HTC Diamond - First Look

Is this the iPhone challenger we've been waiting for?

Reviewer: Stuart Miles
Review Date: 7 May 2008
Manufacturer: HTC
Price as reviewed: £price dependant on contract
Latest price: compare

Our score

?/10

This item is not yet rated

Reader score

3/10

First Look

7 May 2008 - HTC today announced the HTC Diamond an HSDPA handset that puts touch at the forefront of its interface. So can it be the iPhone killer it's promised to be? Pocket-lint grabbed one at the global launch to find out.

Small and compact (102 x 51 x 11.33mm) the new handset, which is considerably smaller than the iPhone, sports a gloss black design and large 2.8-inch VGA touchscreen on the front alongside a series of keys below for quick interaction. The back sports a 3.2 megapixel camera.

Inside and you get HSDPA 7.2 as well as HSUPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and 4GB of storage to store music and images on although no external storage option or 3.5mm jack.

The Diamond runs Windows Mobile 6.1 although from the customisation HTC has done to the operating system you wouldn't know it.

Sitting on top of Windows Mobile is HTC's 3D TouchFlo software, which is incredibly graphical. Using your finger you can quickly scroll through the available applications via a carousel at the bottom of the screen at all times and here you can access virtually all the phone's main features like the picture viewer, music player, contacts book or browser.

Promising to offer a fully functioning and easy to use browser experience, HTC has used the Opera Mobile browser instead of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The move is a welcomed one and the browsing experience on both Wi-Fi and HSDPA is, to put it bluntly, beautiful. It is the first device we've seen that gets anywhere close to Apple's iPhone browsing experience.

Web pages are loaded and resized to fit the screen automatically, but still retain their design and ratio. A double tap allows you to zoom in and out, while a move of your finger across the screen shifts the web page around.

When it comes to viewing text, HTC has somehow magically made it possible for the text tp re-position itself to display on the screen to save you scrolling, regardless of the CSS or style on the original site.

A quick rotate sideways and thanks to the inbuilt accelerometer you can view images and web pages in landscape mode with the on-screen keyboard also benefiting from the extra space.

Addressing the problems experienced on the iPhone and hoping to appeal to users who actually want to type on the device, HTC seems to have gone out of its way to help you get text into the unit. The on-screen keyboard can be displayed in full QWERTY, 20 key or even 12 key configurations with the 20 key emulating a two letters per key offering as found on the company's Touch Dual model. It's something that is likely to appeal to the BlackBerry Pearl users perhaps ready to switch.

Elsewhere the graphical interface doesn't stop. Weather, a popular feature on the company's Touch device is back once again, this time in glorious Technicolor. Everything from contacts that offer photos as if it was in a Rolodex to the image browser that sees photos cascading down the screen like the photo screensaver on the PS3 gives this phone a very, very consumer focus.

It's not all great news however, in our test, which we were informed was a prototype, the interface was at times sluggish to our requests. Then there was a lack of a 3.5mm jack for music fans as well as the lack of an external memory card slot for further expansion, although in fairness 4GB internal memory should suffice most people and HTC say that a 3.5mm dongle is included in the box. Then there is the worry of battery with HTC's President suggesting that compromises had been made for the size.

First Impressions

Although we weren't able to test every facet of the HTC Diamond (GPS, camera quality) what we saw was very impressive.

HTC has somehow managed to take a Microsoft device and make it everything but - a good thing in our mind.

This is a consumer smartphone that packs more specs, and if HTC can sort out the lag issue, more punch than the iPhone in all areas. The only thing it appears to be lagging is the audio and video prowess of Apple's smartphone.

If you aren't fussed about multimedia and just want to stay connected on the go, this is certainly one to watch.

The HTC Diamond is out in June in the UK.

Comments

Dont Buy! Battery is extremely Bad!!!
I've sold mine and I'm buying a E71.

Apparently When i went to sell it off, the Shop guy is showing me 2 more guys in the same boat. Waiting to sell it and buy E71. And the resale value is pathetic!!!

If u really want to check out diamond, pls look in the market, theres a lot of 2nd hand stuff available at almost half the price or lesser! Posted by Narayanaswamy, India
If you need free GPS tracking software for your windows 6.0 pocket PC mobile device you should visit http://VoyageMap.com to download the free cab file to install on your mobile device Posted by SwiftLion, UK
Woah there. I've got one and it rocks. Seriously. But you need to be prepared to tweak it - there loads of roms you can download that'll:
a) make the battery last a reasonable time (nearly 2 days now)
b) speed up the sluggish interface.

Without tweaking - rubbish. With it - glorious.
Posted by Mike, uk
After 2 weks - mines going back - dreadful battery (1 day max) - phone died completely- very slow to do anything - seem paint dry quicker - the touch flo is a joke. My old HTC 6000 was better. Really irritating as a phone as not intuitive - spend your money on an Iphone - 100% better Posted by s91s91, United Kingdom
Hi
Never even think about getting HTC diamond.look stylish,good speed,attractive everything ok.
but lost its basic function.battery stands only for half a day.battery overheating problem.when i talk to my friend it suddenly restarts every 3/10 calls....
Dont be a fool as i am.Everything is great but fundamental requirement is shit.................. Posted by skarp, India
do not use TELUS service
you will pay for date and more extra !!!!!! Posted by michael, toronto
i wanted one... but now im not sure. from what youre saying i get the impression its balls Posted by danny, england
A worst Phone I ever seen in my life. DONT BUY HTC Touch Diamond and waste your money. It restarts randomly nearly 5 times a day. HTC did not satisfy the customer still now. HTC should be aware of this problem by now. Still did not come up with solution. That means It is a manufacturing defect. But still continuing their production. I am writing for the guys who read the forum .. DONT fall into the look and feel(which I agree good). But did not satisfy the basic need which normal phone does Posted by Anto Felix Fernando, India
There is a problem here. I have had this phone now for a few months now on orange and i must say its fantastic. i have tweaked the phone, changed the radio and a new rom in it and the battery easily lasts a day with quite heavy use. EG:

I have push e-mail enabled for my hotmail account, i have my yahoo account set to download every 30mins, i use the browser to read this site and others, i use the phone for business so im calling all day!

Lets be honest here most people put the phone on charge over night!

People who are struggling with this phone are people who just want a phone stright out the box and away you go, which is far enough, and those people should not have this phone agreed, but saying its pants is rubbish.

Mine never resets its self, there are some great software out there to customise the phone and its free!

The main nag with this phone is the touch screen being pressed in the pocket, but there is software to fix the problem and enhance the phone at the same time.

HTC could do with updating there roms more quickly but who needs them when you have the top guys at XDA Posted by Vic Turton, England
I like my Diamond. Have the Iphone but wanted a smaller phone that I could use on the go i.e. that could fit into my trouser pocket.

My only issue is that I am having problems downloading the ROM updates from the HTC site. I have registered with the e-club and put in the S/N number but still have no joy.

Can anyone shed some light on this one? Posted by Tissot Regis, United Kingdom
hi can anyone tell how to tweek the phone, i have just bought the phone today but dont want to have problmes with it, any software information would be grateful Posted by louise , uk
Take a look over at XDA forums there is a dedicated diamond section there, it does take some reading but its not that hard to do really, it just sounds harder than it is. But be carfull guys done incorrectly will brick your phone! Posted by Vic Turton, England