[Phone] HTC Touch Diamond

[peeweegary]

What it is : HTC Touch Diamond
Price : $675 CAD

Pros
-sexy ass design
-very bright VGA 2.8 inch screen
-unique interface
-built in accelerometer
-quite easy to use
-fits perfectly into your hands (not too bulky yet not too small)
-3G connectivity
-Windows Mobile 6.1
-Wi-fi (Wireless G and N)
-Tri-band (but can be upgraded via ROM to Quad-band)

Cons
-battery life is poor
-3.2MP camera
-no flash
-plastic quality issues
-no 3.5mm headphone jack
-CPU gets hot under heavy usage
-fingerprints are visible
-can barely see the screen if exposed to sunlight
-laggy interface

Overall Rating : 8/10

Conclusion
Well i've had this phone for a little bit more than a month and I don't really find it to be worth the price. Yes it may have many functions but iphones and blackberrys has just as much for less than half the price of the HTC. The battery life and laggy interface is the major turn off of the phone. I have to charge the phone every night. The unique HTC "TouchFlo 3D" is very pleasing to look at but is very slow. It doesn't respond immediately to the inputs you give. Although HTC and many deviants have released new versions/ improved versions of many ROMs (basically the firmware of the phone), it is still very tedious to do and there is always the chance of bricking the phone. The most appealing feature to me was the design. It truly is sexy as hell. It turns many heads. As the phone is uncommon in Canada (not sold by any carriers), people take notice of the phone. I've actually had people come up to me and asking what the phone was and where they could buy it due to its appealing design (NO JOKE). The back of the phone is all jaggidy like a diamond, but that has it's downfall too. Due to its back shell, camera quality is poor and the tips on my phone is starting to lose its black paint.

My verdict at the end of the day is if you want a phone that is multifunctional and cheap, get the iphone. You can go wrong with it. If you want a phone to wear, the HTC Touch Diamond is the one for you.

 

[Omnis]

3.2mp camera is a con? That's more than you'll ever need for a phone.

 

[peeweegary]

welll for this price, a n95 will get you a 5 megapixel cam and the camera quality is poor

 

[Robin]

Cheers for the review 👍

 

[V1P3R]

Well gotta say I just learned this phone is going to be on the Sprint network. If I ever purposely wanted to get raped in da ass I'd be more than happy to go with this phone. Looks pretty cool from the Youtube reviews.

Funny how they got rid of the diamond back for the US version. One of the few case where it was a good move. It combined with the diamond name was kinda tacky/corny.







Unfortunately, I'm taking my txting whore ass to Virgin Mobile which is also on the Sprint network and will be paying $20 every 3mo. Hopefully, that will be a big enough

you to the whole Cell phone industry...

 

[jesterguy]

been using mine for a couple days now and I'm half and half on it. I'm coming from a blackberry so I have my gripes with this. I'm using the one from Sprint so it's a bit different than the one you tested, gary.

Pros -

- Beautiful VGA screen
- Opera browser is very good
- I found the camera quality to be pretty decent, haven't tested in anything but well lit areas though
- Interface is very appealing
- Accelerometer is nice, especially on Teeter (it's a game where you hold the phone flat and tilt it to move a ball into a goal while avoiding obstacles)

Cons -

- Kind of laggy. Not as bad as I thought but it's noticeable.
- NO EXPANDABLE MEMORY, has 4gigs internal but dammit I want my SD slot.
- Accelerometer is only on select programs and screens.
- No flash or headset jack
- Don't like the virtual keyboard
- It's not as customizable as I'd hoped, I'm used to being able to change anything on my blackberry.

Hopefully when the touch pro comes out it will kill a couple of those "cons". I'm not planning on keeping this, will be going back to a blackberry and waiting to see how the android phones do.

 

[peeweegary]

Well i got a program that can fully use the accelerometer function.

click here

im not sure if it is compatible with your diamond, but it works for the GSM version.

 

[YSSMAN]

After a bit of soul-searching I've pretty much decided that I'm going to stick with Sprint and probably pick up one of these. Its important to note, however, that the US version is different:

Sprint is currently offering the phone for $250 ($50 instant rebate, $100 mail-in rebate) for people who sign up for a two-year contract, and given that mine is up in December and ends up giving me a $150 rebate on top of all of that... I may go for it. Particularly when the HTC Touch Pro (essentially a Diamond with a slide QWERTY keyboard) and HTC Touch HD are on the way, hopefully, prices will come down.

For $100, I can't think of too many other phones that will be as nice as this.

 

[V1P3R]

I'd say cool, but what makes your post pointless is you didn't mention the plan... How badly do you get raped? That's what I go by now, not the phones because if you don't have the plan then these "do it all" phones are pretty worthless.

 

[YSSMAN]

It depends on what you're looking for. As far as I can tell, they do not require you to get a special plan with this phone. The standard plan that seems most-reasonable these days:

- 450 minutes, unlimited nights and weekends (after 7PM)
- Unlimited Data
- Unlimited Texts

$69.99 per month

I'm probably going to keep my phone plan...

- 450 Minutes, unlimited nights and weekends (after 7PM)

$39.99 per month

I may add the $15 (or is it now $10?) unlimited data plan, but since I do not send text messages ever... I really don't need it. If I eventually do, maybe I'll spring for the $5 plan.

If thats the case, I can get out for less than $60 a month, about $10 more than what I'm paying monthly (with taxes, charges, etc) right now.