Background
After owning two HTC phones (one a smartphone, the other a PDA phone, see review http://www.epinions.com/content_312540827268) in a roll, I had absolutely no hesitation to go with HTC again when it came time to buy another phone.
As mentioned in my other review, HTC is not a very well known brand in North America even though a number of carriers offer their phones to the subscribers either under the HTC label or white label. In Europe and Asia, HTC is very popular and well regarded as maker of some of the best smart phones available. A large circulation of its products could be found under the brand name of XDA, Cingular, O2, DOPod, etc.
After using the HTC P3600 Trinity 3G phone for close to 18 months with one ROM upgrade, it was time for me to replace the venerable workhorse. I had been watching the HTC Touch product line closely, thrilled to see the Touch interface improve over the evolution of Touch-enabled phones from HTC.
I almost pulled the trigger with the Touch Dual but I am glad that I waited till Touch Diamond was launched.
Technical Specifications:
Processor: Qualcomm MSM7201A™ 528 MHz
Platform: Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
Memory:
ROM: 256 MB
RAM: 192 MB DDR SDRAM
Internal storage: 4 GB
Dimension: 08 102 mm (L) X 51 mm (W) X 11.35 mm (T)
Weight: 110g with battery
LCD Type: 2.8-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with VGA resolution
Network:
HSDPA/WCDMA:
Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz
Up to 384 kbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds
Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE:
Europe/Asia: 900/1800/1900 MHz
Control: TouchFLO™ 3D - Touch-sensitive navigation control
Connectivity:
Bluetooth® 2.0
Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g
HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB and audio jack in one)
Camera
Main Camera: 3.2 Megapixels CMOS colour
Second Camera: CMOS VGA colour
Audio: Built-in dual (microphone and speaker)
Built-in microphone, speaker and FM radio with RDS
Headphone: AMR/AAC/WAV/WMA/MP3 codec
Battery Capacity: 900 mAh
Talk time:
Up to 270 minutes for WCDMA
Up to 330 minutes for GSM
Standby time:
Up to 396 hours for WCDMA
Up to 285 hours for GSM
Video call time: Up to 145 minutes for WCDMA
Expansion Slot: None
Built-in GPS Receiver
Appearance, Form Factor and Construction
One look at the Diamond leaves no doubt that the phone was designed to compete against iPhone. The Touch Diamond is a complete departure from the traditional PDA phones in terms of form factor and appearance. It has none of the clunky bulk normally associated with PDA phones. It is eye-catching, sleek and very attractive. It can make the iPhone look gimmicky and downright unwieldy. Let’s put it this way: one may have a hard time imagining James Bond pulling an iPhone out of his well-tailored suite pocket. On the other hand, the Touch Diamond looks like one of the many sophisticated high-tech devices issued by the Q Branch to our intrepid spy.
The phone is astonishingly small in size. It is just a little longer than a folded classic Motorola RAZR and just about the same in thickness. HTC went for the minimalist approach to physical design and opted for clean lines and smooth surfaces. The lack of protrusions in the front surface of the phone is something that jumps right out at you the first time. The only visible button in the front is a round “select” button with an inset LED light ring around it. A touch-sensitive shuttle area can be found around the “select” button, surrounded by 4 functional buttons flushed against the surface of the phone. The 4 buttons are “Talk”, “End”, “Back” and “Home.” The button icons are not easy to discern when the phone is not lit up - thus creating a smooth black surface that distinguishes this phone.
The back cover of the phone is faceted to look like a diamond, the phone’s namesake. The stylus is well hidden in a slot on the right side of the phone, held there by a built-in magnet. As a demonstration of the attention to details in the design of this phone, here is a really convenient feature: drawing out stylus from the slot automatically “wakes” up the phone.
The phone looks and feels well constructed. It is a sturdy little machine weighing in at only 110g. The packaging is stylish and practically a work of art. It is absolutely apparent that a lot of thoughts and energy went into the design of the packaging to make it truly clever, unique and classy.
Touch Diamond the Phone
HTC did a good job building P3700 as a phone. Signal and call quality are both generally good without any deficiency in coverage, drops or statics.
Talk time on a 900mAh battery is something of a peeve for me. To fit into a slim profile form factor, the standard Diamond battery traded capacity for physical volume. I generally get around 3 hours of conversation a day with Bluetooth turned on, paired with a Plantronics Discovery 645 headset (http://www.epinions.com/content_312016735876) and a fair amount of email messaging each day before running the battery down to the last bar. For heavy users an extended battery (1800 mAh or 2000 mAh) might be a necessity. These aftermarket batteries are very common but they do require replacing the slim back case cover with a bulbous one that can accommodate the extended battery’s bulk.
Touch Diamond the PDA
From the perspective of functionality, the Diamond is identical to all other PDAs powered by Windows Mobile V6 O/S. It comes with the standard suite of applications such as Office Mobile, ActiveSync, Calendar, Contacts, etc. The unit syncs well with the PC via Mobile Device Center (Vista). When the unit is connected to the PC, it offers two choices of connection: Sync or Drive. If “Drive” is chosen, then diamond’s 4GB internal drive will be visible to the PC as a USB drive - a very convenient feature to move files and media contents.
The unit is equipped with an internal GPS receiver but it does not come with a GPS application. However, GPS applications are easy to find, free or for fee. It works well with Google Maps.
The unit comes equipped with an FM radio receiver and an FM radio application. It is a nice addition to the suite of multimedia capabilities already built into the phone. Video playback is crisp and clear on the sharp LCD display. 4GB is not really capacious for a PDA phone these days and certainly not enough for a younger generation of users. However, for business users who neither have the time to enjoy music nor do they want to waste precious battery power to play movies on their PDA phones, 4GB is more than adequate. Access speed to the 4GB internal storage is remarkably fast. Applications installed on the internal storage do not suffer access lag like those residing on SD cards in my older PDAs. Unlike most of the PDA phones on the market, the Touch Diamond offers no storage expansion slots.
The 528MHz CPU makes a HUGE difference in user experience. My previous unit ran on a 400MHz CPU (considered one of the fastest at the time of purchase) and it was sluggish at times, particularly at switching between applications. The Diamond is noticeably faster in most tasks, particularly in syncing. However, at times even the fast CPU seems to have problems keeping up with the Touchflo 3D interface - more on that later.
I had thought the narrower screen would be hard to get used to but I was wrong. The screen retains the 2.8” diagonal measurement but it is narrower than the average PDAs. However, its sharpness as well as the excellent zoom/pan control makes up for the loss of real estate. The zoom is particularly slick: a quick touch of the shuttle ring zooms in or out of the page, and a finger gesture pans the image in all directions. In addition, like the iPhone, rotating the unit 90 degree will prompt the unit to rotate the image automatically. As a result, the user can switch between landscape and portrait mode without touching a button.
The Diamond has a number of unique ways of alerting the user visually. The in-set LED light ring around the “Select” button will light up and pulse in different sequences to convey different visual messages. For example, white flashing light denotes critical low battery status, top and bottom alternating flashing light indicates new messages, white light going counterclockwise around the Select button indicates missed calls, etc. These may not be significant or groundbreaking features, but they demonstrate the thoroughness of design and attention to usability.
Touchflo 3D
If the form factor and appearance are meant to challenge high-end PDA phones like the iPhone, then the Touchfl 3D interface leaves no doubt whom the Diamond is meant to compete against. Touchflo 3D is an interface that is finger friendly. With gestures such as swipes and flicks, one can navigate through the phone’s functions, and operate the unit in most parts without the stylus. This interface, when combined with MS Voice Command (see my review http://www.epinions.com/content_312817127044) makes it easy to operate the phone while driving. The interface is well designed, very user friendly and easy to master. It does add to the overall value of the phone. However, on a day-to-day basis, I find the Touchflo 3D rather unnecessary. It is essentially a shell with all the most frequently used features and applications arranged in an intelligent manner that enhances the overall usage experience. I believe I could get to the functions and programs faster with a stylus in most cases. As far as I am concerned, Touchflo is fun to show off with but only really useful when using a stylus is not an option.
Connectivity and Web Browsing
The Touch Diamond is armed with the usual connectivity options: Bluetooth, WiFi and 3G/EDGE/GPRS/HSDPA, etc. Windows Mobile 6 is a lot friendlier than version 5 in the connectivity area. First of all, WM6 provides an application that will automatically set up the Internet option based on the service carrier. It is a far cry from having to create Connection profiles from scratch in WM5.
Web browsing is also much enhanced with the additional Opera browser. Pages could be displayed in portrait or landscape mode, and they respond to finger gestures for panning. The touch sensitive shuttle allows the user to zoom in and out without a stylus. All of these combined makes surfing the net quick and easy, a major improvement over the IE on WM5.
Multimedia
The unit could pass for a multimedia player with its brilliant screen and touch-based interface. Transfer of data could not be easier using Mobile Device Center or simply by attaching the phone to the PC as a USB drive. The touch sensitive shuttle could be used to fast forward or rewind a song or video. Finger gestures could be used to flip through a music or video library.
The unit comes with a pair of stereo ear buds that is surprisingly good in sound quality and appearance. They are definitely a major improvement over the pair that came with my P3600 Trinity. It is another indication of how HTC is marketing this line of Touch phones. Typical of HTC headsets, they are ExtUSB compatible. ExtUSB is an amalgamation of a mini USB port and an audio jack.
Cameras
The main camera packs 3.2 megapixels with autofocus capabilities but it lacks a built-in flash. The touch sensitive shuttle serves the zoom slider and the “select” button acts as the shutter. Picture quality is nowhere as good as the 3.2 megapixel Fuji digital camera I paid a few hundred dollars for just a few years ago, but it is certainly adequate for a PDA phone.
Still pictures and video footages are recorded directly into the 4GB internal storage. The second camera is used for video calls.
Peeves
First and foremost, the talk time with the 900mAH is not something to write home about. As mentioned before, one could opt for an extended battery that will increase the bulk and heft of the unit.
Peeve number two is fingerprints. This unit is a fingerprint magnet. Every conceivable surface of this phone attracts and retains fingerprints. So, I find myself buffing this phone with my shirt tail a few times a day ritualistically.
Peeve number three is TouchFlo3D’s occasional lag time. Despite the high speed CPU, this phone has a tendency to lag in TouchFlo3D mode from time to time. It is most frequent when the phone has been idle for a few second, or when the finger gestures are too complicated.
Conclusion
A number of reviews on the Touch Diamond suggested that it was not a “serious” PDA phone. They concluded that the Touch Pro with a sliding Qwerty keyboard, high capacity battery and expansion slot should be considered first choice for business users. I do not completely agree with that viewpoint. As a business user who is consciously avoiding the CrackBerry devices, I want a PDA phone that is well constructed, small, and enjoyable to use. In the Touch Diamond I find a full-featured PDA, a great phone and a handheld computer with an unlimited range of applications. It may not meet the needs of someone looking for a media player that can double as a phone and messaging platform, but it does everything I need it to do in style and sophistication.
Badass Wireless
