HTC Touch Diamond is a PocketPC running on Windows Mobile with quite surprising amount of features and interesting design.
Intro:
HTC Touch Diamond features a large – 2.8-inch touch screen and is probably the best Windows Mobile device on the market at the moment. The OS has been adjusted to support the touch navigation better than in other, similar devices using the same OS. That makes the HTC Touch Diamond very easy to use user friendly. In certain aspects it can even compete with the iPhone.
HTC Touch Diamond pros:
+ 4 GB of internal memory
+ 2.8-inch 65K-color VGA display
+ Opera 9.5 browser
+ Built-in GPS receiver
+ Excellent video performance
+ FM radio with RDS
+ Interesting design
+ Good connectivity
+ Dedicated graphics chip
HTC Touch Diamond cons:
- Poor battery life
- Prone to get fingerprints
- No memory card slot
- Low quality camera with no flash
- No standard 3.5mm audio jack
- Back panel has negative impact on camera image quality
- Back panel finish is likely to wear off quickly
The design:
HTC Touch Diamond measures 102 x 51 x 11.5 mm and weights 103 grams so it is one of the most compact PocketPCs available on the market. HTC Touch Diamond has a diamond-like back panel. However, bue to the gem-patterned back it is practically impossible to use the phone when laid on a flat surface. Additionally, the edges will wear off quite quickly which will spoil the otherwise nice looks. Unfortunately both the front and the back of the phone are a fingerprint nightmare. The front panel is dominated by the 2.8” touchscreen with VGA resolution. Above the screen is the earpiece, the video-call camera and the ambient light sensor. Below the screen are the hard buttons and the D-pad with 5-way functionality. On the top of HTC Touch Diamond is only the power button. On the right of the phone you will find no controls, but on the left is the volume rocker. On the bottom is the miniUSB port, charger and headphones ports and the stylus compartment.
Performance:
HTC Touch Diamond is about a lot more than just making phone calls. Thanks to the large, high quality screen it is perfect for browsing the net, viewing and editing documents and watching videos. For browsing the Internet the HTC Touch Diamond uses Opera 9.5 optimized for touch navigation. Although it cannot compete with the iPhone experience it is seamless and very enjoyable. The websites are rendered well and thanks to the high resolution and large screen even small fonts are quite readable. Unlike the iPhone 3G, HTC Touch Diamond supports both Java and Flash, and although it is a very subjective opinion it can be said that the HTC Touch Diamond has even better than the iPhone 3G youtube client.
When it comes to audio and video playback the HTC Touch Diamond is quite predictable. Like all mobiles running Windows Mobile the audio quality is only average. Although when browsing your music library you get a cover flow-like interface which resembles the one on the iPhone. The video player is quite good on HTC Touch Diamond but it supports only Windows codecs and formats. Of course you can find additional codecs on the Internet if you want to play DIVX/XVID.
The HTC Touch Diamond has a GPS receiver but it comes with no GPS navigation application so you will have to purchase one on your own. And again, because of the high resolution screen the maps look really well and can it be said that HTC Touch Diamond shows more detail than the iPhone 3G.
Yet, also because of the large screen the battery life of HTC Touch Diamond is mediocre. With GPS on the phone works for less than 2,5 hours and that’s if it is not in motion. So it is less than its direct competitor the Samsung i900 Omnia.
Menus / ease of use:
HTC Touch Diamond has a nice picture and video viewers with automatic screen rotation. The phone supports Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint files as well as PDFs. In the case of the first three you can not only view them, but also edit the files right out of the box. Unfortunately, it is not as easy to use as the unsurpassed iPhone. And although it is also not that difficult it could be a lot easier. There are sometimes too many tabs and the phone slightly lacks menu customability. But when you get used to it, or use some third party applications to modify it slightly the things get a lot better.
Key HTC Touch Diamond features and specifications:
▪ Size: 102 x 51 x 11.33mm
▪ Weight: 110 g
▪ Connectivity: WCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA
▪ Operating system: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
▪ Display: 2.8-inch VGA touch screen
▪ Camera: 3.2MP, with video calling
▪ Internal memory: 4 GB Internal Storage, 256 MB flash, 192 MB RAM,
▪ Bluetooth: 2.0 with EDR
▪ Wireless: WiFi 802.11b/g
▪ GPS: GPS/AGPS
▪ Interface: HTC ExtUSB™ (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
▪ Battery: 900 mAh
▪ Talk time: GSM: up to 4 hours
▪ Standby time: GSM: up to 300 hours/100 hours with push email
▪ Chipset: Qualcomm MSM® 7201A™ 528MHz