HTC Touch Diamond

I just bought the new HTC Touch Diamond mobile phone and it is as good as the iPhone (if not better).

When Steve Jobs announced the coming of the iPhone 3G, I was one of the many people who thought "Mmmm.... $199 for a 3G Smartphone. I want one!" But that only lasted for about a month; because the real price is ridicules. The real price for the first 6 months (in Denmark) is a staggering 1,579 USD. And that doesn't even include a flat-rate data plan.

I think the iPhone is cool, but not at that price.

Luckily HTC said "oh... we got something that is even better" and I agree. The new HTC Touch Diamond is amazing.

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Here are some of the features:

Comes with a super cool touch-based interface, with a really rich media kind of feel to it.
Like the iPhone it has built in sensors and accelerometer, so that it can react to the different angles you are using it with.
It has built-in email support, calendar, Word, Excel, tasks.
It can display images and video clips in a lot of formats (more than the iPhone).
It is not restricted to iTunes software, or the iTunes Apps.
It comes with Opera instead of internet Explorer, and what a great browser that is. It is actually better than Safari.
It supports higher 3G speeds than the iPhone.
It comes with Google Maps, YouTube, PDF and a ton of other applications that has already been made for Windows Mobile 6.1.
...and it small enough to not feel like a brick in your pocket.

I must admit. I think this is a better phone than the iPhone. Its design is just as good, the interaction (especially the special HTC part) is just as rich and the Opera browser is better than Safari.

Don't get me wrong. I do like the iPhone, but I personally prefer the HTC Touch Diamond.

Comments

huphtur - Jul. 8, 2008

Doesn't this phone have video conferencing as well?

Thomas Baekdal - Jul. 8, 2008

Yup... but I haven't tried it yet. It also got GPS functionality... but no GPS software (which you have to buy seperately)

Jonathan Snook - Jul. 8, 2008

With the kerfuffle with Rogers here in Canada, I've been looking at the Diamond. Apparently there's a $30 unlimited data plan with a carrier here. However, after seeing a demo, the UI didn't seem very "real". I mean that in the sense that the person would flick and then the item would change. It was like seeing somebody perform a mouse gesture on the screen. You have to wait for the gesture to be done before the action takes place. It works fine but it doesn't have the same intuitive feel as an iPhone. It'd be interesting to have both side-by-side to see how both "feel".

Thomas Baekdal - Jul. 9, 2008

Jonathan, You are right about the UI (in part). When moving from e.g. one image to the next, you swipe the screen and only when the swipe is over does the screen change (the images does not move with the swipe).

It is the same with emails.

But almost all other parts of the phone works just like the iPhone (with a number of subtle difference in interaction of course).

Apple is better at the UI, since only the special HTC interface looks "cool and stunning". The rest of the phone uses Windows Mobile 6.1's interface, which does give you a lot of options and settings, but not as designed. The main problem is that Windows Mobile is made for a wide variaty of devices, and you don't get the "UI made just for this device" feel as you do with the iPhone.

I don't know anything about HTC carriers in Canada. The HTC Diamond currently does not support 3G in the US (only Europe and Asia), I don't know if this is an issue in Canada as well.

Jonathan Snook - Jul. 9, 2008

Telus, a carrier here in Canada, will have the CDMA version of the Diamond as of August. (I have no idea if CDMA is considered "3G" or not!)

JiPé - Jul. 9, 2008

I agree that the iPhone price, specially here in Canada with Rogers data caped plan, doesn't make any sense, but all the functionalities, web browsing, YouTube, calendar, etc. are just a pure copy of the iPhone. Without Apple having design the iPhone first, HTC, Samsung or the others will never have come up with something like this.

Martin Bekkelund - Jul. 9, 2008

I've used Windows Mobile for a couple of years, before I switched back to Nokia and then to the 1st generation iPhone. Windows Mobile is never ever coming back in my pocket. Slow, unstable and a horrible interface is some of the reasons.

Up here in Norway, NetCom just lowered the prices on the upcomming iPhone 3G, after receiving a lot of critics for the initial prices. For a private person, the iPhone 3G could be an expencive piece, depending on the usage, of course. However, for companies, the prices are actually quite good.

Here's the info for Norway (in Norwegian and NOK):

https://netcom.no/iphone.html

Thomas Baekdal - Jul. 9, 2008

I just noticed today that the built-in GPS works with Google Maps - that is cool.

Thomas Baekdal - Jul. 9, 2008

Martin, I agree with that the standard Windows Mobile interface is not that impressive. And, the HTC is not the fastest phone I have ever used. But I really like the HTC interface that sits on top of top of the mobile interface. Unless you need to change some specific windows settings, you rarely see Windows Mobile's interface.

As for speed. I just found that changing the file cache settings will almost double the speed of the interface. It is still not amazingly fast, but it is alot better than when I got it yesterday.

My main concern at the moment is battery. When testing and experimenting with it, it runs out of battery fairly quickly. I have had it for now 36 hours, and I have already charged it twice.

I read that I could buy another battery with twice the amount of power, and I think I would probably do that soon.

Another note: I also just found a program called "MyMobiler", which allows you to see the screen and control your phone directly from your computer (like having Remote Desktop for your phone). This is great when I am going to create and test web applications (which is another reason why I bought it in the first place).

tlvlp - Jul. 9, 2008

As I see it, design is often used to cover the defects of a device, rather than enhancing the user experience and HTC seems to have a healthy balance in this compared to other manufacturers.

I've been using htc wm, devices for a few years now and planning to update for the Diamond soon.

Note that replacement batteries with extended capacity in many occassions does not fit the original device and this little detail is not indicated in the item description for some reason (here I mean eBay retailers) or they only mention that a gratis back cover is shipped with the new battery :)

I only use google maps mobile with the GPS as the other apps are rather ugly, hard to use and eats up too much storage space. The only negative point is that it requires constant internet connection to load the images as you drag the map, and it also means shorter battery life

Hope you'll enjoy it

Thomas Baekdal - Jul. 9, 2008

Thanks for the tips Tlvlp.

Engadget posted a picture of the larger battery and the new back cover.

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/07/08/htc-touch-diamond-gets-extended-battery-bigger-butt/

Justin Barkhuff - Jul. 10, 2008

Thomas, in one of your comments above, you mentioned that you 'found a program' and presumably installed it on your phone. Can you describe the discovery/installation process for programs built for windows mobile devices?

The core hardware/software of the iPhone is revolutionary, but competitors will be able to build comparable devices (as seen in your post). I think the real value in a mobile device is going to be the ability to easily build, find, and use third-party applications.

Apple seems to have invested alot of effort into making the App Store as simple as possible (for developers and consumers), and I think it's going to be as significant as the iPhone itself.

Email, web browsing, and word processing programs are necessities on my laptop, but so are Photoshop, Skype, Terminal, and Quicksilver.

Thomas Baekdal - Jul. 10, 2008

Justin,

Microsoft is far ahead of apple in terms of third party support. The official Windows Mobile "App store" is here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/catalog/cataloghome.aspx

It is also very simple to make mobile applications... both in the form of web applications and dedicated "desktop" applications. You can get a quick overview from this page:

http://www.innovateon.com/product_winmobile.aspx

The whole developer eco-system is many times higher with Windows Mobile.

That said, Apple does deserve a lot of credit in the area of creating usable interactions - and making it usable for everyone.

Before the iTunes, the mobile "universe" was very "system-like". The HTC looks and works very good, but the Windows Mobile environment (e.g. if you want to change a setting, or do something not made by HTC) is not anything close to what you get on the iPhone.

In my opinion, the HTC is a very serious contender to the iPhone. It is better in some areas, and not so good in others. It is a lot better when it comes to third party support.

I do agree that third party support is going to be extremely important for the future of mobile applications.

jihad mikhael - Jul. 10, 2008

cooooool.....can we have an idea about the price??

Peter Veres - Jul. 10, 2008

Thomas,

Don't mean to go too technical on a potal mainly evolving around design, but since this article is about experimenting with your phone i might as well just do so :)

900 mAh battery upgraded to 1350mAh seems a bit low as HTC Universal had similar pixel ratio and CPU speed (both are strongly in linear proportion with the device's energy consumption) where I had to upgrade from around 1300mAh factory default battery to 3000mAh (the extended one I have mentioned in my previous comment - as tlvlp) to bear the "relatively normal use". If you buy a state-of-art multimedia PDA you'll use it as one.

900mAh might be slick enough to fit the new design but does not seem to fit the potentials of the device. Still.. I'l have one

Justin,

Skype as well as and many of the mainstream apps are available for WM devices as well and you'll find substitutes for those that does not have an official release on this platform. Though smartphones and PDAs are not designed to carry out high-res photo manipulation like you would use PS for, though the necessary basic features like croping, rotation, adjusting filters, resizing and certain effects are integrated to most picture viewers. I would recommend the French XnView for this from the freeware apps. That's far enough if you shoot pic, touch it up on the run and 3 minutes later it's part of your new blog post :)

I mean that it's a different style of use that demands different applications for similart tasks. You might not have the option to execute "sophisticated maneuvers" but most certainly would not need it either.

Peter Veres - Jul. 10, 2008

JM,

In Hungary it's about 520 GBP/ 650 EUR / 1000 USD / 145.000 HUF : )

Thomas Baekdal - Jul. 10, 2008

Peter, You are right about the battery. I am going to need a bigger one if I am going to use it for browsing, GPS and generally PDA use. ...and a car charger just in case.

BTW: I just came across this Diamond touch forum... very useful:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=429

Thomas Baekdal - Jul. 10, 2008

Jihad, the price in denmark is roughly around $800 USD. That includes the phone and the phone data and voice plans for the first 6 month.

Thomas Baekdal - Jul. 12, 2008

Grrrr.... I just discovered that the phone company had setup the phone to use their data lines - even if I was connected to a wifi network.

I didn't understand why my account continually stated that I was using the internet through my 3G data plan, even when I was browsing from home connected to my WIFI network.

BTW: If other people have that problem. Choose Start - Settings - Connections - advanced - choose network. And choose the programs that use the internet should connect using your home network, instead of your phone company.

Thomas baekdal - Jul. 14, 2008

test

slitz - Jul. 17, 2008

It really looks good, but... (and i'm not a zealot, and i don't event own an iphone) it's microsoft, and i don't trust microsoft to do the UI.

Thomas Baekdal - Jul. 17, 2008

Slitz, neither do I, that is why I like that HTC have put their own UI on top of it :)

Werner Pfingstmann - Jul. 18, 2008

Is it possible to charge the Diamond via USB Interface?

Thomas Baekdal - Jul. 18, 2008

Werner, Yes - although it is more than twice as fast to charge it directly.

Acho Atsin, - Jul. 28, 2008

please send me all differents type of Diamond,cut,price,variety,carats,

and informations of any kind to help me in my proposals

for investors in my mines.

Thomas Baekdal - Jul. 28, 2008

Acho, I suggest you contact HTC for that kind of detailed info.

Federico Torri - Jul. 31, 2008

Hi Thomas, i'm Federico, a teen from Italy, and i've been reading your post very carefully...i am looking for a phone that can perform various task, and look more like a computer than a phone. Iphone and HTC are on top of my priorities, and probably one of the two will be the winner.

I use my PC mainly for animation and graphic apps, so i wanted to ask:

1)The HTC site states, for the TD, "3d GPU". Other than the interface, are there any programs that use this GPU (graphic chipset)? For example, the iphone has Monkey Ball, wich is a game with very very nice graphic acceleration. Do you think the HTC could support such graphic acceleration? (you can see a demo on apple.com in the iphone 3g section).

2)Wifi is not supported from HTC, as i read somewhere. But you say you connected to a wifi terminal. Is that true? HTC supports wifi?

Thanks a lot! Fede

Thomas Baekdal - Jul. 31, 2008

Federico,

1: the 3D GPU in the HTC phone is not what you would call speedy. It would not be able handle Monkey ball. It is fine for interface stuff, but not for dedicated 3D.

Overall, the iPhone is about twice as fast as the HTC.

2: The HTC does support Wi-fi. It actually supports much higher wi-fi speeds than the iPhone. In my test, the HTC wi-fi is sometimes 10 times faster than the iPhone.

But, if you are looking for graphic performance you should buy the iPhone. It is much faster at handling video, images and 3D in applications. The iPhone, however, is very limited. The HTC runs on Windows Mobile, which has a huge eco-system.

For working with web applications (which is what I do), the Opera Browser is actually in some case better than Safari on iPhone. but it also lacks some of the special iPhone events.

Here is the thing. I have tried out both for a period of time, and the iPhone is the better phone - generally speaking. It is far more buggy than the HTC, and far less versatile. But it is also incredibly pricy.

If you got tons of money, get the iPhone. If you are greedy get the HTC. The iPhone is faster, and is very good but not very flexible (or controllable), the HTC is slower, isn't part of the App store buzz, but more versatile overall.

denise - Aug. 3, 2008

could somebody help me please.

i live in the uk, my daughter wants a htc touch diamond for her birthday. could anybody tell me what contract has unlimited internet browsing?

i have looked at loads and none seem to have this.

thanks.

Michael - Aug. 3, 2008

You preach good UI...and don't have a iPhone...this is questionable.

ican - Aug. 5, 2008

guys,,,,

in My HTC Touch'D there is no GOOGLE MAPS..

anybody can help me ?!

where i can get that software ?

thanks

KC - Sep. 3, 2008

Hi Federico,

If you are looking for a phone that can perform various task, and look more like a computer than a phone. Try the HTC Advantage™ X7501 or X7510.

Both are not cheap either and big. But fast, very fast.

John S - Sep. 4, 2008

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for the excellent review and for following the comments. I've had a HTC S730 but gave up on it because it was too chunky. Am v interested in the Diamond, but have read a lot of reviews that the interface was very slow. On YouTube there are a couple of reviews where that comes up, but am not sure if that was earlier versions of the phone. What's your experience?

Thanks

John

AHG - Sep. 26, 2008

Dear Thomas,

I just bought the HTC diamond, i know it a bit late. But better then never.

Can you please advise me, with the GPS software that i should buy. As its not included with the phone.

Thank you

Thomas Baekdal - Sep. 26, 2008

AHG, I have not installed any third party GPS on my phone - i use simply Google Maps (which does come pre-installed).