Verizon Wireless today launched the HTC Touch Pro, a compact smartphone with a touch screen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

HTC Touch Pro More Photos View Specs

The Touch Pro combines HTC's interface with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. Customers can use either the classic Windows Mobile interface or HTC's TouchFLO 3D graphical interface.

Users can browse the web or access their email, contacts and calendars with Microsoft Outlook. The Touch Pro also opens and edits Microsoft Word and Excel documents and shares Microsoft PowerPoint files with large groups using a separately sold video-out cable connected to a television or projector.

A 3.2-megapixel camera with LED flash easily captures high-quality images and video. With a preloaded business card reader application, the camera doubles as a scanner to store business card information on the handset and synchronized with a contact database.

With VZ Navigator, consumers can access audible turn-by-turn directions to more than 14 million points of interest.

The Opera Web browser displays webpages in the format they were originally designed to be viewed on the Touch Pro's 2.8-inch VGA screen. Panning and zooming across webpages is simplified by the touch screen interface for a desktop-like experience.

A microSD memory card slot stores of up to 16GB.

The HTC Touch Pro is available online today for $349.99 after a $70 mail-in rebate and a new two-year customer agreement. It will be available in stores beginning Dec. 1.

- HTC Touch Pro Specs

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