Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 04 August 2008 10:44
Opinion and Analysis
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Previewed to the press over a month ago as Telstra exclusive, the HTC
Touch Diamond has finally landed on store shelves to challenge the
iPhone 3G for smartphone supremacy.
Billed as HTC’s “most innovative phone to date”, a tag the HTC Touch Diamond most certainly deserves, the smartphone is the closest thing the Windows Mobile world has to an iPhone 3G clone.
Laden with features that would make any iPhone blush, while also hobbled with some features that make me wonder what HTC was thinking, the Touch Diamond is nevertheless a great little phone that serves not only as a useful business tool but as a valid demonstration of HTC’s innovative capabilities.
The smooth “TouchFLO 3D” interface is more graphical than ever, arguably looking even prettier than the iPhone’s interface in some ways, while not being as good in others – after all, it still sits atop Windows Mobile 6.1.
I received an HTC Touch Diamond from its public relations company for review last Friday, and am still putting it through its paces, but my initial impressions are that HTC have done a fabulous job of dramatically improving the user interface.
But does it really matter? Well, certainly the device and interface looks a million dollars in comparison with WM smartphones that use the standard Windows Mobile interface.
TouchFLO 3D is designed to be used with one hand, using your thumb as an input mechanism, although nothing stops you from using two hands to operate it or even popping out the magnetic stylus when desired.
There’s a lot to like about the HTC Touch Diamond, including the Opera Mobile 9.5 browser, and a few niggles here and there, too.
Without going into extensive detail, these include things like no expandable memory and a screen sensitivity that sometimes just doesn’t seem sensitive enough, requiring more of a sustained press, which may well be on purpose, and other things we’ve covered in past previews of the device.
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