HTC Touch Pro

The basics

The Touch Pro slider phone hides a full QWERTY keyboard under the 2.8-inch VGA touchscreen, which uses HTC's TouchFLO 3D interface. Integrated GPS, HSDPA, built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and TV-out functionality combine with the 3.2-megapixel camera and music player to complete the spec list.

The good

Nothing says "I mean business" like a QWERTY keyboard on a phone (or a fez on a monkey). Unfortunately that normally also says "I'm really ugly" (ever seen a pretty monkey?). HTC's solution? Hide it in a sexy sliding mechanism. Like the Diamond, the Pro delivers a myriad of operation techniques, including a TouchFLO interface, which if you manage to tame, offers some cool functions. Other boons include the super-sharp VGA quality touchscreen display (ideal for surfing web pages which load whippet-quick thanks to HSDPA) a solid 3.2MP snapper with GPS in tow.

The bad

The user interface - despite being lifted from the Diamond - is as stubborn as a teenage mule. It was unresponsive to our pinkie swipes and prods, and had terrible lag time - proving more pig-headed than a Lord of the Flies convention. To finish the trio of animal analogies, it's also porkier than a trough at feeding time. We're here all night!

The bottom line

In the Touch Pro, HTC has made a chic and accomplished QWERTY-loaded WinMo smart phone. A shame then that it's overshadowed by the annoyingly stubborn user interface.