05-08-2008, 12:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Not Everyone Is Wowed By The Diamond
There has been a ton of press in the past few days on the new HTC Diamond. It has a slick interface, a ton of mouth-watering specs and is sure to be a successful device for the Windows Mobile family. Not everyone is wowed by the product though. It doesn't seem to be aimed at corporate users, which is fine. I think it is about impossible to design a device that works well for the enterprise and is desirable for consumers. The Diamond was clearly designed for the consumer, but some feel that at a consumer device, it falls short.
"HTC just announced their newest smartphone, the Diamond. The successor to the Touch, the Diamond offers some amazing hardware and software innovation that should have made it an iPhone-killer, but as with seemingly every Windows Mobile device, it suffers from a few design flaws that keep it from reaching its full potential."
Jeff goes on to largely criticize the 4GB limit on storage and the USB audio connector. I personally have an 8GB mini-SD card in my TyTN II and it is about 80% full, but honestly there is about 20-25 hours of video on there that I keep on the device rather than my laptop. I'd never need all of that, or even half of that, so for me the 4GB seems reasonable for the average person. I am not a huge fan of the USB audio though, and agree with Jeff on that. In fact, I wish the device makers would just wake up and stick a 3.5mm jack on these things, even if that meant a slight hump. It is certainly better than these huge adapters hanging off of them just so we can use our favorite headsets. Read the rest of Jeff's thought's on the device. Do you agree with him?
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05-08-2008, 12:53 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 357
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I've actually become a big fan of the single extUSB port. Adapters are easy to get, but the biggest advantage is in the car. I only have to plug in one wire in order to get the audio routed through my car stereo AND keep the device charged. It is very convenient. Have two ports would mean having to plug in the charger into one area, then plugging the audio cable into another area. Who needs all those wires coming out of the device? It's a mess. The extUSB is very smart.
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05-08-2008, 12:54 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 140
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Today's consumers are spoiled too much...  But i would agree that leaving out an expansion-slot is just not very smart...as storage needs grow more rapidly than the need for a new device (i just love my TyTN II, and it'll service me for some years to come with 8gb Micro plugged in there).
But as for the audio-connection.... I don't understand all you people in bashing HTC for coming up with this solution. To be frank, i've written off quite some WM devices since the dawn of the OS in 1997 somewhere, and NEVER ever has an 3,5 audio-jack survived the entire lifetime of the device. These stone-age audio-jacks just break internally after some hundreds or thousands re-connects... Doesn't anyone see that HTC has actually fixed a major problem here? (and also making devices smaller in the process, since only one connector services all needs!). I applaud them for the ExtUSB jack, and their innovative phones which i'll keep using for many years to come (that also goes for my trusted Trinity which is my backup).
Think about it... How long did your 3,5mm jack survive? And am i the only one out here, or does anyone agree on this?
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Touch PRO & TyTN II .... doin' CE since 1997 :)
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05-08-2008, 01:14 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 471
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Quote:
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I'd never need all of that, or even half of that, so for me the 4GB seems reasonable for the average person.
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4GB is pretty tiny for a consumer device aimed at music/video lovers.
Compare it to the competition - the iPhone currently has 16GB and the N95 comes in 8GB and expandable variants. The imminent N96 has 16GB and a microHCSD slot (that's potentially 48GB of memory!). I'm sure the 3G iPhone will be released with 32GB.
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05-08-2008, 02:00 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 27
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For me, what makes the Diamond or Raphael undesirable is that they are HTC devices.
HTC can design the hell out of some hardware. Hardware-wise, I have no problems with HTC phones. In day-to-day useage, however, they are horrible, especially if you need to use them as a phone. They're very slow and often times just hard to maneuver around using one hand. HTC takes a full install of Windows Mobile and then tacks on all type of crap on top of it and the Diamond and TouchFlo 3D are no exception.
This is why I still have my almost two year old Treo 700wx. Palm took the time to really work on Windows Mobile for the phone and it shows. The device is faster than any HTC device I've used in the last two years, which includes the Tilt, Mogul and Touch, even though on paper the specs are in HTC's favor in every contest. It just works without the need to spend hours setting the phone up or worrying about flashing ROMS and such.
I'm not here to go on about how I think the Treo is a better phone, because I know there's a lot of Treo-hate in the WinMo community. I'm just here to tell you why I won't buy an HTC phone until they prove they can innovate at the operating system level as much as they can at the hardware level.
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05-08-2008, 02:09 PM
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Magi
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,341
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I'll be damned if I'm going to pay more for my device just because it has 16-40gig of memory. What I think would be a fantastic design feature is if they designed some sort of memory slot that allowed an individual to simply insert the size of memory card they like into it. Thus keeping the cost of the device down, and allowing people to choose their own level of memory.....or has that been done already.
Dave
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05-08-2008, 02:38 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 242
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Wow, no memory slot - no purchase. I would have considered it with 16 gb, 8 even but not with 4. Too bad cause there was a lot to love about this device and I was ready to buy. I would have been seriously upset had I gotten it only to find out my 8 Gb MicroSD card was useless.
db
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'It has been my experience that the more extreme the opinion, the less likely it is to be based on or altered by fact.'*- db
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05-08-2008, 02:56 PM
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Oracle
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 952
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My pet peeve is the 2.8 inch screen but aside from that I have to agree with Jeff that a consumer media flavored device should have an expansion slot even with the more than generous 4GB storage provided. God save us from these proprietary headphone jack solutions. I'd much rather have a larger device than live with these shortcomings.
I have to disagree with moaske though. The 3.5 inch headphone slot standard is a good solution, the problem is with the headphone manufacturers. For devices like ours which spend most of their time in our pockets or on our belts a stairght in plug is just asking for trouble. The solution is to use an L-shaped plug thus reducing the protrusion factor which is what causes the connecting wires to tear loose from the motherboard. I personally use an L-shaped adapter from Radio Shack whenever I feel like using wired headphones. I started using one after I was the first person to send an iPaq 3800 to PPCTechs with the headphone jack wires completely ripped out of the motherboard This was caused by my grado headphone wire getting caught on a bus railing. Had I been using an L-shaped adapter this probably would have not caused as much damage as it did.
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05-08-2008, 02:57 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 140
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bearxor
...For me, what makes the Diamond or Raphael undesirable is that they are HTC devices....
....This is why I still have my almost two year old Treo 700wx.....
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That's mighty interesting ... If i'm not mistaken that halfhearted attempt at a WinMo device with it's horrible square screen is being manufactured by..... HTC ... 
__________________
Touch PRO & TyTN II .... doin' CE since 1997 :)
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05-08-2008, 03:31 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 143
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Quote:
Originally Posted by moaske
That's mighty interesting ... If i'm not mistaken that halfhearted attempt at a WinMo device with it's horrible square screen is being manufactured by..... HTC ... |
the phone might be manufactured by HTC, but the brains go to Palm! also the Brains go to Sony!
HTC making kickass device for Palm and Sony!
y cant they make something kickass for themself??
hyping May 6, 2008 for nothing!
if u going to make something as a iphone clone or iphone killer! the least u can do is put in 3.5" screen like the iphone! or put in 3" WVGA like X1 but with 2.8" VGA? i'm been using 2.8" VGA pdaphone for half a year now!
HTC used to be a leader, now they just a FOLLOWER!
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