Sprint greatly expanded distribution of the Touch Pro last week. A week later AT&T customers are getting their shot at the high-end Windows Mobile 6.1-run smartphone.

Called the AT&T Fuze, the HTC handset can now be had for $300 with a two-year agreement and after a $50 mail-in rebate. The Fuze is the follow up to the operator’s aging AT&T Tilt, also built by HTC.

The Fuze sports an enhanced edition of the HTC's touch screen interface, which runs on top of Windows Mobile. Called TouchFLO 3D, the interface is animated to provide quicker and easier access services and features.

It includes a five-row, slide-out QWERTY keyboard and expandable storage capabilities with a microSD card slot. The Fuze integrates 288MB of RAM and 512MB of Flash ROM.

The Fuze measures 4.2 x 2.1 x 0.70 inches and weighs 5.3 ounces.

The smartphone includes an Opera-based web browser and a version of YouTube, as well as an edition of Google Maps that integrates with the smartphone's integrated GPS. Turn the Fuze horizontal from vertical and, like the iPhone, the browser will do the same.

It has a powerful 528MHz processor, hi-res, 2.8-inch VGA (640 x 320 pixel) resolution touch display and 3.2 megapixel camera. The smartphone also integrates Bluetooth 2.0 with support for wireless stereo headsets, and Wi-Fi.

This smartphone's 1340 mAh battery is supposed to deliver up to 7.4 hours of talk or 19.3 days of stand-by time.

The quad-band GSM world phone includes tri-band HSDPA support for high-speed data access in most international markets.

In related news, HTC announced early last month on its Twitter feed that the most advanced model in its Touch smartphone series, the Touch HD, would not be making it stateside.

The feed said: "sad news, US. we looked into it- by the time we could bring Touch HD to the states, it would be old news." HTC counterbalanced this disappointing news somewhat by adding "we do have other cool stuff coming."

The outcry of disappointment regarding no Touch HD for the U.S. was loud and clear. Later on in its Twitter feed, HTC added "Thank you all for expressing your desire for the HD. really! now the US management know there's a grassroots demand for high end HTCs here."