Telus' HTC Touch Diamond gets video review
While Sprint and Verizon consider final monikers for the HTC Touch Diamond, some North Americans are already enjoying the thing up in the Great North. The ecstatic folks over at Mobile Syrup were able to snap up Telus' version of the WinMo 6.1-packin' handset, and of course, they put together a video review for us Americans to drool over. The 7:15 clip includes a few comparison angles with other mobiles and a full walk-through of the user interface. Reviewers found the web browsing on Opera Mobile to be a real treat, and of course, they couldn't deny the awesomeness of the 640 x 480 resolution display. You can check the review in full just after the jump, but if you're easily made envious, we'd suggest you not.
Filed under: Handsets, HTC, Telus Mobility, Windows Mobile, EV-DO, CDMA
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
xdfgf @ Aug 18th 2008 12:58AM
iPhone 3G fail clone review GO!!!!!
TareX @ Aug 18th 2008 1:25AM
Salsa!!! ...eh?
rob_lobstuhh @ Aug 18th 2008 1:44AM
I can see he got carried away too much.
Dave @ Aug 18th 2008 5:00AM
OK, so it's a nice phone, I get it, but wow does he go overboard with the praise and not a single critque.
webterractive @ Aug 18th 2008 5:48AM
Users of the overrated iPhone above & below don't like what they see...
kalibar @ Aug 18th 2008 6:50AM
This guy doesn't sound like he has a very comprehensive grasp of the marketplace, or the relevance of this device in HTC's product line. It's a definite downer that nicer-looking HTC devices have given way to a less-discriminatory class of user ("hurrr it looks like iphone and instinct hurrr the screen is sharp hurr").
DiamondUser @ Aug 18th 2008 7:22AM
I just got my Diamond from Telus about 14 hours ago and one bonus that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere is that you get an adapter that plugs in to the HTC USB port and gives you four jacks: an HTC USB headphone jack, an HTC USB power/sync jack, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a 2.5mm headset jack. Yes, it's a pain to have to have the adapter with you in order to use a regular set of headphones, but I think with the 2.5mm jack, it will allow some users to continue to use a phone headset that they already own without paying for a Bluetooth headset.
I have so far been unable to get the GPS to work. Telus sells their Navigator GPS service for $10/month and it seems like they may have removed the ability for other software to use the GPS. In the manual it says to start by downloading the satellite data using the QuickGPS program. But the QuickGPS program does not seem to be on my phone anywhere. I tried enabling GPS in the Google Maps app, but it can't find it so far (will try further outside the house later today).
BTW, the delay that the first European models had is now a thing of the past with this model. I played with a European one a month ago and this one is much faster in navigation. For speed jockeys it may still not be instantaneous enough, but for most of us regular folks it is just fine.
worldbfree4me @ Aug 18th 2008 7:40AM
Diamond over Omnia:
VGA display (2.8-inch, 480 x 640 pixels)
TouchFLO 3D Home screen (better than Omnia's Touchwiz UI)
Nicer design
More compact body
Lighter weight
Active magnetic stylus (Omnia has no stylus slot)
Touch-sensitive scroll wheel (better than Omnia's optical joystick)
Better sunlight legibility (by a small margin)
Standard miniUSB slot (as opposed to Samsung's proprietary custom plus)
Dedicated graphics chip with 64MB memory
Comes with the amusing Teeter game (uses the accelerometer)
Has pre-installed YouTube client and MP3 Trimmer application for ringtones
Better video playback performance
Omnia over Diamond:
Bigger, though lower-res display (3.2", 240 x 400 pixels)
Has a better, more solid build and finish
Almost double battery life
Better CPU performance (by a nice margin according to software benchmarks)
Quad-band GSM support (Diamond has two versions to cover all the four bands)
microSD card slot (Diamond has none)
8 or 16 GB of storage memory (Diamond has 4GB)
Much better 5 megapixel camera (better processing, higher resolution, face and smile detection, geotagging)
TV-out (Diamond lacks that)
Landscape QWERTY keyboard (Diamond has one but only in browser)
Auto screen rotation is available in all applications and can be switched off
Comes with DivX video support (Diamond has none, but DivX players can be installed)
Has pre-installed a custom Alarms app, a Video editor and a unit converter
famm113 @ Aug 18th 2008 10:21AM
While the guy does overdo his "beautiful" comments I still think this is looking to be a pretty nice phone. I wish all the iphone lovers would stick to the many iphone articles to comment on instead of always trying to bash a competitor. This just in, NOT EVERYONE WANTS AN IPHONE! Rumor has it Sprint is going for an Aug 28th release date instead of the Sept 2. If only one could believe rumors.
famm113 @ Aug 18th 2008 10:40AM
I wish engadget would filter any "i" dare I say it PHONE comments to their own boards. You guys are swallowing the gravy of Steve Jobs so much it's annoying. There is such a thing as competition and phones that are just as good as your precious. Sad thing is I don't even dislike the so called jesus phone but all the annoying fans who post on every competitor article to bash it is starting to make me hate it. Well mainly HATE THEM!
UPdownLoAD @ Aug 18th 2008 12:47PM
All that music, and no Canada's Rush!?
I'm just happy he said "about" in the review instead of "aboot" lol
....on a serious note, no demonstrating txt entry, which is what we all use the phone for, whether it be e-mail, sms, or entering a website address or contact info. That make/brakes a touchscreen phone for me. I liked the txt entry on the Instinct, but that was all I liked about it.
He pulled up Youtube in the demo- is there a Youtube app now for Windows Mobile I missed somewhere?!
Marq @ Aug 19th 2008 9:51PM
Seriously! I wanted to see how it was to type/call on this phone. I am looking at getting either this or a Blackberry Bold on Sprint and I am very wary of touchscreen only phones. I only say that because I am a text-a-holic and I think a touchscreen would be difficult to use. I know I hate it on the iPhone, but maybe they had something different. But this video definitely didn't show that.
Jack @ Aug 18th 2008 12:50PM
I just want wifi so I don't have to pay for VZW's stupid internet.
DiamondUser @ Aug 18th 2008 10:20PM
Update to yesterday's note:
Tried the GPS today with Google Maps in the Greater Toronto area and it worked very well. Took about 5 minutes to first connect and it found 6 satellites and tracked me as I drove on highways and county roads.
As for Wi-Fi, it works very well. I set it up easily (my network has WEP encryption) and the Diamond connects at 54Mbs speed. Accessing the web was snappy and downloading e-mail was very quick.
Jimmy @ Aug 19th 2008 8:22PM
Where is the RESET button?
I had a Win Mobile Dell AXIM before; the RESET was most usefully button and I have to use it everyday to reboot.
bob @ Aug 20th 2008 11:16AM
There will always be people that dislike
something. I find a lot of the time it's because
another person likes that particular item.
the diamond is. small, light, and well designed
htc did a good job on the home screen.
windows mobile blows, mine freezes every once
in a while . the speaker is clear. I like my diamond.