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TELUS HTC Touch Pro2 finally available in Canada!
The HTC Touch Pro2 has officially been released and Canada and can be yours through TELUS on the following price plans:
3-year contract: $249.99
2-year contract: $549.99
1-year contract: $599.99
Outright: $649.99
Over the past month we played around with the stellar, but also heavy, slide-out 5-row full QWERTY device. It is such a massive improvement from its previous model that if you’re a fan of HTC and of touchscreens, this is one to consider.
Some of the key features of the Touch Pro2 are its 3.6 inch tilting touchscreen (resolution of 480 x 800), Windows Mobile 6.1, 3.5 inch headset jack, 2-way speakerphone, 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus (no flash), video capabilities, microSD card slot that can hold up to 16GB. The TP2 has overall dimensions of 5.62(w) x 11.6(h) x 1.67(d) cm and weighs in at a hefty 178.5 (with the battery).
Check out our video of the Touch Pro2 in action here:
More here at TELUS
Discussion
56 comments for “TELUS HTC Touch Pro2 finally available in Canada!”
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This makes me glad.
But no stores have them in stock yet!!!!
ARGHGHGH
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I really want this phone but in order for the phone to be $249.99, you gotta get a voice and data plan with a minimum of $45 per month. This is pointless for me… I was wondering if I waited, will this phone be available without the stupid voice and data plan, and be a bit cheaper?
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tmac15 Reply:
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:36 pm
It wont be available without the data plan since it is a smartphone. But if you do purchase the phone for 249.99 along with a data plan after 6 months you can keep the phone without the data plan…that is what Telus allowed me to do with my Diamond, they just charge you for any data that you use at their regular rate.
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I was told by a Telus rep that ordering them before tomorrow might actually make it take longer to get the phone because the system isn’t properly set up to take orders for them yet, seeing as the official release date is actually tomorrow.
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Sexyyyyyy…. have to wait for the student plans though, grr.
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Yeah NO stores at all… either order from Telus or wait a few more days or a week. I think they are trying to exclusive it to their website… the phone should have cost $100 less outright.
Wonder who is going to get them first… best buy/future shop/ or one of the many Telus store affiliates.
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As per http://www.htc.com/ca/product/touchprotelus2/specification.html
And a conformation from HTC the dimentions of the phone are much smaller and the weight is only 115g with the battary.
Also they have confirmed there is no GPS radio, TV-Out, or Front Facing Camera.
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Craig Reply:
July 31st, 2009 at 9:49 am
No, I think you’re talking about the original Touch Pro or something. I handled the demo model dummy phone yesterday, and it’s just as the previews say. No idea about GPS but there was nothing wrong with the GPS on my HTC Diamond, so I don’t see why this would be different.
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Dean Bratland Reply:
July 31st, 2009 at 11:05 am
I’m defineintally talking about the Touch Pro 2. I was surprised by the specs listed on the HTC page for the Telus version of the phone.
Here is the dialog between HTC and myself.
My Question:
The spec site for the newly (soon to be) released Touch Pro 2 for Telus found at this website http://www.htc.com/ca/product/touchprotelus2/specification.html shows the dimentions to be 114.15 mm(L)x 63 mm(W)x 13.35 mm(T), and weight to be 115 g with battery pack. I just wanted to confirm these numbers as they are different that previous modles and the weight is quite a bit lighter. (A good thing
) I would also like to know if the G-Sensor, front facing camera, or GPS were removed as they are not listed on the site? (maybe why it’s so light?) Lastly I would like to know if the Telus version supports video out via the HTC ExtUSB port. Thanks for looking into these features for me.
HTC’s Response:
Dear Dean,
We understand the importance of having all the information on our phone. The specifications of the dimensions for the Telus Touch Pro 2 is correct. According to the user manual for the Telus Touch Pro 2, there is no front facing camera, GPS antenna, and video-out support but there is a G-Sensor. All HTC devices that are purchased through a wireless carrier are reprogrammed, re-branded, and sometimes remodeled at their discretion. Telus has elected to not have a front facing camera, GPS antenna, and video-out support not to be included in their version of the Touch Pro 2.
HTC Technical Support,
http://www.htc.com/us/
http://www.htcwiki.com/
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Craig Reply:
July 31st, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Well, they’ve clearly got it wrong. I have one in my hands right now. Size is correct, but I just put it on a digital scale. It’s 152 grams without the battery and 184 grams with.
swervedriver Reply:
August 1st, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Mine has tv out
I just bought one off the web store!!
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The Telus site says it has GPS, but HTC doesn’t mention it.
Why do they cripple their phones like this? Ugh.
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It better have GPS, I already suspected it wouldn’t have TV Out or front facing camera. I hope Telus didn’t ruin this phone too much, they already totally changed the look of it.
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It does say under details and than available services on the Telus Website that GPS Navigator is available via subscription.
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My guess is that the phone doesn’t have a GPS radio, however Telus will gladly take some extra money from you to use their towers for locating your position.
This is one phone I’ll need in hand before purchase, otherwise I’ll pick up the Sony Ericson Xperia from Rogers. No acceleromerter, but it has a flash camera, and you can tether with Rogers.
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It would really suck if the TP2 has no GPS radio! I just went to the Telus store in the Eaton Centre and I checked the dummy version of the TP2. It does feel light and not as big as I thought. The screen size is big, and it does tilt nicely. However, it does feel a bit weak. I hope their real phone is better built. The keyboard felt GREAT. It’s probably the best keyboard available on a mobile phone. I will probably stick to my TP for now, and wait for the reviews.
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Craig Reply:
July 31st, 2009 at 7:16 pm
I found the display “dummy” feel of the slide mechanism to be pretty much exactly the same as the real thing, for what it’s worth.
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Just wanted to let people know that at least some Ottawa stores have stock now. The Rideau centre had four (less now, because I just got mine from there), and the St Laurent store also had stock that they said “had received but not logged into the system yet”.
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Also, for what it’s worth… It appears they are including less “goodies” than previously (or that come with the european version.
For instance, there is no carry case (I paid $30 for one with a belt clip, so one is available)
The rep said it doesn’t come with a screen protector, however, it does.
Interestingly, Telus included a SIM card labelled an “International Roaming Card” (Sorry telus, if I’m oversees, I’m unlocking it)
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Dean Reply:
July 31st, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Can you confirm whether there is a GPS radio in the unit?
Thanks
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So can anyone confirm whether or not this has GPS and TV-out?
If not, are they just locked down with software, or are they actually not present in the device?
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Craig Reply:
July 31st, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Well, under Settings there is an entry for TV Out. Selecting it says “TV Out cable (optional accessory) is needed to output to an external display”.
As for GPS, I downloaded Googlemaps for mobile. It showed me where I was accurate to an 1800m circle (which in reality I was on the outer edge of). I enabled GPS and went outside but while it’s not giving me the no GPS error that I get if I manually set it to a random com port, it’s also not acquiring satellites (it just sits there searching)… maybe I’ve not set it up right, I rather expect that it would have a functional GPS, so that’s my assumption at the moment, just I don’t have it all figured out yet.
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Craig Reply:
August 7th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Ok, GPS works.. may be unrelated, but I had a problem in my world clock and it thought it was two time zones west… might have had something to do with it…
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sooooooooooooo whats going on with the GPS and TV-out then???
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It sucks to be in Canada with Tellus. My AMERICAN TP2 will have all the features that Tellus opted NOT to have. GPS is a necessary feature, here in America. My AMERICAN TP2 will be called “Fortress”; and it will also have P.T.T. And, I’ll be able to re-program the P.T.T. button to perform any of all of the other features that AT&T has opted to include.
WAIT, they’ve included all of the features that HTC has designed for the TP2.
It really does suck to be in Canada with Tellus.
BUT, at least your country has a respectable, decent and honest president.
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Matthew Daye Reply:
August 1st, 2009 at 7:52 am
You mean Prime Minister, not President…and no he’s none of those things.
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I bought mine around 5pm at a mall store in Waterloo just after the guy ahead of me bought two. He drove here from Owen Sound to get it yesterday. Not sure why Waterloo – Blackberry headquarters city wqas the only Telus store to have them, but I didn’t complain. Sold out now!
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Picked up mine on Friday in Ottawa at Carlingwood Mall. They had 3 remaining after I left the store.
It’s heavy, and solid. Screen is beautiful. The TouchFlo lags at times, is seamless at others. Took me several attempts and an hour to synch it with my PC. Speaker is decent, video was lagging (though the file sizes were huge, admittedly). Wish there were more options to customize the home page. Some other quirks as well, but overall I’m happy.
(Instruction manual says the mini USB is TV-out, by the way.)
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OK i E mailed HTC about the GPS
Hello *******, I can understand how important it is to have all the information you can on a device you are interested in. I would be more than happy to assist you with your device feature inquires on the HTC Touch Pro 2 for Telus. At this time, the Telus Touch Pro 2 does contain an internal GPS antenna but it does not contain a second camera. You can find more information about this product by going to our HTC Canada Product web page, http://www.htc.com/ca/product.aspx, and our HTC Canada Support web page, http://www.htc.com/ca/support.aspx, just select your product from the drop down box/list. I want to apologize for any inconveniences you may have experienced. I want to thank you for contacting HTC. In order to help improve our service I’d like to invite you to take a survey at http://survey.htc.com/worldwide.
HTC Technical Support
http://www.htc.com
http://www.htcwiki.com
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flippin’ best buy here in VanCity area is having problems activating them – they wouldn’t sell me one when i tired to get one today – I’m going to try again tomorrow…
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I was reading on a couple sites that the camera does have flash and the keyboard does light up in the dark…can someone please confirm?
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Rambo Reply:
August 3rd, 2009 at 2:02 am
no flash no front facing cam butt the keyboard does light up lol
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ok can someone please answer me this. Would I be able to use the telus touch pro 2 on bell when they switch over to their new network? You know since the telus pro 2 would also support the new network. I know with the cdma stuff it can not happen, but im hoping with gsm it can. I obviously can not ask a bell rep because I know they would lie. Thanks
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I have a Telus TP2
There IS a GPS on it, albeit it can be a bit touchy at times. Google supports either cell-tower triangulation (read: Latitude runs in the background!) and GPS function.
Garmin Mobile XT also works fine with the internal GPS. Cold start on GPS has taken up to 20 minutes on me from time to time, normal location aquisition after about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Can’t confirm the thing has a working FM Radio inside it – the app loads but I never seem to receive any stations.
Unit has definately got a wonderful little 3.5mm headphone jack that works well.
Keyboard is backlit, there is no front camera. G-Sensor and light sensor are present, work well. Camera does not have a flash.
There is a SIM card slot under the battery, and Telus provides a SIM card for International Roaming.
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Hyder Reply:
August 4th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
How is the battery life on your TP2?
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Gregory Reply:
August 4th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
I find it comparable to what I got with my HTC Touch / 2000mAh Seidio battery.
With moderate data usage, I’m down to about 50% battery after a day. When I’m in my office – which has poor cell coverage, and Activesync trying to connect all day, I can expect to be charging the battery after 8-10 hours.
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Hyder Reply:
August 5th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Thank you for the reply. It looks like that the TP2 battery life is comparable to my TP from Bell.
cellphone triangulation is not the same as having a GPS antenna. Can you geocode or get turn-by-turn directions with just cellphone triangulation? Hell, my iPod Touch can figure out roughly where it is with just wi-fi. It’s not the same thing.
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Gregory Reply:
August 4th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
I can get a 3 metre GPS lock, with co-ordinates and run Garmin Mobile XT for turn-by-turn directions.
Camera app does not geotag photos that I can tell. Might be able to activate that with a registry hack -?
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tmac15 Reply:
August 5th, 2009 at 11:30 am
TomTom software works on it as well for turn by turn directions and you can enable gps tagging in photo mode, if that is the same as geotag. There is a video on youtube on how to do it if you are interested
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Gregory Reply:
August 5th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Thanks, I figured out the geotagging mode – a simple registry change did it.
GPS seems to be a lot happier these days, guessing it had to get it’s “new location” fix first and now that it has the ephemeral data it’s almost always < 1 minute to a positive GPS lock.
Not nearly as fast as my Touch Vogue was using aGPS but it works nevertheless.
I've used the phone for Geocaching, with the GCz application and live.geocaching.com, and Pocketwit updates position from the GPS easily as well.
Matthew Daye Reply:
August 6th, 2009 at 10:26 am
What do you guys prefer Garmin or TomTom? I got my TP2 the other day and am on the fence about which to buy.
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tmac15 Reply:
August 7th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
I personally prefer TomTom but both are equally good and it is just a matter of personal preference. There should be some webpages offering a more detailed comparison.
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I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Margaret
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Does anyone else find that when they are holding the unit landscape with the keyboard out, their left index finger easily accidentally hit’s the sleep button (the one that’s top left when the keyboard is closed). I can’t count how many times I’ve turned it off on myself.
How hard would it be to disable the sleep key while the keyboard is open! it’s not like you’re going to sleep it like that!
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To the people who bought it, do you like it so far?
Its weight is holding me back….
TIA
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Matthew Daye Reply:
August 9th, 2009 at 9:11 am
The weight feels nice, and I actually prefer the thickness in my hands because it gives me something to hang on to compared to an iphone which is slimmer and a bit harder for my hands to grasp. On that note I find the back cover to be slippery as hell, they should have made it the same material as first touch pro.
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All the dummy phones of the HTC TP2 in my local Telus stores have broken sliders, and the hinges creak so annoyingly when you flip the screen back down. Is this reflective of the actual sliding and tilting mechanism??
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I have a theory as to why Telus came out with this phone before Bell. Since Bell OWNS Telus, they are using the Telus customer base in order to obtain financial statistics and popularity. So depending on how popular it is and which provinces are most successful, they will market it for Bell in the appropriate manner.
I am really impressed to hear about the 3.5mm jack, GPS radio, and potential FM radio. This is above and beyond my expectations for this device. I also find the option of canceling my dataplan after 3-6 months very attractive… Can’t wait to see TP2 @ Bell!
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Craig Reply:
August 7th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Good theory, wrong facts
Bell doesn’t own Telus. They share a cell network, but beyond that they are competitors
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tmac15 Reply:
August 8th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Bell doesn’t own Telus not sure where you got that idea from, the only thing they share are some towers and the desire to bring Rogers monopoly to an end.
I doubt this phone is coming out on Bell though.
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Nuelo Black Reply:
August 9th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Why do you think Bell won’t get this phone?
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tmac15 Reply:
August 13th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
I think that because ever since this phone was introduced at GSMA 09, North American carriers have announced their intention to bring this phone to their lineup because it is a phone that has alot of consumer interest. Telus announced their plans to bring it to Canada, and all the US major mobile companies have all announced their position as well to offer this phone. If Bell had any intention of carrying this phone they would have announced as oppose to losing current customers to Telus Mobility for this phone. It just isn’t a smart move for Bell to not have already announced it, if they indeed had plans to bring this phone to their lineup. I believe instead they are hoping the Palm Pre will help them keep those customers, and that is why they pushed for early exclusivity of it, but Telus announced they will also carry the Palm Pre, to prevent people leaving them for Bell.
Nuelo Black Reply:
August 13th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
I like your answer. Everything makes sense. I guess, as a current Bell customer, I am hoping that Bell isn’t going to make a smart move (which we have seen them do in the past) and consider bringing this phone in. I am sure there will still be a significant customer base. Furthermore, I think Bell can handle the lower numbers due to their massive buying power compared to Telus. As a side note, looks like my “incorrect” claim that Bell owns Telus may come true after all… http://mobilesyrup.com/2009/08/12/bell-and-telus-to-merge-within-the-coming-year-or-two/
tmac15 Reply:
August 14th, 2009 at 1:11 am
You are right…Bell does have a significant enough customer base to still stay competitive even if they don’t bring this phone to their lineup. If they do merge, they would create a new entity, neither Telus or Bell Mobility would be, but rather “Bellus”… Not a straight buyout or takeover of Telus by Bell….but you were darn close