With a release date set for some time this month, Sprint’s HTC Touch Diamond has seen some early press thanks to a pre-release review by WSJ’s All Things Digital. Despite the strong allegiance to the Apple iPhone, there were some important pieces of information in the review, mainly the device performance. As with the GSM version reviewed by Cnet a while back, the major complaint with the device is ’sluggish performance’. While we are big fans of Windows Mobile at Cellfanatic, we understand that the novice smartphone user could easily be turned away.
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.
Beyond the Windows Mobile complaints, the accelerometer ‘took almost three full seconds to respond as I flipped from vertical to horizontal while using the browser’. It seems that the only praise they had for the Touch Diamond was the YouTube application and the fact that it can record video, something the iPhone still can’t do. Overall, the only real important pieces of information for most of us is that the performance is still sluggish, despite the updated ROM for the GSM version (which seems to have fixed this), and the lag in the accelerometer. In any event, it is simply one of many reviews to come for Sprint’s HTC Touch Diamond.
WSJ All Things Digital Sprint HTC Touch Diamond Review
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Kevin 09.04.08 at 1:29 pm
I noted in the review that the reviewer stated that:
“Unlike the iPhone, Web sites that are opened on the Diamond’s browser don’t resemble the actual site as you would see it on your computer. I opened CNN.com and WSJ.com, two sites that are packed with text and graphics on a regular browser. On the Diamond, they quickly were rendered in list format with mostly text-only. I easily touched the screen to follow links to full stories.”
From my experience with Opera Mobile, the user has the option in its preferences to select having the browser “tell” the website that the device is a mobile device or a desktop. Opera Mobile defaults, I believe, to mobile web. This is probably why the reviewer saw a mobile version of CNN and the WSJ sites.
One other thing that I think the reviewer overlooked is that the resolution of the Diamond’s display is VGA (640×480). This is twice the pixel count of the iPhone’s very highly rated display (480×320). If it is a smaller form factor than the iPhone’s screen as she mentioned then the resolution on the Diamond must be really crisp.
I am dying to take a look at a Diamond or Touch Pro. I am also curious how long before the hacking crowd figures a way to install Android on these phones.
Nick Marshall 09.04.08 at 1:34 pm
Definitely agree with you on this one, the reviewer was clearly an iPhone elitest and ignored many things long-time WM users already know and use. Skyfire is an excellent browser and when paired with the Touch Diamond the complaints would have been minimal at most.
The resolution is obviously superior on the Touch Diamond/Touch Pro, but I think that it is being overlooked just because of the larger physical screen size on the iPhone (some might complain that the high resolution makes text too small).
Android on the Touch Pro/Touch Diamond is definitely the future (IMO). Based on what I’ve seen from Android and running it on the HTC TyTN II, I think that the release of the HTC Dream on T-mobile next month will really motivate HTC to diverge away from WM and offer devices with either platform (or even better would be both).
Vic 09.04.08 at 2:29 pm
I agree with the both of you that this person is obviously biased towards the iPhone. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the version CNET reviewed the one before the ROM update which greatly improved performance (especially in TouchFLO 3D)? I played with both the GSM and Telus CDMA versions and I haven’t noticed anything sluggish at all. I have an iPhone and you cannot really compare them in regards to speed and I will admit at certain times it can take a few seconds longer (and other times, faster than the iPhone in its current buggy 2.0.2 state), but WM supports multi-tasking which the iPhone does not and can easily contribute to sluggish performance if you have too many open and aren’t managing them. This is the best WM device on the market right now, IMO, and is better than the iPhone for those who want the functionality/hackability/openness of WM.
- VDubb
Nick Marshall 09.04.08 at 2:40 pm
Yea the CNET version was before the latest ROM, Touch Diamond is much faster in the current build. The real question is which ROM will ship with the Sprint version (cross fingers for latest build).