Archive for April 26th, 2009

HTC Touch Diamond2 review followup

Since I published my review of the HTC Touch Diamond2 a few days ago several people have posted some important questions so rather then answer them through the comments system or privately I thought I would post this review follow up for you all to have a look at.

Elexero:

"One thing I’d like to know is if the device has a proximity sensor to shut the display off when you put it to your ear/face while having a call."

I forgot to mention the reasoning for the amazing battery life. One of the things that makes this so energy efficient is the built-in display management.

The device does dim and increase the screen brightness as you use it, however it doesn’t switch off the screen. This was something that the Original Diamond used to do, and annoyed the hell out of so many users, I think they redesigned it. The longer you talk, the dimmer the screen goes, however almost instantly it "relights" as soon as you take it away from your face. It’s so fast I actually had to make a test call in front of a mirror in order to check it out. However.. this is NOT a proximity sensor.. It’s an ambient light sensor! This is confirmed on page 23 of the User Manual.

sinaplenty & Adam:

"Have you got an idea how it compares with the OS on the Touch HD – that’s still around with bigger screen and proper headphone jack, and would think is a pretty decent alternative to the Diamond2?"

The Touch HD is a viable alternative in my opinion, however.. You have to remember it came out over 7 months ago. HTC have had a lot of time and a lot of feedback to finalise this Diamond 2, its hardware and the ROM. Overall, the Diamond 2 feel "snappier" and its Touchflo is far better. The larger screen is a plus for the HD, as the 3.5 mil jack, however the headphones supplied with the Diamond are not bad at all, and the amount of adapters out there for Extusb to 3.5 jack, do not make that a real deciding factor anymore, at least not in my book. At the end of the day it’s a matter of taste, battery and weight…

Touch HD

• Dimensions
• 115 x 62.8 x 12 mm
• Weight
• 146 g
• Screen Size: 480 x 800 pixels, 3.8 inches

Diamond 2

• Dimensions
• 107.9 x 53.1 x 13.7 mm
• Weight
• 117.5 g
• Screen Size : 480 x 800 pixels, 3.2 inches

Mobilebrowsingaddict:

Can you please add a few landscape screen shot of Opera. I would love to know whether sites are more readable in landscape view now that they don’t need to be zoomed out as much. Also can u please comment on 640*480 video recording. And review the new ISO settings of the phone. Does a higher ISO really help with low light situations?

Well, Here’s Google News (click to enlarge):

and as well as the landscape mode does for browsing, it’s terrible for text entry!

As for the camera:

I have to admit, I didn’t really review the camera that well . Having gone back, I took a closer look at all the new features, and was surprised to find quite a few things had changed.

The auto ISO does help a bit, but it’s still bad in low light! The video recording is quite good with the ability to record in H.263, H.264 and Mpeg4 and sizes of 128*96, 176*144, 320*240, 352*288 and 640*480.

Again, low light is a problem, as you can see from this short video of my cats!

As for the exchange functionality that Joy asked for, I am currently writing a review for that topic on the Diamond. Should be ready in a few days, as its quite extensive, and aimed not only for "end users" but also system admins interested in using Windows Mobile devices as an alternative to Blackberry. so it will cover quite a bit of ground.

Review by: Piero

[ Post Tags: HTC Touch Diamond2, Diamond, HTC, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]