HTC has just announced some new phones and related PDAs, all running Windows Mobile.

The new Touch Dual adds a slide out keyboard to the touch screen interface. It's slightly larger as a result but still small enough to fit comfortably in the pocket.

HTC also provides a different home page in the place of the usual Windows Mobile page. The clock is bigger (lets face it, apart from missed calls that's the first thing most people look at their phone for), and the colour scheme is a trendy grey, rather than bright green.

I have to say that after not being keen on Windows Mobile, I think it is a really good system now. The initial comparison with with a large Casio Windows CE device and a Palm Vx. The Palm was easy to use and had fantastic battery life (OK, that had a lot to do with the monochrome screen). I also found far more programs for the Palm.

Times have changed and Windows Mobile is very capable. I used an XDA II for a year or so and, although large for a phone and not that new, found it very capable.

I found software for everything I wanted and the ease of syncing with Outlook made life much easier.

I'm not about to advocate writing long missives on a phone sized device, but it looks great for communicating and web surfing on the move.