HTC have finally unveiled their commercial incarnation of the HTC Raphael platform - we welcome the HTC Touch Pro. Based on the appealing Touch Diamond design, the HTC Touch Pro throws in a full QWERTY keyboard to the equation and really impresses with its specs sheet.

Based on Windows Mobile 6.1, the HTC Touch Pro delivers 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, 512MB internal storage, 288MB RAM, a microSD slot, a 2.8-inch VGA screen, 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera, GPS receiver, and a 1350 mAh battery that is tounted to provide up to 8 hours of talk time (as opposed to the 900 mAh battery in the Touch Diamond).

HTC Touch Pro

The HTC Touch Pro is a worthy successor of the HTC TyTN II. HTC should have started producing VGA-resolution devices a long time ago. The HTC Touch Pro is shorter, narrower and most importantly lighter than the HTC TyTN II - the latter PocketPC could hardly be called pocketable (pun intended!).

HTC Touch Pro

The HTC Touch Pro features a newly designed 5-row QWERTY keyboard (as opposed to 4 rows in the HTC TyTN II) - and it's with a QWERTY keyboard that Windows Mobile Pro really shines. So choosing between the HTC Touch Diamond and HTC Touch Pro will be a touch choice for fans of the extra smart Windows devices.

Among the other highlights of the Touch Pro is the latest TouchFLO 3D user interface that allows intuitive finger-based operation. The new Opera 9.5 is also part of the pre-installed package which offers unsurpassed web browsing experience on the Windows Mobile platform. A HTC-developed YouTube client will also allow users to watch online videos.

The HTC Touch Pro will be available in Europe, Asia and the Middle East in late summer. The North American and Latin American versions of Touch Pro will be available later in 2008.