HTC's lost Touch

Oh dear. Within a week of making off from the launch of the HTC Touch with the smartphone in my hot little hands, I've killed it. Well, rendered it pretty peaky-looking anyway.

Here's what happened. After a pleasantly hot weekend, I noticed that the Touch's screen had some smudging in the centre that wouldn't polish off — because it seemed to be on the inside rather than the outside. This made the device most annoying to use.

Delving in the box I discovered a clear plastic screen cover. 'Aha', I thought, 'the Touch has a replaceable screen cover, perhaps the discoloration is on that'. So I scratched away at the screen and it did indeed come away — but underneath was a sticky (and soon irrevocably fingerprint-ridden) surface that was definitely not meant to be exposed. A piece of the screen had, of course, broken off, leaving the Touch looking a lot less cool than it had fresh out of the box.

Now I had received a free sample to play with, and will get over the disappointment. But what if I'd just paid £300? Has anyone out there bought an HTC Touch and noticed similar screen smudging on the inside? Or is it just me and my special brand of product testing/mistreatment?

Do let us know.