Late last year, I mentioned the HTC Touch Dual, a Windows Mobile smartphone that combines a touchscreen display with a slide-out keyboard. There are two versions of the phone available, one of which gets a standard numeric keypad whereas the other gets a SureType-like keyboard that maps two letters to each key. The trouble with both of these versions is that they only have tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz), lacking the 850 MHz band that many North Americans desire.

Thankfully, it has now been announced that a quad-band version of the HTC Touch Dual will soon be available in North America, adding that 850 MHz GSM frequency for optimal reception. Beyond the regular GSM radios, the new HTC Touch Dual will also have HSDPA that will work with North American providers like AT&T and Rogers Wireless. You’ll need to do a little configuration yourself, naturally, but at least you can enjoy some high-speed wireless data.

They’ve also upgraded the operating system to Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and the interface will be overlaid with HTC’s TouchFLO technology. The rest of the specs are pretty similar to the existing unit, meaning you get a 2 megapixel camera, microSD expansion slot, and Bluetooth. There is still no Wi-Fi.

The plan is to sell the unlocked Windows Mobile phone at (American?) Best Buy stores some time this quarter. No announcement has been made about price, but I’m guessing that it will be in the $500-$600 range.