Review HTC Touch Diamond on pocketnow.com
INTRODUCTION
The Touch Diamond has been lauded as the most important device that HTC will release this year. Its design, in terms of software customizations, hardware features, and aesthetics, are significant departures from what you're used to seeing with Windows Mobile devices. There are some extremely innovative additions to this device that you won't see anywhere else. On the other hand, there are good things and bad things that come with these innovations. Will these new design changes prove superior and cause the current species of Windows Mobile devices to become extinct in the future? Read on for all the details and I apologize to those with slow internet connections, because we've included a huge amount of pictures and screenshots in this article =D.
WHAT'S HOT
HTC could have simply added a few new features like GPS and 3G to last year's best selling Touch model, but no... the Touch Diamond is something totally new. They've managed to cram 3G HSDPA (that's with Triband GSM/EDGE 900/1800/1900Mhz and UMTS 900/2100Mhz), GPS, a 3.2MP camera, 528MHz Qualcomm processor, 4352MB storage memory (ROM), 192MB RAM, NMEA built-in GPS with aGPS, FM radio receiver, Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi b/g, USB 2.0, accelerometer, ambient light sensor, VGA front camera, touch sensitive hardware buttons, 3D graphic acceleration, and a high resolution 480x640 64K color 2.8" screen into a beautiful body that's smaller and lighter than last year's Touch! Powering all of this is a 900mAh battery. That's not even mentioning the software customizations that you'll see on the second page here. Furthermore, there are a lot of little things that really make this device special. For an even more detailed round-up of specs, check out PDAdb.net.
HTC Touch Diamond Review
The HTC Touch was the first real competition the iPhone faced, even if it didn’t necessarily set out to be. HTC was surely trying to capitalize on the popularity of Apple’s all-touch device, but Windows Mobile is a more open though much clunkier UI than OS X, and ultimately the devices were really in a different class. Sure, TouchFLO gave a finger-friendly skin to the Touch, but in reality the iPhone was built from the ground-up as a consumer friendly, media-oriented device whereas the Touch was a Windows Mobile business device that happened to lose the keyboard and get some fancy software. Don’t get us wrong, we loved the Touch, but it just wasn’t iPhone material.
Now comes the second generation, dubbed the Touch Diamond, and it’s obvious that HTC is ready to take on the iPhone properly this time around. Gone is the gimmicky TouchFLO, replaced by a completely overhauled and practical TouchFLO 3D. Web surfing is handled beautifully by Opera Mobile 9.5 instead of Mobile IE; 7.2Mbit/s HSDPA and Wi-Fi makes the experience that much better. Users can browse photo albums and listen to their music directly from the homescreen. Little things, such as resting the phone on its face to trigger silent mode or the phone waking up when the stylus is removed, reaffirm HTC CFO Cheng Hui-min’s description as "the most important product for HTC this year."
Shipments of HTC Touch Diamond ALREADY started - in Hong Kong
HTC Touch Diamond now shipping in Asia does not support any American 3G bands so practically in USA it can be used only as 2G phone and additionally it does not support GSM850 band apparently. Therefore American buyers should wait yet a bit, before purchasing HTC Touch Diamond from overseas, because otherwise they could get a powerful phone that they could not utilize to the full! It would be like buying a Porsche car but with built-in speed limit to 15 miles per hour... HTC will be shipping American version of HTC Touch Diamond - with full support for American 2G and 3G bands - a bit later! Americans should therefore be patient!
More Diamond, iPhone and X1 photos
On SoloPalmari.com More Diamond, iPhone and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 photos (english translation)
HTC Touch Diamond Vs 50 PDA WM: the benchmark!
HTC Touch Diamond Vs 50 PDA WM: the benchmark! SoloPalmari exclusive right. - - BENCHMARK
With the aid of the applicativo Spb Benchmark the PDA phone comes subordinate to four distinguished tests, finalized to the measurement of the performances: CPU, System Rows, Diagram, General Index. Before the tests the device comes subordinate to hard reset, and connected to a local p0wer source, thus to reduce lessened eventual external factors conditioning. The tool of the Spb it comes installed in the local memory and not on expansion.
Review of HTC Touch Diamond
Review of HTC Touch Diamond on mobile-review.com
HTC Touch Diamond First impressions
If it is are our first take on the HTC Touch Diamond that you are after, then you’ll find it all in our special write-up. The thing is, we are going to omit this part in the today's article, which will be rather a quick run-through, a round-up after a day of quality time with the Diamond. Also we are going to answer some frequently asked questions about the Touch Diamond at the end. Without further ado, here goes.
HTC Announces the Touch Diamond
http://www.htc.com/uk/product.aspx?id=46038
"Re-defining the perception of advanced mobile phones… the HTC Touch Diamond™ signals a giant leap forward in combining hi-tech prowess with intuitive usability and exhilarating design. Featuring a sharp 2.8-inch touch screen housed within a stunning formation of brushed steel and flawless faceted edges, the HTC Touch Diamond is as beautiful to behold as it is to use. With HTC’s vibrant touch-responsive user interface, TouchFLO™ 3D, and ultra-fast HSDPA internet connectivity… the HTC Touch Diamond offers a rich online experience to rival a notebook computer, allowing you to interact with Google, YouTube, and Wikipedia as freely as you would with a broadband connection. Your contacts, favourite music, videos and photos are no longer an uninspired line of text. With TouchFLO 3D, album artwork, video stills and snapshots of your friends’ and family’s faces are brought to life for you to interact, play and launch at your fingertips."
As widely speculated, HTC unveiled the Touch Diamond today at a press event in London, and you have to hand it to the company - they sure know how to craft a kick-ass UI. I'm not going to comment on whether it knocks the socks off the iPhone's, since each and every one of you will have your own opinion, but suffice to say, it's definitely a huge step forward toward making Windows Mobile look and feel impressive.
Of course, this Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional device isn't all just eye candy. Inside, you'll find a Qualcomm MSM7201A 528MHz processor, 192MB RAM (yes, that ought to make a few of you happy), 256MB ROM, 4GB of internal storage, a 2.8" VGA touch screen, Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, A-GPS support, an FM tuner with RDS, an accelerometer, a 3.2-megapixel camera, and a secondary VGA camera for video telephony.
But wait, there has to be a catch or two, right? Sure. We know the device's 900mAh battery has already started to raise a few eyebrows, although HTC claims that the Touch Diamond actually offers a substantial improvement in battery life. Okay, we'll keep our eye on that one. And then there's the support for tri-band (900/1800/1900MHz) GSM/GPRS/EDGE and dual-band (900/2100MHz) HSDPA/W-CDMA. Not exactly a plentiful supply of bands there, but we'll leave it to you to decide whether it's that big a deal.
Expect the Touch Diamond to make an appearance in Europe sometime next month, and then the rest of the world later this year.
