HTC TouchFLO 3D v2.5 previewed; social networking features amaze!

Posted on 28-09-2009

One of the hottest topics recently in the mobile industry and one of the most anticipated upcoming phones is the HTC Leo, which comes with a large 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen TFT. PocketNow got its hands on the new Leo and has previewed the all-new HTC TouchFLO v2.5 user interface overlaid on the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system.

The Leo – which might also be dubbed the HTC HD2 in its final release – is set to be the first Windows Mobile device with a capacitive touchscreen and hence the TouchFLO interface looks extremely smooth and elegant. The icons at the launch bar have been colourised and pop-up to a large, glossy icon when you move your finger across them. The wallpaper, too, has been revamped and allows for animated backgrounds as well as weather wallpapers, which changes according to the current climatic conditions.

The apps management on the new TouchFLO 2.5 has gotten a lot better with a new quick-launch speed dial interface, much like that of the Google Chrome browser and its ability to have previews of tabs ready to be launched with a single click. The contacts bar has also gotten a similar grid-based speed-dial interface, doing away with the annoying ‘contact snapshot’ idea of the old TouchFLO.

The calendar application has gotten a few small improvements; there’s nothing major to note, but it’s definitely smoother and easier. Emails have gotten a major boost as most of them can now be read through the preview window that they open in itself. About 50 words (which is generally the length of short emails anyway) can be easily previewed without opening the email itself.

Social networking has obviously gotten a major boost in the new TouchFLO 2.5. The photo gallery now features Facebook integration, allowing you to automatically upload all your pictures to your account.

HTC has also thrown in a dedicated Twitter tool, which comes with most of the features of a regular Twitter desktop client, including tabs for filtering tweets, URL shortening services (bit.ly, is.gd, etc.), and picture hosting services (twitpic, twitgoo, etc.). You can also click a quick photograph while typing your Twitter message, automatically uploading it to a photo-host and adding the link to your tweet.

All in all, TouchFLO 3D v2.5 looks very promising and the capacitive touchscreen makes it look fantastic!