HTC Touch Pro 2: New, Improved, and Coming to Your Wireless Provider (Most Likely)

Yes, I know...everyone's into their iPhones, the Palm Pre, the Blackberry Bold, and so on, and so on. In my opinion, one PDA/Smartphone flavor that isn't getting a lot of press (despite its awesomeness) is the HTC Touch Pro 2. I wrote about its predecessor, the HTC Touch Pro last year in this post.
Of course the Touch Pro 2 is an improvement over the original, inside and out. The hardware overhaul includes a larger screen, the clunky and space-eating D-pad has been replaced with a more sensible row of navigation keys, and the side-sliding QWERTY keypad has been revamped into a more familiar offset pattern like a regular computer keyboard. HTC even brought back the tilting screen from the HTC Tilt (a.k.a. TyTn) from a couple of years ago, which is a great feature for setting the phone on a table to watch video content.
Under the hood are the expected improvements in the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system, with the carrier specific user interface going deeper into the menu system than the original HTC Touch Pro. It's just speedier and more user-friendly than before.
Speaking of carriers, The HTC Touch Pro 2 is going to have pretty widespread availability and choice of mobile service. Usually, only one or two wireless providers pick up a given phone. The HTC Touch Pro is already available at Sprint and T-Mobile, is expected at Verizon and AT&T Wireless later this month, and sometime soon at US Cellular. At the moment, though, price is a bit of an issue. For example. both Sprint and T-Mobile are offering their respective versions of the HTC Touch Pro 2 for $349 after rebate/instant discount with a 2-year contract. No word yet on pricing by the other carriers yet, but one would hope that once they're all hawking this gem, the prices should get a bit more competitive.
If you haven't seen the HTC Touch Pro 2 in action, here's a video unboxing/review by Noah Kravitz of Phonedog.com.