Can HTC's touchscreen Diamond outshine the iPhone?

Tue May 6, 2008 11:14AM EDT

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Just unveiled at a lavish event in London, HTC—maker of the sleek Touch for Sprint—has a new touchscreen gem on its hands, although the aptly-named Touch Diamond arrives in the rough that we call Windows Mobile.

But before I get all grumpy about Microsoft's tricky mobile OS, let's behold the Diamond's sparkling design and touch UI—and from this standpoint, there's a lot to like. 

First off, the Diamond comes in a sleek, and relatively light (according to the specs, at least) jet-black shell. Measuring 4 by 2 by 0.45 inches, the Diamond is a little shorter, narrower, and a hair thinner than the iPhone, and at 3.9 ounces, it's almost a full ounce lighter.

Then there's the touchscreen: 2.8 inches diagonally and at full VGA resolution, easily beating the iPhone's 480 by 320-pixel resolution. Whether one can appreciate VGA resolution on a 2.8-inch screen is an open question, although initial reports indicate that the Diamond's display is, indeed, dazzling.

And that brings us to the Diamond's TouchFlo interface—a sleek, easy-to-use touch UI that runs on top of Windows Mobile.

On the Touch for Sprint, TouchFlo looked like a 3D cube that you spun around with your finger. On the Diamond, TouchFlo boasts a row of icons at the bottom of the screen (for functions such as messaging, music, weather, photos, and Web browsing)—tap an icon, and the display spins and twirls to the appropriate application. Nice.

The Diamond also looks good in the spec department: HSDPA for 3.5G Web browsing and downloads, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, 4GB of internal memory, a 3.2MP camera, and an accelerometer that turns the display to landscape mode when you turn the Diamond on its side.

For Web browsing, you get Opera for full HTML rendering and zooming in to Web pages, along with a separate YouTube app.

All very enticing, but lurking underneath it all is the professional version of Windows Mobile—and undeniably powerful OS, but tough to use when you're out and about. Indeed, with its intricate menus, the pro version of Windows Mobile is almost impossible to use without a stylus, so let's hope the Diamond has one.

Still, Windows Mobile Professional (the new version 6.1) means full compatibility with corporate Exchange servers, along with Microsoft's mobile Office suite (good for composing and editing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents).

So, can the Diamond take on the iPhone? On paper, it certainly wins out thanks to its HSDPA and GPS abilities (although the upcoming 3G iPhone will probably draw even come June). And I like the size and weight of the Diamond, plus the sheer capabilities of Windows Mobile (the iPhone has yet to get a true office suite).

But while the TouchFlo interface looks like a pleasure to use, Windows Mobile itself is a bear without a stylus—and with all its tweakable features and options, it's a tough nut to crack for a novice.

In any event, I'll hold off on any final judgments until I see one in person—which may not be for awhile. The Diamond is set to arrive next month in Europe and Asia, but it won't land here in the U.S. until the second half of the year. No word on pricing yet.

So, what do you think? Is the Diamond looking like an iPhone killer? Fire away!

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Comments on Can HTC's touchscreen Diamond outshine the iPhone?

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  • 6 Posted by brian_reddevil07 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:13PM EDT Report Abuse

    take a look at sony ericsson's Xperia X1 , 100% knocks the iphone out !

  • 7 Posted by sturm347 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:46PM EDT Report Abuse

    i really dont care about itunes... all that really matters for me is how easy to use the phone is.

  • 8 Posted by mcastellanos90023@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:13PM EDT Report Abuse

    Come on I-phones lack all those features that other smartphones have. I-tunes who realy cares about itunes there are other formats to listen to music and video. The I-phone is just stuck with one. Nice sleek look This HTC looks to be very promising. 4 Gigs Nice!!! hope its not overpriced like the I-phone!!!

  • 9 Posted by rdr5603 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:33PM EDT Report Abuse

    What part of iTunes value don't you get? Here's the thing: If you approach your problem as "I'm carrying an iPod and a phone -- the phone is a pain -- give me all that stuff on my iPod", then you understand the iPhone user. If he had a smart phone before the iPhone, he hated it. It was a phone with a calendar -- at best. The iPhone's browser and the ability to dispose of the phone you were carrying is the killer feature of the iPhone. Most of the smart phone geeks don't seem to get that... The iPhone may take a portion of the existing smart phone market, but I'll bet it's mostly an expansion of the market -- new smart phone users.

  • 11 Posted by jerry_dec7 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:33PM EDT Report Abuse

    Apple, is not just going to rest on it's laurels and let the world go by. 3G iphones are coming soon. And, true to Apple tradition, they will continually improve the feature set I am sure of that. And, one thing that MS and their Windows Mobile stuff is, take some lessons from Apple in terms of intuitiveness and ease-of-use. One of the main reasons I switched late 2007 from Windows Vista to OS-X. Simply Vista is too sucky and was the straw that broke the camel's back. I am looking forward to iphone entering the Japan market here this summer 2008. And, a final word about all these phones and who can outdo who in feature sets.... don't lose site of what the fundamental purpose of a telephone is... it is to talk to people. So, to continually add all these bells and whistles, and music players etc., is OK so long as the phone does not become so overdesigned you lose site of what the phone is suppose to do in the first place. In this sense, iphone (rooted in OS-X) has the intuitiveness and ease-of-use in my opinion. "Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication" (Leonardo da Vinci).

  • 12 Posted by ckharleman on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:26PM EDT Report Abuse

    75% of people I know have an iPod/ 99.9% of those use itunes. on a phone, it doesn't really matter, true. but, i find most people care about iTunes a lot

  • 13 Posted by waynekford on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:41PM EDT Report Abuse

    So the author has not seen the screen, nor the device. And he is going to write a story for us that relies on others? Yeah, pretty mediocre journalism.

  • 14 Posted by chrisalexis2000 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:24PM EDT Report Abuse

    Are you kidding? I'm WAY better off without iTunes, and all the iPhone is, is a nice TOY. Even with the new enterprise they just introduced it's still just a nice toy. However, I will give it props for the speed and stability of it's interface, and unless this new phone has a more stable Windows, i doubt it'll compete. My Touch was more productive than the iPhone but the Windows has a habit and reputation for freezing up. If you're going to get a toy to play with and look cool, sure...iPhone is great. If you're going to be productive at the same time have bells and whistles, there are better things than a d**n iPhone.

  • 15 Posted by xlt3zz on Sun May 11, 2008 10:38AM EDT Report Abuse

    If it's running Windows Mobile then this phone means nothing. Windows Mobile is the absolute worst phone operating system. When Apple unveils iPhone 2.0 (remember the iPhone was their first phone EVER.......rivals have been at it for years) it will blow the competition away. All the features the first version lacked will of course be added along with the ability to load on 3rd party apps. Apple has been hard at work on the SDK and when they unveil it in June every iPhone user will have the potential to load thousands of world-class applications and games on their phone. The SDK and OSX platform along with the thousands of applications to come is something the competition can't rival.

  • 16 Posted by username77 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    Wow, another cool cell phone with a worthless Windows OS. Hope you dont plan on checking email AND getting a call. Oh well it only takes 5 minutes to reboot every time it crashes.

  • 17 Posted by ssheridan88 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:38PM EDT Report Abuse

    in all the bells, whistles and features, I find a lack of commentary on making a *gasp* phone call. More and more phones have all these other capabilities, yet I still have problems with crappy reception and dropped calls. To me, that is one of the most important things. I'm just sayin..

  • 18 Posted by krystolc on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:54PM EDT Report Abuse

    I like the Diamond. As a developer, I think Apple needs some competition to keep them on their toes. They have a good brand, but I think with a little more than the usual promotions, the Diamond could wind up winning more consumers if marketed properly in the line of sight of BlackBerry's new phone. Krys www.simplyme.tv

  • 20 Posted by scottpetrinec on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:08PM EDT Report Abuse

    If I can use skype with it when I am in a wifi area, I'll buy it.

  • 21 Posted by walterburg33 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:40PM EDT Report Abuse

    wanna learn something about "tech', as you call it, its called spell checker!!.

  • 22 Posted by jelly13350 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:32PM EDT Report Abuse

    you know how the breakout with the iPhone caused millions of dollars to Apple. and sprint has been at the top of the list since 2002. this so called "diamond" will definitely beat the iPhone only if its cheaper.

  • 23 Posted by bmcc333 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:10PM EDT Report Abuse

    Pretty pathetic when companies have to send cheerleaders to the boards of end users. At least the microsoft cheerleaders pretend they are someone else.

  • 24 Posted by walesmcgrath on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:39PM EDT Report Abuse

    Please note that the person writing this is typing on a Mac in the picture above. I have been using windows mobile for years without any difficulty. I also can use palm os or the iphone without much difficult either. I guess some brains are just not as adaptable to something different as others.

  • 25 Posted by walesmcgrath on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:39PM EDT Report Abuse

    Please note that the person writing this is typing on a Mac in the picture above. I have been using windows mobile for years without any difficulty. I also can use palm os or the iphone without much difficult either. I guess some brains are just not as adaptable to something different as others.

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