The sleek new handsets are both 3G touch-screen devices, but while the Touch Diamond2 is a consumer smartphone designed to compete with Apple's iPhone 3G, the Touch Pro2 is geared toward business people and could be a hit with its speaker phone function.
Both handsets continue the Touch line's tradition of attention to design and detail. They are both metallic colors mixed with chrome and black and are designed to make people stop and ask "What is that?" according to Horace Luke, chief innovation officer at HTC.
"This is definitely more of a trendy look. I think 2009 is turning out to be a little more bling, a little more confidence," he said.
HTC improved both handsets by a large measure over their predecessors, starting from the screens, which are much larger, more visually stunning and more responsive to touch commands.
The software inside -- a customized version of Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.1 with a new version of HTC's TouchFLO 3D -- has also seen major improvements.
Two new features are Push-Internet, which enables the handset to download favorite Web site information at specified times so users don't have to wait for the sites to download. The handsets also have so-called unified communications so people's contact books and most recent conversations are easily accessible no matter what form they came in, either from a phone call, SMS (Short Message Service) or e-mail.
The new Touch Diamond2 has several advantages over the original Touch Diamond. For starters, the Diamond2 sports a larger screen at 3.2 inches, compared to 2.8 inches for its predecessor. The overall handset is still slim at half an inch thick and small enough to fit easily into your pocket.
The larger screen offers two noticeable benefits right away. The touch function works much better than on the older model and HTC's 480-by-800 wide-screen VGA resolution, the same as on many laptop PCs, is stunning.
Luke said the improved touch-screen functionality is because of improvements on the company's TouchFLO 3D software.
The Touch Diamond2 also boasts a 5.0-megapixel camera with mechanical auto-focus, a bid to make cameras in handsets work more like regular digital still cameras. Users can snap pictures much faster because of the mechanical auto-focus, according to HTC.
The device will be available in Europe and Asia early in the second quarter of this year, with North America to be included later in 2009. The Touch Pro2 will be available globally beginning early in the summer, HTC said.
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