Matt
More than 20 years in the IT industry. Blogging with a passion and thirst for new technology since 2005.
At the Touch Diamond launch event last week a few HTC employees mentioned that there would be a number of official accessories for the new device. So I managed to track down this photo of the official desktop cradle for the HTC Touch Diamond.
I must say that this looks super sexy with its glossy black finish. You’ll also notice the decent looking set of headphones in that photo above which, in my mind, implies that the dock/cradle will allow you to sync, charge and use headphones while the device Diamond is plugged in! Now that would be cool!
You can pre-order the cradle for the Diamond from the Clove website HERE.
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, cradle, HTC, HTC Touch Diamond]
Hexxagon Labs is the amazing logic game, which contains over a dozen arenas filled with intellectual challenges where you are able to compete with computer rivals or play with your friends!
Funny chemistry, witty physics, exciting astronomy… Do you think that there are no such things on our planet? If so, you haven’t play Hexxagon Labs yet! This amusing tactical logic game includes 17 original hard-to-solve levels. The goal of the game in each level is to occupy as many cells on a field as possible, capturing pieces of an enemy. Your rivals will be the best American and European professors whose brains were implanted in the game’s artificial intellect system. You also will have an opportunity to play Hexxagon Labs with one or two friends using only one device!
In addition, Hexxagon Labs is full of interesting facts and entertaining material. Before every level you will receive new astonishing scientific information giving you the opportunity, when you have the chance, to show off your erudition and amaze acquaintances by your knowledge.
The more you play Hexxagon Labs, the smarter you will become!
Game features:
The detailed information about the game, including screenshots, trailers and links for demo version are available on the HeroCraft PDA site – http://smart.herocraft.com/hexxagon-labs.
Posted by: Matt
[Post tags: smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Revival, HeroCraft, Tracy & Matt]
In this, the last of our HTC Touch Diamond videos for a while, you’ll see Paul demonstrating the cool zoom features of the device. The zoom controls work in the image viewer and web browser but I assume that this could be extended in to other applications in the future. Other places where this control would be useful is in viewing Word and Excel documents and PDF’s
Check out sensitive the touch screen is when scrolling around in the web browser!
Once we have our hands on our own HTC Touch Diamond you can expect to see more footage. Please do feel free to submit your questions about the device either via the comments or by emailing me.
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Orange, HTC, HTC Diamond]
In an earlier post we mentioned the ring of LEDs around the dpad on the HTC Touch Diamond and how these LEDs acted as notification lights for various events on the device.
Paul (MoDaCo) and I managed to capture the LEDs ‘in action’ in this very short video clip below. In this instance the notification, the lights spinning around the dpad, tells you that you have an unread text message.
I like the idea of the notifications as you can see what’s going on with the phone without having to turn on the screen and waste valuable battery power.
Other notification states for the LEDs are slowly throbbing for voicemail and flashing for unread email.
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Orange, HTC, HTC Diamond]
Here are a few more photos from the HTC Touch Diamond press event.
The initial introductions were made by Peter Chou, CEO of HTC. We were given a bit of background with lots of references to the HTC Touch and also mobile web browsing.
The first time we got to see the devices they were all held in plastic display cases so it wasn’t possible to play with them and taking pictures was tricky. However, you can see the cool media player interface shown in the image below.
As you’ll be able to see from the shot below, the HTC Touch Diamond is extremely thin at just 11mm it’s less than half the thickness of the TyTN II. The Touch Diamond is also significantly lighter and weighs in at a mere 110 grams!
Although the buttons on the Touch Diamond are completely smooth they are still physical buttons with a positive click action rather than being touch sensitive. The ring you can see around the d-pad area is touch sensitive though and works like a jog wheel. Circling the wheel clockwise zooms in and counter-clockwise zooms out when used with Opera and Image Viewer, and probably other apps too.
Finally, a number of the HTC people at the event had their own Touch Diamond devices and they all had nice leather slip or pouch style cases for their phones. The cases were good quality and had a soft material lining which wipes the screen each time you slide the Diamond in or out.
We’re not sure whether or not the case will be supplied with the Diamond as we were given conflicting information on this. Hopefully it will be included with the retail units.
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Orange, HTC, HTC Touch Diamond]
The main press announcement for the HTC Touch Diamond was about an hour long and included pieces from HTC, Microsoft and Orange. I recorded the full presentation and you can find the video below. Word of warning though, it is almost an hour in length, I’ve cut the pause for applause and the bit where someone stood up in front of me but other than that it is the full announcement including Q&A at the end.
More images to follow.
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Orange, HTC, HTC Diamond]
Here’s another video for you from the HTC press conference yesterday. This is the official HTC Touch Diamond promo video. You can probably expect to see this video cropping up all over the web and there is even talk of this advert, or a version of it, being used on the TV here in the UK.
Still more photos and video to come.
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Orange, HTC, HTC Diamond]
Paul (MoDaCo) and I were able to spend quite some time playing with the HTC Touch Diamond today and between us we’ve come up with the following video demonstrating the device in action.
I have a great deal of video left to process so you can expect to see more online in the coming days. We’re still at the event and will shortly be heading off to for dinner so I’ll be posting more when I return. Trying to get the balance between finding out the information and then finding the time to post and pass it on is tricky!
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Orange, HTC, HTC Diamond]
Here we have the official preess release from HTC:
A NEW AGE FOR MOBILE PHONES BEGINS; HTC UNVEILS ‘TOUCH DIAMOND’
Debut brings breakthroughs in size, style connectivity and overall user experience, leaves compromise at the door.
LONDON — May 6, 2008 — Born from a unique heritage of innovation and a deep desire to blend design with simplicity, HTC Corp., a global leader in mobile phone innovation and design, today unveiled its new flagship phone, the HTC Touch Diamond. Delivering unmistakable style and meticulous craftsmanship the HTC Touch Diamond is defined by its compact size, game-changing Internet and its new captivating 3D touch interface called TouchFLO 3D. The result is an uncompromising mobile phone that sets a new benchmark for phone sophistication and shapes consumer expectations for how a phone can be used.
“Today we mark a new era in mobile phone evolution, an era where beauty and size integrate with uncompromising innovation at broadband speeds,” said Peter Chou, president and CEO, HTC Corp. “The HTC Touch Diamond will make browsing the Web and using Web-enabled applications just as practical and easy to use as making calls.”
A New Dimension To Touch
HTC has taken a great leap forward in touch screen innovation with the introduction of its new 3D touch interface called TouchFLO 3D. TouchFLO 3D provides animated access to people, messaging, email, photos, music, weather and more. In addition, HTC is introducing a new innovative touch-sensitive control for interacting with Touch Diamond.
Making The Mobile Internet Fun
With the introduction of the Touch Diamond, HTC delivers an entirely new mobile Internet experience that utilizes broadband-like speeds with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA wireless connectivity. Committed to improving Web browsing, HTC provides a new customized mobile Web browser that enables easy viewing and effortless navigation of Websites in the way they were designed. As part of this browsing experience users can zoom and pan Websites with one-hand and automatically view optimized content that has been specially created to fit the display. Turning the device sideways automatically rotates the web page view from a portrait to landscape view.
In addition to Web browsing, the Touch Diamond includes a customized new, HTC-developed, YouTube application for watching a variety of user generated video content as well as utilizing Google Maps for mobile for mapping and traffic data.
Unmatched Style and Size
The Touch Diamond is crafted with precision to fit comfortably in a user’s hand without compromising on features or functionality. Blending contrasting design elements of metal and unique geometric facets, the Touch Diamond complements a user’s personal style.
Bursting with Innovation
The Touch Diamond delivers an unrivalled combination of features and functionality that set a new standard for integrating mobile phone innovation into a small package. The 2.8 inch display provides near-print quality viewing that enables beautiful Web browsing and viewing of photographs. The built-in camera includes an optical auto-focus lens that ensures the photos you take will be clear and consistent. Advanced wireless and auto sensor screen pivoting are just a few of the features that make the Touch Diamond experience a stand out.
Availability
The HTC Touch Diamond™ will be available to customers across all major European carriers in June. It will be available later this quarter in Asia and the Middle East. The North American and Latin American versions of the Touch Diamond will be available in the second half of 2008.
“Our long-standing relationship with HTC meant they shared their phone concept and worked with us from the earliest stage. This early collaboration is important to us because at Orange, we know that the right multimedia experience is about more than just the phone,” said Olaf Swantee, EVP of Orange’s global mobile operations. “Our approach is to select and test the best phones and integrate our applications, combining them with access to the Orange World portal, the best tariffs, integrated billing, a user-friendly interface and excellent customer support. With the Touch Diamond from Orange we have created a unique phone which has taken advantage of our latest service innovation to build upon the consistently rich experience customers expect from Orange.”
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Orange, HTC, HTC Diamond]
As expected, HTC have launched the HTC Touch Diamond at today’s press conference. You can find all the details on the HTC site (they’ve just updated it) but I’m just editing and processing the photos and video of the event. These will be online shortly.
Lots of cool features in the device:
Confirmed HTC Touch Diamond Specification:
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Orange, HTC, HTC Diamond]
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