Review Of all the many and varied iPhone challengers out there, HTC's Touch series has probably come closest to the Apple handset in terms of versatility and ease of use.

The Taiwanese manufacturer's been churning out variations on the theme with dizzying regularity, in sharp contrast to Apple's one-size-fits-all policy, with small, pocket-friendly Touches, big-screen Touches and chunky Qwerty-keyboard Touches. And now it's added a stripped-down, no-frills version as the least-cost entry into Touch World.

The trouble with cut-price, cut-down versions of existing handsets is, of course, what to leave out. Which features play to the core design's strengths and should be retained, and which will no one miss?

Here's there's no 3G, no GPS and no 3.5mm headphone jack, though there is that rather lovely touchscreen, HTC's TouchFlo interface, Wi-Fi connectivity and a 2Mp camera. Our recently acquired, fashion-led eco-conscience was also pleased to see that the phone’s manual is provided on disc rather than paper, which reduces the clutter in an already frill-free box.

At first glance, the Viva looks very similar to the original Touch (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/06/11/review_htc_touch_smart_phone/), launched a lifetime ago... well, June 2007. There have been a few improvements since then. There's now a minimum of buttons: a square navpad and call start/stop keys on the front, a power button on top, and an elongated volume rocker on the side. Along with a USB power/headphone combo-socket on the bottom, that's it, all other controls are presented on the touchscreen.

Speaking of which, it's a good-sized, 2.8in, 240 x 320 version. There are bigger, higher resolution screens out there, but it looks clear and sharp, even with video. There seems to have been an odd decision taken with regard to the placement of the screen, however. It's recessed a couple of millimetres into the phone's casing, which may help to protect it if the phone's laid face down, but makes it a nuisance to use.

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For the most part, functions, the keypad and even the keyboard are perfectly easy to use with your thumb, but at the edges, where the scroll bars are, it's difficult to get your digit to connect, and you're forced to rely on the stylus that slides into the side. It's not a disaster, but it does seem like an unnecessary inconvenience that could have been easily avoided.

Historically, the camera has tended to be the weak point in the Touch series, and the Viva doesn't alter that trend. The camera is about as basic a model as you'll find. It only has two megapixels, which is bargain basement nowadays; there's no flash, no autofocus and no real reason to use it except in an emergency. Pics tend to look dull and lifeless and blur very easily if there's any movement involved. On the plus side, there's a 2x digital zoom and, as per other Touches, you can zoom in on pics in the gallery by twirling your finger on the screen, or brushing your thumb to bring on the next image.

HTC's TouchFlo interface sits on top of the Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro operating system. It's got some nice-looking graphics and makes it easy to find your way around the main applications without resorting to Windows Mobile's Start menu and increasingly ancient-looking UI.

A little disappointingly, the 201MHz TI OMAP 820 processor is the same CPU HTC used in the original Touch – not a disaster if you're careful to shut down your apps when not in use, but we'd have liked to have seen a beefier processor after all this time. However, the memory has been increased, doubling up to 128MB from the original, though you can augment this with a Micro SD card, though one's not supplied as standard. You'll need to remove the battery to slip it in, which seems a step back from the original Touch, which allowed you to hot-swap memory cards thanks to a side-facing slot.

You might think you want a memory card for media, and indeed, the music player is perfectly fine. But it's clearly not considered a priority by HTC, since the Viva doesn't come with any earphones. This wouldn't be so bad if there was a 3.5mm headphones socket on board, but since there isn't, you'll need to pay extra in a USB adaptor if you want to listen to music.

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The Viva is full of such minor disappointments, but the major omission is the lack of 3G connectivity. For a device which is so well suited to surfing the web, the lack of a decent connection seems perverse. There's a Wi-Fi link, which is fine for connecting to your home network, work WLAN or if you're near a hotspot, but useless anywhere else. GPRS will just about do for checking your email, but tends to suffer badly when viewing big-screen web pages. The Viva also does quad-band GSM so you can make calls from almost anywhere in the world.

Yes, there's the Touch 3G - essentially the 3G version of the Viva - and that's all well and good, but why bother with two models at all? We'd say Wi-Fi should have been the differentiator, not 3G: 3G in the Viva, 3G plus Wi-Fi in the better model. And a new name, of course.

The browser is the same as the one offered on other recent Touches and very nice it is too. Opera is the default, though you can also use Internet Explorer if you're feeling masochistic. Zooming in or out is easy using the slider at the bottom of the screen but another surprise omission is the lack of any option to view web pages in landscape mode. It's excusable that there's no accelerometer on board, which could automatically flip the resolutions from portrait to landscape, but with no manual setting you're forced to view pages in portrait mode, even though most are more suitable for viewing in landscape. There’s the Mobile View setting, which is supposed to optimise web pages for display on mobile phone screens - basically, it crams all the links into a vertical stream. It helps, but it's only a stop gap.

Fortunately, video viewing is automatically offered in landscape mode, and HTC's YouTube app works very well indeed, when you can get a decent connection.

As you'd hope from a device with a limited spec, the battery life is quite good and gave us about two-and-a-half days of moderate use, which included leaving the Wi-Fi connected for most of the time. We've got no complaints about the call quality.

Verdict

Compared to previous Touch handsets, the Viva was always bound to come up wanting, though it's easy to see where the money has been saved. Unfortunately, some of the savings seem to undermine the Viva's strengths, which include a good browser - so it should really have 3G - and a better-than-average music player - but no earphones. A little bit more consideration of the Viva's strengths could have made for a much more satisfying handset. ®

Thanks to Expansys for the review sample

More Smartphone Reviews...

(http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/13/palm_pre_video_roundup/) Palm Pré video preview

(http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/11/14/review_smartphone_htc_touch_hd/) Touch HD

(http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/12/05/review_smartphone_rim_blackberry_storm/) BlackBerry Storm

(http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/11/26/review_smartphone_nokia_n96/) Nokia N96

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