HTC S740: a Touch Pro without the Touch

Taiwan's HTC has done well out of making Pocket PCs (eg the Compaq iPaq) and Windows Mobile phones (eg the XDA) for sale under a wide variety of names. Its latest model, the 3G/quadband HTC S740, is aimed at the people who do lots of texting and email on the move. The main feature is a slide-out keyboard that gives you a little machine with a horizontal 2.4 inch screen. It also has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, a MicroSD expansion slot, and a 3.2 megapixel camera. The size is 116.3 x 43.4 x 16.3mm, and it weighs 140g.

It's basically a slightly-slimmed down version of the HTC Touch Pro, except for not having a touch screen with a TouchFlo interface.

HTC reckons it will be available in the UK next month, and doesn't mention a price. However, the SuperGPS shop reckons it's due in October and it's offering the black UK version SIM-free for a penny under £500. Expansys doesn't have a price, but it offers the Touch Pro for slightly less than that. Since you're getting a smaller screen and giving up the touch interface, I'd have thought the HTC S740 needed to be noticeably cheaper. However, some people may think that saving around 2mm of thickness and 25g is worth while.