More rough than diamond
THE HTC DIAMOND TOUCH phone has been widely touted as a challenger to Apple’s iPhone. But to say that would be stretching the truth. The Touch has a nice big screen and uses HTC’s TouchFlo as a covering for the Windows Mobile 6 operating systems. That’s its biggest problem.
Windows Mobile isn’t a very user-friendly system to use, mostly because it was designed to be operated with a stylus and not a finger. The TouchFlo system is meant to make it easy to use basic services, such as phoning with your finger – and it succeeds to a certain extent. However, any task that requires precision – such as typing an SMS – will prove frustrating and have you reaching quickly for the stylus.
The power settings are confusing, in that you have to set it to turn the phone off after a set amount of time to get it to put the screen to sleep. Otherwise it remains on, permanently running down your battery in no time. Even with careful conservation, its battery life is nothing to write home about and heavy users will be lucky to get a day’s use from the phone. Charging is through a standard USB jack in the bottom of the phone – the same jack used for the headphones. That makes it impossible to talk on the hands-free and charge the phone at the same time.
On the positive side it has 4GB of memory built in and a very funky back that looks like it fell off a stealth jet fighter, but that does nothing to offset the innate awfulness of Windows Mobile. If you really want to make a fashion statement there are cooler phones available. If you need a Windows phone, HTC makes many that are easier to use. Sadly, its Diamond Touch offers little to make it stand out in the crowd and I’d stay as far away as possible.
Finweek
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