HTC Touch Diamond hands-on

We had a little thumb-print orgy with the new HTC Touch Diamond immediately following its launch. Light and small, the Touch Diamond comes off as a unit with promise. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a while to get our hands on this via a US carrier, but Orange users in the UK will no doubt be pretty happy with this new handset, the first of its kind to use Windows Mobile 6.1.

Check out the gallery below, complete with comments and interface walk-through. A couple vids after the break, too!

Gallery: HTC Touch Hands On

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A little game using the HTC Touch Diamond's accelerometer


HTC Touch Diamond's YouTube interface

[enrique @ May 6th 2008 10:03AM]

omg where's the video walkthrough!!

[vdogg89 @ May 6th 2008 10:32AM]

thinking the same thing

[James Cameron @ May 6th 2008 12:58PM]

Come on engadget. At least give us better video.

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=HTC+Touch+Diamond&search_type=

[inlwatkins @ May 6th 2008 10:05AM]

I WANT!!!!!!!

[Akshay @ May 6th 2008 10:07AM]

Please engadget, honestly, how tough is it to take a video? 17 pics?? A video will combine all your 50 pics into one. I really don't understand your addiction to insane amount of pics and obvious negation for a video.
Next time, please take a video. This is not for this time, but for all the times you made us flip through a hundred pics.

Other than that, engadget rocks.

[Jason @ May 6th 2008 10:09AM]

I prefer the pics.

Thanks guys!

[Nando @ May 6th 2008 10:22AM]

I prefer clear video.

Thanks guys!

[Paul @ May 6th 2008 10:26AM]

I prefer chicken.

Thanks guys!

[Akshay @ May 6th 2008 10:27AM]

I said that because pics don't really convey anything different. The same pics are available at : http://www.htc.com/www/product.aspx?id=46294
They show the same thing, except taken better. Whereas, a video would have shown how easy and intuitive the interface, touchscreen gestures and the overall phone is. It would also have shown the features a lot more better.

[Justin @ May 6th 2008 10:28AM]

That wasn't chicken Paul ;-)

[Kamokazi @ May 6th 2008 10:53AM]

Akshay, most, if not all those pictures are product renderings and not actual pics of the device.

In-hand pictures are much better resolution than video (even 1080p is barely 2MP) and do a good job of showing the real product in a detailed fashion.

I'm not disagreeing with you either, a video would be great, probably preferrable to see the TouchFLO 3D in action. I'm just saying you can't discount the benefit of a quality still picture (sadly these stills seem to be of typical Engadget quality...).

[clockwork @ May 6th 2008 11:38AM]

i still believe that using a video demonstrates the fluidity, and use of touch screen of WinMo 6.1 pro something the pics cannot convey, and as said by akshay there are plenty of pics up already in other places, i just want to see how it works...

[oZone @ May 6th 2008 12:42PM]

I prefer nudes.

Thanks guys!

Am I too late on this bandwagon? lol.

I'm really considering dropping my iPhone for one of these or a BB 9000. All these new phones are secks! I'm waiting on Apple to make the announcement on the 3G iPhone to see if it's really worth the wait...

[Chris Anderson @ May 6th 2008 10:07AM]

I couldn't stand not having the physical keyboard... right now, i've got Apache 6700 on Sprint, and i'm holding out (trying to , at least) until the Raphael comes out...that thing just looks amazing.

[UGN @ May 6th 2008 11:44AM]

i FAIL at the on screen keyboard. i'm still in love with my i760, recessed screen and all.

[TareX @ May 6th 2008 5:25PM]

Same here. The Raphael (or even better, Titanium, with the FRONT qwerty slider) will be a favorite.

This phone UI is amazing. They really did an extraordinary job with WM6.1. I didn't think this could happen, but now I am considering this phone OVER the HTC Dream (even though that would mean, NO ENKIN).

If they fix the "slowness", that is.

I just don't think the Dream's UI could top that one.... honest to God I don't.

[Enzei @ May 6th 2008 10:07AM]

I'm an Apple fanboy.....but even i must admit, this looks wayyyyyyy better than the iPhone!

[Froggy @ May 6th 2008 10:14AM]

wwwaaaayyy better?... hm.. well, I don't know. It does look very nice, but I also like the iPhone (almost) all screen face. BTW - any way we could get a side by side with the iPhone? screen comparison, etc.

The other thing is... Windows 6... maybe if they fixed some of the idiotic thinks in the OS it would be worth a little more. Last time I used Windows Mobile I wanted to throw myself off a bridge.

That being said, I think it's a gorgeous machine. I really look forward to some serious reviews and see how it holds up under regular use.

[catachip @ May 6th 2008 10:20AM]

WinMo 6 and iPhone interface are like the Vista and the OS X interface. Microsoft interfaces tend to be more cluttered with menus to access the million features of the phone, most of which you'll never use, while Apple interfaces tend to be more elegant and simplistic at the sacrifice of some functionality. At the end of the day, I don't think you could argue that the interface of WinMo looks "better" than OS X (or the iPhone OS X), but, features will trump that for a certain number of users. For everyone else, they get overwhelmed with menus and options, thus alienating a large segment of the population.

[Enzei @ May 6th 2008 10:20AM]

I don't know about OS wise, as I've never used Windows Mobile.

However, you never know......the way Apple has attempted to control everything anyone does with the device may push a few people back to the dark side (Windows/ Windows Mobile).

[catachip @ May 6th 2008 10:27AM]

@Enzei

Some, perhaps. But, Apple has always been about tight control of user experience - not leaving anything to chance. Their success has been marketing to people who are willing to give up a certain amount of functionality or extensibility in order to get that integrated user experience. I, for one, am fine with that. Others are not, and they can use Windows/Linux.

[Jason @ May 6th 2008 11:03AM]

@ Froggy

If only you had thrown yourself off a bridge.


If only you had....

[loosely_coupled @ May 6th 2008 3:05PM]

I love the new tack that all these anti-Apple fangirls have taken lately... They all preface their anti-iphone BS with " I have an iphone, but..." or "I love Apple, but" or "I'm an Apple fanboy however,". Then of course comes the anti-iphone "ZMOG The x phone is WAY BETTERZ THAN i-Crap"

such BS. Just be honest, loser

[pres1dent @ May 7th 2008 6:16AM]

HW looks nice...too bad it runs WinMo. I've got a $1200 HP6965 sitting a paper weight. I'm too scared to use it coz it tends to make me want to kill everyone around me.

Apple does sacrifice some functionality, but the fact that it just works (and work smoothly it does) makes me never look at another WinMo device again.

From now on, its either iPhone or BB for me.

[Sachiejones @ May 6th 2008 10:07AM]

Looks like a iphone competitor, looks like it does alot of the stuff of the iphone, right down to the keyboard, pluse it has some hard buttons... yea i like them hard

[Al @ May 6th 2008 11:56AM]

So the HTC Artemis which came out years ago can also do the same thing this phone can does that make it an iphone competitor also? To me I think HTC is not competing with the iphone really as they have been doing all touch screen based phone for years. It is just more recently steped up their game as competition became better.

[Matt @ May 6th 2008 12:45PM]

That's what she said

[Abuzar @ May 6th 2008 3:46PM]

The VGA screen is really a big thing. It's hard using Pocket Quran with a resolution so low. It looks so much better on my iPhone then on my 8525.

[Le Master @ May 6th 2008 10:08AM]

Fucking pretty.

[dBs @ May 6th 2008 11:35AM]

Saying that with a Fabio avatar would have been better yet.

[Le Master @ May 6th 2008 12:36PM]

God, I hate being called that.

[dBs @ May 6th 2008 1:52PM]

Guess its a good thing I wasn't calling you Fabio then. Don't worry though, I had longer hair than yours not one year ago so I was used to it as well.

[Dave @ May 6th 2008 10:08AM]

that keyboard is the pinnacle of fail.

[jopari @ May 6th 2008 10:30AM]

Not sure why you got voted down--you're absolutely right. I mean, people don't have preexisting finger memory of a QWERTY phone (unless they have a Blackberry), but the Diamond's keyboard is gonna take some getting used to. At least they include T9, I know some people who wish their iPhone had it (Not me, I never could text very fast on my PEBL).

[Shinigami @ May 6th 2008 11:12AM]

The on-screen KB? I think the on-screen KB engadget showed is extwemely nice compared to the ugly stylus-only KB imitation on my FS (like fudjitsu-siemens) 718 (WinMob 2003 SE). Its small, creepy and finger-unfriendly.
The KB on Diamond looks more usable on 2.8" VGA screen compared to 3.5" VGA screen on my device. "Looks like" because I need to touch the device to say for sure. Big "buttons" look nice.

[Anthony @ May 6th 2008 12:21PM]

I totally agree. But I want buttons. Watching that pathetic "scroll down" where the user decided to click on a video instead just illustrated that fact.

[Froggy @ May 6th 2008 10:10AM]

I think I'm calling Angela :)

[Scott Equine @ May 6th 2008 11:28AM]

Already done!

[Homeboy @ May 6th 2008 10:10AM]

The resolution is impeccable, makes the screen on my Zune 80 look pre-historic.

[Frank Sandqvist @ May 6th 2008 3:29PM]

It's always been prehistoric.

[Aquen @ May 6th 2008 10:13AM]

Good looking UI, but I wonder how well it will perform, afterall it is WM...

[catachip @ May 6th 2008 10:15AM]

The interface looks good, but, if you watch the demo videos on YouTube the interface is not as responsive and you'd think and the animations (i.e., zooming in, flipping pictures, scrolling etc, are quite stuttered). Why couldn't they get a decent graphics processor in there? Not to mention that the lack of multi-touch makes for some pretty zany gestures - I don't think my thumb is that dextrous.

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJtmnsHDVbk

[DonatoM3 @ May 6th 2008 10:27AM]

I'm not to sure what you're talking about not being responsive. On the videos the only thing that isnt that smooth is when they were zooming in on a picture. For all you know that was a 3.2 megapixel picture too which would take more graphics power to zoom in on. Every other animation looked real smooth. Did you look at the video for the Weather? This is definitely the phone that's replacing my Sprint Touch. Unless I decide to go with a Raphael for the keyboard.

[catachip @ May 6th 2008 10:32AM]

@DonatoM3

Which is why I said the features that were stuttered involved pictures (i.e. flipping, zooming, etc.). A high resolution picture is no excuse for a poor use interface experience. It is this kind of foresight that is required when designing a product like this. Artists need to collaborate with the hardware people.

Also, you can't ignore the fact that the device is not responsible. He flips a picture, pulling his thumb all the way across then returns his thumb before it flips to the next picture. Similarly, when scrolling through Icons you can see them lagging behind his thumb motion (although when they do go, they are smooth). Again, seemingly minor things, but, these are important things that contribute to user experience. You can't just have pretty graphics if the hardware cannot keep up with what is being displayed.

[ThePremierAssassin @ May 6th 2008 10:48AM]

Wow why are people voting you down for expressing a valid opinion/concern?

The guy is doing a lot of things with his thumb...a lil TOO much is going on there...

Plus you're right about responsiveness. ESPECIALLY at the pictures part...it looks like its slow or something.

[Jeff @ May 6th 2008 11:08AM]

it was a little stuttery at times, but (for example) for flicking through images, really it's not exactly that it's slow....

It's that it's based on Gestures, which is different than whatever the iPhone is - I'm not sure what it would be called, but the iPhone strives to feel physically correct: you touch-and-drag an image on the iPhone (and flick it off the screen to see the next one) whereas this type of gesture-based control just listens for the gesture then does the corresponding action.

So on the iPhone, you're actually sliding the images, and on this, you're *gesturing* that you want to see the next image and a little "slide" animation makes it seem a little more fancy.

I, personally, prefer the physical feel as opposed to gestures, because it feels more natural (and responsive) to me, and gestures seem to be an extra level of removal that never quite feels right, and seems MUCH less "discoverable"

[DonatoM3 @ May 6th 2008 11:18AM]

@catachip

I do agree with you that it looks like it takes a moment for the picture to move after flicking through this but like Jeff said this is more due to the way the Touchflo system input is setup. The animations themself are very smooth which would indicate good video hardware. Trust me this is much smoother than anything my current Sprint Touch does. I would be interested to see how fast it responds if you were to use the d pad to scroll through pictures.

[corystal @ May 6th 2008 2:30PM]

Thanks for the video link... were the circles to zoom the "zany" gestures u speak of? I don't like the iPhones multi touch to zoom because it requires two hands.. one to hold the phone and one to pinch and spread, or maybe you could do it one handed but it'd probably look pretty zany.

[jhoeforth @ May 6th 2008 10:19AM]

Here people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5fetcaQIaA

Now drool! Seriously, new batch of WinMo phones are to die for: Sony Xperia and this! Damn!

[Dan Davis @ May 6th 2008 10:50AM]

Xperia FTW!