The HTC Touch Diamond has been gathering massive popularity since its launch so I decided to have a little one on one time with the Touch Screen Smartphone to see what all the fuss is about. Having never previously owned a Windows Mobile based phone and with a few fleeting experiences with previous HTC models (the TyTN very nearly made me put my money where my mouth was) I was going into this as a novice.

On taking delivery of the phone, you certainly get the impression you’ve got something special thanks to the Diamond’s elegant packaging. The design of the phone itself certainly doesn’t fail to win you over either; the focal point on the front is that delicious 2.8″ Touchscreen which takes up the most real estate, 4 face buttons and a navigation key, and in the top right corner the phone’s secondary video calling camera. The back is the aspect that gives the HTC Touch its name owing to the Diamond effect similar to that found on the Nokia 7500 Prism. It must be pointed out it looks far nicer on the Diamond due to the black, highly polished materials used. Now call me childish but my favourite feature in this department is the magnetic stylus which is pulled back in to the slot magnetically. Sorry but there’s no other word for this but cool!

The Touch Screen found on the Diamond features the HTC TouchFLO 3D navigation meaning flicking through menus with a swipe of your finger is possible. Precision is the name of the game here; it can be tricky at first but after a while will become second nature. The aforementioned stylus comes in useful when running more intricate programmes and various methods of input make this easy too. Alpha-numeric, compact QWERTY and full QWERTY keypad are all available as is handwriting recognition which I was particularly impressed with, though I found it amusing that HTC haven’t added the word “stylus” to the predictive dictionary!

The phone operates on Windows Mobile 6.1 meaning you get a lot of the same perks as your home PC. The home screen has the familiar Start menu plus quick access to your call logs and calendar entries. Pocket office includes mobile versions of Excel, PowerPoint and Word plus Windows favourites Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player and Windows Live Messenger. And because it’s Windows, after a while I felt I could have used this phone blindfolded, every thing is where you would expect it to be and if you can’t find the file or folder you’re looking for, just search for it!

The camera on the HTC Diamond is 3.2 Megapixel and shoots to a good level of quality (sample image right) but unfortunately lacks a flash of any kind. The Zoom is controlled with the touchscreen which feels quite intuitive and the large vivid display is great for budding David Bailey’s out there! Other features include an array of colour effect, contrast, white balance and a self-timer. Hardly the jewel in its crown (excuse the pun!), the camera is never the less competent and a welcome upgrade from the bog standard 2.0 Megapixel camera that gets lazily thrown in on most smart phones. Video recording is also adequately covered in CIF at 30 fps though it’s nothing to shout about.

Thanks to the 4Gb internal memory found on the Touch Diamond, multimedia is well covered too. All the major file formats are supported including MP3, AAC, eAAC+ and WMA and play through Windows Media Player with a host of equalizer options. Video also plays nicely on the large display. The real draw in this department is an application called MP3 Trimmer which allows you to crop MP3 tracks to effectively make your own ringtones. Sound a bit unexciting? Think again, now you can have that sweet guitar solo as your ringtone, or your favourite movie quote or catchphrase as your text message alert. Trust me, 5 minutes playing around with this and you’ve already justified your new purchase, it’s that much fun!

Additional features include a built in GPS receiver for SatNav and Google maps support, 3.5G HSDPA connectivity for super fast downloads and web browsing, a weather forecast application (see my previous post on mobile weather reports, proof that I’m psychic!), YouTube support and a wealth of customization options.

Obvious comparisons will be drawn between the HTC Touch Diamond and the new Apple iPhone. But in my honest opinion, the more pocketable size and familiar user interface, plus that ingenious magnetic stylus, sets the Diamond apart and proves you don’t have to have a piece of fruit as your logo to make a great touchscreen mobile phone!

Read more from the original source:
HTC Touch Diamond review: The Jewel in HTC?s Crown!