In the brief period we spent with the HTC Touch Diamond, we never once saw any indication that this is a Windows Mobile phone. We weren't looking. If anything, we were trying not to find any clues that beneath the impressive, polished interface lurks Microsoft's smartphone OS. It wasn't difficult, as HTC has built a ton of features into its TouchFLO 3D interface, so most of the business applications, like e-mail and the calendar, offer some sort of preview on the home screen. For instance, the e-mail client gives you the first few lines of new mail, tucked into a slick-looking envelope on the home screen. The contact list provides a very pretty looking picture / rolodex that you can flip through with your finger, all from the top level. It's not only effective, it's all surprisingly original.
It's not an Apple iPhone clone, we swear
Of all the touchscreen clones on the market, the HTC Touch Diamond is the least like the Apple iPhone, but that isn't a bad thing. While other manufacturers copy the iPhone's look and feel directly, as the Samsung Instinct tried to do, HTC has gone a completely different route with the Touch series of phones. Given the timing of the iPhone's release, it's more likely that HTC had their own thing going before Apple's phone hit the market, and instead of stealing from the California company, HTC simply expanded on their own original ideas. The result is a very slick, intuitive interface that takes a different, but perhaps no less successful course. In fact, there are a few maneuvers on the Touch Diamond that we would like to see Apple borrow, which is the first time we've said such a thing.
That rolodex address book, for one thing, is fantastic. The HTC weather app, which is cool and animated, is another. Don't underestimate a weather program, we check the weather on our cell phone all the time. Best of all, though, was the marble labyrinth game we played on the phone. The game has users tilt the phone to move a ball through a maze, avoiding pitfalls. It felt so precisely sensitive that we were astounded; we didn't think the accelerometer on a cell phone could be so responsive.
So can this diamond cut?
We wish we could say the same about the rest of the phone. The unit we played with was not a retail phone, it was running a faux version of the OS without network connectivity. That made the lack of responsiveness in the rest of the phone's UI even more frustrating. The phone doesn't react instantaneously to input, as the Apple iPhone does. When we flicked a picture on the rolodex, the phone paused to register, then moved to the next contact. When we moved our finger across the menu bar at the bottom of the screen, the phone couldn't keep up, and occasionally chose the wrong application. This is a serious problem, but hardly a surprise, as we had similar difficulties with the first HTC Touch we reviewed.
It's telling that since the phone's launch, HTC has already released a ROM update that seemed to improve performance, according to anecdotal reports we've received. Still, the phone isn't quite there yet. We wonder if perhaps Windows Mobile is to blame, but until either HTC or Microsoft issues an unlikely mea culpa, we won't know. Of course, if HTC shows off a Google Android phone that doesn't have the response problems of the Touch Diamond, we might have a better idea where the problem lies.
Where and when?
The HTC Touch Diamond will be released on the American market later this year with support for AT&T's HSDPA bands, but no official carrier support has been announced. We're hearing rumors that a CDMA version, either of this phone or the QWERTY-equipped HTC Touch Pro, will make its way to U.S. carriers like Verizon Wireless and Sprint, though of course this could still be speculation. In any case, the HTC Touch Diamond offers a unique touch experience, and a much-improved Windows Mobile experience. Let's just hope this diamond gets a little more polish.
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