It seems like I’ve been giving at&t too much love lately (I really haven’t reviewed non-at&t phone lately). As a provider, I’ve had them for about 5 years and I really haven’t had any problems with them (even though I use to change my rate plan every month, but thats another story). I’ve had a problem with Verizon, since they’re known for crippling phones and adding their own crappy UI.

I wasn’t a big fan of Sprint back in the day when I use to carry a Sprint phone for work, I was lucky to find a place with decent reception. I really haven’t considered T-Mo because of their lack of 3G. But, I’ve come across a review that has me considering changing providers (now that my contract is up with at&t). Introducing the HTC Touch brought to you by Sprint.

I am really liking this phone after reading Peter Ha’s review. Let me highlight some of his findings. Highlights of the features:

he Touch features a microSD slot with support up to 4GB and includes a 512MB card. The 2-megapixel camera has 5x zoom with video capabilities. Stereo Bluetooth, which should be a norm with all phones! The Touch also has voice-activated dialing […]

Pretty nice of Sprint to include a 512MB card. at&t sure doesn’t do this. 2 mp camera…whatever..we all know built-in phone cams usually suck. Bluetooth 2.0, pretty much the standard with new phones. Voice-activated dialing…AWESOME! The phone’s speed:

The Touch didn’t have any noticeable lag time switching from app to app or when starting up the camera.

Sweet. My BlackJack can gets laggy all the time. I need to test this for myself. Now, let’s get to the phone’s UI:

The main menu is effortless to read and only takes a few minutes to figure out what’s what. Need the current temperature and future forecast? Tap the sun and there you go. Everything is adjusted so that you only need to tap an icon once and it pulls up whatever you need without having to dive down through sub-menus. The neat part about TouchFLO is activated when you swipe from the bottom of the screen to the top. It’s here that you’ll find three different menus to flow through with a simple swipe. Rather than a “top 5” you can have nine contacts with their own picture or picture of your choice. You can also access Sprint’s Music, TV and On Demand stores with a tap of the finger. The last menu gives you six options that include an IM client, software store, IE (which kicks much ass since it’s a full Web browsing experience and this was life saver #2, I couldn’t find the suite where my meeting was and all my other devices couldn’t access my CG e-mail), SMS, Comm Manager and mailbox.

Awesome! The extenbability of Windows Mobile and the simplicity of the iPhone. The best of both worlds.

As usual, as soon as I get a chance to play with this device, I will post a full hands-on review. It will be available November 4th for $250 with a $100 main-in rebate. The prospect of changing carriers seems not too distant now.

[picture credits: Crunchgear here and here]

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