WSJ reviews HTC Touch Diamond: "can't disguise WinMo's flaws"
By Darren Murph 
posted Sep 3rd 2008 11:45PM
posted Sep 3rd 2008 11:45PM
It was only a matter of time before the WSJ (Katherine Boehret, in this case) got their hands around Sprint's still-not-official Touch Diamond, and we can't say that the conclusion she drew is at all shocking. As Mossberg and his partners so often do, Katherine mentions Apple's darling just as much as the topic of the review itself, and while she seemed impressed with the hardware, it was the software that suffered the brunt of her attacks. She proclaimed that "despite its handsome TouchFLO 3D software and animated icons, the device failed to disguise the frustrating interface of Windows Mobile often enough for [her] taste." Beyond that, she also found room to gripe about the "cramped" keyboard, which she felt was "next to impossible" to use with just her fingertips. On the plus side, she did give the browser a decent amount of praise, but if you were looking for support from this critic before picking up the forthcoming handset, you'll be sorely disappointed.[Via phonescoop]
Does anyone really care honestly...?
Am I the only one who thinks Mossberg has a big ass poster of Jobs in his room???
Right next to his race car bunk-bed
....because they think the iPhone's keyboard is better and the UI is more fluid?
No I don't think anyyone who thinks that must have a poster of Jobs in his/her bedroom.
I wish I could pretend this was a surprise... but it isn't.
WSJ's love affair with the iPhone is a fact of life at this point. I would've been *more* surprised if she had professed admiration, however begrudging, for the phone.
I'd rather see it reviewed by someone who doesn't have wet dreams about black turtlenecks, if it's all the same to you guys.
its kinda like the foxnews of phone reviews, you know what is gonna come out before its written
Don't you mean the msnbc of phone reviews??
Nah, he means fox news. Murdoch owns fnn & wsj remember.
WSJ's reviews are a joke. Iphone biased and they don't cover the most important aspect, call and reception quality. Of course the extras are nice such as camera, music & video capabilities. But what's the use of having a phone if you can't call out? *I'm looking at Instinct and Iphone peeps
Here's the cell phones that that reviewer has owned in her life.
Motorola Razr
Apple iPhone...
I read her review, and it was poorly written b/c she decided to do a comparison. If that was the basis of the review, she should have layed on the hardware specs first side by side with the Iphone. Then lay out the usability/experience side by side so users to gauge what she's doing and understand her comparisons. Instead she bashed all the bad things about the HTC Touch and barely spoke badly about the weak features of the Iphone.
I have now actually had my hands on the Diamond and while the device is pretty slick on the surface the interface is slow (very slow) and laggy, especially given that it has decent processor in it. The onscreen keyboard is also indeed too small for fingers, which means it is pretty much stylus only and that means 2 hands all the time - an functional issue as far as I'm concerned.
I have used WinMo previously and personally am looking specifically for a new WinMo device due to a couple of applications I use that are pretty much limited to WinMo or WinMo. As a general OS, while it is far from perfect, WinMO does the job (Ok as a phone and very well as a PDA replacement) so I can live with it as the base OS; the HTC Touchflop interface, however, was enough to make me look elsewhere for a new device. I am a Telus (Canadian CDMA carrier) subscriber and am looking for a unit that is also WiFi capable, so my options are somewhat limited in terms of the Smartphones available to me. I have decided to go with a P4000 (not sure, but I think it is basically the HTC TyTn - touchscreen + keyboard); a new WinMo 6.1 download has been made available for it to upgrade from the WinMo 5.0 that ships on the unit and that tipped the scales. I am hoping that a year from now (my plan gets me a new unit every 12 months) HTC will have fixed the TouchFlo issues and the Diamond Pro (a Diamond with QWERT) or even the HTC Touch Dual (has a slider phone keypad) will be available to me.
In the mean time, be careful of the slick interface on the Daimond, at present it is NOT ready for prime time, in my opinion.
Cheers,
Leigh McBain
You can turn off touchflo
@Imcbain-Wifi is included
General 2G Network GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900
GSM 850 / 1800 / 1900 - American version
3G Network HSDPA 2100 / 900
HSDPA 850 / 1900 - American version
Announced 2008, May
Status Available. Released 2008, May
Size Dimensions 102 x 51 x 11.5 mm
Weight 110 g
Display Type TFT touchscreen, 65K colors
Size 480 x 640 pixels, 2.8 inches
- TouchFLO 3D finger swipe navigation
- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
- Touch-sensitive navigation controls
- Handwriting recognition
Ringtones Type Polyphonic (40 channels), MP3, WAV, WMA
Customization Download, order now
Vibration Yes
Memory Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Call records Practically unlimited
Card slot No
- 4 GB user available memory
- 192 MB DDR SDRAM, 256 MB ROM
- Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 Mhz processor
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
HSCSD No
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, miniUSB
Features OS Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
Games Yes, order now
Colors Black
Camera 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, autofocus, video; secondary VGA videocall camera
- Built-in GPS with A-GPS
- Stereo FM radio with RDS
- Pocket Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, PDF viewer)
- Java MIDP 2.0
- Voice memo
- MP3 player
- Motion-based games
- Built-in handsfree
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion 900 mAh
Stand-by Up to 285 h
Talk time Up to 5 h 30 min
The TYTN is a relatively old phone, and not to be confused with the TYTNII/Kaiser. The TYTNII/ATT Tilt/Kaiser came with WM6 but does not have a CDMA version that I know of. If you need CDMA, I'd hold out for the Diamond Pro. Heck, I'd hold out for the Diamond Pro if it used smoke signals. If you like a majority of the Diamond features, you can always get a stowaway bluetooth keyboard to take care of the tiny keyboard- I feel your pain there. HTC (maker of the Diamond) really cleaned up the Diamond Pro, maybe some of those improvements will trickle down to a new ROM for the Diamond.
Clearly just a publicity stunt. I hate websites that pay their writers based on clickthroughs / comments because it just encourages people to make 'controversial' write-ups just to get a rise out of people. I can name a few other websites that reviewed games even though they didn't receive early review copies, it's just a stupid move to get links.
She clearly wrote the review just to go against the grain, not to mention the fact she deliberately broke the NDA (http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10030420-1.html) so it would be the first story up from whatever event gave them the hands-on.
It's 'journalists' like her that make me wonder why companies invite them to see their products. She should be barred from any type of NDA, and replaced with somebody that compares phones to something other than the damn iPhone.
Hello Leigh,
When you used the device was it running the initial ROM? I have heard much of what you said about the sluggishness of the device, but then again I have heard the exact opposite after the ROM has been updated. Its not really fair to judge a device on a launch ROM, I'm sure if you ran an updated diamond you would have a different opinion.
Regards,
Brad
What a terrible review. How about mentioning that the HTC Touch Diamond's screen has DOUBLE the resolution of the iPhone. The iPhone's camera isn't sufficient and, come on, no video?! Also, the Diamond's browser actually does display full websites all the time - I have no idea what she's talking about.
In addition, she failed to cover two other extremely important features. First, the 'scrolling' area near the bottom of the device also has arrow keys. Though they're not marked, they work wonderfully, especially while in a moving vehicle when you can't touch the screen with very much precision. Second, you can also zoom by circling a particular part of a photo with your finger. It's way better than Apple's multi-touch resizing.
(Full disclosure: I own a Diamond)
I've yet to get my hands on one. I've heard both the lag and the opposite of it in that the flow takes getting used to and that it does not lag as much as some journalists have stated.
WinMo is notorious for this type of behavior. Most of us know that if you can place all of your extras on ur SIM card, that almost clears the crashes, lag, etc. However, the Diamond will not have a SIM card slot. The Touch Pro does have one. Doesn't make sense to me either.
I'm still looking forward to getting my hands on one to test it for myself, with the updated ROM.
"Most of us know that if you can place all of your extras on ur SIM card, that almost clears the crashes, lag, etc. However, the Diamond will not have a SIM card slot"
the diamond comes with 4gigs of storage though so that won't be a problem.
Achilles, as a Diamond owner I have to admit that it does lag occasionally, but it's not at all annoying and doesn't hurt the overall experience. The interface is by far the most beautiful out there, and more than makes up for everything. Everyone I show the phone to is literally in awe.
Question: Is it really hard to type on? Does the full qwerty keyboard turn sidways when you turn the phone sideways...making the keys a little bigger? I actually want the Diamond instead of the Pro (don't like the bulk), but will get the pro if I the keyboard is unusable. I have fairly big hands and fingers.
Its funny cause i tryed typing on a Iphone and all i have to say is that keyboard sucks when it comes to txt messages. Horrible, if you could go landscape with it than it wouldnt be so bad, but you cant so my review says it sucks.
Windows Mobile was orginally a PDA OS, and designed to be used with a stylus. HTC's Touch interfaces are only meant to make some tasks, such as speed dial, usable with only a finger. Anyone who seriously expects to use this phone without a stylus will be frustrated.
That said, I own a Touch, and it's hardly the most user-friendly device. I suspect that the majority of people who pick it up will end up throwing it back at Sprint. Hard. Its touch screen is less sensitive than I'm used to, and the whole thing requires a good bit of getting used to and getting a "feel" for the phone. HTC and Microsoft could have made WM6 a lot easier to use if the OS would just register commands based on where you LIFTED your finger, not where you initially touch. Then, it wouldn't matter how small the keyboard is... just maneuver around until the correct letter pops up, then release. Ah well. Pipe dreams.
I love it, since I've been using PDAs for nearly a decade now, and I'm used to the WM interface. But I guarantee most people will hate it.