05-06-2008, 02:15 PM
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Developer & Designer, News Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,959
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HTC Announces the Touch Diamond
"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.
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05-06-2008, 02:30 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 53
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It seems you guys have missed out the 3D GPU in your spec list! Any idea what it is?
Coz it says "all vividly displayed as photos and artwork powered by the 3D graphics processor." here:
http://www.htc.com/uk/product.aspx?id=46038
My first thoughts on the new UI is its just another HTC gimmick you probably will turn off so you can have access to the hundreds of home screen plugins available. If HTC want to improve the WM UI they need to open up their API for the controls they use in their fancy home screen so devs can use them in other apps. WM's biggest problem is lack of consistency across apps, especially when you are using your finger to launch an app then have to wip out the stylus to click on tiny menus in Pocket IE. As long as we have this consistency problem there is no chance of competing with the iPhone.
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Last edited by indiekiduk; 05-06-2008 at 02:43 PM..
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05-06-2008, 02:34 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 554
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Looks like HTC doesn't have any plans to introduce it to US market. This thing is design with Europe/Asia in mind. And why not? Dollar is weak and getting weaker every day, Major investment houses recommend to buy Russian Ruble. Isn't that ironic?
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You create your opportunities by asking for them
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05-06-2008, 02:58 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 143
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Quote:
Originally Posted by virain
Looks like HTC doesn't have any plans to introduce it to US market. This thing is design with Europe/Asia in mind. And why not? Dollar is weak and getting weaker every day, Major investment houses recommend to buy Russian Ruble. Isn't that ironic?
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who cares if they have plan for USA! i'm going with Sony X1 with 3" WVGA at 800x480 compare to this diamond at 2.8 VGA at 640x480!
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05-06-2008, 03:30 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,520
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Quote:
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tri-band (900/1800/1900MHz) GSM/GPRS/EDGE and dual-band (900/2100MHz)
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ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Phone: Nexus one Backup Phone: AT&T Samsung Jack; Future Phone: I'm Watching WP7; Media Player: Platinum Zune HD 32GB; Home Server: HP MediaSmart Server LX195 Console: XBox 360, PS3, Wii |
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05-06-2008, 03:53 PM
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Oracle
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 853
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I wouldn't worry about quad-band for this announcement. The USA version would have to add quad-band and full data support, and that is expected later in the year.
http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/9310.html
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05-06-2008, 04:06 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,520
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Quote:
Originally Posted by onlydarksets
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I think what frustrates me is that there is nothing out for me now. I'm increasingly disappointed in my ETEN x800 and I desperately want to replace it. The Diamond seem to be just what I was waiting for (admittedly no price has been announced), but there is always something.
I mean, when was the last time HTC put out a triband phone?
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Phone: Nexus one Backup Phone: AT&T Samsung Jack; Future Phone: I'm Watching WP7; Media Player: Platinum Zune HD 32GB; Home Server: HP MediaSmart Server LX195 Console: XBox 360, PS3, Wii |
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05-06-2008, 04:10 PM
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Oracle
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 853
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Phillip Dyson
I think what frustrates me is that there is nothing out for me now. I'm increasingly disappointed in my ETEN x800 and I desperately want to replace it. The Diamond seem to be just what I was waiting for (admittedly no price has been announced), but there is always something.
I mean, when was the last time HTC put out a triband phone?
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That's very true. I wonder if the iPhone 3G announcement in July is going to be "You can buy it now" or 6 months like the original iPhone announcement (which was due to FCC compliance issues). If it's the latter, then I think these are two compelling entrants into the market.
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05-06-2008, 05:07 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 91
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Did anyone notice the 900 mAh Battery? Is this a joke? I have 1500 on my Mogul and it barely lasts 2 hours when I use BT and GPS.
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05-06-2008, 05:28 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,202
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I too am surprised by the tri-band decision. Even if it's not yet offered for sale via a US carrier, there is still a market in the US for the latest and greatest phones, isn't there? I wonder if the carriers are flexing their muscle here and forcing HTC to release a Euro only model until the time the US carriers get done with their "certification".
I'm also a little curious about the 192 Mb of RAM. I have a couple of devices with 128 MB today and don't every see need for more than that. It seems to me the processor bogs down when you get a lot loaded into RAM anyway (Or maybe the RAM is just slow?). HTC must have some sort of battery voodoo working, because the additional RAM just adds to the amount of power required.
I'm a little dubious about the viability of their new interface as well. In the past their TouchFlo and Today Plugins haven't talked nicely with third party PIM replacements such as Pocket Informant or Agenda One, which means they have very limited use for me.
I'd like to be more excited by the announcement, but I really don't see much ground-breaking here. The VGA screen is a nice upgrade, but I still wonder how much real world benefit we'll see on a 2.8" screen. The additional memory is nice, but still not as much as we find in some Nokia or Apple phones. The overall usefulness of the add-on interface is somewhat in question, since eventually you'll need to use a non-HTC application. I fear HTC has fallen into the trap of worrying about selling "features" (3D interface, lots of memory, etc) while forgetting that it's benefits (ease of use, convenience) that will win the minds of the general public.
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