Hands on with the Ted Baker Needle

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

It's not often the postman brings me a lilac coloured Pocket PC ;) It's not often I get excited about the arrival of a lilac coloured Pocket PC either, but in the case of the new HTC / Ted Baker Needle, the excitement was more around the unknown than any hot new features or specs.

So here it is... and it has some surprises in store!

The Ted Baker Needle is a HTC Touch variant - exclusive to Carphone Warehouse in the UK - and is a result of HTC / CPW's partnership with Ted Baker, a UK clothing brand.

Over and above the standard HTC Touch specs (200MHZ TI OMAP, 2 MP camera, TouchFlo etc. etc.), the Needle brings:

• Customised branded startup and home screens
  
• A different keypad design (which matches that of the 'O2 XDA Nova' in Germany)
  
• An actually-not-too-bad-in-the-flesh lilac colouring
  
• Ted Baker external branding
  
• 256 MB ROM / 128MB RAM
  
• An updated ROM build featuring HTC's new 12 / 20 key software keypads
  

Yep, you heard right, the Needle specs match the recently announce 'HTC Touch Enhanced' device, and boy, is the difference noticeable. I would have to say the tiny amount of available memory on the original Touch was my biggest complaint, and is of course no longer an issue on the Needle. A great device just got even better.

My better half is going to put the device through it's paces over the next week or so, so watch back for further updates. I'm particularly interested to see how she gets on with the new software keypads!

The Needle is available NOW (as mentioned above, exclusively from CarphoneWarehouse in the UK) FREE on most contracts (cheap on the rest), or for £300 SIM free instore.

I kinda like it (aside from the rather hideous background image), what do you guys and gals think? :(

P

[Guest Alsicole]

OK I'll be first up with the girly vacuous response.... yes I want one.

I wasn't so interested before you mentioned the bump in memory spec, but now I'm definitely interested, plus purple is my favourite colour. Not sure about the £300 SIM free price tag though. I suppose it's not bad considering the regular specced version is £260 SIM free. It would be nice if they could put the SIM free price on the Carphone website, so I don't have to go instore to get one though.

Alison

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Yeah, 300 quid SIM free is a bit steep really, but as you say, on par with it's peers.

P

[Guest Confucious]

It would be nice if they could put the SIM free price on the Carphone website, so I don't have to go instore to get one though.

Alison

Listed here http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/commerce/...p;NODE_ID=10384

Have fun ;)

Edited November 13, 2007 by Confucious

[Guest Alsicole]

Thanks. Couldn't find that last week when I checked!

A.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Dead link alert! ;)

P

[Guest Alsicole]

Try this one:

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/commerce/...=PREPAYTAB#tabs

A.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

That works.

You can get some cashback with quidco too.

P

[Guest jimbouk]

Very tempting... not that purple is my favourite colour, of course...

[Guest nickcornaglia]

Lists it as a Tri-Band phone...just like the original Touch is listed.

But the original Touch is indeed quad-band.

Makes me wonder if this phone is as well or if it is REALLY TRI-BAND

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

This will be quad band too i'd say.

P

[Guest xorangefirex]

It's alright, but as always I am not going to pay any more for a device purely because it has someone's name and a less hetero color on it.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Er....

You wouldn't generally pay more if you're getting it on a contract, the prices are pretty decent.

'less hetero color'? Not sure what to respond to that ;)

P

[Guest juiceppc]

Er....

You wouldn't generally pay more if you're getting it on a contract, the prices are pretty decent.

'less hetero color'? Not sure what to respond to that ;)

P

Does anyone know if the O2 Nova has the double memory? I like the black color of the Nova AND the better phone buttons. BUT it's not rubberized. Is the Ted Baker rubberized? I don't think so.

So I was thinking about getting an O2 Nova and puttin my regular HTC Touch rubberized battery cover on it. At least the back will be rubberized and I'd have double memory AND those much better looking buttons and DPAD. BTW how is that dpad?

Edited November 14, 2007 by juiceppc

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

The Nova is 128/64. The needle does have a 'soft' finish like the Touch I think.

P

[Guest Ovie]

Paul, you know how there's now more RAM/ROM - has that had a noticeable impact on speed at all? I've noticed that the processor is still the same..

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

It feels nice and snappy...

P

[Guest chucky.egg]

Just found the cure for the ... unique casing colour

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/product/14462.htm

[Guest MisfitKiwi]

Is it possible to get that without the rather nasty color AND an intact warranty?

[Guest tee_ar_jay]

If you like the spec but not the colour then check out the T-Mobile UK site here. They have upped the spec of the MDA Touch.

[Guest Ovie]

I quite like the colour actually..

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

It looks nice actually in the flesh...

P

[Guest chucky.egg]

Is there a legitimate download for the 20-key qwerty SIP that I can use on my plain-old-boring-low-spec Touch?

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Not yet...

P

[Guest Alsicole]

So I went to Carphone Warehouse the other day and having seen the phone in the flesh....

I like the black one better. Now waiting for a SIM free memory-upgraded version with the original 5-way.