Touch Diamond 2 Review
Styled for performance – that’s what the HTC Touch Diamond is. With its stunning design and sleek form factor coupled with a spacious touch screen, this smartphone could be what you have been waiting for.
Starting on its appearance. This Windows-Mobile based smart phone is made of metals and plastic, keeping it sturdy yet light. Visually, the HTC Touch Diamond 2 is as appealing as the original model, if not even more sleek and attractive with its larger and more spacious screen.
The resistive touchscreen is slightly bigger as well and measures 3.2inches but requires the use of a stylus for almost everything. However, it comes with a better resolution – WVGA 480X800 with a pixel density of 292ppi (just to give you a frame of reference, the original touch is 285ppi while Apple’s iPhone has a 164ppi screen).
The TouchFLO interface manages to cover up the not-so-attractive Windows Mobile homescreen with several finger-friendly shortcuts to the main features. The sliding menu on the screen is fun and the icons can be accessed by running your finger horizontally along the customizable icons. However, the resistive touch screen may require users to exert a certain amount of pressure for effective input. If your fingers are quite wide, you may encounter incidents of selecting options accidentally when scrolling through the interface.
Move away from the veil the TouchFLO interface creates and you still have to put up with the dated look of the Windows Mobile even though this model has the 6.1 version. One issue would lie with the small font size. A huge list may appear relatively small and slightly difficult to read.
On the plus side, the built-in Opera Mobile internet browser allows internet surfing at blazing speed on HSDPA connection. The integrated Google search function and YouTube program enhances convenience and usage experience.
Keeping you further connected are the stereo Bluetooth and GPS (which makes use of the built-in Google Maps).
The 5MP camera on the back of Touch Diamond 2 does not have a flash option, making low-light shots noisy but the quality of the pictures, especially panoramas, was great. The Diamond 2 also allows you to stitch photos in a user friendly manner. The VGA camera on the front is used for video calling and works well though we’d have liked for it to be more sensitive to changes in lighting.
Other noteworthy specifications are its Qualcomm MSM7200A processor, 512MB ROM, 288MB RAM, a microSD slot for memory expansion, Quadband GSM with dualband UMTS with HSDPA and HSUPA, USB 2.0 and FM radio.