HTC’s Touch Diamond will find a nice little niche for itself in the mobile market
Make: HTC
Model: Touch Diamond 2 Smartphone
By Charlie Brown
Out of the box, the unit is of a solid build and could probably handle a knock or two. Had a bit of problem opening the back and getting the SIM card in, but wasn’t too sure if it was down to me or the build of the phone, but decided to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Its Windows Mobile 6.5 O/S was very easy to use and found its functionality was responsive at all the right times. I found it interesting, because this is the first time I’ve used a smartphone with Microsoft’s mobile O/S, and due to the recent news that Microsoft is losing ground in this space, I expected it to be a bit of a dog, or at least have some kinks in it. It probably does, but it worked fine when I used it.
Navigating around the different applications was fine although I decided to use the removable stylus (it also comes with a spare in the box), because my fingers were too chunky. Its QWERTY touchscreen keyboard was ok, but again, I had the clunky finger problem. Once again, it suffers from one of my pet hates, and that is smudging, and it was hard to clean, probably due to its plastic face (as opposed to glass).
I found it not as interactive as some other phones I’ve checked out recently, which is down to its confusing applications layout. It’s feels like there are several different ways you can attack getting through to different screens, whereas I like a clean, easy to follow applicatons.
It does offer a quick way to get out of most screens, with an x planted at the top right-hand corner – very much like a website. This is handy when you are in a hurry and you don’t want to waste time hitting the ‘back’ button when you have gone through half a dozen screens.
I’m not completely sold on its web browsing abilities. For some reason, other smart phones seem a little clearer when the web pages come up and being able to get it to the right size is not as easy as the iPhone or N97.
The camera is a good five megapixels, and I like the autofocus feature the cranks up the moment you hit the button to take a pic.
Battery power seemed pretty reasonable. I used the phone over a three-day period where at times I was surfing the net. By the time I finished the review there was a single bar of the battery display left. So I reckon it will last you anywhere between three-five days of nominal use.
Overall a solid unit. Nothing spectacular, but no doubt will find a niche in an already crowded market.
3.5 out of 5
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