Not that you can't snag an HTC Touch Diamond in Canada right now, but those loyal to Rogers are still waiting. As of this moment, we still can't locate the WinMo 6.1-based handset on the outfit's website, but MobileSyrup has it that the phone will soon be released for as low as $199.99 on a 3-year contract (with a minimum $45 voice / data plan). Oddly enough, we're also told that it'll be available with voice-only plans for $449.99 (3-year), $549.99 (1 to 2-year) and $599.99 (month-to-month), while a data-only plan is available on the $499.99 handset (3-year). Weird, we know -- which makes us all the more anxious to hear this gibberish from the horse's mouth.

Though there are fully sixteen devices comprising Softbank's latest round of phones, most are sitting in the giant -- quite literally giant, in fact -- shadow of the mighty 931SH. With the exception of a USB modem and two Nokias that are looking a little irrelevant in the face of Espoo's decision to pull out of Japan, though, we're going to give everyone equal time here -- so read on for the full batch!


Sharp 931SH

Let's just jump right into the big guns, shall we? Closed, the 931SH from Sharp looks just a bit like an iPhone, but opening it reveals a d-pad and numeric keypad. What's more, the 931SH's ridiculous 3.8-inch 1024 x 480 touchscreen puts the iPhone's to shame, as does the color selection -- Black, Silver, Pink Gold, and Red -- and the camera, which measures 5.2-megapixels strong.



Samsung 930SC OMNIA

Everyone's getting in on the OMNIA action lately, so naturally, the Japanese version has to kick it up a notch or three. To do that, it swaps out the WQVGA display found on global units with a wide VGA one, but otherwise, some of the specs should sound familiar: 8GB of onboard memory and 7.2Mbps HSDPA, to be specific. The backside is available in Black, White, and Red -- all options we'd like to see in other parts of the world.



HTC Touch Diamond X04HT

Turns out that NTT DoCoMo isn't the only Japanese carrier that wants in on HTC's mojo. They're launching a version of the Touch Diamond as the X04HT, but unlike the once-over the OMNIA received, the X04HT is basically a dead ringer for its international cousin. VGA, 3.2-megapixel cam, Windows Mobile -- we all know the drill by now -- and it's available in any color, as long as it's black.



HTC Touch Pro X05HT

There's an old saying that goes something like this: "Where there's a Touch Diamond, there's a Touch Pro." Never heard that? Well, Softbank apparently has, putting its own version of the Touch Pro -- the X05HT -- right alongside the X04HT. It offers the same VGA display, 3.2-megapixel cam, and QWERTY (albeit localized) keyboard as other Touch Pros around the globe.



Samsung 930SH

At first, you might not make much of Softbank's claim that the 930SH's 15.2mm-thick shell is markedly thin -- but then you realize that it's packing an 8-megapixel camera, which elicits an "ohhhh, that explains it." Unfortunately, it looks like all the engineering went into that cam, because it's a pretty boring, unassuming flip otherwise. At least it's available in your choice of Blue Green, Black, Pink, White Silver, and Silver Violet, right?



Casio 830CA

What's this, wide QVGA? You've already lost our attention, Casio -- but let's go through the paces here: 5.2-megapixel camera, one-seg mobile TV, a trick (well, trick outside Japan, anyway) translucent dot-matrix LED display on the face, and availability in White, Gray, Black, and Orange.



Toshiba fanfun.2 830T

A wide QVGA display, 2-megapixel camera, and artfully-angled corners should tell you that the fanfun.2 830T from Toshiba is more about looking totally awesome with the phone plastered to the side of your face than it is about taking the perfect photo. To that end, it's available in five fun (some might say "fanfun") colors: Pink, Black, White, Vivid Pink, and Gold.



Toshiba fanfun.petit 831T

The important specs of the 831T are essentially the same as the 830T, but the fanfun.petit (seriously, where do these names come from?) ups the designer ante by offering changeable faceplates. The phone itself comes in White or Pink, then you choose one of six plates (or none at all, if that's how you roll) to customize the flip and make it your own.



Panasonic 830P

The 830P's being billed as a simple, super-readable handset -- and the 2-megapixel camera and WQVGA display certainly back up that billing -- but it's still reasonably attractive, we suppose. Gold, Silver, Black, and Pink are your options on this one.



Sharp PANTONE 830SH

The 830SH isn't the first PANTONE-branded set to grace Softbank's airwaves -- and if we can keep getting crazy colors like this eye-searing green, we hope it's not the last. Yeah, it's only got a WQVGA display and 2-megapixel camera like several other of the lower-end devices here, but come on -- green. Bright green. Cut it some slack, alright? If the green isn't to your liking, there are fourteen other colors to choose from, so dig in.



Sharp 830SH s

The 830SH s continues Softbank's GENT branding -- an indication that the phone's targeted at the mature crowd with big, easy-to-read fonts and huge buttons that are virtually impossible to mispress. It looks a whole heck of a lot like the 830SH and features the same technical specs, but the color selection isn't quite as varied or vibrant: Natural Brown, Warm Pink, Deep Green, and Mat Silver.



Samsung 730SC

Who goes to Japan for a phone this boring? Not us -- and we're not sure why anyone would want this up against any other phone in the lineup -- but alas, Samsung is offering the meager 730SC for folks who are looking the simplest, most basic phone imaginable (by Japanese standards, anyhow). QVGA display -- no "wide" about it -- 1.3-megapixel cam, and just black and white shells to choose from. That's all she wrote.



Sharp 823SH Tiffany

If you're just now reading about this phone, you're already too late to get one -- but at over $100,000 a pop, it probably a moot point for you (and if it's not a moot point, we'd love to talk about some business opportunities with you). Just ten examples of the diamond-laden testament to conspicuous consumption were made, and Tiffany's even kind enough to provide owners with a lovely leather case that looks like it could've come out of a Crackerjack box. Beauty's in the eye of the beholder, eh?

Remember that white Sega Game Gear that you always read about -- maybe even saw in a picture -- but never managed to actually find in real life? In the minds of average Game Gear owners, it reached near-legendary status; it didn't matter that the white wasn't necessarily any better-looking than the black, the sheer rarity of the darned thing made it an object of pure, unadulterated lust. Yeah, well, that's pretty much where we are with the white Touch Diamond right now -- we know it exists, but finding one is nigh impossible, and that alone makes it a thousand shades of awesome as far as we're concerned. Taiwanese site ePrice has some hands-on shots up and we think we're loving the look of the prism effect in the new color along with the two-tone action up front; yes, we'd like to see it launch everywhere, but a certain (perhaps nostalgic) part of us wants it to stay impossibly rare.

[Via Daily Mobile, thanks Daniel]

The long, agonizing wait for Alltel to come clean with this gem is over. Starting today, subscribers can phone up the carrier with questions about the Touch Diamond and receive a response other than "Whatcha talkin' 'bout Willis?" 'Course, it's no shock whatsoever to see this Windows Mobile 6.1-based handset surface on the soon-to-be-Verizon's network, but those who've been waiting patiently will be utterly stoked to know that you can now plop down $249.99 (after all rebates and a 2-year agreement) in order to take one home.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Not that you haven't seen the HTC Touch Diamond unboxed before, but have you seen Bell Mobility's Touch Diamond unboxed on video before? Nah, we reckoned not. If you're anxious to see just how astoundingly different this here WinMo set is on Canada's fav-o-rite CDMA carrier (not that we can authenticate either of those claims or anything), hop on past the break and mash play.

It's an HTC Touch Diamond. And it's white. Must be a white HTC Touch Diamond! Right on cue, HTC's lavishly colored Touch Diamond has surfaced in the wild, and reportedly, it'll be on sale soon in the Netherlands (among other places). We're also directed to an interesting "Pimp My Diamond" website, which will seemingly enable any Touch Diamond owner to snap on a new shell to fit their mood. Wait, does that mean the white one isn't so special anymore? For shame...

[Via coolsmartphone]

Read - White Touch Diamond in the wild
Read - Pimp My Diamond website

It hasn't been officially put up for sale just yet, but a handful of lucky Alltel types have already managed to land branded Touch Diamonds as evidenced by a full-on unboxing that has recently surfaced on HoFo. For all practical purposes, it looks identical to Sprint's version, albeit with a different branded TouchFLO skin that could be perceived as less annoying if you hate that splash of Sprint yellow or more annoying if you prefer the dark look. At any rate, can't be long now, guys.

[Thanks, Jeff E.]

When it comes to the retailin' biz, apologies don't really mean a lot to us -- unless they're accompanied by some sort of financial recompense, of course. Canada's Future Shop is graciously extending an offer to sell Telus' HTC Touch Diamond for just $99.99 CAD on a three-year contract (a $100 discount) after it was unable to deliver on its flyer's promise of a Touch Pro this week for $239.99. The store blames the "vendor's shipping delay" for the gaffe, and you know what? We believe them.

[Via MobileInCanada]

With Sprint snagging the vast majority of the WiMAX limelight of late, we aren't going to complain with a similar network halfway across the globe yanking it back. Out of absolutely nowhere comes HTC's first WiMAX-enabled handset, the sure-to-be-delightful T8290. Reportedly, this bugger packs a 3.8-inch 800 x 480 resolution display, 802.11g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, GSM and WiMAX radios and is expected to launch soon on Russia's Yota. Granted, we can't take this as hard truth or anything quite yet, but the images that reside in the read link are more than convincing. Oh, and HTC -- given that you're passing on the US with the Touch HD, do you think it'd be possible to get this over here for use with XOHM? We'd really, really appreciate it.

[Via Slashphone, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Let's do a quick recap, shall we? So we pretty much know everything there is to know about Verizon's forthcoming BlackBerry Storm save for the price and release date, and so far as we can tell, Verizon's version of the Touch Diamond is still expected to be totally underpowered compared to Sprint's iteration. Now that we've rounded the tables, let's have a look at this image above. This here is Verizon's internal training schedule, and given that employees have to complete their Storm courses before November 2nd and their Touch Diamond courses before December 3rd, we'd say you now have a pretty good idea of when these two will be landing. Hey VZW -- think you could make that "Blocking Features Assessment" available to the public? We're guessing it'd be a real hit.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Hey, Bell, you can't let Telus hog all the spotlight over there with its shiny (literally) new Touch Diamond, now can you? Nah, 'course not -- we knew we could count on you! All signs are pointing to Bell launching its own version of HTC's hottest CDMA WinMo set this side of a QWERTY keyboard, possibly as soon as October 15 if sales reps are to be believed. Pricing is looking like $149.99 CAD on a three-year plan with a minimum monthly plan of $45, or $449.99 contract-free if that's how you prefer to roll.

You've seen HTC's Touch Diamond, Touch Pro and Touch HD handled in separate instances, but CNET Asia took the opportunity to get all three of the handsets together for a little get-together. Atypical for most sibling relationships, these three seemed to get along fairly well, though we did overhear the Touch Diamond calling the Touch Pro "a fatso." Hit the read link for a few more looks.

[Via SlashPhone]

It's no shock to see a US 3G-enabled Touch Diamond showing up at Best Buy (unlike the hamstrung sibling over at CompUSA) -- though we can't say we were expecting the big box retailer to start shipping this soon. If its website is to be believed (read: don't book it just yet), the unlocked Touch Diamond 3G you're about to order for $699.99 will leave Best Buy's warehouse within one business day. If that's not cool with you, you can also pick it up "at most stores." Shame there's no white option listed...

[Via MobileTechReview]

If you're jazzed about the Touch Diamond, but have a thing for albino devices, a Danish site may have unearthed just what you're looking for. According to HTC-User, the company will be introducing a white version of their popular touchscreen device come October. We can't say for sure if this intel is pure gold or a pile of festering garbage, but if the pics we see (just renders right now) and the retail order page the site is linking to are any indication, this magic will be a reality sooner or later. That's a good thing, too -- you don't want Apple cornering the market on white and black touchscreen phones, right? Check out one more huge picture after the break.

Update: Engadget Spanish has confirmed that these are -- in fact -- the real deal, and will be headed to store shelves come October.

[Via Engadget Spanish, HTC-User; Thanks, Jesper]

Like they said they would, Sprint just spun the HTC Touch Diamond out for retail. $250 (after $200 instant savings, $100 mail-in rebate, and 2-year contract) takes home this WinMo 6.1 candybar with HTC's TouchFLO 3D salve layered atop a 2.8-inch touch-screen display, 4GB of memory, WiFi, 3.2 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, GPS, and EV-DO Rev. A. The tough decision is buy now, wait for Sprint's Touch Pro launching on October 19th, or hold-out for Best Buy to get its act together and put the $700 unlocked 3G Touch Diamond out onto store shelves.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]