HTC Pro available to pre-order

The HTC Touch Pro is the professional version of the Touch Diamond.  It takes most of the other model's strong points (GPS receiver, FM radio, 3 megapixel camera, VGA screen, 3G/WiFi/Bluetooth connectivity ...) and adds several new features:

• the camera now features flash
• a micro-SD port has been adde
• most importantly, a slide-out alphabetic keyboard is featured underneath the camera.

The addition of a camera will certainly be appreciated by e-mail lovers, especially given that it's a full alphanumeric keyboard, unlike, for instance, some BlackBerry or Palm models where a single keyboard mixes letters, numbers and punctuation.

The keyboard is joined by an all-new touch screen interface, called TouchFlo 3D, which struggles to hide Apple's influence.  Underneath this cosmetic layer, however, the system is still running Windows 6.1 Professional, which allows for the installation of extra software, including GPS tools.

What's more, battery autonomy has been improved. From 5 hours 30 minutes of calls and 285 hours of standby time on the Diamond, this model has been upgraded to 6 hours and 40 minutes of calls and 400 hours.

This does mean, though, that the Pro is 7 mm thicker and 55 g heavier than the Diamond, with dimensions totaling 10.2 x 5.1 x 1.8 cm and 165g.

Advertised at 699 Euros, Touch Pro will be available at the beginning of September.