HTC S740, the latest non-touchscreen phone manufactured by the Taiwan-based HTC, will soon be available across the UK, for a retail price of 339.99 GBP. That's about 420 Euros or 570 USD – a fair price for a good-featured smartphone. 

For the moment, no major UK mobile operator has announced the availability of HTC S740, but the handset is featured on the website of the online retailer Devicewire. The estimated arrival date for the new S740 is October 23, so if you're in the UK and you are looking for a new HTC that doesn't have a touchscreen, wait a bit to check out this one. 

Officially announced by the Taiwanese producer at the end of August, HTC S740 runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 and has an unusually long overall aspect. That's because HTC has packed both an alphanumeric and a full QWERTY keyboard into the smartphone, which should offer users an exhaustive solution for texting and dialing. 

One of the nicest things about the S740 is that its back case has the same diamond-like pattern that HTC Touch Diamond and HTC Touch Pro include. 

The display of S740 is a 2.4-inch one with a standard 240 x 320 pixel resolution and 65K colors. Quite far from the display of HTC Touch HD (3.8 inches and 480 x 800 pixels), but the two device have different targets, of course. 

S740's other features are not bad at all, including: quad-band GSM connectivity (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz), dual-band HSDPA connectivity (900 / 2100 MHz), Wi-Fi, built-in GPS, Google Maps, Video and Music players, a 3.2 Megapixel camera and expandable memory. 

The battery of HTC S740 is a 1050 Li-Po mAh one, presented by HTC as being capable of providing up to 6.3 hours of talk-time or up to 400 hours of stand-by time.