Barnes and Noble introduces the NOOK
- Average user rating: 2.0 stars out of 61 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"A well designed phone with good performance"
Pros: Apperance, rich feature package
Cons: No US 3G version (yet)
Summary: First, my experience with the Touch Diamond as a phone was vastly different than the Cnet reviewer. I have had international calls as well as local that are clear and distortion free here in the Puget Sound area. Problems that Cnet had are undoubtedly a result that the current phone is a non-US version and uses only part of the ATT spectrum in this country. I have noticed I don't get as many bars on the Diamond as I have seen with 3G ATT phones, but call quality has been fine.
Second, this is just one cool phone. It looks great and even non-tech oriented people want to see it when I use it. It is also cool because of the full feature package it has. There is a lot of stuff packed into this small device. It was designed to be used with one hand, and that is certainly how I've been able to use it so far.
The Touch Flo interface on earlier HTC phones was sort of like a frosting- just a coating on the surface of Windows Mobile. Touch Flo 3D is far more intergrated into the device. It is possible to use the phone for long periods without ever seeing the standard WM interface.
What Cnet and others have chosen to call lag is to me more an indication that the user interface is faster than the processor. It is possible to slide the home screen icons so rapidly that it takes a second or two once you stop for the requested program to open. This may annoy some users but it isn't unique to the Diamond. I frequently dial my office phone faster than it can handle. Sometimes humans move faster than machines.
A special note of thanks to HTC is needed for inclusion of the Opera browser. This program, which is the default, gives a much richer web experience than IE.
Is the Diamond perfect? No. Long lists that you can scroll through: contacts, programs, weather locations can only be scrolled in one direction: A to Z. Being able to go either way would make it much faster to find weather locales, for example, or a contact beginning with Z. You can rapidly scoll through these lists with finger flicks or the navigation button, but being able to move both directions through a long list would reduce time and frustration. Also, a standard headphone jack would be preferable. That is about it.
I have European/Asian version of the phone and use Wifi for my net surfing. I will certainly purchase the promised US version so I can enjoy 3G speeds.
HTC Touch Diamond:
