HTC S743 Gets Unboxed

There has been a lot of press for the new HTC S743 Windows mobile Device, and yet I can’t seem to figure out why. Being a big fan of the Touch Pro (After major tweaking), the S743 just seems to fall short of the mark. Check out the video and you will see why:

Even though the HTC S743 has a slide out keyboard, the device also sports a front dial pad. In an effort to capitalize on the success the Palm Treo Pro has enjoyed being superb one handed device, I think HTC needs to make up their mind with the S743. The HTC S743, which is obviously based on the very successful and sexy Diamond platform, takes a page from the Touch Pro with a very long 4 row QWERTY Slide Out Keyboard. The S743 is noticeably longer than the Touch Pro as the Video illustrates, but it is also narrower as well. The S743, even though it has a solid look and feel, is not quite as thick as the Touch Pro however.

With the front facing dial pad HTC decided to add on to the S743, the needed real estate takes a big bite out of the screen size limiting it to a2.4” QVGA (yawn). Even though the S743 has a lot of WOW factor when in landscape, it’s the small screen that really diverts attention from the super long keyboard that looks to be top notch. I will say that I have grown quite fond of my Fuze with the Five rows of QWERTY Goodness. The other downer with the HTC S743 is that it is a “non” touch screen device, which really hurts even though it does make use of two input methods with the Slide out keyboard and the front facing dial pad.

Other than that, the S743 will sport Windows Mobile 6.1 which we all know so well. For me, the HTC S743 misses the mark in the design department, but it remains to be seen how it will work in a one handed users point of view, which it seems to be intended for.

So what do you think? Chime in and let us know!

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