If you have nothing else to do but lust after the HTC Touch HD but doesn’t have enough bills in the wallet (or not brave enough to your credit card, or your dad’s) then HTC made something especially for dreamers, not in bad way – the HTC Touch Viva. Of course, when we say that a phone fell in a budget conscious paradise, it has to sacrifice something and this time it’s the GPS and 3G. Don’t frown and let’s step back through the years, I bet you’ve lived the life without these perks, right? So let’s move on.

Don’t expect that the screen in the HTC Touch Viva is as flush as the other more expensive members of its family tree, but it’s considerably topnotch. It has an ordinary touchscreen that is responsive to finger presses; no need to add extra pressure with those pinkies. Despite the screen is a little small, the text and graphics remain bright and sharp.

On the back of the handset is the 2MP camera slightly hidden in a small recess probably to avoid any scratches when the phone is inside the pocket. The camera lacks auto-focus and flash, making its camera not recommended for night shots. It also develops a good deal of digital noise in low light.

Another problem arises in the music section, with the standard 3.5mm headphone jack sacrificed for a mini USB port for audio output. The same port is also used for syncing and charging the device, so it means that you can’t listen to your favorite while it’s charging o syncing data with your PC. The biggest surprise (or shock!) is that headphones aren’t included in the package. You have to buy them separately from the HTC accessories.

A little redeeming value for the HTC Touch Viva’s succession of turn-offs is the TouchFlo interface which offers finger-friendly access to most of the phone’s key features. Moving between functions such as text messaging, music player and Internet browser can easily be done with a finger running across a row of icons at the bottom of the screen.

Applications in the HTC Touch Viva include a dedicated viewer for YouTube, a handy RSS news reader and the Opera web browser, which makes browsing to websites much easier. It also includes preinstalled Google Maps, but the weird thing is the lack of GPS, a big moniker actually. The lack of 3G also means giving all the downloading tasks to EDGE which is only good for receiving emails, but definitely not for surfing.

We must not be oddly get dismayed with this metallic fella, as it still remains a phone, perfect for making text messages and voice calls, and you can still boasts its design to everyone, anyway. Just make sure you aren’t showing this thing to phone critics.

HTC holds the title as the real Apple iPhone annihilator, or competitor, at least. In fact, HTC holds the record of being the first mobile phone to have a touch screen, although of course, iPhone received all the limelight. With the release of the HTC Touch HD, it’s safe to say that the iPhone did get a real tough call this time, with the HD’s sharp and crisp display among other factors that make it so fantastic.

Minimal is the best word to attach with the HTC Touch HD, sporting a front that is almost taken over by the screen. Four nicely tailored control buttons are beneath the display and a stylus is tucked at the bottom edge of the handset. Slide off the back of the HD and reveal a replaceable battery and a microSD card slot to add more to the 288MB onboard memory.0

It will always go back to the gorgeous 3.8-inch screen, which is larger than the iPhone’s. Its resolution is unbelievably crisp at 800 x 480 pixels and it also sports rich colors that are almost life-like. Some find the use of a standard touch panel, instead of a capacitive type, disappointing but if you’re more of a stylus-lover you will find this attractive. However, touch crazy people may really find the HD’s screen disappointing and non-reliable.

Let’s not give all the blame to HTC HD but maybe we can start pointing it to Microsoft, which failed to produce any OS with touch support. The Windows Mobile’s TouchFLO requires a lot of rehashing.

The Touch HD uses Opera Mobile 9.5, a web browser that promises a good mobile web experience. Pages are automatically reoriented to portrait or landscape view, thanks to the accelerometer. You can resize the photos or column of text by double tapping and you can scroll around the screen using a single finger. The best news: pages load very fast with the Wi-Fi or HSDPA. The HD is also equipped with built-in GPS that works with the Google Maps application.

Unlike the iPhone’s 2MP camera, the Touch HD has a 5MP camera that produces good enough images. It’s disappointing that it lacks LED flash, as if the camera is a useless feature in the dark. Is the HTC Touch HD the real iPhone killer? Probably not, but with its very promising features (including magnificent call quality and messaging options), the Touch HD is a good mobile choice.