What a Nice Surprise: The HTC Touch Diamond

[Jason Dunn]

<img border="1" alt="" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/spt/auto/1213331606.usr1.jpg" /><br /><br />That's what the courier delivered to me today...and I've managed to restrain myself from opening it because I didn't have time to do an unboxing/first impressions video. Look for one tomorrow - even though I have a bad cold and will probably sound completely ridiculous on camera...but for you guys, I'll do it! ;-) HTC is sending a Touch Diamond to all Mobius attendees, so you'll be seeing lots of news/reviews popping up over the next week.<br /><br /><strong>UPDATE:</strong> Well, I woke up today feeling about 500% worse than last night, so the Diamond unboxing will have to wait for a few days.

[Jorlin]

Sweet :D

and my I add.... lucky bastard :P


;)


Looking forward to the review... although... I am waiting for the PRO :D

[virain]

Yawn... Do you plan on getting SE Experia? I would be very interested!

[mhynek]

I think the back of this phone looks rather obnoxious. While I can appreciate the effect they were going for, it is just too busy for me. This is a petty observation and has no relevance to the OS, GUI, or user experience, but none the less....tacky. imho

[randalllewis]

Jason, as you use the Diamond, please let us know about any reception and or connection issues caused by that missing 850 band.

[keirmeister]

I got to "touch" this phone at a local store yesterday, and it made me *MOIST*.

I didn't realize how small it was (especially compared to my TyTN or an iPhone). I originally thought the back was ugly, but in person, it's subtle and actually a little sexy. I hated putting it down.

I'm pretty sure this will be replacing my TyTN...when they release the US version in a couple of months.

[PdaAddict]

I have seen some reviews that indicate the device is slow and the 528 MSM CPU has trouble keeping up with the TouchFlo. I also saw a Youtube video where they show this phone being very slow in changing orientation from portrait to landscape. Would be interesting to get some test results, especially for the video performance. Personally, I would expect this to be another under performing HTC device only this time with VGA screen. I will bet Experia (despite the fact that HTC builds it) will be a much better designed and implemented phone.

[Jason Dunn]

Do you plan on getting SE Experia? I would be very interested!

I'm hoping to get my hands on one, yes, but I don't have as good of a relationship with Sony Ericsson as I do with HTC, so I can't say for sure if I'll get hands-on time with it.

[Jason Dunn]

Jason, as you use the Diamond, please let us know about any reception and or connection issues caused by that missing 850 band.

Noted. I've used European-band phones before and haven't run into any serious issues, but I've also never done band "torture tests" by going to places where I know reception is spotty.

[Jason Dunn]

I have seen some reviews that indicate the device is slow and the 528 MSM CPU has trouble keeping up with the TouchFlo.

Yeah, I got some hands-on time with the Diamond at the Mobius event and it seemed to be a bit sluggish and non-responsive at times. What I'm not sure about though is if that was still a beta ROM or if it was final. It's not fair to judge the performance of a device until that device has finalized software on it and really matches up with what will be shipping.

I'll definitely be shooting videos of it to dive deep into the performance factors.

[Kacey Green]

I got to "touch" this phone at a local store yesterday, and it made me *MOIST*.

I didn't realize how small it was (especially compared to my TyTN or an iPhone). I originally thought the back was ugly, but in person, it's subtle and actually a little sexy. I hated putting it down.

I'm pretty sure this will be replacing my TyTN...when they release the US version in a couple of months.

where was this?

[wolfzell]

Could you be so nice and tell me if it is possible to attach a phone strap/hand strap to the Diamond? I could not find any information about that anywhere in the net...

Thanks.

bye
Wolfgang

[Kirkaiya]

Could you be so nice and tell me if it is possible to attach a phone strap/hand strap to the Diamond? I could not find any information about that anywhere in the net...


Wolfgang - if you're still wondering, I read in one of the "hands-on" reviews that yes, there is a small attachment point for a lanyard/strap.

[wolfzell]

Thanks for the reply. Maybe this is the same report I read, where they supposed that this intendation was for attaching a phone strap, but I haven't found any confirmation yet. So I was hoping for somebody who owns a Diamond to confirm this.

I may seem unimportant, but I have gotten used to pulling my phone out of its bag by the strap (much faster) and since I am using the strap I never dropped my phone again which happened several times before...

bye
Wolfgang

[technofile]

Looked great...

Except for, the bumpy back. O2 doesn't have it.

However the single biggest drawback -for me- is that there is no microSD memory expansion slot, oh oh! So that means you can't easily swap and change data. I can't have one microSD with an MP3 selection on it, another to save photos/video onto, another with my GPS software on it. That 4GB is going to fill up very quickly if you take it away on holiday without access to a computer to download your photos and videos.

In fact if it had got the microSD slot it would have been ideal for me. The bumpy back I could have lived with. Touch Diamond would have been the PDA phone I'd been waiting for since the Imate I tried out four years ago in early 2004. I'm not interested in the bigger version with a keyboard it's more bulk and weight. I also agree with others that a standard headphone jack is also needed too or at least they should include the adaptor in the box.

Not sure the Sony Xperia (great screen) or the Samsung do it for me either, I like the finger touch interface greatly and HTC seem to have advanced it most on Windoze Mobile PDA phones.