HTC Touch Diamond with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
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Introduction
The Touch Diamond has been lauded as the most important device that HTC will release this year. Its design, in terms of software customizations, hardware features, and aesthetics, are significant departures from what you're used to seeing with Windows Mobile devices. There are some extremely innovative additions to this device that you won't see anywhere else. On the other hand, there are good things and bad things that come with these innovations. Will these new design changes prove superior and cause the current species of Windows Mobile devices to become extinct in the future? Read on for all the details and I apologize to those with slow internet connections, because we've included a huge amount of pictures and screenshots in this article =D.
Review Date: June 16, 2008
Picture Highlights
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| It's very small. | What about the VGA screen, you say? Here you see the Diamond next to the HTC TyTN II. Note at this resolution and zoomed out view, it's pretty easy to read the soft keys on both. The calendar items are a bit easier to read on the TyTN II. The color balance on the Diamond is a bit on the warm side while the TyTN II is a bit on the cool side, but the Diamond has better contrast than the TyTN II. |
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| Here's a video of the TouchFLO 3D user interface in action. | Sliding one panel to the right is the "People" section. You can add favorite people to this screen for quick-access. Tiny thumbnails appear on the right that you can slide through to access quickly. Or you can flip through the stack in the center area with up or down finger gestures. The stack will flip through the photos in a cool animated manner. |
Overall Impression
At first I expected to hate the new user interface on the Touch Diamond. It's actually not as annoying as I thought and has the potential for greatness after tweaking it a bit. The hardware buttons I thought would be completely unusable, but it turns out they're only somewhat unusable. As Horace Luke of HTC said in a press conference about the Touch Diamond, "You should be able to carry a bag and walk down the street and get to all the content all you want." "All the top scenarios are focused around one handed" "If you have to stop somehow to do a message, that's broken."
Well, guess what? You do have to stop and give the device your full attention in order to use it. Go back to the lab and check out the P3300 Artemis that you made a couple years ago. That was a hugely usable keyboard-less device. Of course you do still need to stop and interact with the screen in order to do messages, but HTC... you've done way better with that too. Look at the T-Mobile Shadow. That keyboard interface is excellent!
Regardless, I don't really think the Touch Diamond is something that you can expect to use in that one-handed-no-looking manner. However, its other features are spectacular! I can't believe how much power and innovation has been packed into such a small Windows Mobile Device.
A large percentage of this device's functions can be fully carried out all through the Today screen's TouchFLO 3D interface. If you're the type of person who is frustrated with the normal Windows Mobile interface, this is good news. For those who prefer the efficiency of the normal Windows Mobile interface, you can always shut off the Touch FLO 3D features. After using the device for a couple weeks now, I think I'll leave them on.
I know some of you really want that hardware keyboard as well as an expandable MicroSD slot which can be achieved with the Touch Pro. The Touch Diamond is designed to have maximum power and capabilities in an absolute minimal form factor. It used to be that I would carry my HTC TyTN II around for the everyday big jobs that included heavy texting, emails, GPS navigation, music, etc., while I would carry the HTC StarTrek on days when I didn't want the bulk and weight of the TyTN II, but still wanted phone calls, text messages, and internet. Now with the Touch Diamond, I've haven't given up much from the TyTN II and gained some major pocket friendly weight reduction. It's hard to tell when the phone is in your pocket. I keep checking to make sure it hasn't fallen out.
The smaller from factor and gorgeous design, combined with the extraordinary little usability features such as flipping the phone over to silence a call, the vibration call connection indicator, and the accelerometer, combined with the attractive new interface design are all great reasons to make this your next phone.
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