The iPhone still hasn't hit stores, but there are plenty of crummy-looking imitations out there already. The HTC Touch isn't one of them. Sure, it's a touchscreen phone that the company managed to release (in Europe only) before the iPhone will hit stores at the end of the month, but it's also a legitimate product that'll eventually find its own niche among Windows users who don't want Treos. Although it doesn't copy Apple's interface, the Touch does feature finger-scrolling triggered animation, and it's similar to the iPhone in that it doesn't have any sort of external keyboard. More musings, and video, after the jump.

The Touch's launch leaves me wondering if all companies should really follow Apple's lead with the touchscreen trend. Touchscreens have been around for years via Palm, but there's a good reason that when we get home from a long day of stylus pointing we want to type on physical keyboards: so far they're faster and more convenient. With this in mind, I'd recommend that HTC users stick with the company's earlier phones, or pick up the HTC Mogul, which will probably hit stores before the Touch anyway. — S.E. Kramer

HTC Touch, via Electro Plankton