HTC Touch Diamond boot video, for your eyes only
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Jun 6th 2008 3:55PM
posted Jun 6th 2008 3:55PM
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DO WANT
this thing is awesome......
Nice visual features, usability approaches zero though...
They all start out like that. Even the Razr was over $1000 at launch, but down to $250 (after rebate) within 3-4 months.
It will be around 400 unlocked within 3-4 months and its not even officially released in the US yet.
Everyone please remember the iPhone price drop fiasco...NEVER NEVER NEVER buy a hot product within 3 months of launch. Just exercise some self-control people.
Saw this at 2 places and they both selling for $1000. What a joke.
Almost makes me want to trade in my iphone. Let's see how WWDC plays out though.
You only trade in your iPhone towards a new 3G iPhone.
I hate to say it but Apple has every other cellphone maker- with the exception of RIM - BEATEN, HANDS DOWN
That's why they sell more than Nokia and Sony Ericsson.
OH SNAP!
That's why Nokia sells more phones in 5 days than apple do in 1 year.
DAYUMN!
i obviously dont know, but i have feeling that the first 3g iphone is going to disappoint.
don't take me wrong, it would be great if they managed to make a great product.
I'm definitely waiting to see the 3G iPhone WWDC, but almost as important, to hear the news with respect to the AT&T subsidy (or lack thereof).
If it comes down to the Diamond @ $399 and the iPhone @ $199, the Diamond will have to be quite perfect for me to make the leap.
Not really Flashpoint. I would say Nokia, Samsung, HTC and several other manufacturers have more of a market share than Apple. I mean, even all those shitty symbian phones from Sony Ericsson have a bigger market share.
Sluggish interface (HTC diamond)..
quicktime FTL!
seriously
Not working well. I'm even on a Mac.
It looks like the Engadget link killed their server and that's where the video is hosted.
Agree. Quicktime is awful. About 1 degree better than RealPlayer in my book.
All I see is big blue Q. I thought that Apple stuff didn't crash.
Wow, I actually love QuickTime. A lot more than Windows Media and ESPECIALLY Real...
I thought this was video of the phone booting, but its a video of a video that plays when you boot? :P
Nobody likes Quicktime, not really. I mean WMP is a bit poo and Real is truly awful but Quicktime is the sweat from the devil's scrotum.
You know it's true.
does anybody know about VLC Player...its the best and plays almost every audio/video format
vlc? ya its cool.
Quicktime IS the new Real Player. I mean...it bogs down your system, constantly bothers you to upgrade to "pro", requires you to install the shitstorm that is iTunes, which THEN secretly installs Safari on your machine.
Gee, what an AMAZING player! And think, all to play the half-dozen or so videos on the entire internet that haven't been put in a non-proprietary format.
For me, it's QuicktimeAlternative all the way!
Look up Mplayer on google. Its free and it can play this file format.
GOM to win!
So this is basically the same thing as the touch pro minus the keyboard right? Apple better bring it's A game,,, with this, the touch pro, the X1, and the BB Thunder on the horizon (I really hope the BB Thunder is something special!) the smart phone game is really getting interesting. Touch screens are sexy, but I really need a keyboard, its so much faster....such a hard decisions to make. Which cellphone, which netbook, which LCD monitor, everything is getting all too confusing :( Picking a product used to be so simple!
My boss ordered it online that means this monday i'll be playing with it :)
need more videos lol?
YES.
This phone is amazing. Post more videos, or send em to me.
abuzarbhurgri@gmail.com
Gah! No vid for me! I really wanted to see this too!
If there was anything wrong Apple has made in their entire journey, it should be Mac software on Windows! God freakin dammit. :(
Chill out guys, haha. While I do agree with you, the only reason this video isn't loading is because the server it's hosted on is being hammered and barely responding.
Really, Saad? How would Mac software on Windows help Apple sell Macintosh computers?
Yes, Apple is a business, not a charity. Yes, Apple is a hardware company, not a software company. Yes, Apple creates software to sell the hardware. Yes, Apple created iTunes for Windows because it sells iPods.
And yes, Quicktime works fine. It's a container format just like AVI.
@Zak
Apple is a software company, and Quicktime does not work fine.
Tony - So Apple makes their money on software? Please explain to the class exactly which software is making them all this money. I mean if they're not a hardware company, it should be easy. Right? Because they have over 16 billion in cash, I'd like to know how they got that much money if it wasn't hardware sales.
And you'll have a hard time convincing me that Quicktime doesn't work fine, because for me it does work fine. All the time. I have the Perian and Flip4Mac extensions installed and Quicktime can play almost any format I throw at it. And export to almost anything else.
Zak, it is really simple, Apple is a software & hardware company, and they produce software for windows too, and seeing how committed they are to "updating" and secretly downloading a web browser from their company into Windows OS is also another sign of their interest in developing software for Windows.
The problem here is that all their software and after many updates still are buggy, faulty and give Windows users lots of pain in the a**.
I say thank you Apple for nice software, which is keeping the competition running, but I will never ignore forced buggy software (including QT, iTunes, Safari)
Remember Zac, it is Windows users who are mainly having a hard time with these software. :)
Yes, Saad, you're basically repeating what I said. The reason there is Apple software for Windows is to sell Apple hardware. Period. iTunes/QT is on Windows to sell iPods, Safari is on Windows to sell Macs. If people using Windows want an alternative to IE and they like Safari, it will make them ask what else they might like about Apple software.
Apple's not going to start making all their software for Windows, what possible benefit would there be in that for Apple? Maybe you haven't noticed, but Apple's big thing is getting people to "switch" from Windows to the Mac. It would defy their own purpose to put more of their software on Windows, when currently the only place you can get that software is on a Mac.
It sells Mac hardware. Get it?
The only Apple software I use on my PC is iTunes and Quicktime. I haven't had much trouble with either except the same trouble most people seemed to have with the first incarnation of iTunes 7. True, it may be necessary to turn off some of the "cool" features such as Coverflow but I really have never understood why people have so much trouble with iTunes. Other than the first ver 7, iTunes has always worked quite well for me on my PC and nary a problem on my Mac.
I forgot to add: This phone managed to a) be nothing like the iPhone and b) look friggin cool as hell with it's touch features. Yeah, when I see this phone on the street I'll be hiding my iPhone so I don't have to compare. ;)
dear zak,
GO AWAY
sincerely,
everyone
@ Zak
Obviously, Apple makes both hardware and software. Therefore they are a software company, in addition to being a hardware company. Duh.
Apple should invest heavily into making their software work well in Windows. Seeing as how Windows has at least 90% market share, there is a huge opportunity for Apple to show up some of Microsoft's own applications.
If Macs work as well as iTunes or Quicktime does on Windows, I would never buy a Mac! Fortunately, I know that these programs run fine for other people (OSX users) and I would not judge based on this alone. However, your average customer would.
"Yes, Apple is a business, not a charity. Yes, Apple is a hardware company, not a software company. Yes, Apple creates software to sell the hardware. Yes, Apple created iTunes for Windows because it sells iPods."
Really? I could have sworn that Apple sells Final Cut Pro.
Put it this way Zak, after using Apple software in Windows there's no way I'll ever buy a Mac. I agree that they write software for Windows to encourage people to switch but when the software they write works as poorly as Quicktime it's not much of an encouragement.
Who the hell uses Quicktime video. The most useless software ever and more invasive than a virus.
Quicktime is extremely low-latency video with a very good amount of control over the finished article. Quicktime is the video technology behind the content industry because it's just so powerful - there's no upper limit to its capabilites as a video format, and the level of quality associated with it. You can scrub through a quicktime video with 100% accuracy, and it will play backwards as well as it will play forwards. while not really features in themselves, they're at least indicative of the solid platform that it is. (comparatively, if you try and scrub through a flash video, or a WMV, you're basically restricted to ~5-10% increments)
however, yes, the playback software on windows is shocking. on the mac side, Quicktime is not just a player, it's the entire OS X video API, and a very good one it is too, delivering pro video capabilites to some of the lowest areas of the OS, making any kind of video work feel much more robust than it does on XP (i've not really had a chance to look at vista, but i've not heard if avalon plays much of a part with video...)
Totally agree dude (quiktime stinks), the best media player (open source and light) is Media Player Classic. Reads every single format out there. They should use it on cel phones.
cheers nerds!
All this needs is a microSDHC expansion slot and I am so sold :]
the touch pro has a microsd not sure about the HC though and flash also
It's HC
I'm dl'ing the video at a wopping 15kbs
Well you're beating me, i'm on 6kbs. Damn lazy engadget not wanting to host videos.
mirror:
http://rapidshare.com/files/120591343/touch_diamond_gettingstarted.3gp.html
wow the server died after 6 comments
thanks dude...got it quick :)
and who the F*** uses crap like quicktime....use VLC...it rocks
Please enter the following code when downloading. Only enter symbols attached to a cat.
This is for security reasons. Premium users can jump this step.
LOL, Rapidshare sux. The download doesn't work for me
I cant figure this thing out, every symbol looks like its attached to a cat.
Oh, noes. Touch-Flo 3D. WinMo is missing the point again. Slapping on a almost pretty touch interface doesn't totally cover up the underlying WinMo ugliness. I'll reserve all judgment until I can watch the video. Why wait? It won't compare to the smooth iPhone UI, so why even bother. In less than four days, the Touch Diamond will be a long-forgotten second-rate handset due to the massive media flood covering the introduction of the 3G iPhone.
Don't blame me, check the iPhone on Google to see the flood.
WTF you smoking WM > iPhone by like 200x...The fucking iPhone can't even do simple tasks like recording video, i don't know who even considers it as an actual smartphone..Nothing smart about it, other than it's marketing.
When did we start using volume of media hype as the metric by which we judge the value and usefulness of a gadget?
Oh, that's right. When the iPhone came out.
To call the iPhone a smartphone is like calling Kenny G a jazz virtuoso.
They're both glamorous in their own watered down and pandering way, but even the smoothest UI (or saxophone solo) doesn't make up for sorely lacking hardware features or actual third party software support (or in the case of Kenny G's music, sincerity or sophistication).
Can we ban this fool? The amount of sewage spewing from his mouth is disheartening.
I have to agree with you, retro77, but replying to his posts certainly is an easy way to get your own posts highly ranked :-]
That's funny, I thought Apple already announced 3rd party support on the iPhone. Yeah I know WWDC is sort of obscure and there's been absolutely no news about it at all. Your ignorance is completely understandable.
And sure, video recording is the only difference between an iPhone and a smartphone. That makes perfect sense. I mean please ignore the fact that the iPhone has a real email client, a real web browser (not a "mobile" browser", the best ui by far on any phone (gosh you would think that would qualify it for smartphone status) and of course all the features coming in the 2.0 update, which apparently you've never heard of.
Apple haters are really getting dumber every day.
The 'smart' apple iphone cant multitask with 3rd party apps. Very smart indeed...
meh, if you're happy with what an iphone does out of the box, great. iphone sdk is very limiting. i can't imagine anything earth shattering being developed with it.
the main reason i will never own an iphone is that i hate itunes and do not want to use it.
killer apps on my winmo bj2:
garmin nav
tcpmp
and most importantly: 3G ICS over bluetooth PAN FTW
Personally i use 3G ICS over wifi Lan on my Mogul with WMWifiRouter.
Ill call the iPhone a real smart phone when I have the ability to easily do what I do now:
Run gmail, work email, google chat, AIM, IRC, and my RSS feeder all at the same time....while sending a mms or browsing the internet on 3g (and yes I know those two are coming XD)
But I am really excited for the slew of phones I do consider "iPhone inspired", like this one.
@Zak
Would that be the third party support that has to be exclusively approved and distributed by Apple?
It's like when girls make sure all their friends are uglier then they are, so they'll look better in comparison. Instead of someone ugly, we have Steffen.
Got mine on the 4th, stopped the video. why because this is so well thought out and intuitive you just don't need it... if your new to handheld computers that have phones in them then the video may help.
wow....awesome interface...hope apple comes up with something new
waiting on X1 and iphone2 to decide on my new phone...these 3 are the only contenders as of now...with X1 already at the top :)
Saw the vid, it's a nice layout but seems to lag behind the finger movements. Iphone still up in my opinion.
Gotta agree. It seems like there's way too much fluff to be useful. Flipping through individual mail messages or contacts is going to get old VERY fast. Hopefully they have a more efficient, text-centered screen for these.
That's one thing that bothered me while watching the video. iPhone isn't without its own flaws though, such as often taking a while to respond to tilting it.
Yeah the interface is slower and less responsive than the iPhone's, the one-by-one email thing looks pretty annoying too. On the iPhone you have a list of all your emails. Much easier. Also, why would I want to read my email at an angle like that, and why would I not want it to use the full screen?
My ipod touch lags behind sometimes when flicking through cover flow or loading a big page like engadget, but not in the main UI.... but the main UI also doesn't have that much movement. It was probably delayed a bit because they were really working it, normal usage probably won't see any delay.
@ zak
I like the ignorance based upon the video... the one by one email is only a preview, you still have an inbox. And out of the box you can exchange push or windows Live. I hear that steve is licensing exchange ;P
I agree, Wes... the response seemed to lag too much behind the finger inputs.
I like Quicktime. One more way to sniff out Apple-haters. Never had a single issue with it, and use it on both Windows and Mac.
It's not hate, it really just sucks.
As far as video in it's current form, VLC is the way to go. But if you want to compare Quicktime, Windows Media Player and let's say, Real Player *cringe*, then yes I'd take Quicktime any day. The main reason being I am a professional photographer and often find myself create partial/full global interactive panoramics and Quicktime has only created more and better support for this feature over the years.
Nice. Now if HTC would put a decent camera in their phones I'd start to look a little closer.
Not going to jump to conclusions, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this interface would be completely annoying after the honeymoon stage wore off...
It's really flashy and beautiful, but slow to navigate and irritatingly graphics-heavy... giant linear organization would drive all of us nuts after 15 minutes of trying to find a picture...
don't be so harsh, the lag time isn't that bad. you try being a fairy-gnome inside a windows mobile device...having to interpret inputs and immediately crank out the correct command line. sheeesh.
Hi There,
I've received my HTC Touch Diamond 3 days ago. I was using a 16GB iPhone before with 1.1.4 firmware.
Quick notes so far;
- iPhone is much much faster than HTC Touch Diamond as Windows Mobile can multitask and iPhone can't. Since Windows is multitasking, somtimes the applications are really slowing down even though there are no apperant user tasks running.
- 4GB memory is a real drag in comparison to 16GB that iPhone offers.
- It is great to finally have smart interfaces, copy/paste features, great mailing features back with Windows Mobile.
- No need to say immense application support is great with Windows. No need to hack your phon to install some half-working application
- The screen is amazing crisp-clear however, i still miss that 3.5" iPhone screen.
- Another note on teh screen is, iPhone screen is more responsive. Since the resolution is high and the screen is smaller on HTC, sometimes it is hard to click on the right thing.
- USB transfer over sync cable seemed somehow slow and/or slows down after a while if you're transferrign a large file. When I try to transfer a 500 MB video file, it first says 5-6 minutes then it slows down to 40 minutes for some reason. Although, I ahd this issue before with previous WM devices. iPhone was just fine.
- It is great to get back the unlimited video format support via TCPMP/Core Pocket player. No more being stuck with stupid iTunes and its demending file selection! (though TCPMP so far doesn't work but Core player does.)
- Finally I have easy access to all files installed without goign through terminal or SFTP screens.
- TouchFlo 3D is great but I think it slows down the phone just a little. Once you understand how it works, it is a great piece though.
- Interfaces are as good as iPhone.
- Full qwerty keyboard is not as hard as it may seem to use. When you click on any letter it enlarges the letters just like iPhone. Though, again just because the screen is smaller, when the full qwerty is launched, you don't get to see much else on the screen.
- I try not to use provided stylus and you can almost do everything without it if you don't have chubby fingers :)
- Having a magnetic catcher for the stylus in its enclosure is great. No more fear of accidentally dropping and loosing the stylus fear.
- Back of the phone is not so edgy as it may seem in the videos and it is almost smooth.
- Camera is great and certainly kicks iPhone's lame 1.3M camera's butt.
- Battery life is not so great. At the end fo teh day my battery was 2/3 drained but it is also the excitement of playing with it :))
- I do miss the sensors in iPhone that makes the screen turn off and on during a call. When WM devices turns the screen off and locks the keys, you need to press the turn on/off button to turn on the screen again. I know this can be set but it was to have it automatially done with the proximity sensor with iPhone.
- 3G, I haven't seen a 3G sign yet up here in Vancouver, Canada. I know it is avilable but just because I'm suing the 1900 mhz only, i might be missing out on it. rogers also has 850Mhz range and Eurpean HTCs do not support that rate.
- Video calls not tried yet.
- Weather, it is as good as iPhone.
- Seeing my calendar again on home screen is priceless! and most importantly, being able to edit the reminders even afte the screen is turned off is great. With iPhone, it was displaying then after you unlock the phone, you ahd to go to Calendar to find the item to edit. When you have a remidner for an event that is weeks or months away, it is not the best thing with iPhone.
- Replaceable battery is great.
- No need to hack to phone is great.
- The pacakge is great, it comes with screen protector, headphones, user manual, an applciation disc witha few great utilities. The box is very unique. The earphones are not easy to fit your ear.
- A carrying puch would have been nice but apperantly HTC has removed it from final product at last second.
- USB headphone jack is a downfall but aslong as it has A2DP who needs wired headphones which is another big big big plus for HTC and shame on you iPhone for me.
I think that is it for now... I hope this helps a littel for those who consider to get this phone. On the first day I wasn't as impressed but I'm more liking it day by day.
Cheers,
Mert
Nice mini-review, thanks.
A couple things:
- The iTunes limitations aren't as limited as you think they are. Quicktime can export to iPhone from any format Quicktime can read, and since Quicktime is extensible with plug-ins (namely Perian and Flip4Mac), you can take almost *any* kind of video and export for the iPhone. The nice part about that is that it reformats it to fit the iPhone's screen which saves space. It's actually pretty slick.
- The iPhone camera is 2 megapixel, not 1.3.
I thought the iPhone was 2.0 MP??
Great review, though.
Wow, nice review.
Don't like the 4gb onboard memory? It is SDHC complient. Toss a $35 8gb MicroSDHC in there.
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-microSDHC-Card-SDSDQ-8192-Package/dp/B0012Y2LLE/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1212788228&sr=8-1
My old Mogul is running that exact chip right now, no problems.
Also, you should be able to speed up the transfers if you select "disable advanced connectivity features via USB" or something to that effect in your USB sync settings.
Brad @ Jun 6th 2008 5:42PM
twoot! u r wrong. no microSDHC slot.
If you Jailbreak the iPhone you get access to many nice apps, including a home screen app for your lock screen. It shows mails, sms's, news and calendar entries.
But you will of course be modifying the phone enough to loose the warranty.
I think I do prefer the iPhone's interface over this one though... The iPhone seems to find the right balance between functionality and fancyness to me. The Touch Diamond however shows more fancyness than it's actually usable...
One thing I forgot with regards to the memory, a user replaceable SDHC memory slot would be a real great addition.
It has one. MicroSDHC. Up to 8gb.
The HTC Diamond does NOT have a microSDHC expansion slot. The Raphael does.
I am here only one who dont like htc diamon touch
I dont know some staff looks good, but for every day use it is not so useful
For exemple mail in envelope, is hard to read. Photos dont use much space of screen becouse of border and staff. contact looks great but I am wondering if someone will have foto for each contact in contact list.
I like design of like a device but i dont like how GUI.... I hope that it will be beter with google....
Microsoft should really consider buying a license for this UI as a replacement for the current one Mobile uses. If HTC would ever consider giving up such an advantage.
if this does not release in a CDMA flavor, i will cry.
actually nvm, i'd take the pro over this one any day. Tactile keyboards are a must.
aren't there other skins for windows mobile devices that could be used as alternatives should you not like the cramped email or other stuff. i did love it at first glance but I can see the point that others make that it may be much more functional to have lists. It would be nice if you could customize each menu to be, icon based or text based, and have photos to fill the screen or not. are you listening htc?
the iphone's connectivity is pretty poor for something that wants to be called a smartphone. Only wi fi and with itunes is not good enough.