Just announced in London, the HTC Diamond looks like an interesting alternative to a MID if you’re a one-man-one-device type of person. With an HSUPA modem, a touch-sensitive 2.8" VGA screen, GPS, Wifi, Bluetooth, Windows 6.1, the Qualcomm 528Mhz platform (as seen in the Xperia) and HTC’s new touch-flow 3D it gets interesting but add Opera 9.5 into the mix (O2 are apparently shipping it with 9.5) along with a YouTube application and you’ve got something that, to my ears, is more thrilling than the iPhone.
The Windows Mobile 6.1 professional software apparently includes the remote desktop app so connecting into your home XP or Vista box is a serious possibility if you need to access full desktop applications.
No keyboard though…..Mmmm. If the Xperia includes all this, plus the keyboard, it’s going to be a very interesting device. Even so, I’m very interested in the Diamond and would seriously consider trading in the N82 for it where it not for the class-leading cam and flash on the N82.
"Available in June in Europe via Orange and the "rest of the world" sometime later" although O2 in Germany seem to have already announced it.
Via Engadget.
May 6th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Awesome device. All it needs is a qwerty slide-out keyboard and it would be much improved.
UMPC makers should take note at the improvements creating custom interfaces can bring to a device. Just simply slapping a device into form factor and dropping Linux or Windows on it doesn’t make it as useful as it can be.
Windows Mobile UI is dated and HTC has taken it into their own hands to develop more intuitive software.
UMPC makers need to do the same.
Origami 2.0 looks interesting but not sure if it fills the needs or not of mobility. It’s a step though.
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May 6th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
http://www.htc.com/www/product.aspx?id=46286
cry cry 900 mAh…
1500 should be minimum
but beside that its a super sexy phone
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May 6th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
And we will have one for testing
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May 6th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
900 mAh seems insanely low especially for a device with 500+mhz cpu. My HTC Wizard has a 1250 mAh battery and its a 180mhz cpu device designed for longer use.
I surely hope they didn’t sacrifice battery life for slimness because even a HTC Wizard just lasts the day with heavy use and I sure hope we aren’t going backwards in this respect as WM phones are already battery-life challenges.
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May 6th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
According to HTC website it should have 4.50 hours of talk time in 3G mode.
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May 6th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
900mah of what?
3.6V I assume unless its a mini 2-cell device at 7.2V
Steve.
We will ahve one for testing? I like the sound of that!
Steve
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May 6th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
hehe yep nothing confirmed yet, but Im pretty sure
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May 6th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
I dont know if this helps on the battery matter, but some more numbers from pdadb.net.
HTC Diamond:
Power Supply
Battery: Lithium-ion , removable
Battery Capacity: 900 mAh
Avarege Current: 113 mA
Estimated Battery Life: 8 hours
Eten X800 (my phone):
Power Supply
Battery: Lithium-ion polymer , removable
Battery Capacity: 1530 mAh
Avarege Current: 153 mA
Estimated Battery Life: 10 hours
It looks like it has less power drain, but my concerne is not the avarege drain, more what happens when i use/abuse the HSPDA modem.
In the end ill properly get the phone no matter what, a bit tierd of my ugly X800
(even though it runs preatty damm good after WM 6.1 upg. If u have this phone go get it upgraded at once.)
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May 7th, 2008 at 1:57 am
900 mAH?! I concur.. WAH!
Obviously they created this as an iPhone competitor with its fancy UI, flat touch interface and thin packaging but they’re also picking up Apple’s poor habit of choosing aesthetics over functionality!
With HSDPA, GPS, and WiFi enabled, you’d be lucky to have this device last the day. Even TyTn II users won’t leave home without their chargers and that comes with a 1350mAH battery!
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May 7th, 2008 at 8:09 am
hello fron Italy!
beautifull phone, but I prefer to wait for htc raphael or xperia x1
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May 7th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
The HTC Raphael and Titanium will include *all of the above* plus a physical QWERTY keypad.
So the only valid reasons left to go for the Xperia, would be the SE Panels (I prefer TouchFLO 3D), or the 1500 mA battery.
Now I know why SE announced the Xperia so early, because nobody would have listened if they announced it now…
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May 7th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
In the official press conference the Microsoft EVP pointed out that they believe the programming architecture and other hardware optimisations that windows mobile 6.1 can take advantage of will give the device an 8-21% battery life improvement.
Further HTC seem to beleive the achitecture of this phone has been designed a new and that users are not likely to see any difference in battery life, but before getting to this the CEO made the interesting comment essentially pointing out that its difficult to give users everything. Which has some merits to it.
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May 7th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
yep…
seems like a beautiful phone to me… if it had pda-like proprieties I’d be really tempted. Seems like there aren’t many competitors to the LG KS20 form/size-factor
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May 7th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
No Keyboard? Great! Buttons are the weak point in solid state devices–the less the better. Want a keyboard? Hook one up. That said, I’d rather have a nice mini-usb connector for keyboards & such than use battery-draining bluetooth. Of course, once there’s a USB connector, it might as well be able to control (not necessarily power) a portable hard drive for those file-moving tasks sans computer.
There is, of course, no chance of any of this happening in this design cycle; if you think these would be nice, talk them up for future models.
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May 8th, 2008 at 1:32 am
The Xperia still has a higher resolution, wide aspect-ratio screen AND a 3.5mm audio plug (a big deal in my opinion).
A keyboard is useful for people who needs to type a lot of messages or emails. I could probably cope with a phone without a keyboard but would definitely prefer one with a keyboard, preferably a slider like the Xperia
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May 8th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I am pretty certain the market is large enough to accomodate those who like a keyboard and those who dont. Whilst no doubt slide out keyboard WinMo devices have been popular their non-keyboard brother and sisters have continued to sell well.
HTC Knows this and hence why their is 2 other based ‘Touch’ devices in the works.
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May 9th, 2008 at 5:57 am
Touch Diamond is better than X1 just because it has an accelerometer. How can you upgrade your phone to Windows Mobile 7 without an accelerometer. And of course, I won’t buy a phone just for the present, I’m looking for the near future, the “Windows Motion” episode.
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June 2nd, 2008 at 8:53 pm
will it is already in US and CANADA and i got mine from sntradersonline…..and i like the TouchFLO and ther style is realy kool
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November 13th, 2008 at 1:35 am
3b2wrsm421v155rb
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