News

HTC Touch Diamond appears on Vodafone

Vodafone seem to be the first UK network to announce the HTC Touch Diamond on their website. If you visit Vodafone UK you’ll find the Touch Diamond in their ‘Coming Soon’ Section.

Vodafone HTC Touch Diamond

Feature rich Windows Mobile 6.1 device utilising HTC’s new Touchflow UI. This device is in a tablet form factor meaning it is touch screen only. The Diamond surpasses the iPhone in all aspects, the key differentiator is the inherent flexibility of the Diamond. It comes loaded with Vodafone Email Plus and the Vodafone Sat Nav program. Launch expected in July

As you can see from the clipping above, Vodafone are now expecting a July launch. I don’t suppose the oher 4 networks will be too far behind with a similar announcement, I’ve been keeping an eye on Orange for the past few weeks so I’ll let you know the minute I notice any changes!

Review by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Vodafone, HTC, HTC Touch Diamond]

HTC Touch Diamond tweaks

I’ve had a lot of emails over the past few weeks from readers asking questions about the HTC Touch Diamond and how to improve the performance of the Touch-Flo 3D interface.

Initially I would say that the review device I had a few weeks ago was pre-release build and certainly didn’t have the final retail version of the ROM so those of you that saw some of my early videos and commented that the interface seems slow might want to wait and see what the retail version is like. I cant deny that my review device was rather unresponsive at times and it was hard to tell if this was down to the ROM or to a touch screen sensitivity issue but again, as some of you noticed from our videos, it took two or three attempts to get a response from the Diamond.

So my friend Piero, who managed to get his hands on a retail Diamond from Hong Kong, mentioned to me that he’d managed to tweak his device using a few registry edits and has ended up with a much more responsive UI.

Piero gave me the following information from XDA-Developers which should help improve things. At the moment I am Diamond-less but if you manage to perform these changes then please let me know how you get on!

1. Boost TFL3D Performance –> Using Advanced Config, change File system cache to 8mb and file system filter cache to 131072

2. Boost TFL3D Performance –> HKLM\System\Storagemanager\Fatfs and change key Cachesize from 16384 to 32768

3. Wake Up on New SMS –> HKLM\Drivers\BuiltIn\RIL : DisableSMSWakeUpEvent <-- set to "1" by default. Change value to "0"

4. Switch Mute Call on phone flipped face down: HKLM\Software\HTC\PHONE : FaceDownMuteRing: change value to “0”

5. Change CallWaiting Tone –> HKLM\Software\HTC\PHONE : by default set to \windows\waitingtone.wav by default. change to anything else

6. Boost TFL3D Scrolling Speed –> – HKLM\SYSTEM\GDI\GLYPHCACHE\limit = 16384 or 32768 (DWORD decimal)
– To change it back to the default: – HKLM\SYSTEM\GDI\GLYPHCACHE\limit = 8192 (DWORD decimal)

7. In case of emergency, to do a Hard Reset, with the phone ON, hold down the Volume Down and Enter (round navigation) keys and press soft reset while they are pressed

8. Prevent screen switching off during phone call –> HKEY_Local_Machine\Drivers\BuiltIn\RIL\EnableFastD ormantDisplayDuringCall to 0 (Note: does not work on all ROMs)

9. Downlod original CONTENT folder (Wallpaper, VIDEO, MUSIC) here http://rapidshare.com/files/12127104…orage.rar.html

10. Set HTC Album X button to close not minimize: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\HTC\HTCAlbum : ok_minimize change value to 0

11. Disable Enlarged Title bar (when you click on a notification) to the default WM behavior: HKLM->Software->HTC->EnlargeTitleBar – and change “Enable” from 1 to 0.

12. Turn off startup aninmation and sound: HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\HTC\HTCAnimation\ -> rename both “StartupGif” and “StartupWav” to other names

13. Enable GPS photo: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\HTC\Camera\P10 -> change the value “enabled” from 0 to 1

15. Another supposed TFL3D tweak for better performance: HKLM\Software\OEM\TFLOSettings:
SpeedHigh: default value (25) <-- Change to (5) / SpeedLow : default value (70) <-- Change to (14) save and soft reset

16. Adjust screen sensitivity: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\TouchPanel
Value = PressureThreshold
Change from the default dword:00000027 or 34 to dword:000000f0 or 240 in decimal
__________________

Credit for the tweaks goes to the guys over at XDA-Developers where you’ll find a much more detailed thread for the above.

Review by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, orange, HTC, HTC Touch Diamond]

We have a daughter!

You may have noticed that there haven’t been any posts from me for a few days but the reason is that Tracy has just given birth to our gorgeous baby girl, Chloe.

They are both doing really well and came home yesterday. I’m enjoying looking after them both!

Chloe was born at 13:17 on Wednesday 11th June and weighed 7lb 3oz. I’d like to thank everyone in the Castleacre maternity ward at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kings Lynn for looking after Tracy and Chloe.

Chloe was delivered by Caesarean Section which means that Tracy needs a bit of extra looking after so I may not be posting much for a little while.

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Windows Mobile Blog]

Apple officially announces iPhone 3G

Yesterday at WWDC, Steve Jobs confirmed the long-rumored iPhone 2 or rather the iPhone 3G as Apple are calling it. It hits stores in the US and over 70 other countries on July 11th. The prince in the US has been confirmed at $199 for the 8GB version, and $299 for the 16GB one (in black and white).

The new features mentioned are the 3G connectivity (obviously) and built in GPS. There’s also support for Exchange email in version 2.0 of the firmware as well as ‘Dramatically Improved Audio’, solid metal buttons and, thankfully, a flush headphone jack.

iPhone 3G

The offical press release:

Apple Introduces the New iPhone 3G

Twice as Fast at Half the Price

SAN FRANCISCO, June 9 — Apple(R) today introduced the new iPhone(TM) 3G, combining all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast* as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK. In the US the new iPhone 3G is priced at a stunning $199 for the 8GB model, and just $299 for the 16GB model.** iPhone 3G will be available in more than 70 countries later this year, beginning with customer availability in 22 countries — Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US — on July 11.

“Just one year after launching the iPhone, we’re launching the new iPhone 3G that is twice as fast at half the price,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPhone 3G supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync right out of the box, runs the incredible third party apps created with the iPhone SDK, and will be available in more than 70 countries around the world this year.”

iPhone 3G gives users ever faster access to the Internet and email over their cellular network with quad-band GSM and tri-band HSDPA for voice and data connectivity around the world. iPhone 3G supports Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE networks and automatically switches between them to ensure the fastest possible download speeds. The new iPhone 3G also makes it easier to multi-task with simultaneous voice and data communications, so with iPhone 3G you can browse the web, get map directions, or check your email while you are on a call.

iPhone 3G includes the new iPhone 2.0 software with both the iPhone SDK and key enterprise features such as support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide over-the-air push email, contact and calendar syncing as well as remote wipe and Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to corporate networks. The iPhone SDK allows developers to create amazing applications that leverage the iPhone’s groundbreaking Multi-Touch(TM) user interface, animation technology, accelerometer and GPS technology on the world’s most advanced mobile platform.

iPhone 3G includes the new App Store, providing iPhone users with native applications in a variety of categories including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. The App Store on iPhone works over cellular networks and Wi-Fi, which means it is accessible from just about anywhere, so you can purchase and download applications wirelessly and start using them instantly. Some applications are even free and the App Store notifies you when application updates are available. The App Store will be available in 62 countries at launch.

Additional features available with the iPhone 2.0 software include the ability to do real-time mapping and track your progress with GPS technology, mass move and delete multiple email messages, search for contacts, access a new scientific calculator, turn on parental control restrictions for specified content, save images directly from a web page or email them to your iPhone and easily transfer them back to your photo library on your Mac(R) or PC. iPhone 3G delivers an amazing 10 hours of talk time on 2G networks and 5 hours using 3G, with up to 5 to 6 hours of web browsing, up to 7 hours for video playback and up to 24 hours for audio playback.

iPhone 3G takes advantage of MobileMe(TM), a new Internet service that pushes email, contacts, and calendars from an online “cloud” to native applications on iPhone, iPod(R) touch, Macs and PCs. With MobileMe email, messages are pushed instantly to iPhone, removing the need to manually check email and wait for downloads, and push keeps contacts and calendars continuously up-to-date so changes made on one device are automatically updated on other devices. With iPhone, you can even snap a photo and post it directly to a MobileMe Gallery to share with friends and family.

iPhone 3G will be available in the US on July 11 for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 8GB model and $299 (US) for the 16GB model in both Apple and AT&T’s retail stores and requires a new two year contract with AT&T for qualifying customers. iPhone 2.0 software will be available on July 11 as a free software update via iTunes(R) 7.7 or later for all iPhone customers. For further information about iPhone 3G pricing and availability in the US and internationally, visit http://www.apple.com/iphone.

* Based on 3G and EDGE testing. Actual speeds vary by site conditions.

** Based on iPhone 3G (8GB) and first generation iPhone (8GB) purchases. Requires new two year AT&T rate plan, sold separately.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh.

Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): iPhone, Apple, iphone, Amazon, Tracy & Matt]

HTC Touch Diamond delayed

Since starting my review of the HTC Touch Diamond many of you have dropped me a line to ask when you’ll be able to get your hands on your own.

The latest news that I have from HTC is that the Diamond has been delayed for up to two weeks. We’re now looking at a worst case 23rd of June for official UK stock. I say UK stock as I have been told that some UK retailers are selling devices imported from Hong Kong.

The official line from HTC is that any HTC Touch Diamond handsets on sale outside of Hong Kong will be grey market imports from that country. These devices were not ordered directly from HTC or their distributors. It also seems that the devices can’t be registered on htc.com and therefore the warranty will not be honoured.

I’m still hoping to get my retail Diamond early next week but I’ll keep you posted!

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, orange, HTC, HTC Touch Diamond]

HTC Touch Pro now official

Following on from my post about the pre-order availability of the HTC Touch Pro, HTC have just sent me the their press release making the HTC Touch Pro official. You’ll also find the HTC Touch Pro now puts in an appearance on the HTC website (www.htc.com).

HTC Touch Pro

Taipei, Taiwan — June 4, 2008 — HTC Corp., a global leader in mobile phone innovation and design, today unveiled its advanced next generation business phone, the HTC Touch Pro™. Bringing a beautiful new angle to mobile business productivity, the HTC Touch Pro utilizes similar styling and functionality of the highly anticipated Touch Diamond™ and introduces a variety of business-focused enhancements that make getting work done on the go quick and easy.

“The HTC Touch Pro and Touch Diamond have created a new generation of HTC touch devices that make the promise of the one-hand, one-touch mobile Internet a reality,” said Peter Chou, president and CEO, HTC Corp. “HTC Touch Pro is for those customers that demand the ease of use and enjoyment of TouchFLO™ 3D and want the styling of the Touch Diamond but also need the powerful mobile business experience that HTC delivers.”

A New Dimension To Touch – One hand, one touch
HTC has taken a great leap forward in touch screen innovation with its 3D touch interface called TouchFLO 3D. TouchFLO 3D provides a stunningly intuitive way to zip through common tasks like messaging, calendar appointments or making calls with just one touch. Delve a little deeper to find that your music, photos, contacts and surfing the web are also responsive to the touch. In addition, the Touch Pro includes a new innovative touch-sensitive control for device interaction.

Making The Mobile Internet Useful and Fun
With the introduction of Touch Diamond and Touch Pro, 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 are designed to be viewed on a PC. 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 Pro includes an HTC-developed, YouTube application for watching a variety of user generated video content as well as including Google Maps for mobile for mapping and traffic data.

Unmatched Style With Complete Productivity
Like the Touch Diamond, Touch Pro is crafted with precision to fit comfortably in a user’s hand and brings together elegant touch screen response with the direct precision of HTC’s trademark sliding keyboard design. Introducing a new five-row QWERTY keyboard layout that makes typing-intensive tasks like composing email or working on Microsoft Office® documents quick and easy. Built-in TV-out functionality means users can deliver the perfect PowerPoint® presentation from the Touch Pro.

Bursting with Innovation
The Touch Pro delivers an unrivalled combination of features and functionality. 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 Pro experience a stand out.

Availability
The HTC Touch Pro™ will be available to customers across all major European, Asian and the Middle East markets in late summer. The North American and Latin American versions of Touch Pro will be available later in 2008.

Key HTC Touch Pro Specifications

HTC Introduces New Accessories
Also today, HTC announced multiple accessories will available for the Touch Diamond and Touch Pro including a similarly designed desktop cradle and travel charger accessory pack as well as an extended battery and slim collapsible case for the Touch Diamond.

About HTC
Founded in 1997, HTC Corp. (HTC) designs, manufactures and markets innovative, feature rich smartphone and PDA Phone devices.

Since its establishment, HTC has developed strong R&D capabilities, pioneered many new designs and product innovations and launched state-of-the-art PDA Phones and smartphones for mobile operators and distributors in Europe, the US, and Asia. These machines are available as HTC devices and as products individually customized for operator and device partners.

HTC is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile device market. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, T-Mobile, raphael, HTC, HTC Touch Pro]

HTC Touch Pro (Raphael) pre-order

Well this happened sooner than we thought – The HTC Touch Pro (aka HTC Raphael) is now available for pre-order from our friends at Devicewire!

HTC Touch Pro

No word on the exact release date except to say stock is arriving soon. Also no firm price but expect this to be updated over the next few days. Full details can be found HERE.

EDIT: The Touch Pro has just been released and our HTC Touch Pro unboxing video is now online!

HTC Touch Pro specification:

HTC Touch Pro Description

The HTC Touch Pro™ brings together elegant touch screen response with the direct precision of keyboard entry… leaving out nothing to deliver a powerhouse communication tool in a beautiful, compact design.

The 2.8-inch VGA touch screen provides four times the resolution of most smart devices, making email, documents and web pages sharper and easier to work with than ever before.

HTC’s rich, touch-responsive interface, TouchFLO™ 3D, provides a stunningly intuitive way to zip through common tasks like messaging, calendar checks or making calls. Delve a little deeper to find that playing media files, searching for contacts and surfing the web are also responsive to your touch.

The web browser puts the full Internet in the palm of your hand. Websites look just like they do on a PC, and TouchFLO™ 3D makes it easy to pan around and zoom in on exactly the information you’re looking for. If you need a wide screen, simply tilt the Touch Pro sideways and the page switches to landscape view.

Slide out the 5-row QWERTY keyboard to make light work of typing-intensive tasks like composing email or working on Microsoft Office® documents… perfect for when your day takes a serious turn.

High speed connectivity will keep you in touch with colleagues and contacts wherever you are. Integrated GPS can be used with maps software for a full turn-by-turn satellite navigation experience.

Built-in Wi-Fi and TV-out functionality mean you can hook up to the local wireless hot spot to surf, then deliver the perfect PowerPoint® presentation without a laptop in sight.

A beautiful angle on business, the HTC Touch Pro introduces effortless presence to enterprise-standard communications.

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, T-Mobile, raphael, HTC, HTC Touch Pro]

HTC Touch Diamond in Orange Catalog

The HTC Touch Diamond is the one device that everyone seems to be talking about and lusting after at the moment and today I discovered that the phone maybe a step closer to launch on the Orange network, as it appears in their latest (June) catalog as one of the devices in the ‘coming soon’ section.

As you can see from the scan above it looks like Orange are simply calling it the HTC Diamond, dropping touch from it’s name.

No official release date from Orange but our sources suggest that it will be sometime this month (June).

We should be getting our review unit in the next few days so please let us know if you have any questions or if there is anything specific that you would like us to cover.

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, orange, HTC, HTC Touch Diamond]

HTC Diamond ROM ported to TyTN II!

Well that really didn’t take long – the good people at XDA Developers managed to get their hands on the official WM 6.1 ROM for the HTC Touch Diamond and have already started to port the ROM so that it’ll work with the HTC TyTN II!!

I haven’t tried it out myself just yet but there are some excellent screen shots in the thread and plenty of feedback from those that have given it a try.

Latest news we have from HTC is that the Diamond will start shipping later this week/early next week. Cant Wait!

Send us your questions and we’ll do our best to answer them with our review unit.

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, cradle, HTC, HTC Touch Diamond]

HTC Raphael appears as T-Mobile MDA Vario IV

Rumours about the HTC Raphael have been rumbling along for the last few months. Indeed we thought that HTC would announce the device at the same time as the HTC Touch Diamond during their press announcement earlier this month. However, until now there really hasn’t been anything concrete on this device which many regard as the Touch Diamond with a QWERTY keyboard and others have dubbed the HTC TyTN III.

However, the guys over at GSMHelpdesk managed to snap a few pictures of the T-Mobile version of the Raphael at a T-Mobile press event. This was rather unexpected as we were lead to believe that the launch of the Raphael was many months away, however, T-Mobile say that their version, the Vario IV, will launch Q2 2008 which gives them a month to meet the deadline!

T-Mobile Vario IV

T-Mobile MDA Vario IV specification:

Now this is the device that I am looking forward to, I like the Diamond but really need a hardware keyboard!

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, T-Mobile, MDA Vario IV, HTC, HTC Raphael]