HTC has something up their sleeve

HTC is apparently poised to shock and awe (or attempt to, at least) invited guests on June 5 -- less than two weeks away -- with a "major announcement" of some sort. Very little is known at this point what the company plans on unveiling here, but this is the most glitz and mystique we can recall leading up to an HTC press event, so we guess it's gotta be good. The invitation (pictured) apparently says that the event will usher in "a new mobile experience that will change the way we use and control our phones." Considering that the iPhone is largely billed in the same way (with multi-touch) and the HTC event comes just days before its release, it seems Taiwan's finest might be looking to steal a little Apple thunder here.HTC is apparently poised to shock and awe (or attempt to, at least) invited guests on June 5 -- less than two weeks away -- with a "major announcement" of some sort. Very little is known at this point what the company plans on unveiling here, but this is the most glitz and mystique we can recall leading up to an HTC press event, so we guess it's gotta be good. The invitation (pictured) apparently says that the event will usher in "a new mobile experience that will change the way we use and control our phones." Considering that the iPhone is largely billed in the same way (with multi-touch) and the HTC event comes just days before its release, it seems Taiwan's finest might be looking to steal a little Apple thunder here.

- Engadgetmobile

The month of June will be an exciting time for PDA phone lovers. IPhone and something new from HTC. Lets up that Meizu also has something to add to this excitement.

TAIWAN FOR THE WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes... good find, please update us when new information appears :D

Ok..so here is the press release on HTC's site.

LONDON - June 5, 2007 - HTC Corp. (TAIEX:2498; "HTC"), the world's leading provider of Microsoft® Windows Mobile®-based smart devices, today announced the global launch of the HTC Touch™, a deceptively small and stylish mobile phone that ushers in an innovative new concept in intuitive touch screen navigation. The HTC Touch™ brings a new level of simplicity to the powerful and function-rich device experience that today's mobile consumers demand.

Building on its rich ten year history of mobile phone innovations, the HTC Touch™ represents extensive research and development and the conviction that fingertip control will enable more efficient, natural and intuitive touch screen navigation. The groundbreaking HTC Touch™ offers a new and unique way of controlling touch screen-based devices by recognising and responding to the sweep of a finger across the screen. It is even intelligent enough to distinguish between finger and stylus input and then respond accordingly.

"With the HTC Touch™, access to your most commonly used content, contacts and features is only a simple finger flick away," said Peter Chou, chief executive officer of HTC. "Mobile phone makers have done a great job of cramming ever-more exciting features into ever-smaller phones. But the way in which one accesses these increasingly sophisticated features has not kept pace. That ends today with the HTC Touch."

Smart, stylish and versatile, the HTC Touch™ brings together a wide variety of communication, entertainment and professional capabilities that enable mobile consumers to balance work and play. The new HTC-designed homescreen provides one-touch access to emails, text messages, calendar appointments and contacts, as well as current weather conditions and forecasts for hundreds of cities around the world.

The HTC Touch is the first device to feature TouchFLO™, the new underlying touch screen technology developed by HTC. Consumers simply sweep their finger up the display to launch an animated, three-dimensional interface comprising three screens: Contacts, Media and Applications. The interface can be spun by swiping a finger right or left across the display, providing efficient access to the features consumers use most. TouchFLO™ also enhances finger touch scrolling and browsing of Web pages, documents, messages and contact lists.

Leveraging the broad functionality of Windows Mobile® 6 Professional, the HTC Touch™ includes Outlook Mobile, Office Mobile, Windows Live™ and the capabilities to run thousands of third-party applications. Users can surf the web with Internet Explorer®, send and receive emails, chat on Messenger and send files to their own web space through Windows Live™. Other HTC Touch™ details include:

• Choice of two colors at launch - elegant soft black or alluring wasabi green

Availability

The HTC Touch™ is now available in the United Kingdom and will be released later this month in Asia and throughout Europe. The North and Latin American version of the HTC Touch™ will be available in the second half of 2007.

It's nowhere near that of the M8 but adds a few features making the user experience a bit better like contact and IE scrolling just by sliding your finger on the screen and a menu screen that can also be operated without the stylus(sp). Definetely a great "addon" to WM6 but unfortunately the underlying OS is still the same clunky OS that just packs too much into one. I hate to admit it but this anticipated phone isn't the IPhone killer that I thought it would be. No onboard storage more then 1GB, same old ugly contacts, useless IE and featureless WMP. This new menu seems to set apart from the phone where transitioning between menu and app is not fluid unlike the IPhone where everything just seems integrated. I want to cry now. Why did HTC have to build up all this hype for a simple addon? Meizu! You're our only hope!!! If it wasn't for Pleco (Chinese-English dictionary) that only works on PPC and Palm I would start to consider the IPhone.