HTC Touch Diamond gets FCC clearance, smells like CDMA

Well, looky here! Not happy with the Touch Dual or Touch Pro, you saucy CDMA lovers, you? Try this one on for size then: the last piece in HTC's EV-DO puzzle for 2008 has now hit the FCC, the Touch Diamond -- and though only Telus has managed to announce it so far, we're feeling good about plenty of other carriers on the CDMA train recognizing the importance of this device and signing on before too long. We see test reports for WiFi, too, though we imagine it'll be at carriers' discretion to disable it if they're so inclined. Let's get a move on, Sprint. You too, Verizon, don't think we don't see you whistling over there in the corner.

[David Phillipps @ Jul 10th 2008 8:07PM]

I want one so hard

[cboy007 @ Jul 10th 2008 8:09PM]

bad*

[Jake Tobak @ Jul 10th 2008 8:16PM]

Hard makes sense too. At least it has for the last couple of years, GET WITH THE TIMES!

[MemphisNET @ Jul 10th 2008 9:43PM]

HTC makes terrible products. I've been through 3 P4000's, and each of those was repaired 2-3 times each. Telus finally caved and gave me a new Blackberry Curve. Friends HTC Touch gave it up after only a month or so.

So many HTC products have been returned at my work.... its so hard to recommend them :( And even though I'm sure many will disagree, its enough to sour me now.

[John @ Jul 10th 2008 8:12PM]

Im split between the Touch Pro and Diamond. I want the qwerty, microSD, 256MB RAM, larger battery.... but that sexy form factor of the Diamond is almost too hot to pass up. I will have to handle both of these phones before making an educated decision...

[Bakk @ Jul 10th 2008 8:13PM]

I would love this to come to sprint

[Erwos @ Jul 10th 2008 8:21PM]

Luckily, the very first rumors of both the Diamond and Touch Pro were from a leaked Sprint document - there is almost a 100% chance they'll be getting both. Which, as a fellow Sprint customer, I must say is COMPLETELY AWESOME!

[Juice @ Jul 10th 2008 8:20PM]

Disabling wifi. Hmpf. Just give me the damn Nam version already...

HTC = Makers of NON-World phones.

[sean @ Jul 10th 2008 8:27PM]

One of the first times that a Canadian courier is NOT actually behind US phone carriers by about 1 year? No, not only that, but it's actually BEATING US to the HTC Touch Diamond... Now why can't this kind of thing happen to phones that matters to me... Like the iPhone, like the LG Dare...

[Jon @ Jul 10th 2008 8:21PM]

..ahem... cough ::sprint:: :D don't ask me how I know

[York @ Jul 10th 2008 8:26PM]

I hope it doesn't look as horrible when it arrives in the US, I thought they had a good think going with the look of the GSM version, but the shots of the Telus one look horrible...

[IsLNdbOi @ Jul 10th 2008 8:44PM]

Didn't the Touch Pro. already get FCC clearance?

[Darren @ Jul 10th 2008 8:46PM]

Isn't it just a WinMo device with some touch-UI shell hacked on top? No thanks...

[cesium @ Jul 10th 2008 9:02PM]

It's not a "hack." And its not just some phone either. It's the best thing that's ever happened to sprint, that's what it is :p

[tcc3 @ Jul 11th 2008 1:24AM]

Why yes, just like the iphone is just OS X with a "touch UI hacked on top"

[cesium @ Jul 10th 2008 9:01PM]

now sprint needs to get this and the pro into their stores so i can decide which ones to buy :D

[Middilay @ Jul 10th 2008 9:15PM]

After having three of those lumps I got blackberries. Now, (tomorrow) it is all about the iphone. When will everyone get over their obsession with not having a product and just admit and get the best. It is getting a little old for all you a**hats ignoring the truth about what makes a great product.

[Slawek @ Jul 10th 2008 9:12PM]

Tmobile, pleeeeeeeeessseeeee? A decent phone at least?

[diablo @ Jul 10th 2008 9:15PM]

I actually talked to my friend who works at Verizon, Expect it in two months, and it is going to be 250 dollars with a 70 dollar MIR.

[Drew Scott @ Jul 10th 2008 11:58PM]

you can expect nearly all of its cool features to be disabled by verizon as well. What a deal.

[Abuzar Baloach @ Jul 11th 2008 12:55AM]

Yeah, good thing it's a Windows Mobile phone and you can get custom Roms...

[Stephanie Jobs @ Jul 10th 2008 9:24PM]

less HTC, more iPhone plz

[John @ Jul 10th 2008 10:57PM]

Then there was this one case of a guy who waiting in line for the iPhone 3G. Then took it back to his place and proceeded to blend it in his blender for a youtube video.

[Tom Reinke @ Jul 10th 2008 9:33PM]

I've had my eye on this thing for quite some time now, and this IS going to be my next phone if Verizon releases it, and if they cripple the wifi on it then I'm going to stick with my SCH-i730... forever. :(

[Jason @ Jul 10th 2008 10:34PM]

That's what xda developers is for ;)

[3rdGeer @ Jul 10th 2008 10:45PM]

Sorry to break the bad news folks, but this phone is not worth it. My good friend has had this for about 3 weeks here in the states. Long story short, this week he decided to go back to his old phone.

One major issue when I used it, is the touch screen is very sensitive. You have to touch it a VERY particular way in order to grab things...and do things such as scroll. Almost like you have to use the very ball of your finger. If you use the side of your finder, it doesn't sometimes react at all. Scroll isn't as smooth as the iPhone either...just a bit clunky.

Honestly, it looks sexy...it's small...feels good in the hands...but it doesn't function well at all to the touch and gets quite frustrating.

Sorry for the bad news folks. Better get in line tonight for an iPhone, lol.

[cesium @ Jul 10th 2008 11:18PM]

you know that you can change the touch sensitivity right? at worst you can jus change it in the registry... the xda developer ppl have a whole bunch of nice tweaks already compiled

[Tom Reinke @ Jul 10th 2008 11:24PM]

How about you just go back to apple.com?

[Abuzar Baloach @ Jul 10th 2008 10:47PM]

Wait, when is it coming out for Sprint?

[Jonathan @ Jul 10th 2008 11:35PM]

Why no expansion slot!! OMG.. it's like a Ferrari Car with no.. option for cup holder... not exactly that important.. but annoying with it..

[le Chen @ Jul 11th 2008 12:36AM]

this phone is really slow...

[Tech^Cellfish @ Jul 11th 2008 1:08AM]

I have been using my Diamond for a good week now (GSM version) and its not that good. Perfect size and weight, but its like running Windows 95 with Windowblinds. Purchasing an iPhone it there is stock available after the release today.

[Charles Han @ Jul 11th 2008 1:09AM]

just throwing it out there for windows mobile 6.1 users, who can't wait for touchflo 3d, u can download spb mobile shell 2.1 , and download the skin made on xda- forums:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=2326534#post2326534

It's pretty darn close to how the actual touch flo 3d looks like.

[richard @ Jul 11th 2008 1:37AM]

I'm hoping for some more news about which providers this and touch pro go to. Hopefully Verizon so that I can finally upgrade my phone. I've been waiting for a long time.

[Shahryar @ Jul 11th 2008 2:29AM]

I'd love to see a good Sprint CDMA hard-keyboard QWERTY phone come out in the future to replace my annoying Mogul.

My friend has the Nokia E90 and if that was available (or something like that) for Sprint, I'd buy it. My favorite part of it is that it has two lcd screens/2 setups - one on the outside and one on the inside when you open it up. If I was walking or driving and wanted to reply to or send a quick text, I could do it via T9 without opening up the phone. If I needed to do something more in depth, I could open up the phone and use the full keybard inside.

Not sure if any of the upcoming Touchs will offer that, but that's the feature I would love.

[iofthestorm @ Jul 11th 2008 4:09AM]

You (and I) want the HTC Touch Pro. Same as the Diamond but with a keyboard. It's basically an upgraded Mogul.

[Shahryar @ Jul 11th 2008 9:09AM]

Yeah, it looks like a Touch Pro is our next step. But for me ideally, the next phone would be a win mo device like the Touch Pro w/ a hard numberic keypad in the front and pull out or open up QWERTY keyboard inside. Or.. preferred, a symbian device Nokia's E90.

[Matt @ Jul 11th 2008 12:59PM]

Unfortunately, it's just too late for Sprint to save me as a customer even if they announced the Diamond this afternoon. I dumped my $30/month [virtually] unlimited everything Sero plan and Samsung A900 for a $100/month AT&T plan an iPhone 3G. Sprint, I'd tell you to screw yourselves, but you've already done such a great job of it. When the sluggish, vanilla Mogul is the best you can manage - no wonder customers are leaving in droves, cheap or not.