While window shopping online last night, we stumbled upon a new phone over at BestBuy.com. The HTC Touch Cruise is now being offered in the "unlocked" variety on the store's for $549.99. We liked this phone at the 2009 Mobile World Congress and it's nice to see it start to trickle into the U.S. Market. Best Buy is listing the Touch Cruise as back-ordered with expected shipping in 1 to 2 weeks.  Could this be the start of the HTC summer invasion? Is the Touch Diamond 2 next?

HTC may want to just call it the Touch Cruise, but new's new and so we'll call is the Touch Cruise 2.  What we have here is a surprisingly good phone: today's low-end is definitely yeterday's high end.  The phone itself is lighter than you might expect, but the body doesn't feel cheap and the OS is very responsive -- probably because this is the "light" edition of TouchFlo 3D and at the end of the day, HTC has it specced as a QVGA (read: 320x240) device.  It sure is the best QVGA screen we've ever seen, after handing the device we double-checked to make sure HTC's site really did have it at QVGA.  The device could stand to be a little smaller, but judged on its own merits as a simple GPS phone, we've got no complaints. The Touch Cruise 2 is a significant step up over the original Touch Cruise, which felt a little boxy.

We also played with Footprints a bit, HTC's custom-built GPS-tagging system for photos.  It's more than just throwing coordinates inside the EXIF data, you can jump right to maps (or even directions) for any photo with a tap.  The Touch Cruise may not be one of HTC's flagship devices, but it definitely holds its own in their line up.

We'll rehash the specs after the break as well as present you with, what else? More photos.

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HTC has announced the next iteration of the Touch Cruise, a keyboardless black slab. And if it looks familiar, it should. We've already seen it is the Iolite and most recently as the XDA Guide. Here are the dirty details:

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional.
• Size: 102 x 53.5 x 14.5mm. Weight: 103 grams.
• Qualcomm MSM7225 528 MHz processor.
• WCDMA/HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps (the U.S. version also will sport the 850 and 1900 bands).
• Display: 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen.
• Camera: 3.2 MP, with fixed focus.
• 512 MB flash ROM, 256 MB RAM.
• microSD.
• Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR.
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g.
• GPS/A-GPS.
• 1100 mAh battery.

The (new) Touch Cruise — that's it - we're gonna call it the Touch Cruise 2 — also sports the same "Footprints" feature as the XDA Guide. The official party line on that:

The new HTC Touch Cruise is the first mobile phone to offer HTC
Footprints, an application experience that enables people to
permanently chronicle their special moments by capturing a digital
postcard on their phone. Once captured, Footprints provides the
ability to take notes and an audio clip of that favourite restaurant
or special place while identifying its specific geographical location.
In addition to identifying each postcard with its specific GPS
co-ordinates, Footprints also auto-names each postcard with its
general location or area.

Flipping back through their photos, HTC Touch Cruise users will be
able to retrace their steps to that exact location in just a few
touches. Unlike other devices with geo-tagging functionality, HTC
Footprints works effectively outdoors and indoors, offering a more
accurate record of location for future reference and navigation.

In fewer words: Photo tagging.

Unlike the last/first/original Touch Cruise, it appears there will be an official U.S. release, with an estimated price of $500 to $600. Of couse, that price would drop should any carrier decide to pick it up. But anyone think AT&T's in the market for another keyboardless touchscreen phone just yet?

Remember that Twitter post saying that a Windows Mobile 6.1 update was coming to the forlorned HTC Touch Cruise?

It's heeeere. [via]

Finally, the phone that time forgot gets its updated operating system. And along with the usual 6.1 goodness, HTC also is throwing in fixes for:

• Bluetooth Headset: It may happen that you cannot hear anything when using Bluetooth headsets (Jabra JX10, Jabra BT500 or Samsung WEP 150) even when it has already successfully reconnected with the Touch Cruise.
• Default Onscreen Keyboard: It may happen that the device will not remember the last onscreen keyboard used. Before, the onscreen keyboard always defaults to the Touch Keyboard.
• Title Bar: It may happen that the Title Bar disappears when you go back to the Home screen.
• Camera Viewfinder: It may happen that the viewfinder is cut when you open a Powerpoint file and then tap Options.
• GPS Mode: It may happen that the display becomes “abnormal” after taking a picture in GPS mode and then going into Suspend/Resume mode.
• FM Radio Speaker/Headset Mode: It may happen that the FM Radio program uses the incorrect output mode (Speaker or Headset) before the application launches.
• TouchFLO Setting: It may happen that the TouchFLO setting does not appear in the Settings > System tab.
• TomTom in Home Screen: It may happen that TomTom does not show in the Home screen.

So here you go, Touch Cruise owners. You've waited long enough. Download here.

The HTC Touch Cruise - the keyboardless follow-up to the Touch and precursor to the Touch Diamond - never managed to officially made its way into the United States.

And while that didn't stop people from importing the device, tempers have flared as we've seen other phones in the HTC family receive update after update, most noticeably the Touch receiving updates to Windows Mobile 6.1, and the Diamond getting multiple ROM fixes.

Finally, it appears that the Touch Cruise will get some 6.1 love, at least according to HTC's Twitter feed.

@danyw We're in the process of making sure the Touch Cruise upgrade is rock solid. It should be ready for release soon!

So congrats, all you Touch Cruise owners. Looks like you have just a little bit longer to wait.

Via Mobile Tech Addicts