One of the complaints I had when Lauren, Sue, and I looked at HTC’s Touch Flo interface, was that it felt like a fairly thin veil over Windows Mobile.  I frequently found myself dumped back into the Windows Mobile interface, which required frustrating switches from finger-friendly to stylus interface screens.  Well, now along comes the new Touch Flo 3D, and as you can see in the above video from the German site handy-faq, the new interface drills down pretty far.  You really have to dig to get to Windows Mobile now.  This is almost enough to make me lean toward getting the Touch Pro 2 instead of Palm Pre for my next upgrade.

Check out more details, and quite a few pictures at WMExperts.

Clinton Fitch just posted the third and final installment of his look at tweaks for the HTC Diamond and Touch Pro/Fuze devices.  The tweaks he talked about previously were all pretty straightforward, even for the uninitiated.  This latest article, however, looks at tweaks which require you to make changes to the registry.  Not for the faint of heart, for sure.  Before you check out Clinton’s well written article, don’t say we didn’t warn you that tweaking your registry can result in damage to your device (possibly requiring a hard reset).  With that warning in mind, head on over to Clinton Fitch and learn how to mute a call when the phone is placed face down, change your Internet tab, boost TouchFlo 3D performance, and plenty more.

The post is here: Tweaking Your HTC Touch Diamond or Touch Pro – Part 3

[This review is being co-written by Doug, Lauren, and Sue.  Doug's comments will appear in normal text, Lauren's will appear in bold text, Sue's will appear in italicized text.  This is also being jointly posted on Just Another Mobile Monday and Gear Diary.]

Doug: One of the reasons I was so excited to review the HTC Touch Pro was the new interface HTC put together for it.  Their TouchFlo 3D interface was the first in a new generation of built-in graphical interfaces for Windows Mobile.  And boy did it look slick, with tabs running across the bottom of the screen, and instant access to everything on your device.  This was going to be great… or was it.

Lauren: I was also eager to see TouchFlo 3D in action. It’s probably the most-hyped non-Microsoft enhancement to Windows Mobile ever — I remember my jaw literally dropping the first time I saw the demonstration videos. TouchFlo 3D looked amazing, and I couldn’t wait to get my finger on it.

Doug: Almost immediately upon firing up the HTC Touch Pro, I started finding problems with the TouchFlo 3D interface.  Sure, it is slick, and takes full advantage of the VGA screen and graphics processors.  But slick graphics only get you so far before you need to answer the question, “how well does it work?”   And that is where the breakdown came for me.

Lauren: When I first started using TouchFlo 3D, I had a very different reaction than Doug’s doom-and-gloom. This thing wasn’t just gorgeous, it was revolutionary! I loved it. Well, after having my Touch Pro for over a month, TouchFlo 3D and I have settled into a post-honeymoon relationship. It leaves its socks on the bathroom floor and can’t cook worth a darn, but for all its faults I still like having it around.

Doug: Nice an analogy.  And I think i will stick with the bedroom as well.  I liken TouchFlo 3D to a new comforter on an old mattress.  When the bed is made, it looks great.  The new comforter makes the bed look so inviting, you just want to dive right in.  But when you get there, you find all of the same lumps and problems you have always had with that old mattress.

So… what did we really think?  Read on to find out.

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