First look: HTC's Touch Cruise

Over here in the good old U.S. of A, we're getting pretty excited for the impending release of HTC's Touch, that touchscreen-sporting Windows Mobile 6 phone that has been so well-received elsewhere in the world. In Europe, however, they've already got the Touch's successor, the QWERTY-sliding Touch Dual, in their hot little hands. And if the rumormill is to be believed, the true heir to the throne, the HTC Touch Cruise, will be touching down in Europe before the end of November as well. Here's what we can expect: an improved version of TouchFLO (with new functions like rotate and zoom), quad-band GSM, tri-band UMTS, HSDPA/HSUPA, a 400Mhz CPU, 128MB RAM/256MB ROM, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, microSD expansion slot, 3-megapixel camera and a 2.8-inch, 320x240 QVGA touchscreen display. Could this be the phone that has it all? I believe we have a winner. Allegedly, the shadowy image that you see to your left is a prototype and may differ from the final product, though the face buttons and navigation wheel are likely to stay. I've got to say, that's a pretty tacky name but it's not like it matters--this device looks like it's set to become the Top Gun of WM6 handsets.

For more on the Touch Cruise:
- see this article from Unwired View

UPDATE: For the official lowdown on the Touch Cruise, including an official photo from HTC, click here. To watch a video demo of the Touch Cruise, click here.