Tracy and Matt's Blog

If would be nice to know if the D_pad is "only" a D-Pad or a wheel! I saw another video where it was used as a wheel for zooming in and out while on a web-page, but it would be perfect if it could be used in other applications as well. Nice video in any case and a very nice phone.

Excellent video, thank you.

Shame the messaging reverted to Windows Mobile.

Would love to see the on screen keyboards in use for entering text if you have any footage of that please?

Also, how quick does the camera app boot up?
My current HTC Wizard is shockingly slow.

If the on screen keyboard isn't great and the camera is slow I'm going to have to wait for the Sony Ericsson Xperia with it's sliding keyboard.
Will be interesting to see if the camera on that is still as quick as most SE phones as it'll now be running Windows Mobile.

many thanks for the video review
i recently purchased an xda orbit 2 which was brilliant in many ways.........except for one big issue.... you could not use the device outside. the legibillity was extremely poor so i had to sell it.

how does the touch diamond fair in direct sunlight, hope you get to find out because there is no way im parting with my cash again until i can find out.i wish more testers of phones would take this into consideration.
great video and thanks for all your hard work.

dave

Saw this - ordered one :) Hope to get one of the first :)

Matt, thank you for the great video. Hopefully, the battery works longer than my s200.

Brilliant video. It really demonstrates a lot of the phone's functions. I'm looking very much forward to having mine delivered June 23rd.

On my own blog, I linked to your video, hope it's ok! :-)

Excellent video. I cannot upgrade with Orange until September (never take out a 3 year contract!)and am excited at the thought of dumping my N70 for either the Touch Diamond or maybe the Sony Xperia. Will you guys be running a comparison between the two when they are both available and isn't the Xperia made in collaboration with HTC anyway?

This looks like its going to be a fantastic phone. but will the interface be the same when you actually use the applications? like sms and the like? i feel that the touchflo is just a launcher...

Does HTC Touch Diamond support Blackberry Connect 4.0

Matt, Thanks for the video, it is very nice n slim phone.

Hi all,
I got my HTC Diamond two days ago - and I am terribly disappointed.
Although a proper UK phone it is full of bugs and design flaws...

I will go back to my P990i - as bad as that sounds!

Although it looks great I have learned to wait until all bugs have been sorted before swithcing to something newer like this or iPod. Besides my TyTn II does everything I want (business email/calendar sync etc)

Torge,

What problems are you having with the Diamond?

Matt

Anyone know when the 02 release date is in the UK?

I'm due for an upgrade- but was waiting for the Diamond to arrive. Have an Orbit at the mo.

What nav software is the Diamond supplied with (If any)?

What flaws have you found so far?- it took months for HTC to iron out probs with my orbit!

No idea when the Diamond will come to O2 and they wont give us any clues either!

the UK retail version of the Diamond comes with Google maps pre-installed but if you want propper navigation software then you'll have to go for something like TomTom or CoPilot. I suspect that some networks may offer this as an option (T-Mobile) and some retailers are bundling the Diamond with Sat Nav software already.

As for flaws. There are a few so far. One was the lack of T-Mobile settings in the connection manager, some third party apps, when installed, end up with corrupt black icons and a few people report problems with music play back being interupted every few minutes.

I personally have a problem with my Diamond where the TF3D interface seems to simply stop working randomly and I have reset the device. I suspect that the problem is caused by having a lot of photos and these being loaded by the photo viewer applet thing.

Also, the uneven back on the Diamond is getting really annoying. It may look nice but it wont sit flat on a desk so rocks about when you press buttons or the screen. Also the high spots on the back start to wear out quite quickly.

Don't get me wrong I still love the Diamond though!

M

Also another Comment if u dont want ur Htc diamond's back to wear all u need to do is buy InvisiShield By invisizone at www.zarr.com
Which will never scratch and i mean 100% ever but if it does just a little bit they will replace it for u for free ^^ and also it only costs $10 for the front and for the full thing $23 ^^

I've been asking around loads of high street stores to see if the latest version of Windows mobile which is running on the Diamond will have the ability of using a 12 key pad on the touch screen when sending a text message. I've had 3 windows based PDA / mobiles now and am really fed up that I can't text with one hand like on a regular phone. Instead I always have to use the stylus. This would heavily influence my decision to upgrade to this bad boy (or any other PDA). No one out there seems able to give me a straight answer. Cheers.

That's easy to answer - you can certainly use the 12 key input method on the Diamond when texting - I use it myself!

Matt

Many thanks Matt.

about your question about the 12 key keyboard have you tried a program called Tengo Thumb you can download a trial from Handango uk its an excellent bit of kit which splits the keypad into only six sections ive been using it for over a year. and if you decide to buy it it costs less than a tenner

got one this weekend, really really pleased with it I have the HTC TytnII as well and was hoping to get the Touch Pro, but the pro looks so much thicker..

Heres an app tht will let u use the accelerometer in third party apps ;)
http://s-k-tools.com/index.html?m_util.html#gsen
:D np for it i love to help :D:D:D

Hi Matt! Thanks for the video. Can i clarify some issues with you? From HTC official site, stated there that the Diamond have 256MB ROM, 192MB RAM. But from your video, i noticed it is only 256 MB ROM, 128MB RAM. Is that mean there are some errors in it? I wished to get it. However, did came across many good and bad reviews. Cnt really make up my mind. Wat say you? Do you actually recommend me buying it? Thanks a lot!

Victoria,

The demo version of the Diamond, as in the video, had only 128MB of RAM but the proper released version has the specified 192MB.

There are a lot of mixed reviews on the Diamond. I personally like the Diamond and it's now in use as my everyday phone. The latest ROM does help quite a bit although there are the odd times when it slows down a bit.

Matt

No one has mentioned the two major drawbacks so far

1 When your'e on a call the screen blacks out, when you press to on/off button to get the screen back it only stays on for 2 secs before going black again

2 There isn't a car kit for it yet, and even when they come out I don't think they will have an external aerial facility

Hi All - to comment on Brian's note I have an orange SPV M700, from what I can see its the predecessor to this phone as I believe the M1300 is to the Touch Pro. When you make a phone call its always best to switch off the screen, especially if you're using it as a handeld. this stops you from accidentally ending the call or something equally stupid when your cheek touches the screen!! And if you've not selected anything within a few seconds you really didn't ned the screen on while making a call in the first place.

I'm trying to decide between the Diamond, the Pro and Sony Ericsson C902 or LG Secret. Can anyone tell me if the Pro has a camera button? Apparently the Diamond doesn't, and although the Pro is thicker its a similar size and weight to my M700 - it doesn't have a flash either which is REALLY annoying!

I received my Diamond this morning and I'll be sending it back tomorrow. It's by far the worst phone I have ever used. The touch screen is unresponsive particularly towards the edges, the interface hangs all the time and when it isn't hanging it works very slowly. I'd nearly thrown it through my office window within half an hour of starting to use it. VERY dissapointed.

I took reciept of my htc diamond yesterday and must say that it is a fantastic phone. its fast slick and to be honest having also had the iphone , the diamond is a much better phone.

plus its not as common as the iphone therefore turns alot more heads

I have been offered the HTC Diamond free as part of my upgrade (Orange UK) I know the phone has been getting bad reviews but my network hasn't really got any good phones to upgrade too.

Does any think I should get it, I mean it free how bad can it be???

Thanks.

I have had my Diamond for just over a month now, and have to say I am used to it now, and i'm able to overcome its short fallings, and bugs - but all phones have these annoying things.

I have to say the one thing I Cant get over is the screen switching off 2 secs into a call. ITs impossible to use voicemail, and phone banking is out of the question.

Seriously: is there any update or anything to get round this??

ALso: Has anyones Orange Diamond got the Orange branded menus?? Mine certainly hasnt! Just the normal black HTC theme - which is preferable anyway!

Just signed a contract for one (for my fiancée) and soon I'll have one, too. I have at the moment an o2 uk Orbit and she had a Samsung i600: for experience bad rating on this kind of phones are simply because people they expect them to be as simple as a nokia 3310, they don't manage to use them and the poor phone gets only one star!! Often if there is something wrong, it's the final user's fault.

Just one question: in my Orbit Tomtom I had serious difficulties finding the GPS signal on a non convertible car, so I purchased an external magnetic GPS antenna to plug in the back of it, and now it works brilliantly. How is the behavior of the Diamond in-car when using the SatNav? Does it have good reception and how fats does it catch the signal? As far as I can see doesn't have a socket for a GPS external antenna, so I won't be able to use the orbit one, right?

Gareth,

I'm OK with the screen switching off since you'd otherwise be triggering off all kinds of weird things once it touches your ear!

I also have the same issue re the Orange branded menus. They're simply not there which is a surprise as they appear in the manuals.

Although it's a big improvement on what I used to have (HTC SPV C550), there are other niggles:

(1) Headphones supplied aren't particularly comfortable to wear and the unique USB slot makes it tricky to use an alternative unless you purchase a multifunction audio cable - see http://www.clove.co.uk/viewProduct.aspx?Manufacturer=HTC&Item=HTCMultifunctionAudioCableYCA200&Product=B55C8C07-36B2-4A28-9A76-F11CB37A5A3A&Category=CB077B5C-390D-4153-8EDD-44D1B2BEF716.

(2) Managing one's Music isn't particularly intuitive or flexible. I still haven't figured out how to easily change the running order! Pocket Music - see http://www.pocketmind.com/pocketmusic.htm - is a much better tool for this.

(3) If you carry this around in your pocket, I've found it very easy for the power button to switch on accidentally and trigger off things. I can't count the number of times I've called people I've set up in Contacts accidentally! I've had to take them off in the TouchFlo option as a precaution.

(4) I don't know how others use the pouch provided but if I'm playing music, I usually turn the Touch Diamond the other way around to allow for the headset. The problem here is that the black band at the bottom then rests on the power button! Perhaps a reason for point 3 above? A slight change in its design or - as I used to have on a Dell Axim x03 - a simple lock switch on the Touch Diamond might help avoid these hassles.

(5) Battery life! But everyone knows that

Alex

ok fair footage...but I have grumbles.

I hate this damn Diamond. I find it v.buggy. I hate the headphones, find the uncomfortable. Would much prefer gel in ear type.

Screen switched is my biggest annoyance and resulted in my Diamond switched off and in my cabinet until my contract expires :(

any of you guys that dont like the phone can always let me know i'd love to buy one offline, has to be in good condition, this is your chance to get rid!

got the Touch yesterday and the 3D fLOW SCREEN DOES NOT COME UP, PRESSING HOME DOES NOTHING , I ONLY HAVE THE STANDARD SCREEN TO WORK WITH THE STYLUSS

ANY IDEAS?

THANKS

Hesh, Do you mean the Touch or the Touch Diamond? Either way you might want to try a hard reset before you get too much installed, it sounds like something is amiss so I might be an idea to start again.

M

I find this Diamond frustrating, the screen constantly going off drives me insane it makes a simple task like retrieving your voicemail a total stress. I have had mine for 4weeks and want to get rid of it asap.

I got the hands on o2Xda ignito / Touch diamond. I hate it.
As mentioned, difficult to navigate around the corners.
Gets the impressions of my fingers all over. Slow to act. Anyone
knows are we charged by O2 for using Google maps with GPS
as Satnav, i believe if i am charged everytime i go out
then it is not worth it.
As the memory cannot be expandable, probably difficult to
download my Tomtom software considering i need to upload
some of other bits. I feel Orbit 2 is much better.
Could anyone answer me back please.

I have had my Touch Diamond for 3 months now. It's small and light, and the email works brilliantly. The on/off and volume switches are poorly designed and too close but my main disappointment is the black screen after 2 seconds on a call. This is just daft. Why didn't HTC use the ipod's system of a proximity sensor that turns the screen on and off as it approaches your ear (or any other surface)? Now for my question please - is there a fix that overrides the screen blackout? I know I'll need to be careful about inadvertently pressing buttons but I'd at least like to give it a try.

Thanks.

I have been using the Touch Diamond for a couple of months now and like it. There was a definite learning curve and you must take the time to customise it for yourself so that it functions as you want it. I downloaded Lemmings which looks great on the VGA screen!

As regards the automatic screen-off, I recommend hunting around for the free "Diamond TF3D Config" which lets you control loads of cunctions and also makes the screen more responsive.

I have also set the "end" button to lock the phone, so if I then place it in my pocket the "power button activation leading to lots of keys being pressed" problem is no longer an issue. The security conscious can put a pin / alphanumeric code on timeout.

Admittedly not as slick as the iPhone, the Touch Diamond is still an excellent piece of ingineering and highly recommended.

Now if only I could download the backup software and updated ROMs from the HTC website for my UK Orange-branded phone...

Help needed!! Can someone tell me how to turn off the data connection settings so i use wifi only as i dont want to pay any extra!! I have tried turning off in comms manager but it still connects again when needed, all i want is the wifi connection!! any help will be greatly appriciated

I've had my touch diamond a couple of weeks now, and found that the battery life is greatly improved by using a different charger! I now use the charger from my SPV E650, and get 3 to 4 days between charges, with reasonable use, and it will fully charge in 2 hours. I reckon the 'posh' charger supplied is low on volts. It should be 5 Volts out, which doesn't leave much margin for charging a 3.7 volt battery, especially when you allow for the loss in the charging circuitry. The only issue I now have is the small size of the text message editting window, loads of room for the text you're replying to, but not for the reply. I'm glad I stuck with my diamond now.

No FLASH for the camera.....why not

Please please help.

TouchFlo on my Diamond is not working.
I was thisclose to hammering the phone with the stylus and still nothing!

I read about HARD RESET? I am assuming this will erase everything, and restore phone to factory-set specs?

Love your video, my nails are not as strong as your so i use the stylus mostly.
My question is about battery life. My old battery (less than 3 months old)barely held a charge in standby for a day and if i used it then less.
I have a new battery but the charge is still only 2 - 3 days in standby and a day if i use it.
Any suggestions?