The first HTC Touch Cruise was a respectable device, but since HTC has grown leaps and bounds in reputation and capabilities you just expect the second iteration of the device to absolutely rock. And it does… for a basic mid-range device. HTC issued a Press Release announcing the Touch Cruise and some cool features and great specs join it.

Footprints is essentially HTC’s pet name for geo-tagging with a few additional perks. You can write a note or record an audio clip to associate with an image, you can geo-tag pics taken indoors or outdoors, it automatically names the images with place names and gives them a cool postcard look.

It comes with a car cradle for effective GPS navigation and a stylus for precision input. Here are some of the additional specs:

• Size: 102 x 53.5 x 14.5mm
• Weight: 103 grams
• Connectivity: WCDMA/HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• Operating system: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Display: 2.8-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with QVGA resolution
• Control panel: HTC TouchFLO™, 4-Way navigation wheel with Enter and HTC Footprints™ buttons
• Camera: 3.2 MP, with fixed focus
• Internal memory: 512 MB flash ROM, 256 MB RAM
• Expansion Slot: microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
• Bluetooth: 2.0 with EDR
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
• GPS: GPS/A-GPS
• Interface: HTC ExtUSB (mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
• Battery: 1100 mAh
• Talk time: GSM: up to 400 minutes
• Standby time: GSM: up to two weeks
• Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM7225™, 528 MHz

Looks pretty good although we still prefer a 3.5mm headphone jack as opposed to the HTC ExtUSB all in one jack. This thing should hit North America unlocked in the 2nd quarter for $500 dollars or so.

Remember, this device isn’t meant to compete with the iPhones and Androids of the world, the company needs to create products up and down the needs spectrum and the Touch Cruise fits a need and a customer very well.

The folks at Mobile-Review have put together an awesome in-depth look at the device which you may want to check out.