Most smartphone talk of late has concerned Android or Apple’s soon to be released iPhone 3Gs. So what happened to Windows Mobile (WM)?
 
The HTC Touch Pro2, the Touch Diamond2 and the Snap were unveiled last night at a function held in Fourways, Johannesburg. The devices represent a high-end, mid-range and entry level WM smartphone offering respectively and are Microsoft’s answer to the Android phones, Nokia’s N97 and Apple’s iPhone.

The Touch Pro2 is HTC’s WM flagship business device. HTC have dubbed the device “the world’s only mobile conferencing phone”, and it comes with one touch conferencing straight from your contacts list, and noise cancelling on the device’s speaker and microphone.

The Touch Diamond2, like the Touch Pro2, features an enhanced TouchFLO 3D interface that really improves the usability of the WM platform. It also features “Push Internet” and “People Centric” communications which basically means that it automatically updates your favourite web pages and offers enhanced communications threading for contacts. 

While the Touch Pro2 and the Touch Diamond2 represent evolutionary developments on two of HTC’s most popular WM phones to date, the Snap represents an all new type of WM device. The Snap is probably best described as an entry level smartphone; featuring a streamlined design, a full QWERTY keyboard and a novel “Inner Circle” function that allows you to prioritise communications for a select group of contacts.

While all the devices currently run WM 6.1, you will be able to upgrade to WM 6.5 in October when the upgrade is officially launched. The most exciting news about the firmware update is the launch of Windows Marketplace for Mobile, Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s App store and the Android Market. Tools for developing applications for Windows phones are available online.

The Touch Pro2, Touch Diamond2 and Snap are all network agnostic and price at R9781, R6498 and R5347 respectively.