HTC Touch Diamond coming to Sprint this month: WSJ

An early review in the Journal confirms what we long suspected—that HTC's much-anticipated Touch Diamond will arrive in Sprint's lineup "sometime this month." The Journal's verdict on the Diamond, however, is less than sparkling.

WSJ reviewer Katherine Boehret complains that the Diamond's smallish touch screen 'felt small and cramped" when it comes to the on-screen QWERTY keyboard, and that the phone's touch UI lacks the iPhone's multitouch features (which, for example, let you "pinch" pictures and Web pages to zoom in and out).

Another complaint (and this was the one I was worried about): That the Diamond's super-slick TouchFLO 3D interface can't make up for the tricky, tough-to-use Windows Mobile interface, which rears its ugly head all too often.

That's too bad, because in my brief hands-on experience with the Diamond, I was pretty blown away by its razor-sharp, VGA-quality display. I also got a kick out of HTC's TouchFLO interface, which includes a slick messaging preview window, plus a weather widget complete with animated rain and windshield wipers.

Unfortunately, as Boehret notes in her review, the Diamond runs primarily on the Pro version of Windows Mobile, which—full-featured though it may be—is devilishly difficult to use, especially if you're on the go. Just try tapping a tiny menu option with the stylus while you're riding the bus and you'll see what I mean.

That said, I'm still looking forward to some quality time with the Diamond, which (interestingly enough) has yet to be formally announced by Sprint—hence, no word on a specific release date or pricing.

Also, don't forget the Touch Pro, which is essentially the Diamond plus a slide-out QWERTY keypad—a feature that might make the quirks of Windows Mobile a bit more palatable.

Related:
HTC Can’t Disguise Windows Mobile Flaws [Wall Street Journal]