Smartphone Thoughts: Hands on with the HTC S740

"We sat down with HTC for a bit and talked about the new models for Sprint. They also showed us their latest kit for overseas, the most interesting of which was the S740, a messaging slider with unusual proportions. Unlike the other new messaging phones we saw this week that are unusually wide, the S740 takes the opposite approach and is freakishly skinny... We wish a US carrier would pick it up, but so far we're hearing there's no interest from them. It seems everyone is so obsessed with competing with the iPhone that non-touchscreen Windows Mobile Standard devices are being ignored. That's a shame. Not everyone is ready to abandon the familiar d-pad for a touch screen."

Phone Scoop poses a very interesting question. With the release of the Apple iPhone, HTC Touch Diamond and soon the Google Android run devices, is the day of the non-touchscreen Smartphone slowly coming to an end? Personally I hope not. In most cases I prefer a non-touchscreen device though I have to admit lately I have been using my device less and less as I get more frustrated with the lack of more screen resolution to work with. Let's face it; you can't be terribly productive with less than 320x240 pixels of screen real estate to work with. In most cases if I have to reply to an email or look something up on the Interweb, I just wait until I get near my laptop instead of using my handset. Hopefully with the next version of Windows Mobile, Microsoft will realize the importance of giving both platforms the same maximum resolution. I would love to have a Smartphone with a screen resolution of 800x400 pixels.