WSJ reviews HTC Touch Diamond: "can't disguise WinMo's flaws"
By Darren Murph 
posted September 3rd 2008 11:45PM
posted September 3rd 2008 11:45PM
It was only a matter of time before the WSJ (Katherine Boehret, in this case) got their hands around Sprint's still-not-official Touch Diamond, and we can't say that the conclusion she drew is at all shocking. As Mossberg and his partners so often do, Katherine mentions Apple's darling just as much as the topic of the review itself, and while she seemed impressed with the hardware, it was the software that suffered the brunt of her attacks. She proclaimed that "despite its handsome TouchFLO 3D software and animated icons, the device failed to disguise the frustrating interface of Windows Mobile often enough for [her] taste." Beyond that, she also found room to gripe about the "cramped" keyboard, which she felt was "next to impossible" to use with just her fingertips. On the plus side, she did give the browser a decent amount of praise, but if you were looking for support from this critic before picking up the forthcoming handset, you'll be sorely disappointed.[Via phonescoop]
The precious iPhone is trying to copy PalmOS and Toshiba's M200 tablet PC.
The iPhone's UI is a polished and animated version of PalmOS's UI. Am I really the only one that sees this?!
My Toshiba M200 was released before the iPhone and has many of those silly little hardware features (gyro) that the iPhone has.
Apple = decorative copycat
You hide your bias so well, I think from now on I will use your opinion as law.
Look at these silly responses. Sure WinMo has been around for years. HTChas been around for years. What do they have to show for? Substandard OS. Substandard UI. Substandard Apps. Thank goodness the Windows monopoly fueled their sales. Along comes Apple and your crappy hardware and software maker immediately starts to copy Apple. How pathetic is that. How pathetic are your arguments of these players being in the market years before the iPhone and producing nothing but boring products. These "me too" player unable to produce anything like the iPhone. Now they are scrambling to copy or slap on a bad copy of the UI to a crappy OS. Laughable.
@ Matt: I agree. Sure the iPhone is a lot slicker than Palm, but the basic "pages of app icons" interface has been around since the B&W 160x160 PalmPilots.
As for Jubei, calling HTC a 'me too' company just displays Jubei's ignorance. :D
@ Matt:
Read below.
@ Alan Strangis:
The "pages of app icons" has been around since Apple started using it in the first commercial computers with a GUI:
"The Macintosh, released in 1984, was the first commercially successful product to use a GUI" - Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_GUI#Apple_Lisa_and_Macintosh_.28and_later.2C_the_Apple_IIgs.29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Apple_Macintosh_Desktop.png
These are all facts, given to you in as plain a format as possible. If I get low ranked, it just means that someone couldn't accept the truth.
wow you sure do like to talk about "me too" products
http://www.engadget.com/profile/1384422/
someones been tuggin on jobs' unit if ya know what i mean
Sick. Ew. Eww. Stop. No more. Yuck!
Before you misguided WinMo users continue to post more silliness of who did what, go here and learn something not from a silly made for TV docudrama.
http://www.folklore.org
@Jubei
The way you self-righteously defend Apple and it's products is incredibly disturbing (Your profile is enough evidence in itself to prove that).
Go away you FREAK.
Let the rest of us enjoy these devices. We don't need some weird gadget-preacher telling us what to buy.
@who:
And Apple stole the gui idea from Xerox.
@ Imran
Finally! Someone with a brain!
Apple was second to make a GUI (and the first to successfully sell commercially). Xerox's Star was first, failing miserably by selling a meager 25,000 in all.
I think we can all agree that Apple did not steal anything from Palm, of all people (which is what this conversation was all about).
Xerox = maybe, Palm = never.
@Imran
Wrong! Learn to read. This Apple stole from Xerox myth is perpetuated by these postings.
http://www.folklore.org
Voteban Jubei Oh! Crap! Wrong game...
Wow, Pink... I wish...
This review is by Katherine Boehret, not Walt Mossberg!
WOW so far 22 people seem to know or cared about what this dude writes, he most be big time r something..
This guy is an apple ass bag.
CrapApples anyone?
To my understanding the Daimond (Sprints version) is not available for review, could he possibly have a Telus version?... No where in that crap review is there any mention of having the Sprint version. Where are the photos?!
While Walt didn't write the article, he did edit it. And the single comment in the comments section was about as good.....sheesh! I hope old Steve Jobs likes getting so many blow jobs....
Hello everybody.
I guess, one no company can satisfy consumers.
Personally, I at times wonder how people think.
Let me make some analogies and that would make things clear.
(1)
Some say Windows mobile is highly flexible and lots of applications, somewhat like Symbian Series 60 and yet, some people criticise that Windows Mobile looks ugly.
Well, can someone tell me how "beautiful" does Symbian OSes look?
(2)
Lets take for example, some 'notable' reviewers complain that Diamind does not have a 3.5mm audio jack. And on the other hand, some praise the fact that it has a mini-USB interface. Where is the problem? You can do just fine with a mini_USD to 3.5mm adapter. Think positive guys.
(3)
So many are heard to complain that Diamnod lacks a dedicated camera key! I ask: what is the problem with Diamond's touch and press implementation? It is as dedicated in Camera-mode as any other dedicated keys!
(4)
Some say GPS reception is poor and that it connects to less number of sattelites.
Where? It has one of the best GPS chipsets and it does not matter how many satellites it connects to. If you get your coordinates accurately, it should be it.
(5)
Some people complain that it takes over 3 seconds for the webpages to respond to flips (turning vertical to horizontal and vice versa.) What people don't understand that it is a feature. Otherwise, you would get your page constantly flipping at the drop of a hat. Would you want that?
(6)
Some say that Accelarometer functions only in select applications.
Even that is done for a purpose. You may not want your Windows Mobile Game to flip everytime when you shake your phone.
How will HTC know what to fkip and what not to. So they decided to play safe.
If you really want to flip everything (and also specify what not to flip,) use application called "GSEN".
And oh! In GSEN you can set the flip timout to 500 milliseconds and see how the phone really responds in 500ms!
(7)
As far as virtual keyboards being cramped. Full qwerty touch keyboard is still not perfected in any smartphone. It will get
perfected soon. However, there are softwares like "TouchPal" that are researching in this direction and very soon you may seen
better implementations.
Things that you can "really" complain about.
(a) Poor battery performance. But you can buy a double powered extended battery (at the cost of fattening your phone!)
(b) Windows Mobile's built-in Contact and calendar Softwares are a bit tough to be used via fingers.
yeah winmo sucks so much! I can tether my $30 a month SERO (includes free EVDO internet) for free. Oh how I want to jump on the iphones and pay $30 a month alone for data! oh woe is me!
If you hate everything, then people will think you're right ... most of the time. There is no single product that everyone absolutely loves and every bit of gadgetry that was ever powered on has "flaws".
Mossberg has a simple formula... hate on the product, say "it's good for a few things" and most people will hail you.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that the Samsung Instinct would suck. The iPhone is a mobile computing platform.
As far as Windows Mobile and TouchFLO 3D... any main function of the iPhone can be done within TouchFLO 3D... it's the things that the iPhone can't do that bring you to Windows Mobile (exception = composing email).
Walt ignores other important things...
1. Can the iPhone play all types of media? No, but the Diamond can
2. Can the iPhone run 3rd party apps in the background? No, but the Diamond can
3. Can the iPhone do Turn-by-turn GPS? No, but the Diamond can
4. Does the iPhone have a steep learning curve for all advanced features? Apple doesn't allow advanced features on the iPhone... Microsoft allows people to do anything with Windows Mobile.
Walt needs stop focusing on "it's pretty and a dead baby could use it = it's good" and start focusing on "it's pretty and a dead baby could use it = it's pretty and a dead baby could use it" and "it's hard to use sometimes, but does everything you want it to do = hard to use sometimes, but does everything you want it to do". The user decides if the thing will work for them.
And the WSJ is such an informed and technically adept team of experts..............
I just believe their judgments over all else!
@ Sarig
Thank you!
And also:
HTC Diamond supports these (after few registry editing):
1. GeoTagging on Photos.
2. Sports and Bursts Mode Camera.
3. Direct Video Share
It has great FM Radio.
It has great Video Playback.
I played divx compressed Video after installing DivX Player. And that too without transcoding for my mobile.
Also... unlike ALL (I SAY ALL) other phones, when applications seriously crash, Windows Mobile is not taken down with it. Rather a simple "App has crashed. Send or Do Not Send Report" thing comes up... just like Win XP.
This has to be one of the most bias reviews I have ever read. The reviewer slams WinMo without specifics like its a bad thing. Yes, WinMo, like any other OS (iPhone Included) has its flaws. However, I find WinMo's OS to be the most reliable. I have used it for years and its dated but reliable. Yes, WinMo, at present, requires the use of a stylus. That's OK. It keeps me from having to constatly touch the screen. The reviewer says in the review that when you go deep enough, WinMo's menu would pop up. So what?? At least I get to use the Huge library of software its designed for, while getting a new and clean interface.
Nowhere in this review, does the reviewer talks about the ADVANTAGES this phone has over the iPhone... GPS for starters. BIAS BIAS BIAS.... I suspect Apple loving, Microsoft HATING Engadget's review will be no better, but at least Engadget try to make it APPEAR that they aren't bias.
I don't care how good the iPhone is, it doesn't work with EVDO. Makes it kind of useless to me. I owned an iPod Touch, and the browser's lack of Java support rendered it useless to me. I will be getting the Touch Pro. I actually don't mind the WinMo interface. I'd rather Palm come out with a decent browser for my Treo, but since the Palm OS seems to be dead, I'm not holding my breath.
Advantages of WinMo for 2009:
I agree with Jubei. WinMo UI as always been a pain in comparison with other alternatives. Nevertheless for me it has a great advantge over the iPhone, and that is API openness (anyone can build an app). Want VOIP? Just download. If it only had a nice UI ... Want to use the phone in the car with bluetooth, just connect it to your existing facilitties. So the real competiion will be in 2009 with WinMo 7.
Advantages of iPhone for 2010
An advantage for the iPhone is that Apple seams commited to offer OS upgrades to any comparable model. Unlike the WinMo crowd were with the release of a new OS model comes the necessity to buy a new phone, even thoough in terms of hardware is not fully needed. The UI is excelent for todays standards, they only need to offer better compatibility to other systems in terms of communication. Why didn't they offer standard bluetooth facitilies?
Apple has now two ways to tackle the market. Either offer more compelling features fot the business user or ... more compelling features for the entertainment focused crowd (the crowd they got untill now). What more features you may think? Well GAMES GAMES GAMES GAMES GAMES. I can only imagine a version of Civilization playing in the iPhone (most of the game is played with point and click, ideal of touch devices). What about an acessory tha turnes the iPhone into something similar to PSP?
In this venue I can't see WinMo playing at all in the next couple of years if not more.
Trance
PS: ATM I'm still getting the HTC Diamond due to its openness. Althought iPhone is dandy its sofwware doesn't attract me yet. If it only had nice bluetooth compatibility, VOIP and GAME GAMES GAMES :)
iphone mentioned 11 times in the article. pathetic how they say winmo is out to compete with iphone, its still the iphone thats trying to compete with winmo
Gee....its just someones opinion..I would love to switch from my Iphone to something else, and I really wanted this or the Pro, but this review doesnt make me want to run out and get it. My Iphone becomes more "glitchy" everyday, so I am on the look out...
Brush your teeth
I usually just take them out and rinse them..
This Bitch has fatass fingers, i get along just fine with mine and im not ethiopian. stop being a fat fingered lady please.
My Pappy always told me, "SON, "you can't polish a turd"
WinMob Sucks. and always will (prob.)
It is sad when reviewers negatively rate products they are too dumb to figure out. Case in point:
"It reminded me of the brown paper bag book covers my Dad helped me make for schoolbooks when I was a kid: They looked great on the outside, felt sturdy and clean and created a blank canvas for homemade doodles that were often more interesting to me than the books they covered. But my book covers couldn’t change what was underneath; pages of frustrating algebra were just a flip away."
So she couldn't figure out algebra and now she can't figure out windows mobile.
@ Imran
Finally! Someone with a brain!
Apple was second to make a GUI (and the first to successfully sell commercially). Xerox's Star was first, failing miserably by selling a meager 25,000 in all.
I think we can all agree that Apple did not steal anything from Palm, of all people (which is what this conversation was all about).
Xerox = maybe, Palm = never.
last month i took possession of the HTC Diamond Touch Screen
it is a pig on batteries -
i have to recharge twice a day if i used the phone at all
the charge unit is a queerly designed usb end that is incompatible with any other usb
in defence of the design it is cool
but the learning curve is obtuse
the text pad is very easy but i am a hunt and peck sort of guy anyway
the service provider keeps demanding that i down load some strange message handling software that there has not been any direction on yet - i have to return to store to find out how to capture the photos i sent from my old phone to the new phone -
there are a lot of balls in the air and this is the reason battery is used up so quickly i think-
oh yes the really insane thing - it asks me if i want local weather and then offers me a city 100 miles south and two mountain ranges away - which has absolutely nothing to do with local weather - then if you say yes you want local weather the service provider requests your postal code so it can (FOR AN UNTOLD EXTRA CHARGE) "ehance your user experience"
i found that to be a sneaky attack on my walletr so i opted no - i think i will continue to look out the window for free to check local weather -
oh yes one more thing
the screen demands full attention of the user even for simple call in or out
Do Not Use The HTC Diamond While Driving
even the shape and feel in your hand demands full attention to make sure the device is placed correctly ear to speaker -mouth to mike -
Do NOT use the Diamond while driving