HTC Touch Diamond stuff showing up in Sprint stores

by Chris Ziegler, posted Aug 27th 2008 at 4:25PM

It's still anybody's guess when the Touch Diamond will actually launch on Sprint, though the latest rumors suggest that it has once again been moved up to September 2 after initially being pushed back to October. The fact that promo materials are starting to show up would certainly support that theory, too, now wouldn't it?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Gallery: HTC Touch Diamond stuff showing up in Sprint stores

Filed under: Handsets, HTC, Sprint, Windows Mobile, EV-DO, CDMA

Tags: 6950, htc, ppc6950, sprint, touch diamond, TouchDiamond, touchflo, touchflo 3d, Touchflo3d, windows mobile, windows mobile 6.1, WindowsMobile, WindowsMobile6.1, winmo, wm6.1

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Abhishek @ Aug 27th 2008 4:29PM

Great!! Looks promising.

I wish sprint the best of luck on this. Although this phone is not enough for me to jump shit from at&t, but at least this shows that spring is intent in combating the big guys (at&t, verizon) head on. 1st the samsung instinct, now the htc touch diamond. Get the Touch Pro, and i'll be goin over to spring in a New York minute!!!

Highest Ranked

mak967 @ Aug 27th 2008 4:55PM

From what I have seen, the Touch Pro will coming to Sprint soon after the Diamond.

Neutral

Karan @ Aug 27th 2008 4:48PM

Wohoooo!

Neutral

mphayvanh @ Aug 27th 2008 4:52PM

Sept 2nd release date? This is good news. BTW--AT&T will get their "Fuze" so Abhishek doesn't need to leave AT&T for Sprint. 3rd week of September if you believe all the speculations.

Highest Ranked

slamEVIL @ Aug 27th 2008 6:33PM

yep. he doesn't have to jump shit and leave at&t for spring.

Neutral

Brian @ Aug 28th 2008 2:10PM

Abhishek does need to leave AT&T if he wants 3G everywhere...as referenced by the iphone 3G speed experiences being reported in various blogs.

If he doesn't need 3G, then why switch. but then again, why get the device in the first place. :-)

Neutral

305king @ Aug 27th 2008 4:59PM

too bad it dosent have the diamond back
well at lease sprint is trying hope to see more good phones for sprint

Low Ranked

Bradley @ Aug 27th 2008 5:03PM

Man, I'd really like a shot of the back of this thing. Some shots I saw most recently had it as red which I think is a major fail. Like the kind of fail that makes me not want to upgrade anymore. :(

Neutral

j @ Aug 27th 2008 5:11PM

As a former Sprint retail employee, I can tell you that when a store gets their POS materials is NO indication of when a phone will actually launch. I've seen materials come 2 months before and launch and 2 months AFTER a launch. Good luck on this one. Hopefully it comes sooner than later, because I want it! But, I'm still on an employye plan, so probably will not be able to purchase right away, kind of like the Instinct.

Neutral

episodev @ Aug 27th 2008 5:26PM

Every time I see that purple camera icon it makes me not want to buy it. Just plain ugly.

Highly Ranked

plh2034 @ Aug 27th 2008 6:58PM

Wow. I thought i was picky

Highest Ranked

Matt @ Aug 27th 2008 11:11PM

This isn't the iPhone... you can change the theme.

Neutral

wireless.nemo @ Aug 27th 2008 5:37PM

I'm waiting for the Touch Pro.... no news on a release date for that? :(

Highest Ranked

FinalStar @ Aug 27th 2008 6:44PM

rumor has it that it will be released a month after the diamond. So around October....

Neutral

SouthStar019 @ Aug 27th 2008 9:17PM

we just got our new rebate forums in the store and yes the htc Touch pro is stated to have a MIR of 100 dollars and purchase must be made by 11/2 so its before november. i am going to go with october sometime.

Neutral

Jack @ Aug 27th 2008 5:56PM

This is SO coming on VZW soon! I hope they don't neuter it by giving it the 128 MB of memory and no wi-fi. I can live with the small memory as long as it has a microSD slot but I am NOT paying a ridiculous 70 bucks a month for data. WANT WANT WANT!

Neutral

mphayvanh @ Aug 27th 2008 7:00PM

I have VZW and they will no doubt gimp this. They will take out some BT profiles so that you have to pay $15 for tethering (ala Blackberries), GPS so that you have to use VZ Navigator for $5 a mo. or $2.99 per use (Blackberry), mod IE to open the VZW Portal (Moto Q). As long as they don't touch the accelermeter, you're okay. :P

Neutral

JerryA @ Aug 27th 2008 6:26PM

This would be a nice incremental update to my HTC Titan (Mogul) on Sprint but I just can't bring myself to pay for the upgrade with Android phones on the horizon and WM7 on Tegra hardware in development. If Sprint commissioned something like this from HTC but running Android I would snap it up in a second.

Neutral

steve @ Aug 27th 2008 8:01PM

JerryA your the 3rd person I have seen who recently said they wanted to wait for windows mobile7 and tegra hardware, if you dont mind can you post a few links to explain tegra and do you know where there is any windows mobile7 vids or features list. I have heard of tegra but could not find much on it, and I know windows mobile seven is coming but I have not seen any demonstrations or features about it.
Thanks

Neutral

illegible @ Aug 27th 2008 8:30PM

I don't really get it... Android will be immature for quite some time, If you're using WM6, Android (at first) will not be a logical upgrade, it will take at least 6 months to mature fully. This isn't to say it doesn't have a lot of promise, but featurewise, it's going to be attacking the low end of the market first, Having all the functionality of WM6 out of the box and working reliably is probably a little too much to ask.

and second, in regards to replacing your Mogul... have you seen one of the diamonds in action? held it in your hand? basic functionality may not have changed much, but the size of the unit is significantly different... it's now a pocketable device (the mogul sure wasn't, unless you have cargo pants!) and the screen? Wonderful. This device is really a huge leap from the mogul. So i highly recommend taking a personal look at one before rejecting it out of hand.

Neutral

JerryA @ Aug 27th 2008 10:56PM

@illegible: I wasn't planning on buying a new phone for at least 3-6 months anyway and I'm perfectly fine with my Mogul. Thinness is not my main concern and since I flashed DCD's latest ROM, the thing is rock solid and fast (for once). I've got all the functionality I need and my personal budget doesn't make it worth updating for what this offers. I can't see much that the Touch Pro can do that my Mogul can't. As far as I can tell, it's thinner, a bit faster, and has a nicer UI on top of WinMo 6.1. Everyone's personal budgets are different so I'm only speaking for myself. If I had more disposable income I wouldn't mind spending a few hundred on this upgrade but as it is, I can only justify that for a game-changer. I'm hoping to see something like this but running a more modern OS in 6-8 months and then I will think about upgrading.

Highly Ranked

Matt @ Aug 28th 2008 12:23AM

@steve

Just search Youtube for "nVidia Tegra" or "nvidia APX 2500" (they're the same thing).

Windows Mobile 7 = http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/23744

Neutral

Mustang46L @ Aug 27th 2008 7:34PM

Look for a bunch of phones coming from Sprint on 10/19 including the Touch Pro.

Neutral

TIM @ Aug 27th 2008 8:55PM

Where did you get 10/19 release date for the pro? or is it just your speculation.. i ask cause i am gonna hold off on the diamond to get the touch pro

Neutral

bernardino @ Aug 27th 2008 8:12PM

When it comes to HTC, I don't typically see the carriers advertise that the phone is an HTC phone and use HTC's original name. Is this a normal thing for Sprint? It's kind of nice, it gives me the feeling that this won't be a gimped out version of the phone, although that's just a feeling.

AT&T on the other hand, will probably not mention HTC's name at all when it comes to advertising the "Fuze." Likewise, Verizon will probably keep HTC behind the curtain. It's as if they want the average consumer to think that it was the carrier that manufactured the phone. I wonder if this is to prevent the cell phone market from being independent from the cellular service market, which would be nice. It's kind of like the opposite of the PC and internet service market.

Neutral

PhilR8 @ Aug 27th 2008 8:54PM

Yes, the "HTC Mogul" came out in June 2007 and the "HTC Touch" came out later that year, both for Sprint.

Neutral

TIM @ Aug 27th 2008 8:56PM

mini Poll: do you guys think sprint will try and make users get a required plan, like they did with the Instinct and iPhone?

Neutral

Jon Nelson @ Aug 28th 2008 3:15AM

I really hope not. I get the sense that would drive away quite a few upgrade customers.

Neutral

Ben @ Aug 27th 2008 9:01PM

Why cant sprint just put a date on this damn thing already...Its like they are just playing with people.

Highly Ranked

Brian @ Aug 27th 2008 9:35PM

When I log into my corporate sprint discount site, I see this:
https://bluefish.sprint.com/promo/wm_htc_touch_diamond_promo.cfm
(link should work even without redirect)
"Coming in September"

Neutral

Brian @ Aug 27th 2008 10:52PM

all i want is the fuze on att come onnnn
and yeah people on xda say 3rd week of september for that im really hoping its true

Low Ranked

FrankTheTank589 @ Aug 28th 2008 12:18AM

Wtf we get this POS when verizon is getting the blackberry storm/thunder. Fuck AT&T and Verizon.... wait fuck sprint for sucking at life.

Highly Ranked

Blad3 @ Aug 28th 2008 2:42AM

touch pro + sero = ftw.

Neutral

fsphl @ Aug 28th 2008 3:49PM

agree re: touch diamond + sero. phone that's smaller than iphone with better internet connection, and a plan that absolutely smokes any other plan offered in north america.

Highest Ranked

Deimos @ Aug 28th 2008 5:20AM

For some reason, I've marked my calender for Sept 23 2008, don't ask me why though, because i can't really say, but that's all besides the point. Isint it? About that Sprint blue fish promo pre-sale sign... it's strange they would use a picture of the GSM version with front facing camera, and straight edges, considering its nothing like the version we're set to recieve. Also about the promo material appearing at stores, is obviously gearing up for the Sept 2nd "Release" since i know they've started recieving packages filled to the HTC Hardware/Software earlier today, now its just a matter of doing the inventory and scanning all the devices into the database readying for mass distribution. HτC > all

Neutral

HtcPRO @ Aug 28th 2008 10:07AM

Htc Touch Pro Priced @ $329 with new activation or upgrade. In October.

Neutral

Ben @ Aug 28th 2008 12:45PM

Where did you find this info??

Neutral

MR @ Aug 28th 2008 5:07PM

This phone is coming out the 14th of September ! Just got off a phone conference. Also right now there is going to be INSTANT no MAIL IN REBATE additional discounts to ANY ADD A LINE !!!!!!!!!!!!

Neutral

sprintmgr @ Aug 28th 2008 8:11PM

Okay, I have posted this several times on different sites- the device was originally slated for launch on 9-2, but has since been pushed back to 9-14 for direct ship, and likely 9-28 in retail with a price at launch of $299 (subject to change). Not sure what I have to do to prove myself as I am not about to put livelihood at risk for "ninja" status on a blog, but I have handled a CDMA diamond, and have to say it's worth the wait and the hype. IPhone or BB comparisons aside, this is going to be a hot phone.

The Touch Pro is equally impressive, launching on 10-19, and from the info I have pricing will be around the $329 mentioned above. Expect a press release around 9-10 in conjunction with CTIA. Why they are waiting is beyond me...

Neutral

Zacharias @ Aug 29th 2008 10:10AM

Um, it's a picture of the GSM version on that site.

Neutral

Chris @ Aug 29th 2008 12:12PM

sprintmgr... why would Sprint release the phones on a Sunday? The 14th and 28th are both Sundays. I am having my Instinct replaced by the Touch Diamond because of all the issues I've been experiencing. After talking to tech support, they pushed me over to sales where the lady told me the Diamond would be out on the 2nd, and to call back on that day to get it shipped to me.

Neutral

sprintmgr @ Aug 29th 2008 12:28PM

Good question - all of Sprint's launches, both device, service, merchandising, are tied to "launch windows" which usually fall on Sunday. Doesn't make much sense, but ask any Sprint rep, and they will most likely confirm that when new plans, services, system "updates" [cough] or devices launch, it is in conjunction with the beginning of a week, possibly to take advantage of the slower traffic that Sunday usually affords.

In reality, the stores generally receive devices a few days before said launch, and you may find one who will sell it to you, but the launch windows are fixed, usually Sunday dates. The September launch window is set for 9/2, however production and approval issues with HTC have delayed the full launch of the device. As evidence to my point, why whould Sprint not announce a device via press release that they were going to launch in a mere 4 days? I know its sprint and actions aren't usually bound by things like "logic" or "convention" but even Sprint knows a winner when we have one, and don't you think we would try to get as much momentum out of launching a great device as we could? Heaven knows we need momentum...

Neutral

cwk @ Aug 29th 2008 1:11PM

Hm. I was under the impression this had already launched. Worked with a guy who had one a couple weeks ago. Didn't think to ask if he'd bought it unlocked, though.

(der)

Neutral

Orchids @ Aug 29th 2008 3:09PM

Will the diamond have MMS?

Highest Ranked

Deimos @ Aug 29th 2008 2:23PM

where can i get a keyboard and 256MB of RAM for $30.00..oh wait! i'll just wait and walk into a Sprint store..

Neutral

cherrylimeade @ Aug 30th 2008 1:59PM

I just spoke to a sprint sales consultant and she said the launch date for the touch diamond is Sept. 14 but it wont be available in stores yet. You would have to call telesales and order it that way. That's cool with me cause I've been waiting on this phone for a while now. I just thought I'd update you guys on it.