Mobile phone manufacturer HTC has unveiled its latest phone, offering a new way of controlling touch-screen devices by recognising and responding to the sweep of a finger across the screen.

The HTC Touch features the company's TouchFlo technology designed to distinguish between finger and stylus input and respond accordingly.

Users sweep their finger up the display to launch an animated 3D interface comprising three screens: Contacts, Media and Applications.

The interface can be spun by swiping a finger right or left across the display, and TouchFlo enhances finger touch scrolling and browsing of web pages, documents, messages and contact lists.

Peter Chou, chief executive and president of HTC, said: "With the HTC Touch access to your most commonly used content, contacts and features is only a simple finger flick away.

"Mobile phone makers have done a great job of cramming ever-more exciting features into ever-smaller phones. But the way in which we access these increasingly sophisticated features has not kept pace."

Comparing it with a piece of virtual paper, Chou described the interface as "beyond simple - it's innate".

The device runs Windows Mobile 6 and features a 2-megapixel camera, 2.8in colour LCD touch-screen and a 1GB microSD card. The tri-band phone supports GSM, GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Chou refused to make comparisons with Apple's forthcoming iPhone except to say that the HTC Touch is available now across Europe.

The announcement marks the first time that HTC has introduced a product globally, and comes almost a year after the firm launched its first own-brand products in June 2006.

The HTC Touch will be available to customers across Europe and Asia this month, beginning immediately in the UK. It will retail for around €450 direct but will be free with some contracts.

The phone will be available in the US and South America in the second half of 2007.