By Alma Anonas-Carpio
Correspondent

MOBILE phone manufacturer HTC recently unveiled its next-generation business phone, the HTC Touch Pro. The phone introduces a variety of business-focused enhancements for professionals who work on-the-go.

“The HTC Touch Pro has created a new generation of HTC Touch device that make the promise of the one-hand, one-touch mobile Internet a reality,” HTC Asia vice president Jack Tong said. “

The phone features a three-dimensional touch interface called TouchFLO 3D, (which) provides an intuitive way to zip through common tasks like messaging, calendar appointments or making calls. The handset also offers touch applications for music, photos, contacts and surfing the web. There is even an HTC-developed YouTube application for watching a variety of user-generated video content.

Like the Touch Diamond, the Touch Pro is crafted to fit comfortably in a user’s hand and brings together a touch screen response with the direct precision of HTC’s sliding keyboard design to reveal a QWERTY keyboard for working on the handset’s Microsoft Office programs and Windows Mobile operating system. It also comes with a built-in TV-out functionality so users can deliver PowerPoint presentations directly from the Touch Pro.

The Touch Pro has a 2.8 inch display that provides near-print quality viewing and its built-in camera comes with an auto-focus lens to ensure that photos come out clearly and consistently. The handset also has wireless and auto sensor screen pivoting. The Touch Pro is available from mid-September at all HTC-authorized resellers for a suggested retail price of P50,800, inclusive of value-added tax.

Tong said at the launch that HTC expects the global sales of the Touch Pro to exceed the three million mark. He also noted that “we recognize the Philippines as an important market and are improving our distribution and after-sales services here to reflect that.”

* Published in the Business Mirror newspaper on Sept. 18, 2008.