Windows Mobile comes in two flavours, one for touch screens and one for smartphones without touch screens. We don't see a great deal of the latter these days, but it is still around, and HTC has recently launched the Snap which embodies it. A device with a small QWERTY keyboard, it can be seen as a rival for the likes of the BlackBerry and Nokia E71.

HTC is always keen on adding features to Windows Mobile to try to make it more user friendly. In the case of the HTC Snap this boils down to the Inner Circle. A dedicated button on the keypad launches the Inner Circle software. This ensures that messages from your predefined list of key contacts always appear at the very top of your inbox. It is a relatively simple idea, but if you have a lot of contacts and a lot of messaging but see a few people as more important than the rest, it could help you out.

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The screen is a fairly standard 2.4-inch, 320 x 240-pixel affair. It should suffice if your main interests are viewing emails and other text such as SMS messages or calendar dates. If you are keen on the Web or other multimedia-rich stuff, it could be a bit small.

The keyboard is well designed, taking up as much width as it can. The keys are individually domed making them easy to find by touch. It isn't the best mini QWERTY keyboard we've ever used, but it is far from the worst.

There is a small miniature trackball between screen and keyboard which functions very well for movement around the screen. You press it to make selections. The Call and End buttons, two softmenu buttons, Home and back buttons sit in a row to the left and right of this mini trackball. The design is conventional but let's not knock it; it works.

There is a miniUSB connector on the right edge of the casing. This is used for mains power, connecting to a PC and plugging in the supplied headset. There is a hinged cover to protect this connector when it is not in use, and this, in conjunction with the rubbery, grip-friendly finish, indicate that this is a device which should survive well in a pocket or bag.

The HTC Snap is an HSDPA device supporting download speeds to 7.2Mbps. It has 256MB of ROM and 192MB of RAM. A microSD card slot on the bottom edge lets you add more memory. GPS is built in and Google Maps is pre-installed. Wi-Fi is also preset, as well as Bluetooth. So all round this is quite a well featured device.

Where this all falls down a little is in the use of a 2-megapixel camera which is at best adequate. It lacks autofocus, flash, self portrait mirror or a quick-launch side key. And there's no front camera for two-way video calls.

If you don't need a touchscreen but do want a good QWERTY keyboard and fancy the bells and whistles of Wi-Fi, GPS and HSDPA, then the HTC Snap is a sturdy if unexciting option.