Following the Touch Diamond few days ago, HTC announced the “Touch Pro” which utilizes similar styling and functionality of the highly anticipated Touch Diamond™ and introduces a variety of business-focused enhancements that make getting work done on the go quick and easy.

With the Touch Pro, they introduce a TouchFLO 3D, a touch screen innovation providing a stunningly intuitive way to zip through common tasks like messaging, calendar appointments or making calls with just one touch.  Shall we call TouchFLO 3D the HTC response to Apple ?

Will the Touch Pro the replacement of my aging HTC S620 or will Apple iPhone 3G version (to be announced on June 9th at WWDC) shake the market again with stunning innovations ?

HTC Touch Pro Specifications

• Processor:  Qualcomm® MSM7201A™ 528 MHz
• Operating System: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Memories: ROM 512 MB - RAM: 288MB
• Dimensions: 102 mm (L) X 51 mm (W) X 18.05 mm (T)
• Weight: 165 g (with battery)
• Display: 2.8-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with VGA resolution
• Network HSDPA/WCDMA:    Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz
  Up to 384 kbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds
• Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE:   Europe/Asia: 900/1800/1900 MHz
• Device Control: TouchFLO™ 3D Touch-sensitive navigation control
• Keyboard: Slide-out 5-row QWERTY keyboard
• GPS: GPS and A-GPS ready
• Connectivity:
• Bluetooth® 2.0 with EDR
  Wi-Fi® IEEE 802.11 b/g
  HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0, audio jack, and TV Out* in one)
• Camera:
  Main camera: 3.2 megapixel color camera with auto focus and flash light
  Second camera: VGA CMOS color camera
• Audio: Built-in microphone, speaker and FM radio with RDS
• Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-ion or Lithium-ion polymer battery 1340 mAh
• Talk time:
  Up to 397 minutes for WCDMA
  Up to 485 minutes for GSM
• Standby time:
  Up to 503 hours for WCDMA
  Up to 406 hours for GSM
• Video call time:
  Up to 201 minutes for WCDMA
• Expansion Slot: MicroSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
• AC Adapter: Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz
• DC output: 5V and 1A

National Bureau of Statistics of China, has release some figures about telephone usage in China. Figures are self explanatory and may give some Vertigo to European operators.

In end of March 2008 they were 574 millions cellphone users in China (+94 mio in 2007), a 20% increase compared to last year. It also mean that 40% of the Chinese population own a cellphone.

The NBS reveals that in March 08, 58 billions SMS were sent (nearly 700 billions/year !)

28% of Chinese population (361 millions) uses a fixed telephone, but landline operators are losing customers (minus 4 millions for the 1sr quarter 08) as calls from mobile phones are cheaper than through landlines.

China Mobile, the first Chinese mobile phone operator has 377 millions customers at end of January (+22.6%) while Unicom China only has 181 millions customers.

Emirates Airlines announced yesterday that passengers will no longer have to switch off their mobile phones and will be allowed to make calls and text people during their journey on-board.

The first flight with authorized mobile phone calls was made on 20th of March between Dubai and Casablanca on-board of an Emirates Airbus A340-300 fitted with AeroMobile system, which ensures mobile telephones operate at minimum power during flights and make sure mobile phone signal does not interfere with aircraft navigation equipments.

A second aircraft equipped with the same AeroMobile system will be in service shortly.

Rates were not published, but in 2007, cost per minute was estimated between 2.50 and 3.50 USD.

Source: Arabnews via Wi-Fi Networking