2. TouchFlo

TouchFlo also provides a simple application launcher for common tasks.

Open the box and you’ll see just what HTC intends you to do. As you unpack the phone, there’s a sticker on the screen with some simple instructions. Run a finger up to open, left and right to navigate, and down to close. Once you’ve powered up, you’ll find that you’ve opened the TouchFlo tools.

There are only three screens here: one for the phone, one for your media, and one to launch common applications. To keep things down to what you can see on one screen, the phone view only lets you work with nine contacts, the media screen launches just three applications, and the general application launcher only has six slots (none of which can be changed). You can add names to the quick call screen by selecting them from the contacts list, and if the contacts have a photo attached they’ll be shown.

If you’ve attached an image to a contact, it’ll show up in TouchFlo.

You can populate the TouchFlo launcher with quick dial contacts.

With the Touch, HTC has added a new user interface layer, optimized for fingers, on top of the familiar Windows Mobile interface. Slide your finger up the screen at any point and you’ll launch TouchFlo. Slide to the left or the right to switch windows, and back down to close TouchFlo. This actually makes stylus operation more difficult than on other Windows Mobile devices, as you need to press harder for the screen to recognize a stylus touch.

There are TouchFlo enhancements to other Windows Mobile applications. You can use your finger to scroll through contacts and up and down web pages, so you can browse the web while on the bus without losing your stylus under a seat. However there’s one critical omission - there’s no touch-based keyboard. While you can install thumb keyboards like the SPB Full Screen Keyboard, the built in soft keyboard is designed for use with a stylus, not for touch. I tried typing messages using touch on the Windows Mobile default soft keyboard, but rapidly came to the conclusion that it was virtually impossible. When handling finger touches, the Touch’s screen sensor uses much more screen area than a single key on the standard soft keyboard.

The problem with TouchFlo is its limitations. The iPhone offers a complete touch-based user interface, right down to a touch keyboard. TouchFlo is a touch-based enhancement to an existing stylus-based operating system and has to work alongside it. Until Microsoft adds touch features to Windows Mobile, TouchFlo will remain at best an alternative way of working with the existing tools.