HTC Touch Diamond

“Well, even the best diamond specimens have imperfections, whether they are visible to the naked eye or less so. Yet, last time we checked they were still quite worth it. The situation is a bit similar with HTC's own precious stone.The Touch Diamond has revolutionary size and design, topped with unsurpassed touch functionality among Windows Mobile devices. The VGA display, the rich communications package and the excellent software bundle make the Touch Diamond a real gem. The unique magnetic stylus and the generous 4GB of built-in storage do add to the allure of this compact fella.But we already warned you the Diamond we're dealing with is not perfect. We expected better sunlight legibility of the VGA display. The edges of the impractical back panel started to wear off in two weeks or so. And finally, the lack of a memory card simply takes the allure away. We would have gladly traded the 4 gigs worth of storage for a simple hot-swappable microSD card slot.A 3.5 mm audio jack would have also been welcome, as the supplied stereo headset simply doesn't cut it for music on-the-go. The camera also suffers from the back panel design, which ruins sharpness, contrast and resolution.As you see, in diamond terms this handset is a delicate balance of high carat and imperfections. The Touch Diamond is a crossover product that will most probably convert new believers to Windows Mobile, but would probably fail to raise itself in the demanding eyes of hard-core PocketPC devotees. Most of them will probably go for the HTC Touch Pro, for its hardware five-row QWERTY keyboard, TV-out port, beefier battery and, of course, a microSD card slot.To wrap up, HTC Touch Diamond is far from the uber device but it managed to win our hearts with its slick exterior and sufficient skill. There must be enough people out there to believe diamonds are forever and the HTC Touch Diamond delivers pretty much all there is to deliver.”

“While we haven't given it the complete thrashing that we usually subject cell phones to, we have every confidence that the HTC Touch Diamond for Sprint will impress people. It has a slick top-level user interface and is jam-packed with features. We find the new design to be better than that of the original, and are glad of the larger battery that it contains. Text input is still a bit of a mixed bag, as it was with the original, so people really should spend some time in a Sprint shop with the device before plunking down their hard earned cash.It's a good solid device for people that want something touchable, but perhaps need the business sense that a Windows Mobile device provides. We give it an easy Recommended rating”

“The Touch Diamond combines style and the powerful Windows Mobile platform that many business users need with the HTC TouchFLO 3D user interface. The Diamond does make a few concessions, however, that are sure to put some potential users off.”

“It is exciting to think about other mobile-phone companies giving better software a real try, especially those that attempt to improve Windows Mobile. But HTC’s Touch Diamond doesn’t hide the outdated operating system well enough or often enough for a user to want to buy a whole new mobile device.”