HTC Touch Diamond hands-on
By Joshua Fruhlinger 
posted May 6th 2008 9:57AM
posted May 6th 2008 9:57AM
Check out the gallery below, complete with comments and interface walk-through. A couple vids after the break, too!
A little game using the HTC Touch Diamond's accelerometer
HTC Touch Diamond's YouTube interface
two questions:
1. Available now?
2. How much?
one more:
Will you give one away? hehe
It feels wrong saying it, but that made WiMo look sexy.
Looks sweet, but can it deliver? HTC is by far my favorite phone manufacturer and I'm excited to see this one.
http://www.HTCTouchDiamond.com
Hi, I'm looking for a QWERTY keyboard-has anyone see a QWERTY keyboard? It's either really long or really tall, has a ton of keys, real easy to type...major selling point, especially when compared to an iPhone, it's competitor. Um, the keys might be black, or dark gray...they answer to "QWERTY"? Anyone? No keyboard huh?
Well, um, just keep your eyes open...you never know, it maybe be right on the back on whatever you are fucking holding, and a picture of it would be great.
hey it looks like the screen feels like the iphone screen (hard and not soft like usual PDAs)
but correct me if im wrong !!
thats how it looks like in the GAME
any info on that ?
Preston, what makes u think this has a keyboard?
Well yet more fluff for Windows Mobile.
And let me see from what I read that screen is only 2,5 inched diagonal, that tiny for a touch phone, I have an Iphone, and it bloody hard typing on that at times compared to a normal phone.
On this I bet its impossible.
And wow look at all those tiny icons every where.
As daid more fluff trying to emulate apple.........one day people will wake up and realise why apple are good, its because they research usabilty above all ealse...this is just a poor mans iphone.
Que the geeks who hate Apple :-)
Just another iPhone wannabe. Apple innovates, everyone else imitates. :D
its like these guys come in flocks...preston ur right there has to b a keyboard...HTC is on their grind.
"Just another iPhone wannabe. Apple innovates, everyone else imitates"
y do u guys even look at these posts...scared of a lil compitition
i know! i think from now on no matter what new phone comes out we're going to have to listen to these stupid lame mindless whipped iphone jackasses whine and cry how said new phone is copying the iphone. and steve jobs (who is Gods right-hand man) and apple rule and they invented everything! and i just love how even though the post has nothing to do with the iphone, they will still troll just to say how much more awesome their "toy" is.
Why would it have a keyboard, it's a HTC _Touch_. Software keyboard maybe but that'd be the limit i'd say
The iphone looks cute and all, but I was never struck by the wow factor. I have a Mogul 6800. My 4th 'smartphone', so the iphone isnt all that gee-wiz to me. especially considering the extrodinary meaures you must go to to load 3rd party apps on the device. The really killer was how in the world do you launch a "killer" phone in 2007(?) and it not be 3G. Call me when I dont need itunes to get the phone to function properly, when I can load apps out of the box without jailbreaking, and when I can usb or bluetooth teather to my laptop and get 300kpbs downloads over the wireless connection. For the record I dont hate apple, just overly unimpressed, and a diabetic to boot so no kool-aid drinking for me thanks. Next.
This Diamond Touch thingy. I guess the whole touch interface makes it more attractive and approachable to new users, but I get along ok with win6.1 as it is. All that ends up happening is I load up any custom apps I want and run with those. VGA, a bump in camera specs and sleekness all add to it being my next upgrade, but I wont shell out for a querty-less device. Anyone know of a device with similar specs in the pipline that includes a querty slider?
So, does the new Diamond have FM radio like all the blog postings claim? Was it easy to overlook when there's so much more to it?
Curious...
It does have an FM radio, which will also support RDS (whether it supports digital side channels, I'm not sure, though this would be nice). You can see official specs at:
http://www.htc.com/www/product.aspx?id=46286
Notably missing from the official specs is eGPS (which may be there, but just not stated because it could be confusing -- look how many people are confused about aGPS). However, I'm intrigued by another line referring to 145 minutes of video call time. I presume this goes along with the second camera, labeled as a "VGA CMOS color camera." Video conference calling, perhaps? I can see a lot of guys getting one of these, and then getting one for their girlfriends.
I've been seeing some complaints about the battery life. Granted that battery lives vary a lot from official specs, but a look at what HTC advertises suggests that they've improved power consumption dramatically. The CDMA Touch with its 1100mAh battery is advertised as having talk/standby times of 3.5 hours/250 hours; the CDMA Diamond with its 900mAh battery is listed at 4.5 hours/396 hours. Generally speaking, I have to recharge my Touch every 2-4 days, depending on how heavily I use it.
I'm really not sure why people are complaining, as I've basically doubled the time between charges from my older phones, and I may be able to nearly double it again. For when I know it's going to get more usage, I simply bring along the appropriate adapter, as there's almost always a friend nearby with a mini-USB connector on the chance that I don't have one of my own connected either to a computer or to a power source.
I hope that T-Mobile picks it up. They need at least one decent phone in their lineup so I don't send my money to eBay.
Does it have drivers? I didn't see that on the specs list, and since it's HTC I know I have to ask about that from now on.
This device is damn near close to perfection. 2 1/2 things would make it perfect.
- 3.5" screen instead of 2.8". The increased size makes it better for reading and videos.
- A slide out qwerty keyboard. Virtual keyboards will never compare plus it's bad enough that the screen is so small.
- Universal headphone jack. This is the half. From what I understand bluetooth headphones should work but I still will have to carry around another headphone for other devices.
These 2 1/2 things would make this phone godly. I love everything else about it. The FM radio is a great bonus since I'm too lazy to organize an mp3 playlist. 5 years ago it was fun now I just want to listen new stuff without searching and downloading. The Xperia X1 already fills in some of this void but I still need to see more of it's interface in action.
strange no one asked how much it costs and when it is released
at the conferernce
The device is very nice and close to perfection, but I will not buy it because of one very important disadvantage:
No Expansion-Slot for Memory-Cards !
Absolutely stupid, that HTC ignores that BASIC demand along with a high-end-PDA-phone !! Like this, it's crippled like an Iphone ...
... like this - no way HTC !
people! do your research!
# Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
# Qualcomm MSM 7201A @ 528MHz
# 256MB ROM / 128MB RAM
# 7.2MB HSDPA / HSUPA (rev A EVDO for Sprint versions)
# 2.8“ VGA screen
# WiFi
# Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
# eGPS
# 3.1MP Camera with flash
# Forward facing camera
# 4GB internal flash storage (Diamond only) - Samsung MoviNAND
# TV out (Raphael only)
# Orientation sensor (a-la-iPhone)
# FM Radio
# microSD expansion
# 900mAh battery (!!!)
# Diamond: 51x99x10.7mm with sliding keyboard
The Touch Diamond will hit Europe and Asia in June, everybody else later this year.
£395
Do YOUR research. Those are the rumoured specifications. The official specifications are:
Qualcomm® MSM7201A™ 528 MHz
Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
ROM: 256 MB
RAM: 192 MB DDR SDRAM
4 GB Internal storage
102 mm (L) X 51 mm (W) X 11.5 mm (T)
110 g (with battery)
2.8-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with VGA resolution
HSDPA/WCDMA:
* Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz
* Up to 384 kbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds
Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE:
* Europe/Asia: 900/1800/1900 MHz
(Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent.)
TouchFLO™ 3D
Touch-sensitive navigation control
GPS and A-GPS ready
Bluetooth® 2.0 with EDR
Wi-Fi® IEEE 802.11 b/g
3.2 megapixel color camera with auto focus
FM radio with RDS
900 mAh battery
Talk time:
* Up to 270 minutes for WCDMA
* Up to 330 minutes for GSM
Standby time:
* Up to 396 hours for WCDMA
* Up to 285 hours for GSM
Video call time: Up to 145 minutes for WCDMA
(The above are subject to network and phone usage.)
From: http://www.htc.com/www/product.aspx?id=46286
htc raphael is worth checking....it should be a qwerty version of the diamond.
No qwerty = not enough pda for me....
+1 for qwerty comment, for the screen (should be 3 or 3.5) and the battery (900mah won't last half a day with some usage, even with the new and less power-hungry lcds, IMHO) ...
No flash or lamp for the 3.2 megapixel camera when the entire styling of this phone is ideal as an evening accessory.
No SD memory expansion slot for me to move data fast between the phone and the laptop.
You came so close to getting this one right HTC.
@ Raja
Why can't you just use ActiveSync to move stuff via USB cable? That's what I do now with my Wing and it works just fine...
there are lots of detail hands on photos of htc touch diamond
sooooooooooo pretty the phone!!!
http://www.gophone.com.tw/report_hottopic_content.jsp?sn=0805160003&jump=1
Hey qwerty keyboard guy.... Get over it. The days of the button are over, virtual displays are the now..... I hated apple guy until the day I broke down and bought an iPhone. Since then I realize nothing compares. Ive tried over and over to convince myself that there was a better phone, but failed miserably every time. Companies r trying everyday, to make a product even close to as awesome to the 1st iPhone, wait three more weeks If u really wanna see something special.
http://www.htc-diamond.nl!
FYI,
Some more picture posted by this website Plemix
http://www.plemix.com/phone-htc-diamond-phone
Looked very thin on that stylus picture
When is it coming to the UK? And will Vodafone get it?
QWERTY guy I'm on your side
I'm waiting for the "Touch Pro"
Same specs but more ram better battery and a slide-out keyboard
Nothing today rivals the tactile response of a keyboard for entering real text. If you can deal with the on-screen keyboard, it's likely you don't enter much text, or at least much important text.
ok, this is my first time hearing of this phone. . i was gonna get the new iphone comin out in july, i was reading about it n someone had commented talking about the htc touch diamond. . .the thing is the iphone dont send or receive pix messages, but supposedly this one does. . . so i am looking for more info about it. . . like who is the carrier for the phone? Where can i buy one? How much is it? And also does it have a keyboard? cause i want a phone that is completely touch screen keyboard n all. . . . . Also how much r some of the plans that are offered for this phone. . . . If you have any of this info can you reach me at baisey@tmail.com. . .
Haven't got mine yet, have to wait till end of the month :-(
plan to use the T9, I text faster than with QWERTY n stylus or fingers. Hate the back though, wished it was flat or at least symmetric. Would have been sweet with micro SD, always handy to expand if needed, instead of moving stuff back n forth. A blitz would have been handy, a matching bag would have been useful, can't see how they could have put a larger battery w/o making it thicker.
Thanks engadget for the great news as usual..I read somewhere (http://www.articlesbase.com/cell-phones-articles/htc-diamond-review-433509.html)
"Though my love for the phone would like to say otherwise, there are some small issues with the phone. First of all, the phone is a tri-band phone, which could result in suboptimal reception in areas that rely on the 850 band."
How do I figure out if my "area" relies on quad band? I live in LA and I want to buy this phone but i would to be sure beforehand...
Touch Diamond might has a chance against the iPhone 3G, I wish it will come directly to verizon, w w w. AllTouchDiamond .c o m discuss about the HTC Touch Diamond.