gee MS bashing on a Mac website… How suprising….
I have a Touch. Works great. I have not seen a single error code or had a single file play improperly. All you sheep following words written on a page go right ahead and be led off the cliff. Those of us smart enough to know not to trust biased reviews by ignorant dolts will continue to use what works properly in our hands based on our OWN personal reviews. Who the f$#ck cares who made it as long as it works, and in my hands the Touch works beautifully. How many of you here bashing the Touch have actually used one???? waiting waiting… I didnt think so.
Sounds like someone is defensive about his Touch purchase because he regrets it. Why come on a MAC WEBSITE and expect any Microsloth loving here? And as a matter of fact, I have actually used both the iPhone and the Touch. The noticeable difference between the two? Speed. That Touch thing is painfully slow compared to the iPhone. Now go crow about your purchase over at Paul Thurrott’s site.
Well, I’m sure the ZunePhone will be way better.
Though it is amazing that Apple could come in and make something that totally blows away existing cell phones.
Now, that’s just sad.
It takes a particular mindset to be creative. Most folks just don’t understand how it’s done. Others – if frightens the crap out of them.
Imagination is the key. There is none in this phone.