HTC Touch Diamond 2
The best iPhone-botherer yet?
Review It's been less than a year since the original HTC Touch Diamond impressed us all with its diminutive size, usability and impressive features list, all of which put it firmly in iPhone bothering territory.
HTC's Touch Diamond 2: uses Windows Mobile, but it's well hidden
But with a 5Mp camera, improved touchscreen and build quality, longer battery life, larger memory, updated TouchFlo 3D interface and a host of other minor improvements, the new Touch Diamond 2 is superior in just about every way.
This isn't a subtly tweaked update of the Diamond, but a root and branch re-imagining. The most obvious difference is the casing, the front of which is now taken up almost entirely by the 67 x 43mm touchscreen - that's 3.2in diagonal, for all you imperial fans, as opposed to the Diamond's 2.8in.
The circular navpad has been replaced by four sliver-shaped buttons for call start and stop, Windows menu and back button. The buttons are metal, as is the edging, which adds a few grams to the weight, but overall it feels much sturdier than its predecessor, which suffered from feeling a tad cheap and plasticky, despite its relatively hi-tech spec.
The sides are fairly spartan, with just a volume rocker and stylus slot - yes, they haven't ditched it yet - with a micro USB port for charging/headphones on the bottom and a power button on top. Around the back, the Diamond 2 has lost the triangular patterning of its predecessor, replaced, apparently by popular demand, by a plain black plastic back, which feels stronger than the squeaky, bendy original.
A very stylish handset
The Diamond 2's 480 x 800 screen is a definite highlight – bright, clear, with oodles of detail that makes viewing videos or pictures a joy. It's sensitivity to touch for accessing on-screen buttons, and brushing through pages and menus is just right. Usefully, the Diamond 2 comes with a thin leather-look case to protect its best asset, though this doesn't have a belt clip.
COMMENTS
Techy testing?
One test worth doing - how long does it take to set up and authenticate to a WPA-protected wifi network from the 'home' screen. If there's one thing that makes me want to jump up and down in hobnail boots on every WM phone I've ever seen, it's that.
Does look very nice though.
Jon
nearly ok
apart from the huge lack of a 3.5mm, and the fact its touch screen i might actually buy it. It looks nice
another review to make us buy more bad tech
I own a HTC Touch HD which I've had for 5 months, which uses the same camera hardware and controls.
REGHARDWARE it's useless! It's like having Fast Speedboat with a hole in it. You can talk about the Specs in the pub all night - you just can't use it!
REGHARDWARE - please give us REAL: reviews:
1# Camera in normal use. i.e. people#not statues or Portraits# your 3 seconds behind the moment you want - yes that includes slow people walking.
2# Use this camera indoors#in the day) a joke!
3) Poor Auto White balance - quite often wrong. OK if set manually
4) If you want to take pictures outside in FULL daylight of Landscapes, Statues of Frozen the ground people - this camera is for you.
5) 5MB picture that's a lot of data for a uP with a crippled driver, save a few on your memory card then try and change to internal memory. 2 - min wait. Maybe you have to reset.
Yes, I have had support from HTC and they can do nothing. Have I done a hard reset - Yes.
This phone will be better than the HTC HD cause it has a real keyboard.
My 3 year old Windows Mobile 6.1 Samsung i600#Blackjack) was a much better phone than the HD for email, txt and calls.
Speedy
Shame About The Camera
I have a Touch HD and it sounds like this has the same problem with the camera: The quality is really good but the camera is virtually useless because of the time it takes to take a picture, a real shame :(
windows mobile
why the fsck does this phone get a good review? it's running windows mobile!!!! windows smegging mobile is DESTROYING MY LIFE. It "reminds" me of apparently nothing at all at random times during the night, the alarm clock which sometimes work was written by that chimpanzee that throws rocks at passers by, it runs a good 6 hours on battery power, its got a START MENU for fucks sake!!!
/angry
