Monday, 2008.06.23 03:15 JST
HTC Touch Diamond
There has been a lot of hype about HTC's new slick smart phone, the HTC Touch Diamond device and its new TouchFLO 3D user interface. Now it is finally here - and it's shiny (at least where I haven't put my greasy fingerprints on it). It is easy to draw parallels with iPhone. Not because it is trying to clone iPhone (it really isn't), but because it has some of the same qualities; it feels exclusive, it's shiny, tuned for browsing, in a similar price bracket, and it attracts finger prints like dough attract flies. This is easily the slickest Windows Mobile device ever, and while that doesn't say much, I think this can hold its own next to an iPhone appearance wise. Additionally it's really tiny (99mm x 51mm x 10.7mm).
     
It's quite impressive what they've managed to pack into such a small body. It easily fits in your shirt pocket, yet it is fully featured;
Qualcomm 528mhz CPU, a GPU for those fluid 3D effects, 192MB RAM, 256MB ROM, 4GB internal storage (no way to expand though), Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (900/1800/1900 MHz) HSDPA (900/2100 MHz) at 7.2mbps, Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 b/g), Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, 3.2mpixel auto-focus camera + VGA videoconf camera, GPS, FM radio, built-in accelerometer, etc. The 2.8" 640x480 VGA screen is getting a lot of attention abroad, but in Japan where 800x480 WVGAs are currently the norm this isn't that amazing. The colours are crisp and bright though so no complaints there. A complaint though is that it uses a resistive touch screen, and not the capacitive type found in iPhone/iPod Touch. This means that you can use it with gloves on and also with a stylus, but it also reduces the responsiveness to finger touches. Somehow you never feel as in control when using your finger as you do with the capacitive screens.
HTC has put in a lot of effort to hide the ugly underpinning that's Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, by adding their own interface on top called TouchFLO 3D which covers most of the everyday functionality. It's nice and animated with lots of 3D effects, albeit a bit sluggish at times (see tweaks below). When you run out of TouchFLO 3D and into the brutal world of Windows Mobile however you want to bite off your fingers to avoid having to deal with the Microsoft UI. Also things get more sluggish here. Given that this device sports a 528mhz CPU, a fancy GPU, and a generous 192MB of RAM (which seems to do wonders compared to the 128MB typically found in similar units) I think we can conclude that WM will be sluggish no matter what hardware OEMs throw at it. Another problem when running out of TouchFLO 3D is that the interface feels somewhat inconsistent as you move between the two UI worlds. For example; sometimes you can scroll by flicking your finger across the screen, but other times you have to pull out the stylus and drag the scroll bars. TouchFLO 3D is also a bit buggy. I still can't add any contacts to the fancy 3D favorite list without crashing the interface (my contacts are synced from my Mac using the piece of shit that is The Missing Sync so that could be to blame). Hopefully this and the memory leaks it seem to suffer from will be fixed soon. Overall though, the TouchFLO 3D does wonders with this device, making WM useable for most tasks - even without a stylus.
Apparently one of the goals with the Diamons was to make it possible to operate it with one hand, so it doesn't have any slide out QWERTY keyboard like so many of the other HTC phones have, but rather depends on software keyboards on the touch screen. HTC has bent over backwards to accommodate various keyboard layouts, including phone keypad, a compact QWERTY, and a full QWERTY. The full QWERTY is my favorite when using my index finger, while I prefer the phone keypad combined with T9 for one hand operation. I think this is the first phone with a touch screen keyboard that is possible to write on using one hand. If you can't survive with the software keyboards, you can always wait for the Touch Pro.
The Diamond comes with a customized version of the yet-to-be-released Opera Mobile 9.5. I'm a bit biased in this department (duh!), but this rocks! :) Double tap for adaptive zoom - or zoom with the scroll wheel -, flick your finger to scroll, and so on. Also the zoom reflows the text so you never have to scroll sideways - which is great. The browser also packs a lot of features like letting you upload and download files, save or send images, etc.
GPS and A-GPS works well with Google Maps, though it is by no means as accurate as my au/KDDI phone. Usually it is right on, but sometimes it is off by several blocks.
A lot was written about the battery on this device being only 900mA. It's not the device with the most stamina around, but considering the small battery it holds up ok for light usage.
In the end, the only thing holding this device back is the WM underneath. Windows Mobile still sucks. Apart from that, this is a slick device and the first WM phone I've managed to use without constantly cursing and waving my fist towards Redmond. The few pluses of WM are still intact, e.g. its flexibility; it lets me run apps like QMail, Skype (at least it will be when Skype adds WM 6.1 support), SPB Insight, and Google Maps. This might very well be the first WM device I can live with.
Notes:
- I've flashed the unit to the latest official ROM (at time of writing; 1.37.707.1).
- I'm using a non carrier-locked unit with a SoftBank SIM. This works fine, but I don't seem to receive push mails to my softbank mail address yet.
Ended up getting some mad phone bills, so retrying with the following settings;
- APN: open.softbank.ne.jp
- ID: opensoftbank
- PASSWD: ebMNuX1FIHg9d3DA
- HTTP Proxy: webopen.softbank.ne.jp:8080
Tweaks:
- TouchFLO 3D speed up (using: Advanced Config);
- File system: 8mb (original: Auto)
- Filter cache: 131072 (original: 0)
- Enable A-GPS
- Make HTC Album close rather than minimize (as it its a lot of memory)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\HTC\HTCAlbum, change the ok_minimize from 1 to 0
- Enable GPS photo using Advance Config
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\HTC\Camera\P10, change the value "enabled" from 0 to 1.
- Enable Manual Screen Rotation (Portrait/Landscape)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Rotation\HideOrientationUI (change from 1 to 0). Change is immediate effectively. No reboot is required. Can then be mapped on the "Call" button (long hold) through "Buttons" setting.
Links:
 tmk
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