MobileTechReview Forum, News and Reviews: Full review: US HTC Touch Diamond unlocked 3G

I purchased an unlocked Touch Diamond ("TD") from Best Buy, and returned it within 24 hours. I was very disappointed with the TD. After having used the iPhone 3G for 30 days, trying to use the TD felt like a workout. Here are the problems:

(1) Sensitivity of the touch screen

I am not sure if this is a hardware or software problem. Maybe there was a sensitivity setting that I could have changed. If there was one, my apologies. But out of the box, I had to push hard on the screen and swipe my fingers across the screen harshly in order to get the Touchflo interface to respond. We all know that the WM PPC was designed to be used with a stylus. And it seems like maybe, just maybe, the hardware manufacturers built the TD to be used with a stylus, forgetting that the Touchflo interface was going to be plastered on top of the WM PPC.

(2) Performance

I was surprised at how sluggish the TD performed in most functions. With a speedy chip and lots of memory, it felt slower than my experience with the old VX6700 and Treo 700w! There was a noticeable lag running most programs, and especially web browsing through Opera.

(3) Touchflo - lipstick on Windows Mobile PPC

The design of the interface itself was disappointing, because Touchflo is just a cover for WM PPC. Other than having a fancy looking home screen, once an application is launched, you are right back to the "run of the mill" WM PPC interface. You still even get the "X" on a box at the top of the right hand corner of the screen to close a program. The virtual keyboard was also a problem. As much as I disliked the iPhone's keyboard, the one on the TD was much worse. Obviously, responsiveness (as discussed above) was an issue. The design of the keyboard was another. Given all the complaints about the lack of a landscape keyboard in the iPhone, why didn't HTC implement a landscape keyboard? The TD has a smaller screen than the iPhone, so the landscape keyboard is even more essential. Instead, the TD forces a user to use Blackberry Pearl keyboard configuration on a portrait mode, and with predictive testing that is not as good as the Pearl's or the iPhone. Using a full keyboard on the portrait mode in the TD is impossible, because the keys are so small that even my 3 year old nephew's fingers are too big for them.

When I got the TD, I was really hoping for an iPhone 3G quality device in terms of user friendliness, touch interface responsiveness, but with much better battery life and Microsoft Exchange support. Well, iPhone-killer, the HTC Touch Diamond is NOT. At least in this user's humble opinion.