HTC announced their new Touch Cruise smartphone that is both smaller and sleeker than the previous Touch model. The phone will feature a 2.8-inch touchscreen, 3.2-megapixel camera, 512MB Flash ROM, 256MB RAM, microSD card slot, HSPA (900/1200MHz), Quad-band GSM/EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi b/g and A-GPS. Hardware-wise it’s just an ordinary smartphone, but HTC promises that its new HTC Footprints feature will make the phone special.
HTC Footprints is an application that enables people to permanently chronicle their life by capturing a digital postcard on their phone. Once captured, Footprints provides the ability to take notes and an audio clip of that favorite 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. HTC claims that you can use Footprints to retrace your steps to find the exact location.
We have never felt the need to retrace our steps to our favorite restaurant (we know where it is), but it is an interesting concept.  The HTC Touch Cruise will ship in second quarter of 2009 for around $500-600 (unlocked) in US.