HTC Touch Diamond launch coverage

HTC is not the best at keeping its secrets, but don’t underestimate the power of the biggest Windows Mobile phones manufacturer when it comes to constructing a device. Today, at a Product Launch Event in London, U.K., HTC announced the newest generation Touch-family phone, the Touch Diamond. The first information and even press photos of the phone leaked in the last few weeks, but there were no exact details until now.

We consider the Diamond the first second-generation Touch; just as the original, it bears new for the brand design language and changes the software drastically by adding “TouchFlo 3D”.

With this move, HTC once again tries to capture the attention of the consumers, who want a high-end all-in-one device, yet manages to remain the favorite manufacturer of the professional users. Obviously, the company's strategy doesn’t only involve stealing iPhone fans, but targets a large mass of high-end consumers.


HTC bragged that the Touch family is a success, with more than 3-million units sold. Still, this isn’t as impressive as the iPhone, but the total number of HTC phones sold is bigger than Apple’s digits.

The Touch Diamond should also score lots of sells, as it will be available from a plethora of network operators. In the UK, the top five carriers will offer it and although plans are not yet announced, it will be available in other counties as well. Orange and HTC announced that the carrier will have its personalized version of the Touch Diamond, with its typical color scheme and applications, such as for media downloading (music, games, and wallpapers) and entertainment. We can expect to see similar personalization for the rest of the carriers also.



It will launch in June, first on the European and Asian markets and after that in the rest of the world. Initially, HTC didn’t mention anything about the U.S. (the GSM and 3G bands of this one are not America-friendly), but a press release informing us that the U.S.-bound version will be out in the second half of the year, came later. A CDMA variant is not mentioned, however, we’ve already seen pretty solid, yet unofficial, scoop in a spy photo of a Sprint document.

Check out the whole product launch event video, read the HTC Touch Diamond Specifications or proceed to the following pages for our hands-on experience with lots of photos and information.

Obviously, HTC has put lots of effort on the exterior. According to the company’s CEO, Peter Chou, this is exactly what they wanted in design aspect and proudly called it “the prettiest on the market”. The small and slim candybar is attractive for the consumer, yet suitable for a businessman. The designers have been inspired by the automobile design and fashion clothes. The old matte plastic is gone, and the whole phone is in piano finish instead.


The name “Diamond” comes from the shape of the back, which resembles one of these precious stones. You are correct, this is very similar to the Nokia Prism family and the Sony Ericsson Z555, but is the first such smartphone. Yes, for a smart phone, the HTC Touch Diamond looks incredibly well. It feels that way too, in the hand, and in the pocket. Even next to the high-end designer phone like the Nokia 8800 Arte, it is not “a piece of plastic” but a very nice handheld.

However, there is one problem all phones with piano (black) finish have: they are fingerprint magnets. The Touch Diamond is not an exception. Just the opposite; this problem is more apparent here and even the LG Prada is easier to be kept clean.

The good news is that HTC will ship it with a soft pouch, which will wipe it clean once you take the phone in and out. Unfortunately, it cannot be attached to a belt. Another interesting fact about the accessories is that the AC Charger has the HTC logo, which illuminates once the phone is being charged.

HTC uses metal in the housing of the Touch Diamond. Yet, don’t expect it to feel as an all-metal phone, and the brushed steel is seen only on the thin sides. The left one houses the volume keys and an “HTC innovation” slogan, while on the right is an indicator of “4GB internal memory”. On the front, typically for this form factor there is a 2.8” large VGA display accompanied by the navigation keys.

This is the first pocket-friendly HTC phone with VGA display and we welcome it. Previously, the Advantage XV7500 and XV7510 had such resolution, but they were not really what we imagined when we heard the word “smartphone”. The VGA size of 640x480 pixels is four times larger than QVGA (320x240), therefore delivers more detailed image and is more suitable for viewing large text files or a webpage. We’ve been waiting for such display to be incorporated in HTC phone for a long tune, since other manufacturers, such as Eten, released their VGA+ models.

The keypad consists of Home and Back, Send and End and a navigation key between them. Unlike many other slim devices, they are standard physical keys instead of touch sensitive ones. None of them is colored and all are illuminated in white, which looks cool on the all-black phone. It is strange that HTC has used Home and Back keys, which are typically found in Windows Mobile Standard smartphones (those without touch screens) instead of the Windows and OK combination. However, obviously the manufacturer has decided to force the customer to use the touch screen and stay away from “key navigation”.

On the other hand, operating the device with fingers is getting easier and easierwith the new generation of user interface personalization, calledTouchFlo 3D. Previous HTC phones had the “HTC Home” with four or fivetabs in the upper half of the screen and the rest was the standard forthe OS notification area. The Diamond is way more sophisticated withten categories, which change the whole content of the homescreen. Theyare visualized as icons in the bottom and to change from one to theother, you must grab and scroll an icon or swipe from left to right (orvice verse) anywhere on the screen. The tabs house the followingfunctionality:

1. Home screen with clock, notifications and upcoming events/tasks.
2.Favorite contacts: instead of just a few small icons, now you will seelarge photos with thumbnails at the right. You can choose the person byswiping vertically or pointing their thumb.

HTC Touch Diamond Interface walktrough


3. Messages visualized directly in the tab; scroll to change from one to other.
4. Email: very similar to the messaging, but you’d read your emails.


5. Internet with shortcut to the browser and to YouTube.

a.The Diamomd is touted for its “next generation Internet browser”. Whenannouncing it, HTC claimed it delivers “desktop experience instead ofdesktop-like” and their words were almost the pure truth. Based onOpera, the browser is times better than the pocket Internet Explorerfound on other Windows Mobile phones. The IE is usable, but veryuncomfortable, while the Opera is almost excellent. The user experienceis very similar to using the iPhone’s Safari: by default you see thewhole page, fitted on the screen but tapping on any part will zoom inon it. You can rotate the display to change the screen orientation(using accelerometer) and use fullscreen. Numerous tabs are alsosupported. Loading our page on one of the showcased units, through thelocal WiFi connection, took a few seconds only, which means that therendering engine is pretty fast. Coupled with WiFi or 3G network (HSDPA7.2 and HSUPA is supported) it will open pages in a seconds, anywherein the world. Usability is really great, much better than our firsttest of the Opera back in February, but we’ll wait for a final reviewunit to give our real opinion. So far, we are really pleasantlysurprised.

b.HTC doesn't want to be behind the iPhone in any aspect. The Cupertinodevice first came with proprietary YouTube player, but HTC now has a verysimilar one. Through the link in the Internet tab you can start theapplication and choose one of the latest/top videos or search for aspecific one. They will then start caching and will play in fullscreen.

6.Next one is the imaging album. A photo is visualized directly, soscrolling vertically will go to the previous/next. Of course, youcan open the album as a separate application and then preview the imagesin larger size. A slide show can be started from here as well.

7. Itis obvious where HTC’s inspiration came from for the music player.Large album covers are visualized one over the other just as theCoverFlow in iPhone. On the right you have play/pause and option toswitch the track (alternative to swiping through the display). As inthe imaging album, the full music player interface should be opened formore options. Here, the icons on the bottom will allow for differentfiltering (by artist, album, genre, composer, etc), once again giving usa Deja Vu of the iPhone.


8. The Weather forecast is something thatalmost everybody is interested in. HTC has already offered anapplication that gives you up to date information for a desired city,but now more than one can be added and the forecast is visualized witha very nice looking animation.


9. Settings shortcuts to options, such as syncing, profiles, and communications.

10. Shortcuts to applications you want.
a.Here we find one of the preloaded games, in which you control a ball ona table by tilting and moving the phone. We’ve seen such interactivegames in other phones with accelerometer also, but it is nice to seethat HTC has finally added something in addition to the standardSolitaire and Bubble Breaker.

As the previous phones with TouchFlo,the most of the rest of the interface is standard for theOS. However, there are still few other new additions. These help formore refined appearance and the modified interface now looks as a whole newversion (based on the original) instead of one just upgraded with patches.

Overall,we’d like to see the final unit to judge the Diamond and give it arating. Design-wise it is great, although it has some flaws (imaginecleaning it every time you take it out of the pouch). The software isreally promising, but Windows Mobile smartphones are known for theirnot-so-instant reactions. We would like to judge how the Touch Diamondperforms after using a commercial unit instead of a prototype, althoughthe animations in the interface were as good as they should be. Thebattery of 950 mAh sounds weak, but HTC promises it will be enough (abigger one will be launched later as accessory for battery-freaks). Themain drawback in our opinion is that it is not a truly global phone,but once HTC launches version on every market, most people will behappy enough.