HTC Touch Diamond lands tomorrow on Verizon: $299.99 on contract

by Darren Murph posted Apr 9th 2009 at 10:59AM

It seems the rumblings and rumors were true -- every last one of them. HTC's now-aged Touch Diamond is indeed hitting Verizon Wireless this month, bringing with it the same 2.76-inch touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel camera, TouchFLO interface and Windows Mobile 6.1 OS that we've seen ad nauseum on carriers around the world (though it does boast a microSD card slot). We're pretty baffled by the immensely large $299.99 on-contract sticker (after $70 mail-in rebate), and honestly, we just don't see VZW moving too many of these before a price drop. In fact, are you even giving this a second thought?

Gallery: HTC Touch Diamond lands tomorrow on Verizon: $299.99 on contract

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

Tags: CDMA, HTC, on sale, OnSale, smartphone, Touch Diamond, TouchDiamond, Verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, vzw, windows mobile, windows mobile 6.1, WindowsMobile, WindowsMobile6.1, winmo, winmo 6.1, Winmo6.1, XV6950

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highest Ranked

Aeon1974 @ Apr 9th 2009 11:19AM

Are these guys F-ing insane???? This device has been around for a year! IT'S OLD!!!
With the Touch2 and Touch Pro2 around the corner they are releasing this now? And for this price???
Who's is actually going to buy this for $300 after rebate? LOL

VZW....WAKE UP!!!

That's why I hate VZW. They have the worst phones and deals

Highly Ranked

Jennifer @ Apr 10th 2009 11:41AM

You would be surprised. I work for an indirect dealer for VZW and I had to special order 10 of these and they are already sold. To top it off I've put in 6 more orders since 10:30.

Highest Ranked

mrkordz4dayz @ Apr 9th 2009 11:22AM

I'm a faithful customer but VZW continues to embarrass me...Why even put this phone out? It's been like a yr and some change. Please come out with something NEW VZW

Highest Ranked

dtzitz @ Apr 9th 2009 11:20AM

This phone is enough to make me rage quit verizon.

Highest Ranked

PK @ Apr 9th 2009 11:27AM

will the contacts pop up from the phone like that?? I don't think I saw 3D screen in the spec. :p

Neutral

bldgengineer @ Apr 9th 2009 11:38AM

I'm guessing that they are going to wait a year to release the touch2??? I still have my original env phone because I haven't seen anything worthwhile enough to get rid of it!

Highly Ranked

SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Apr 9th 2009 3:58PM

@ bldgengineer

i hear ya man. i've been a VZW customer for years and it's gotten to the point now that i don't even really get excited when my contract is up because i know there will be nothing worthwhile available for me to upgrade to. it's ok though, this is my last contract with VZW, i'll be going elsewhere for sure (either Sprint or AT&T with Sprint winning right now).

Neutral

PeterF @ Apr 9th 2009 11:38AM

Look at the awesome photoshop on the 3rd picture!

Neutral

SickNic @ Apr 9th 2009 11:44AM

Wow, the pictures are literally hopping off the screen. That’s what I call 3-d...

Neutral

jon @ Apr 9th 2009 11:44AM

this is what you get when you have a closed CDMA system, they feed you crappy phones and you can't buy an unlocked phone elsewhere to bring it in.
for all the evils (perceived or otherwise) that folks espouse about AT&T, at least i can bring for a example a samsung omnia HD or whatever other GSM device i so choose onto their system.

Highest Ranked

divertito @ Apr 9th 2009 12:54PM

I would say Verizon is insane, stupid, etc. if I didn't believe they were in the upper echelon of corps that know how to bleed clients so well. All I can think of is that their users are typically not a bunch of gadgetphiles like the audience here. Of course, if you are paying $380 for a ph, I would hope you would do at least a tad bit of research.

@ jon, if Sprint can provided nice CDMA phones in a timely manner, Verizon should be able to as well. Verizon definitely cripples their phones more, and releases much slower than Sprint. Btw, I believe the Omnia HD does not support North American 3G bands, so it's sadly a no-go on AT&T. You point is still very valid though, as much as AT&T sucks, they are at least using GSM like the rest of the world which opens up their phone selection significantly.

Highest Ranked

Eddie @ Apr 9th 2009 12:01PM

I was a Verizon customer until the Diamond came out on Sprint. I thought about waiting for it on Verizon, but boy am I glad I didn't, I can't believe they are now just coming out with it. Not to mention they kind of fuglified it by changing the hardware button icons.

Neutral

Bernie @ Apr 9th 2009 12:02PM

I also have the original LG enV from a couple years ago and VZW continues to disappoint on the phone front. I love the coverage I have with them, but AT&T has finally expanded the coverage where I live to include 3G. Come June/July I am switching to, hopefully, the new iPhone.

Highly Ranked

Eddie @ Apr 9th 2009 12:02PM

And oh yeah, at that price, I don't feel so bad about paying $80 to cancel my contract with them.

Neutral

Jason @ Apr 9th 2009 12:06PM

Holy fucking overpriced Batman ROFL!!!!!!!11

Has to be a joke. HAS TO BE.

Who in there right fucking mind would pay $380 before rebate for that? WHO?

Neutral

Beau @ Apr 9th 2009 12:36PM

Well, I am not going to get this, and I am not going to wait for the Touch Pro2 to arrive at Verizon (Not to mention VZW will probably dumb down and lock down the phone - then charge $50 more than everyone else.).

I will be headed to T-Mobile July 1 when the Touch pro2 arrives there.

Neutral

Eric @ Apr 9th 2009 1:40PM

Didn't they cut the memory in the Touch Pro over the Sprint and Alltel versions as well? Verizon customers need to shop around and make comparisons.

Neutral

Beau @ Apr 9th 2009 1:47PM

I'm not entirely sure (but off hand I think they did), but a quick read over at XDA Developers would tell the facts.

Neutral

Chris @ Apr 9th 2009 1:00PM

Why would some pay $299 for this when they can get the Omnia, which IMO is a better phone for $99? Yeah, TouchFlo is neat, but come on.

Neutral

Eddie @ Apr 9th 2009 1:07PM

Actually Verizon raised the price on the Omnia. It's now $199 after rebate.

Highly Ranked

fireisfun8907 @ Apr 9th 2009 2:24PM

Actually, they didn't "raise" the price. The half off special on Samsung phones just ended.

Neutral

bernardino @ Apr 9th 2009 4:19PM

Wow, Verzion releases a phone over a year after every other carrier does, I'm not surprised. That's why I left them, tired of getting phones a year after every other carrier and yet expected to pay the same price. I'm just as happy at AT&T, which has better phones and doesn't drop calls when I'm at home like Verizon did.

Neutral

plh2034 @ Apr 9th 2009 6:54PM

why?

Neutral

a11j2a6 @ Apr 9th 2009 7:13PM

embarrassing.

Neutral

Zubscero @ Apr 9th 2009 8:28PM

VZW is sad. I am just waiting for the right phone to leave this whack company. Someone ... save me from these late comers to every party. There is no way on HTC love I would pay $300 for this phone this late in the game.

Neutral

totalcruiser @ Apr 9th 2009 11:21PM

I have struggled for years with vzw's crappy non-selection of smart phones.Good grief, it took a year for them to upgrade the VX6900 to 6.1. Ridculous to have EVDO RevA available but no phones upgraded to use it. Bye Bye Verizon; I would have maybe put up with your outdated crippled phones if I could get more than one bar at my office. You can always tell who is on Verizon; they're the ones standing by the row of windows trying to make a call; meanwhile I'll be hidden in my little cube with 4 bars of 3G on my iphone.

Neutral

IdleInvest @ Apr 10th 2009 12:14AM

Right now the HTC Touch at Verizon is $349 with $70 off. Who would spend that?

Neutral

alltouchdiamondcom @ Apr 10th 2009 9:46AM

I am a verizon customer for over 5 years now, and yes, I hate myself everyday for not being able to get the iPhone, since it's released.

I will switch in a split second if it wasn't for the early termination fee. I have a family plan of 4, which means the termination fee would come out to be $179 X 4.

Verizon thinks that people stay with because they have good service and good coverage, yes, they are better, but for a gadget guy like myself, I am willing to sacrifice a little service for that awesome iPhone, Palm Pre... tearss....

I really thought verizon will drop many subscribers due to not being able to get latest gadgets and it's over priced service plans and old gadget, but come on, they actually increased it by $1 million + new subscribers last quarter. why the hell are people still signing up with them?

Neutral

Kevinthegreat @ Apr 10th 2009 10:25AM

it took vzw to some how nerf the firmware? i thought they'd leave win mo alone! damn you verizon! Damn you!!!

Neutral

Sean Kelley @ Apr 10th 2009 2:25PM

My contract is up and AT&T finally came to my state. Bye-Bye Verizon. I am sick of your god-awful selection. Now, If I can only be patient and wait until june for the new iPhone or Palm-Pre.