HTC TyTN II review: Kaiser of PocketPCs

One of the hottest PDAs around lately, the HTC TyTN II is one feature-loaded son-of-a-gun. It's got what it takes to quench your daily communication needs, and more: HSDPA/HSUPA, Wi-Fi, 2.8" touchscreen TFT display, hardware QWERTY keyboard, 3 megapixel camera with auto focus and a built-in GPS receiver. A 400 MHz processor is in charge of all that on a Windows Mobile 6.0 Pro platform. If that's more than enough to tickle our curiosity - and yours - we seem to have the right scratch: the HTC TyTN II review.

HTC TyTN II official photos

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Tri-band HSDPA/HSUPA 3.6 Mbps with video calls
• 400MHz Qualcomm processor
• 2.8" 65K color touchscreen TFT display with QVGA resolution
• Integrated Qualcomm GPS receiver with pre-bundled TomTom "taster" satnav software
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• 3 megapixel autofocus camera
• microSDHC memory card slot
• HTC TouchFLO technology allows smooth finger scrolling and panning
• Hardware QWERTY keyboard
• Slide and tilt construction
• Sturdy build and quality casing

Main disadvantages

• Hefty weight of 190 g
• Processor is not powerful enough
• No FM radio
• Out-of-the-way On/Off key
• TouchFLO cube is not available
• No full-featured satnav software prebundled

The HTC Kaiser platform, which the HTC TyTN II is based on, is supposed to have several different flavors - one with no cameras whatsoever, another with only a primary camera and no video calling, and finally, the third one (which we are reviewing) has both a primary and a video-call camera. Currently, the HTC Kaiser is incarnated in a few units under different brands: HTC TyTN II P4550 (our test unit), T-Mobile MDA Vario III, AT&T Tilt 8925, Vodafone v1615, and Vodafone VPA Compact V. It will be no surprise if more are to join the crew in the future.

The HTC TyTN II is not groundbreaking in the Windows Mobile realm - it's hardly compact measuring 112 x 59 x 19 mm and weighing 190 g (much like the Qtek 9100 but heavier, or like the original HTC TyTN but slimmer). OK, the fellow has a belly, but it also has the guts. Besides HSUPA and the integrated GPS receiver, the sliding QWERTY keyboard is a definite highlight. Once you slide it down, you can tilt the display to as much as 120 degrees up, so that you can lay the device comfortably on your desk and get perfect visibility of the screen. Check out our 360-degree spin of the HTC TyTN II after the jump.

HTC TyTN II all around