HTC Touch Diamond user reviews (Sprint)

4.5 stars

"Iphone Killer?" on September 13, 2008 by kennyb123

Pros: See the "Bottom Line Summary for full Pros & Cons of this phone.

Cons: See the "Bottom Line Summary" for full Pros & Cons of this phone.

Summary: PROS:

Sprint HEAVILY downplays the significant improvement in web-browsing that the Opera 9.5 browser brings to the table. They give it a compliment, but neglect to say that this browser is easily as good as Safari for the Iphone. They probably didn't also realize that at this current time, there is a plugin called MyFlash 3.1 that now gives the Diamond FULL FLASH CAPABILITY on any website. Yes, this means you can now go to the REGULAR Youtube site, and watch embedded flash video, as well as load up flash-only sites that alienated mobile users. This combination completely topples the Safari browser's capabilities, and is what should bring this phone's rating much higher.

Though CNET did not complain about the additional thickness of the Sprint Touch Diamond over its GSM version, the reasoning is worth mentioning. This version comes with an upgraded battery, up from 900 mAh to 1340 mAh, giving it a 33% bump in longevity.

The accelerometer on the Diamond is very accurate, and the programmers on the XDA forums have already written some extraordinary software utilizing it. An alarm you can turn off by shaking the phone, the ability to lock the screen just by rotating the phone 360 degrees clockwise in your hand, and unlocking it the opposite way, just to name a couple. The included game "Teeter" will mesmerize you and your friends - remember the "Labyrinth" game with the two knobs and a marble? Search youtube for video of this working perfectly on the phone.

Unlike the original Iphone or new Iphone 3G, this phone does what ANY and EVERY phone should have the capability of doing. It allows for Copy/Paste, which is vital to any business user. It also has video recording, which is ridiculously absent from the Iphone. Also, like every other phone sans the Iphone in the past 5+ years, this phone fully supports the MMS protocol, for sending pictures and video to friends. No email workaround needed here, folks.

CONS:

Yes, being locked to 4 GB storage is a severe limitation. It should have been 8 GB to compete with the Iphone a little better. It's obvious that if you're a power-user, you're going to want the upgraded ROM/RAM available in the Touch Pro, as well as the keyboard slider, which has gotten RAVE reviews. The Micro SDHC cardslot for the Touch Pro will support a card up to 32 GB's, which, when the cards become available this Christmastime, will be a major upgrade. The Touch Pro also adds a flash for the camera, which doubles as a flashlight.

BOTTOM LINE SUMMARY: The Touch Diamond does EXACTLY what it set out to do. For most users, they will never stray from the comfortability of the TouchFlo 3D interface, where they will enjoy the phone completely.

The only real cons of the device aren't cons at all - they are just excuses to wait for the Touch Pro, if you need the additional power-user features.

Between both phones, I believe we have ourselves an Iphone killer.

Updated on Sep 13, 2008

Yes, of course I meant CNET heavily downplays the significant improvement in web-browsing that the Opera 9.5 browser brings to the table.

Not Sprint.

Updated on Sep 18, 2008

Another simple rule... no reason to rate the phone a half star when you're just "informing" us. Sprint has been very open with the fact that the phone is available through tele-sales only at this time.

Updated on Sep 18, 2008

16 GB microSDHC cards are not even currently available. They are slotted for availability in a month or two, with the 32 GB card being available by Christmas.

Designed to be a failure? Please...that's quite a harsh, unrealistic statement.

Updated on Sep 23, 2008

Those of you looking for MyFlash 3.1, I found it from a great website, called WMpoweruser. I'm not sure if CNET will let me link a site, so copy the link and fix it, and look for the download link under the post "Flash Lite 3.1 for Windows Mobile leaked!!" hxxp://wmpoweruser.com/?cat=4&paged=3

4.5 stars

"I feel there's things left out in this review..." on September 16, 2008 by Groovydude

Pros: Great design, hardware and software!

Cons: No expandable memory, but meh, I barely use 1Gig of memory on my Mogul.

Summary: I read a review from MobileTechReview.com about this phone, and their review was way more in depth then Bonnie's. They played with the YouTube and SprintTV and the reviewer thought that the two were excellent quality. With the amount of memory and horse power that this phone has, how many apps is she running there? I mean she said that it was starting to lag when running programs with Sprint TV? What the hell are you going to be running when you're WATCHING tv? I can understand if she said she was playing music, but come on!!!

The 4GB of memory doesn't scare me either, since I use ORB for all my multimedia, that gives me more space for my applications anyways. I have the mogul, and I think this is a great phone, of course it can be better, which is why i want to get the Diamond. I was gearing my way to the iPhone, but the pro's on the Diamond outweighs the pro's of iPhone. I mean they got a dedicated app for text messaging photos and multimedia to phone numbers now (but I don't think you can receive though ) :( that's still a major plus in my book.

Also she mentioned nothing about the new accelerometer in the device (aka G-Sensor for HTC). No mention how the Opera browser was customized for the Diamond, that when zooming in with the touch wheel, the text will format to the width of the screen, so you don't have to horizontally pan left to right. She also didn't mention the fact that it's 528Mhz + 288MB memory is what makes this device a rock hard performance block in your hand. I mean that's like 30% faster and like what... almost 5 times more memory then normal PPC phones.

Again, go to that website, you'll find a more detailed indepth review then Bonnie's... she left out way too much 'need to know' information about this phone and totally suckered the Diamonds score, giving it less then what it deserves!

I mean already people like the diamond so much, that they are developing new cool applications for it.

4.5 stars

"Beautiful, iphone is great this is equally amazing" on September 17, 2008 by pavbaby

Pros: Great size, fantastic web browser, easy to use, full of every function you could want in a smart phone

Cons: charger and headphone use the same port.

Summary: I was thinking about upgrading to the iphone 3G. It is a fabulous phone with very few shortcomings the biggest being AT&T. I use an unlimited plan on sprint ($99) and so I would need to spend another $50 a month for the data and texting plan with AT&T so I have been looking at alternatives. I have been watching the GSM version of the phone which every one said was slow, but this one from Sprint has not shown any lag between programs or screens.

Although I have only had the phone for 48 hrs I love it. The call quality is great, the phone really stands out in a crowd.

Windows Mobile has never been great but 6.1 adds some useful features like the threaded text messaging. Also as a real smart phone I can actually access my business word and excel documents easily on this phone. Now it will never replace my laptop but for making small changes and checking emailed documents this is incredible. The web browser is stunning and although the screen initially seems small the quality really makes it very easy to use. The high resolution screen makes moving around pages whilst they are reduced a breeze so you are not constantly zooming in and out, which is easy to do on the d-pad.

As I said I was seriously looking at the iphone. This may not have the large screen or the easy to use app store, both of which are incredible on the iphone. It does have a beautiful screen, access to windows mobile programs which are never as pretty but just if not more functional. It has full GPS with turn by turn directions. And although everyone seems to complain about the lack of expandable memory, I don't see it as an issue. I have plenty of room for all my documents. I have an 80GB ipod in my car which will take along time before it gets replaced by any other system. The phone has easily enough memory for music for the gym, but then again I can't remember the last time I went.

I cannot understand how CNET who usually have such fair reviews could give this a 7 compared with both the iphone3G and the Instinct. This is way better than the latter and at least comparable with the former. Every other site I visited prior to making my purchase praised this phone, so CNET what is you're issue, the things you complained about - sluggishness, I don;'t agree with, keyboard being small it has more variations than any other smartphone and you either like a touch screen keyboard or you like a real one - everyone complained about the iphone keyboard until they used it and you get used to it and love it. And then the expansion well I spoke about that above.

It's not an instinct or a Vu or an iphone it has its own distinct personality and anyone who gets this phone will love it hands down.

4.0 stars

"Sprint's Best Phone - Hands Down" on September 23, 2008 by DavidMichaelMalloy

Pros: The design of the phone is smart as it is less rectangular and cubic and more trapezoidal (edges bevel in slightly to make it feel less thick). The phone is quick and responsive and essentially does what you expect it to do.

Cons: The cons are all addressed by the HTC Touch Pro: Expandable Memory, Full Keyboard.

Summary: HTC has done a great job with the Touch Diamond, and thankfully, Sprint didn't skimp on the details. Don't be surprised if our friends at Verizon are gawking at our phones in a month when they realize they are without the G-Sensor and considerably less memory.

The phone feels very solid and the touch screen is quite effective. My finger is not shaped like a stylus but I still found the touch screen to be accurate. I was able to quickly and efficiently access many web-pages with Opera 9.5 and was very happy to see how fluid the zooming in and out was.

Sprint's data network is untouched by the other American Cellular Companies. Surfing around and watching videos on YouTube was a pleasure. I even downloaded videos from websites to the internal memory and was able to watch them in flawless quality. The download was oddly fast (less than 20 seconds for a 2.5mb video that was 3:45 in length.

Texting on this phone is more of a pleasure than I would have ever thought with the threaded texting available on Windows Mobile 6.1.

I previously had the HTC Mogul for Sprint and I am enjoying the new slimmer version of this phone (disregard the manufacturer's dimensions as the phone feels smaller, and that is what's important here). I look forward to my opportunity to upgrade my rating on this phone when I play with the HTC Touch Pro.