The HTC P3600

My first impression as I "unboxed" the new HTC P3600 was its gorgeous, appealing design—somewhere between an iPod and a pimped-out Cadillac. From the glossy, piano black finish to the minimalist yet ergonomic shape, HTC has a downright dashing device on their hands. (Following a recent trend in the cellular market, the P3600 is also available in an iPod white.)

Along the right edge of the device are three buttons. The bottom button launches the camera application, but can be reassigned to another function if you are camera shy. Immediately above it is the cover to the miniSD slot, allowing you to add storage cards of up to 4GB in capacity. Above that is the button that activates the Cyberon Voice Speed Dial program, a staple of HTC devices for the last few years. I would prefer to see HTC include a more robust voice dialer, like Microsoft Voice Command (http://pocketpcmag.com/swstore) or Cyberon's Voice Commander (pocketgear.com), both of which do not require one to manually input the "tags" for each name on the contact list. The top button is the power on/off key. The left side of the device contains the scroll wheel and the OK buttons, to be discussed later.

As you can see in the photo, the top edge of the device is rounded and free of buttons and slots. Located on the bottom edge of the device is the (HTC ExtUSB) mini USB charging/syncing/headset port as well as the IR port.

Last but not least is a subtle but significant improvement in the speaker located on the face of the device above the display. The speaker hole projects outward a few millimeters, making accidental taps less likely.

High-speed 3G data and other solid features

In addition to its aesthetic appeal, the P3600 includes many cutting-edge must-have features. At the top of this list is worldwide 3G/3.5G support (UMTS/HSPDA 850/1900/2100), which allows you to browse the Web at broadband speeds anywhere a 3G network is available. In the U.S., the only carrier to implement a UMTS/HSDPA network is Cingular, although T-Mobile is tentatively scheduled to launch their network by 2008. UMTS/HSDPA also allows you to browse the Web and download data, while simultaneously placing and receiving voice calls. One of the most interesting applications that 3G speeds open up is the possibility of utilizing a VoIP (Voice-over-Internet Protocol) program such as Skype (http://skype.com/download/skype/mobile) to place and receive international calls on a cellular phone for just pennies a minute. Speeds on the HSDPA network (in Manhattan and Brooklyn, NY) averaged just under 1 Mbps (Megabit Per Second), which is roughly equal to a standard DSL line.

Coming in as a close second must-have feature is the jog wheel/OK key combo on the left edge of the device, allowing you to quickly navigate through menus using one hand. It has become a boon I find hard to live without. Similar to the famed BlackBerry wheel/menu key combination, it is particularly invaluable for quickly navigating through my Messaging inbox and contacts. In fact, it's become so popular that specialized apps have been written for it (e.g., the TyTN Dialer: search on "hermes dialers" at http://wiki.xda-developers.com). However, this feature is not without its imperfections.

Occasionally, when I had been using the jog wheel for an extended period of time, pressing the wheel down would move the cursor up, or vice versa. I also found this problem on the TyTN/8525, making me wonder if it's a Windows Mobile bug as opposed to a faulty HTC driver issue. A second minor issue is with the jog wheel. HTC placed it and its matching "OK" key on the upper left edge of the unit, immediately below the wheel. I would have preferred its position more towards the top of the device. As it stands, when holding it in the left hand, one's thumb feels slightly off when working with the wheel/OK key combo.

GPS capability?