I reviewed the HTC Touch Diamond back in November and earlier this month HTC announced that they would be updating the device with the Diamond2 as well as the Touch Pro with the Pro2. The additions of the Diamond2 and Pro2 are part of HTC’s goal to dominate the Windows Mobile space and as soon as next month some of us will have a chance to see if they’ve lived up to the hype. According to HTC the Touch Diamond2 and Touch Pro2 will be launching somewhere between mid May and end of June 2009 at all authorized sellers with a suggested retail price of $727.88 and $888.44 respectively. The initial launch prices have been listed in SGD (Singapore currency) so it might take some time before a 3G compatible version is available here in the US.
The real questions that I had with the announcement were whether or not these two upgrades would fill the gap in performance between Windows Mobile and other high-end smartphones. At 528 MHz we saw the Touch Diamond run a bit sluggish within the TouchFLO 3D interface so I still remain a bit skeptical at the moment. So what exactly has HTC done to update the Touch Pro2 and Touch Diamond2?
The Touch Diamond2 starts by improving the screen from a 2.8-inch touchscreen with VGA resolution to 3.2-inch. The original Touch Diamond measured 11.35 mm thick (GSM version), but now the Touch Diamond2 will be 13.7mm thick which is still less than the original Touch Pro’s 18.05mm thickness. Styling has been polished a bit on the Diamond2, but overall I’d say that it maintained most of the original styling with the exception of the diamond-cut backing found on some original GSM-editions of the Touch Diamond.
The focus of the Touch Diamond2’s interface still revolves around TouchFLO 3D which delivers a customized version of Windows Mobile 6.1 that seems almost transparent to the user. Much like the Palm Pre, HTC has also incorporated a ’single contact view’ which displays the individual conversation history regardless of whether voice, text or email was used. This can be viewed from the contact card or the in-call screen during a phone conversation, ensuring the latest communication contact-by-contact is always at hand. The other big change with the Diamond2 and Pro2 is HTC’s Push Internet Technology. HTC Push Internet alleviates slow downloading and rendering of Web pages on a mobile phone. Users can preselect their favorite Websites to get immediate access to them when needed.
Now that I’ve gone over the smaller improvements on the Touch Diamond2 let’s take a look at the major changes. The first major improvement is a 20% larger battery capacity which will be a big bonus since the screen has increased from 2.8-inches to 3.2-inches or 14% larger. Next is the upgrade from a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus to a 5.0-megapixel camera also with autofocus. The last major upgrades are a gravity sensor and an ambient light sensor round out the updated features list. It is also worth noting that the Diamond2 accepts exapandable memory so you will no longer be locked into the internal storage capacity.
When it comes to the Touch Pro2 we see the biggest increase in screen size. The Pro2 features a high-resolution 3.6-inch widescreen VGA display (up from a 2.8-inch VGA display) for an expanded viewing area and large finger-friendly QWERTY keyboard. Just like the Diamond2, the Touch Pro2 has improved battery life, expandable memory, a touch-sensitive zoom bar as well as gravity, proximity and ambient light sensors. Overall the improvement in screen size is a nice addition, but at this time it is still hard to say whether TouchFLO 3D has been ironed out enough to let the processing power of the Touch Diamond2 and Touch Pro2 really shine like we’d expect.
In any event the release date is rapidly approaching and we can expect to see some early reviews next month to give us a better idea of what to expect when we see a US launch. With Sprint, Verizon and At&t carrying their own version of the Touch Pro we can expect to see the Pro2 arrive on their networks this year and the Diamond2 on at least Verizon and Sprint. With recent spy shots showing a T-mobile Touch Pro2 in action you can count in the myfaves network as well. At price points of $727.88 and $888.44 it should be interesting to see how the Diamond2 and Pro2 kick off sales in Singapore when here in the US Apple took a lot of heat for offering the iPhone 3G for $599 no contract.
Via HTC
looks pretty cool, with the qwerty keyboard.
Which would you recommend the HTC Touch Pro 2 or the HTC Touch Diamond 2 (with the limited information so far)?
It really just depends on whether you can live without a keyboard or not. If you can live without a keyboard and prefer smaller dimensions then performance wise the devices should be almost identical.
I was a big fan of the Tilt (HTC Kaiser) and the HTC Touch Pro, but always felt as though something was lacking in terms of device performance. After a while you get use to it, but as soon as you come back to a BlackBerry or non-Windows Mobile phone you really begin to notice the performance difference.
If the performance is there, HTC Touch Pro 2 all the way. That’s my 2 cents.
Thank You. Will the phones come out for verizon and if so about when?
Yes Verizon and Sprint will carry the CDMA version of the Touch Diamond 2 and Pro 2. With the Palm Pre and updated version of the iPhone coming in the next couple of months HTC will want to push out the release as soon as possible. At the moment it is unclear whether Sprint will have an exclusive launch of the devices like they did with the current models, but you can expect an official announcement on that issue in the next couple of weeks.
It would be nice to see Verizon take the exclusive launch of the Touch Pro 2, but their testing process seems to be a bit more extensive so I’d still favor Sprint releasing the devices first.
Also is it coming with windows mobile 6.1 or 6.5 and if 6.5 will it come rite away and if not is it worth waiting for?
What if you are stuck in an alltel contract? Will Alltel carry these phones since Verizon is?