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HTC announces an updated Touch Cruise, new software on old hardware

HTC spends a lot of time updating devices with a new feature here and there to get it right and reminds me a lot of what Sony did with the CLIE line several years ago. They launch new products every few months with a tweak made here and there to make it better when I think they should just hold off a bit and get it right the first time. The HTC Touch Cruise was just updated with geotagging capability called HTC Footprints, yet still misses the mark with a rather limited camera that may make reduce how much geotagging someone would have done if they improved the optics. The HTC Touch Cruise is a GPS-focused device in the HTC lineup that should have a larger higher resolution display that misses the mark in a couple ways.
Written by Matthew Miller, Contributing Writer

HTC announces an updated Touch Cruise that misses the mark
HTC spends a lot of time updating devices with a new feature here and there to get it right and reminds me a lot of what Sony did with the CLIE line several years ago. They launch new products every few months with a tweak made here and there to make it better when I think they should just hold off a bit and get it right the first time. The HTC Touch Cruise was just updated with geotagging capability called HTC Footprints, yet still misses the mark with a rather limited camera that may make reduce how much geotagging someone would have done if they improved the optics. The HTC Touch Cruise is a GPS-focused device in the HTC lineup that should have a larger higher resolution display that misses the mark in a couple ways.

The HTC Footprints application lets you take notes and record an audio clip that can be associated with a photo and its geographic location. The idea is a good one, but with a lame fixed focus 3.2 megapixel digital camera. The 3.2 megapixel variant on my HTC Fuze is better with autofocus and a flash and digital photography is not even a major focus of that device. I would love to see HTC come out with a multimedia focused device that has a Nokia quality camera and have to say I am surprised they keep churning out devices with limited camera capabilities. Samsung is doing a good job with their camera quality and functionality on the OMNIA and it would be nice to see this capability found in more Windows Mobile devices.

Specifications for the HTC Touch Cruise (why is it named the exact same as the old model?) include:

* Qualcomm® MSM7225, 528 MHz processor * WCDMA/HSPA: 900/2100MHz or 850/1900MHZ for US. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps * Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional * 2.8-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with QVGA resolution * HTC TouchFLO, 4-Way navigation wheel with Enter and HTC Footprints buttons * 3.2 MP, with fixed focus * 512 MB flash ROM, 256 MB RAM * microSD memory card * 2.0 Bluetooth with EDR * 802.11b/g WiFi * GPS/A-GPS * Battery: 1100 mAh

QVGA displays don't cut it today and an 1100 mAh battery for a device with a GPS and camera focus is not good either. I am pretty disappointed in the specifications of this device that should be available this Spring between US$500 and US$600. I would rather buy the upcoming Pharos Traveller 137 with 3.5 inch WVGA (480x800) display and T-Mobile USA 3G support for US$600.

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