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Sorry for the long title, but I found this a little disheartening this morning. It appears that the next contender to de-throne the iPhone and the Tilt will not come from AT&T. This is not a rant about the Tilt and any shortcomings. I believe the Tilt to be the most complete device I have ever owned and I could not imagine my daily life without it. But I have grown accustomed to AT&T (Formerly Cingular) having the most cutting edge Windows Mobile Devices available from a US Carrier. (Which means discounted device prices!) Since the 8125 (HTC Wizard), to the 8525 (HTC HERMES), and now with the 8925 Tilt (HTC Kaiser), we have been spoiled with awesome HTC/WinMo Devices from AT&T.

So now on with the news. According to Cellfanatic, The HTC Touch Pro/Raphael “has just passed through the FCC filings today, labeled “RAPH800″. They have also confirmed that Sprint will be releasing the Touch Pro Q4 2008.

So where does that leave AT&T? Of course we all know that they are getting tons of press over the upcoming iPhone 3G release. (yawn) I will be the first to admit that the iPhone has been a home run for AT&T. But it isn’t a WinMo phone that we crave. It has its advantages and shortcomings. All well documented of course. But as the Tilt nears it’s first birthday, it is still a very impressive device. And not obsolete by any means. But what’s next I wonder?

Is AT&T too caught up in iPhone Fever (plague) and has taken their eye off of the Windows Mobile Device Market? I hope not. AT&T also needs to incorporate the HTC TouchFlo 3D in their next device and forget about all the Bloat that they are famous for. I can live without the front facing camera, but I really would like a ROM loaded with all the HTC goodness!

So what’s your thoughts on the Touch Pro/Raphael? Chime in and let us know. Personally, I am in LOVE with the keyboard. The 5 row QWERTY keyboard is sure to be hit if it large enough. Superior to the Sony XPERIA X1 which has gotten a lot of bad press. VGA Screen with video out. And lets be honest, the Touch Pro looks AWESOME!

So what’s next for AT&T? We will have to wait and see!

Read more about the Touch Pro/Raphael after the break.

The HTC Touch Pro™ brings together elegant touch screen response with the direct precision of keyboard entry… leaving out nothing to deliver a powerhouse   communication tool in a beautiful, compact design.

The 2.8-inch VGA touch screen provides four times the resolution of most smart devices, making email, documents and web pages sharper and easier to work with than ever before.

HTC’s rich, touch-responsive interface, TouchFLO™ 3D, provides a stunningly intuitive way to zip through common tasks like messaging, calendar checks or making calls. Delve a little deeper to find that playing media files, searching for contacts and surfing the web are also responsive to your touch.

The web browser puts the full Internet in the palm of your hand. Websites look just like they do on a PC, and TouchFLO™ 3D makes it easy to pan around and zoom in on exactly the information you’re looking for. If you need a wide screen, simply tilt the Touch Pro sideways and the page switches to landscape view.

Slide out the 5-row QWERTY keyboard to make light work of typing-intensive tasks like composing email or working on Microsoft Office® documents… perfect for when your day takes a serious turn.

High speed connectivity will keep you in touch with colleagues and contacts wherever you are. Integrated GPS can be used with maps software for a full turn-by-turn satellite navigation experience.

Built-in Wi-Fi and TV-out functionality* mean you can hook up to the local wireless hot spot to surf, then deliver the perfect PowerPoint® presentation without a laptop in sight.

A beautiful angle on business, the HTC Touch Pro introduces effortless presence to enterprise-standard communications.

Highlights
Mobile Internet features – surf and download at broadband speed with HSDPA and Wi-Fi^®.

2.8-inch touch screen, with four times the resolution of most phones.

Vibrant TouchFLO™ 3D user interface.

Five-row QWERTY keyboard for quick and easy text entry.

Surf and download at broadband speed with HSDPA and Wi-Fi^®.

3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera with flash light for quality stills and video.

microSD™ slot for expandable storage.

Integrated GPS can be used with maps software for a full turn-by-turn navigation experience.

*HTC TV-out cable is needed.

Doug Smith (301 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook