Sprint's HTC Touch Diamond: September 14 for $249.99. Honest.

Now that Uncle Walt has gone and opened the floodgates, details are starting to pour in on Sprint's imminent release of the Touch Diamond, a device that should actually manage to get the carrier damn close to the top of the Windows Mobile pile (for a short while, anyway). PC Magazine is now reporting that it'll be available on September 14 for $249.99 on a two-year contract after $100 rebate, a sum that would put it squarely in the "average" category for on-contract smartphone pricing in these parts. Of course, with the Touch Pro allegedly just around the corner, it remains to be seen just how much love this thing is going to get; nothing like a good, old-fashioned QWERTY-versus-touchscreen fight, is there?

[ByronGman @ Sep 4th 2008 4:40PM]

Huzzah!

I can go play with it in a Sprint store. :-)

[who? @ Sep 4th 2008 4:42PM]

Nice price, but I hate rebates. Instant savings FTW!

[a ham sandwich @ Sep 4th 2008 5:52PM]

yeah i agree! the only practical purpose for a mail in rebate these days is to try and pray tat a couple saps are too lazy to send it in. this is confirmed for me when, after 3 weeks they send it back to you and tell you you're missing a CRUCIAL part of the rebate process, since most people just get pissed off and give up at that point.

[Richard @ Sep 4th 2008 7:15PM]

"try and pray tat a couple saps are too lazy to send it in"

That'd be me!

[Tajam @ Sep 4th 2008 4:44PM]

are there any pictures of the back of this?

[Bradley @ Sep 4th 2008 5:11PM]

I *really* hope that it's not RED.

Come on Sprint.

Bad decision.

Makes me NOT want one. And I was pretty amped for this phone and ready to give you $$$ in a heartbeat.

Red??? Fail!

[phanbouy @ Sep 4th 2008 5:17PM]

so you don't like red huh?

[Mike @ Sep 5th 2008 11:18AM]

Yeah, this phones been released for about a year. Just not in the US. Go to HTC's website. Id much rather have the TOUCH Pro than this one. Touchscreen keyboards get old QUICK!

[Grimm @ Sep 4th 2008 4:47PM]

I will believe it is coming out when it is in my hands.... This is sprint we are talking about.

[From My Cube @ Sep 4th 2008 4:51PM]

the only thing you need to worry about with sprint is being billed 5 times for the same phone...then spending 4 million years on the phone trying to get it resolved with someone who barely understands the note cards they are reading

[MastrCake @ Sep 4th 2008 7:10PM]

To add to From My Cube's comment, even IF you can understand them, their notecards still offer nothing more than a standard apology ("We do apologize for any issues you may be having. Can you please tell me [insert worthless time-stalling question(s) here]?"), a standard response to your yelling ("Sir, please stay calm. We are trying to resolve this as best we can.) and, of course, the manager's extension ("Okay, but my manager will not be able to help any more than I can.").

Also in their cubicles are a stress-ball, a computer running the latest games, and various posters, screensavers, and bobbleheads that all say "No!".

[MadMike @ Sep 4th 2008 4:50PM]

Wow, that's cheap. Subsidized?

[MadMike @ Sep 4th 2008 4:51PM]

Wow, totally missed that. It is.

[StalematE @ Sep 4th 2008 5:01PM]

yes... but...

[clay113 @ Sep 4th 2008 5:02PM]

@ who? So agree with you on that one, I hate waiting god knows how long for damn rebate checks. I was in the store yesterday and the guy told me to check back on Monday for a demo version. He however declined to give me the instant savings discount when I come back in which I found disturbing.

[FreXxX @ Sep 5th 2008 5:00AM]

what a nice price. payed something like that a year ago for my htc touch.

i hope, the touch pro doesnt cost so much more. then i can think about upgrading.

[brad @ Sep 4th 2008 5:07PM]

come on sprint, this needs to be cheaper than the iphone if you want people to consider it...

[steven @ Sep 4th 2008 5:11PM]

It needs to be better than the iPhone too. Oh, wait...

[oddlou @ Sep 4th 2008 5:12PM]

If you factor in Sprint's cheaper rates over the course of a two-year contract, this does end up being less expensive than the I-Phone.

[bandigolo @ Sep 4th 2008 5:06PM]

Holy moses - does this mean that the Touch Pro will be tip the scales at a mere $379 less any additional rebates??? Hoowah!

Can anyone explain to me the technical differences between the Diamond and Pro? I know the obvious QWERTY slider thing... what about capabilities?

[John @ Sep 4th 2008 5:27PM]

TV Out.. plug the Touch Pro into your TV with a component cable. Watch movies, listen to music, surf the internet, with a TV as your scrreen

microSD card slot

5 Row QWERTY

[Graham @ Sep 4th 2008 5:41PM]

This article may help with some of the differences:

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/08/05/more-details-on-htcs-touch-diamond-touch-pro-for-verizon-and/

[bandigolo @ Sep 4th 2008 7:52PM]

@ idouche - I'm sure WinMo has plenty of flaws, but seriously, most people I know with an iPhone have to restart it a couple of times each day. That's not exactly what I'd call "stable" for a cell phone

@ Graham - Thanks for that link. The only think missing from those comp charts are physical dimensions and weight, which will actually factor into my decision

@ John - Don't care about TV out, but you nailed it with the QWERTY and SD expansion... seemingly the only 2 differences worth writing home about. I remain undecided whether that will justify the inevitably higher price tag and increased size/weight

[Phoenix @ Sep 5th 2008 9:16AM]

Extra RAM and ROM (288mb to 192, 512 to 256)

[MBN @ Sep 5th 2008 10:56AM]

Graham,

That article is only comparing the differences between the Sprint and Verizon Touch Diamond.

[How.she.slap.me? @ Sep 4th 2008 5:20PM]

You guys should really cover what a disaster Sprint's Instinct is.

It's been over 2 months, and there is NO KEYBOARD support for java apps.

The browser crashes on MOST sites. Out of alexa's top 20 sites, 6 load.

The Speakerphone is broken if you have the volume at more than half.

Sprint TV is unusable on the Instinct.

Sprint has heard the huge outpour of complaints but repeatedly dismiss it's loyal customers. Their excuses are laughable, CS told one user at BAW that hurricane gustav was to blame for a delayed keyboard release. They advertise it as midp 2.0 compliant, thus it MUST have keyboard support. They simply dont want people running existing java apps because they want to SELL us THEIR OFFICIAL APPS.

SHAMEFUL.\

PLEASE COVER THIS.

[Chris Ziegler @ Sep 4th 2008 5:23PM]

Believe me -- we hear you loud and clear. We've established contact with both Sprint and Samsung over the past couple days in an effort to figure out what's going on there, and we'll publish something as soon as we know more.

[PynkFloydd @ Sep 5th 2008 11:32PM]

I bought the Mogul when it first came out and all of us early adopters had a rough ride with that one too... It took about 6 months for Sprint to work out a decent ROM; we had a lot of roaming and Bluetooth issues. If it makes you feel better, you might be able to get them to switch out phones. A lot of people were able to trade in their Moguls for Touches months after the 30 day period was over. I had a weird issue with my phone and it took a lot of convincing just to have Sprint warranty it out.

I really want the Touch Pro but, I'm going to wait until the first ROM update comes out.

[Graham @ Sep 4th 2008 5:39PM]

Could be worse... Could be Apple and At&t... oh wait...

[Tech^Cellfish @ Sep 4th 2008 5:45PM]

Why the China look and not the European look? The European looks sharper (and has the take/hang up buttons on top, instead of bottom)

[Mark Anderson @ Sep 4th 2008 5:46PM]

Neither do multiple accounts by the same retard.

[Jubei @ Sep 4th 2008 5:50PM]

It's a shame that so many users will be fooled into purchasing this "me too" product. Just like the Instinct, its nothing more than a blurry shadow of the iPhone, which all these devices are working so hard to emulate. But fail to do so by a very large margin. It's underlying OS guarantees mediocre performance and stunted UI advances.

[jv @ Sep 4th 2008 6:10PM]

too even mention i-phone here is a shame, htc has ALWAYS been hands down better than anything Apple could or will offer. Apple will always ONLY be the lucky mp3 player distributor (the only reason anyone has taken notice), and nothing more, they have only a mediocre product, that appeals to that 60% of average brained humans. spec for spec apple has always been less, ALWAYS. Commercials have defined what people find a need for, we have become a non-thinking animal, point the boob tube my way so I may know what I want

[kccboy2004 @ Sep 4th 2008 6:01PM]

@Jubei,

That is just so not true, the iPhone's underlying software is UNIX. It is not that bad. It is ridiculous for you to denigrate the Apple software but saying that OSX "gives mediocre performance and stunted UI advances" as you put it is just nasty.

Sure you have a point, Apple has really messed up, some say hood-winked a lot of people out of their hard earned cash ($1320 per year over 5 years, at compound interest, will buy your daughter a nice wedding), but they did not mean it.

Now lay off Apple Jubei !

[Jubei @ Sep 4th 2008 6:25PM]

Defending HTC as having superior software for devices is laughable. Their current direction to copy everything Apple is doing is visible proof that they are as clueless as their masters in Redmond.

[Ruffy @ Sep 4th 2008 11:27PM]

actually the HTC diamond came out overseas so close to the iPhone release stateside that it was apparent they had been working on the HTC phone and interface at the same time apple was putting together the iPhone. If the HTC diamond was an attempt at a copy then they would have had to been spying on apple throughout the iPhone R&D and production

[Rob Schoenfeld @ Sep 4th 2008 11:32PM]

Jubei you little ass #@$k spamming whore of a troll? Can you even afford an Iphone making minimum wage? Why don't you do everyone a favor and go #@$k yourself.

[PynkFloydd @ Sep 5th 2008 11:56PM]

@kccboy2004:

Ha ha ha! Took me a second to figure out what you did there...

[Adrian @ Sep 4th 2008 6:11PM]

Actually, I just spoke with various Sprint Managers on their Customer Service line and they verified the phone is actually coming Monday, September 8th to Sprint. And yes, it is sporting a red/burgundy colored back plate. I'm so psyched for this phone!!

[awake @ Sep 4th 2008 6:15PM]

I still want to know if Walt reviewed the Sprint version or the Telus GSM version, in his bias review it was mentioned there was slow response, that would leave me to believe he indeed had the Telus model. To my understanding the Telus version has less memory thus making it less responsive, as many Telus customers have noted.

[beej @ Sep 4th 2008 6:59PM]

Telus does not have a GSM network...

[yibrushn @ Sep 4th 2008 7:12PM]

Telus is CDMA just like Sprint, and Sprint will probably carry the same exact version with slightly tweaked software. I wouldn't trust Mossberg's opinions about anything though.

[awake @ Sep 4th 2008 7:23PM]

My mistake, however Telus is going GSM. The Telus version does have less memory though. Here is some info I found from computerworld, apparently the HTC Diamond will not make it's American debut until next Wed Sept 10th;

"according to Microsoft Corp. officials. Next week's launch would be its first appearance in the U.S."

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=mobile_and_wireless&articleId=9114115&taxonomyId=15&intsrc=kc_top

So the question is... Which version did Walt have, If he indeed had a non Sprint version he needs to make a retraction and say so, because it was clear that some are under the impression he had a Sprint version.

[TIM @ Sep 4th 2008 6:25PM]

YAY! im excited

[Meepzork @ Sep 4th 2008 6:31PM]

must be true. The current "Touch" phone is down to $99 on the sprint website.

[y2kss66 @ Sep 4th 2008 7:30PM]

I am going to be buying this when it comes out for verizon. hope it doesn't take that much longer after the sprint release.

[awake @ Sep 4th 2008 7:40PM]

if I am not mistaken I believe Sprint has a 6 month exclusive. Then after that it's up to Verizon when they want to release it!

[Seth Porter @ Sep 4th 2008 7:56PM]

It doesn't matter what the phone is. Sprint friggin blows. So glad i jumped that sinking ship.

[Lancelot @ Sep 4th 2008 8:25PM]

Unless something has changed it's hard to get excited about anything that's running Windows Mobile.. What a piece of crap software.. Just my opinion but it's based on previous experiences.

[Michael @ Sep 4th 2008 8:35PM]

Sweet. If the iPhone 3G continues to be a pile of fail (sure, WiFi always works, but it isn't called the iPhone WiFi, is it?), I'll definitely pick up the HTC Touch Diamond.

Oh, and by the way, the Touch Pro is a fatty, so unless a physical keyboard is a must, don't bother waiting.