HTC Touch Diamond launching on Sprint in September for $299.99?

It won't be the first launch in North America -- those honors go to Telus at this point -- but Sprint won't be far behind. A pretty believable new slide deck suggests that big ol' Number Three will take delivery of its Touch Diamonds in September and start hawking them for the princely sum of $299.99 on contract after rebates, netting customers a 3.2 megapixel cam, 4GB of internal storage, and EV-DO Rev. A, among all the other spoils that only Windows Mobile 6.1 can offer. Is the back end of it red? Can't really tell from this angle, but if the goal is to offer up a high-end business tool, we've gotta believe black will be available either way.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

[FinalStar @ Aug 19th 2008 4:50PM]

YAY!!

its mine

[Techie @ Aug 19th 2008 5:59PM]

I honestly recommend getting a HTC Touch Pro instead of the Diamond. I just sold my Touch Diamond and now I'm waiting for the Sony Ericsson X1.

[wud_e @ Aug 19th 2008 6:24PM]

You Suck!! WAAAAAHHH!!! I aleady have the Sprint Touch, which I love, but I want a Diamon Pro though. Oh well. It'll have to wait until 2010 when my contract ends. :( By then the new Hotness should be out anyways. :p

[Cool8man @ Aug 19th 2008 7:09PM]

The Sprint Diamond has more RAM and a larger battery than the GSM version you had. I'm not interested in the Touch Pro cause it is very thick and I think it will be uncomfortable in the pocket. Not to mention Touch Pro will probably cost even more than this. Xperia looks great, but I think it will be extremely expensive.

[heshmati4 @ Aug 19th 2008 4:51PM]

What is MIR???
Rebate???

So it's actually $399 before rebates than...

[Jim @ Aug 19th 2008 4:58PM]

Yep...likely Mail-in-Rebate.

[Derek @ Aug 19th 2008 5:02PM]

And $549 for us that have the Employee Plan =(

[CedoNulli @ Aug 19th 2008 7:15PM]

What? No.

With the EDRP we get it for the after rebate price.

[iofthestorm @ Aug 20th 2008 2:39AM]

Either Mail-In Rebate or Manufacturer Instant Rebate. Instant rebate would be nicer I guess.

[bjsguess @ Aug 19th 2008 4:53PM]

Too much. Should be $249 at most - $199 preferably.

[Lowest Ranked @ Aug 19th 2008 5:01PM]

Uh, free preferably...

[ByronGman @ Aug 20th 2008 12:15AM]

Wait for the price to go down numskulls...

$300 in September, $200 at Christmas....

[andy @ Aug 22nd 2008 10:44AM]

Bjguess...do you have any invites for Grandcentral? You mentioned it in a post on another story and I've been aware of it for awhile but it's closed to new users b/c Google bought it? you can e-mail me at andytbusiness (at) gmail.com. if you have ANY info on the Grand Central I'd be interested. Seems like a SWEET idea.

[Flashpoint @ Aug 19th 2008 4:54PM]

How long will we have to wait for a phone with FLASH and JAVA?>

[kjb434 @ Aug 19th 2008 5:10PM]

It has both!

It has the official Opera Mobile browser (not the beta on Opera's website) that allows full youtube viewing.

It also has Java.

Strangely, I have all this on my ATT Tilt. The XDA Developers are doing awesome things by picking apart the Diamond's version of Windows Mobile and making it available for other phone users.

[deyanimay @ Aug 19th 2008 6:05PM]

Skyfire FTW!

[Macbeth @ Aug 19th 2008 9:48PM]

Skyfire, doesn't even do that much.

[clark @ Aug 20th 2008 11:28PM]

@John
Opera DOES support flash, you just have to install flash lite separately
and skyfire has server-side flash support. it's probably the best browser for flash

[Matt @ Aug 20th 2008 8:11AM]

Dude, Skyfire does do that much.

[Travis @ Aug 22nd 2008 6:56PM]

Skyfire loads pages faster than IE or Mozilla. I would like to see a Skyfire PC Browser.

[JoJO @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:42PM]

There is a browser being develop, The Skyfire, with flash/java meaning it is capable of streaming video without opening any player. Check out www.skyfire.com. It is still in it's beta stage and few can get it according to who the company feel like sharing the software with.

[I-phone Is I-sexaayy @ Aug 19th 2008 4:55PM]

ew

[grull27 @ Aug 19th 2008 5:02PM]

Why are you such an Apple fanboy. I have an iMac and an iPhone 3G but I'm not stupid like you.

[Lowest Ranked @ Aug 19th 2008 5:03PM]

I smell a huge contradiction to the above statement.

[matthew @ Aug 19th 2008 5:04PM]

BAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[phanbouy @ Aug 19th 2008 5:09PM]

humbug?

[grull27 @ Aug 19th 2008 4:58PM]

Ok, so who wants to buy my iPhone 3G for $300? Anyone?!

[Chris Hanson @ Aug 19th 2008 6:17PM]

I'm going to be selling mine Also .....Way too many damn problems with my 3G IPHONE. I hate it! I also hate that stupid predictive texting you CAN'T TURN OFF!!

Stupid Apple!! You've lost me as a customer and countless others that you jacked with your buggy , problem full 3G Iphone.

[Cool8man @ Aug 19th 2008 4:59PM]

$400 with a 2yr contract is a lot. Mail in rebate sucks. Telus is offering this phone for $150 w/ 3 yr contract. This makes the iPhone look really inexpensive (not that I would buy one, but it does come with 2-4 times the storage memory). Bad move Sprint/HTC.

[DrFunk @ Aug 20th 2008 12:02AM]

I agree. This is an awful lot to pay for a phone with only 4gigs and no expansion. This does not bode well for the price of the htc touch pro.

@Sprint I really enjoy your network and I was hoping to stay with you, but you have to help us out.

[Deekoi @ Aug 19th 2008 5:24PM]

??? MIB might suck but it’s still $100. And why does this make the iphone look really inexpensive? Did you do the math? SERO plan… $30/mo At&t for the same specs $70-80/mo
HTC $300 after MIB
Iphone $200
$100 difference… do the math…

Also the Iphone came out so expensive for first gen.

Either way I agree that it is too expensive. A more appropriate price would be $200. They will probably drop the price in a few months. Either that or people will find loop holes around it.

[bjsguess @ Aug 19th 2008 5:38PM]

@ Deekoi

The problem is that SERO is no longer available. Great deal if you are grandfathered in. Not so great otherwise. When you compare the SEP to the iPhone plan you basically get text messaging as the only bonus. That's not good enough.

I really dislike the iPhone. However, it's hard to justify paying $100 more for the Diamond vs the iPhone.

[qrius @ Aug 19th 2008 5:55PM]

so can I get this w/ my existing sero plan? If so, I guess I have to pay 549? I hope they don't lock this down to the simply everything plan...

[Surur @ Aug 19th 2008 7:01PM]

For an extra $100 you get A2DP, 3.2 megapixels vs 2, an auto-focus camera vs a fixed focus one, and a higher resolution screen. You also avoid the kill switch ;)

[DoTheMath @ Aug 20th 2008 4:11PM]

Do the math for the cost of the phone, plus what your monthly rate would be for an iphone 3G vs, this device and I guarantee you will still spend $200 less on this phone over the life of your contract vs an iPhone. People are soooooo short sighted and well...stupid...AT&T and Apple upped the total cost from the original iPhone to the iPhone 3G, you actually are going to spend $300-500 more than the original despite them "dropping the sticker price" on the 3G. Maybe Sprint should have a commercial that does the math in real big numbers for people like you. LOL

[urmomFTW @ Aug 19th 2008 5:04PM]

Where is my Touch Diamond Verizon? kthxbai

[NeoDarkSaver @ Aug 19th 2008 5:08PM]

that looks pretty cool. that's a 400-500 dollars off contract discount, considering compusa/tiger direct had it for 799 for a while.

[cesium @ Aug 19th 2008 5:11PM]

$299??? I'M BROKE BIATCH!!

[sit2k @ Sep 1st 2008 12:36AM]

sell your pda and get the money up that way.

i sold my xv6800 in aticipation to get the pro from verizon. im using my 700wx until this bad boy is released.

you need to learn how to manage your phone purchases.

[Jeff P @ Aug 19th 2008 5:14PM]

The only thing I can hope is they knock off some money like they did with the Instinct, when it went from $199 after rebates down to $129 in the days before it's release. Hopefully that is some sort of plan to keep the Instinct sales high for the next couple weeks.

I was planning on getting this, but making me put out double the cost of an Iphone, before I have to wait a couple months for my rebate and the fact that it's double the cost of the Canadian version is just all around ridiculous.

I guess I'm going to cancel Sprint to get the HTC Dream.

[sit2k @ Sep 1st 2008 12:42AM]

i wouldnt depend on that type of drop on business phones if i were you. the palm 800 hasnt done that, dont expect these phones to do that.

these are professional phones, the instinct is a toy

[Jason @ Aug 19th 2008 5:21PM]

Its good to see Sprint cozy up with HTC. Maybe we will see the HTC Dream with Android on Sprint before too long.

[phoneFan @ Aug 20th 2008 7:21PM]

Don't worry they will! They already have an agreement with HTC to develop an Android phone for them. I hate to say it, cause I couldn't wait to get out of my contract with Sprint, but what better company to be with right now than one that is fighting tooth and nail to keep my business? I mean I have always loved thier network, now with these new great phones that they are getting, the prices of their plans and the huge effort they are making to turn their customer service around they are starting to win me over. I mean at least they are not rolling over and dying right? I gotta hand it to them, they know they have a terrible reputation, but they are literally bending over backwards for their customer right now and making me think about sticking it out with them for another two years with this phone. Sprint, from someone who was about to jump ship and was the first to talk bad about you, I applaude your efforts!!! Startin to look like a new better company!!!

[PhoneFan @ Aug 20th 2008 7:21PM]

Don't worry they will! They already have an agreement with HTC to develop an Android phone for them. I hate to say it, cause I couldn't wait to get out of my contract with Sprint, but what better company to be with right now than one that is fighting tooth and nail to keep my business? I mean I have always loved thier network, now with these new great phones that they are getting, the prices of their plans and the huge effort they are making to turn their customer service around they are starting to win me over. I mean at least they are not rolling over and dying right? I gotta hand it to them, they know they have a terrible reputation, but they are literally bending over backwards for their customer right now and making me think about sticking it out with them for another two years with this phone. Sprint, from someone who was about to jump ship and was the first to talk bad about you, I applaude your efforts!!!
Startin to look like a new better company!!!

[PhoneFan @ Aug 20th 2008 7:23PM]

Don't worry they will! They already have an agreement with HTC to develop an Android phone for them. I hate to say it, cause I couldn't wait to get out of my contract with Sprint, but what better company to be with right now than one that is fighting tooth and nail to keep my business? I mean I have always loved thier network, now with these new great phones that they are getting, the prices of their plans and the huge effort they are making to turn their customer service around they are starting to win me over. I mean at least they are not rolling over and dying right? I gotta hand it to them, they know they have a terrible reputation, but they are literally bending over backwards for their customer right now and making me think about sticking it out with them for another two years with this phone. Sprint, from someone who was about to jump ship and was the first to talk bad about you, I applaude your efforts!!!
Startin to look like a new better company!!!

[PhoneFan @ Aug 20th 2008 7:26PM]

Sorry!! First time user here, couldn't figure out how to post comments, looks like I accidentally did it three times. My bad, won't happen again.

[haX0r @ Aug 19th 2008 5:21PM]

This won't save Sprint's butt....they will be gobbled up by someone (Verizon).

[Jon Nelson @ Aug 19th 2008 5:27PM]

I'd put my money on Google gobbling Sprint:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/google-to-acquire-sprint-nextel-for-mobile-wimax/

[phanbouy @ Aug 19th 2008 5:28PM]

i'm not homophobic or anything but...

[reno6 @ Aug 19th 2008 5:26PM]

This is just plain greedy. They should make it $199.