14 DAY TRIAL // HTC Iolita, a device that was spotted in the recently-leaked HTC 2009 roadmap, has been officially announced today. The new Windows Mobile-powered handset, which is promoted as featuring GPS navigation, has been unveiled as the HTC Touch Cruise 09.
Indeed, the GPS navigation capabilities of the Touch Cruise 09 seem to be its greatest feature. The device comes with a new Advanced Navigation System complemented by the new HTC Footprints location-based services. The capabilities of the phone include geo-tagging of photos, sound clips, etc. Moreover, the HTC Touch Cruise 09 is also reported to sport full turn-by-turn navigation capabilities, which should come with no additional charges. Furthermore, a car cradle will also be included in the retail package.
Touch Cruise 09 is powered by a 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM 7225 processor and features 256 MB of RAM. In addition, it includes 512 MB of ROM on board, which can be extended by making use of the microSD card slot. The phone runs on Windows Mobile 6.1, supports instant messaging and email, and also sports an xHTML browser.
The handset comes along with a 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen that delivers a 320 x 240 pixel resolution and supports 65K colors, as well as a nice looking TouchFLO user interface. Other specifications include 3G with HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (2.0 and A2DP). A 3.2-megapixel fixed focus camera has been added to the device for photo shooting, but it also allows for video recording. The snapper offers a 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution.
The HTC Touch Cruise 09 measures 102 x 54 x 15 mm and weighs 103 grams. Its battery can provide up to 336 hours of standby time and up to 400 minutes of talk time. According to the news, the phone is expected to start shipping in spring, for an estimated retail price of $600 (460 Euros).