High Tech Computer (HTC) has recently rolled out their latest kid on the block, the HTC Touch Diamond that boasts stylish design, connectivity and outstanding user experience in Singapore.

Before immensely popular iPhone was officially launched last year, the Taiwanese manufacturer was slightly ahead with the release of their HTC Touch to capture market share. Similarly, the HTC Touch Diamond was rolled out slightly before CommunicAsia 08 about a month back, and HTC touts that the Diamond can level or beat competition with its vastly improved features and performance to its Touch sibling.

The Touch Diamond comes with WM 6.1 Professional and boasts features HSDPA 7.2mbps Internet connectivity, Wireless LAN, integrated GPS, 3.2-megapixel camera and a new TouchFLO 3D user interface which can provide animated access to messaging, email, photos, music, weather etc.

Navigation is made easy with the round touch-sensitive navigation control below the screen. You can press the directional arrows to navigate up, down, left, and right on the screen, and even slide your finger clockwise or anti-clockwise for zooming in and out.

As usual, the specifications of the HTC Touch Diamond.

Processor	Qualcomm� MSM7201A� 528 MHz
Memory	ROM: 256MB, RAM: 192 MB DDR SDRAM, 4GB internal storage
Display	2.8-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen
�	with VGA resolution (480x640)
Device Control	TouchFLO� 3D
�	Touch-sensitive navigation control
GPS	Internal GPS Antenna
Connectivity	Bluetooth� 2.0 with EDR, A2DP & AVRCP
�	Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g
�	HTC ExtUSB (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
Camera	3.2-Megapixel CMOS colour
�	(Secondary) VGA CMOS colour
Audio	Built-in microphone, speaker and FM radio with RDS
�	Ring tone supported formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA,
�	WAV, and AMR-NB, 40 polyphonic and Standard MIDI format
�	0 and 1 (SMF)/SP MIDI
Battery	Rechargeable Lithium-ion or Lithium-ion polymer
�	Capacity: 900 mAh
�	Talk time: Up to 270 min (WCDMA), Up to 330 min (GSM)
�	Standby time: Up to 396 hrs (WCDMA), Up to 285 hrs (GSM)
Operating system	Windows Mobile� 6.1 Professional
Dimensions	102 mm (L) X 51mm (W) X 11.35mm (T)
Weight	110g (with battery)

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At the top is the internal speaker and a power button. Simply press the power button to turn off the display temporarily. To switch the Diamond off completely, press and hold for about 5 seconds.

On the left are the volume control buttons, which can be used to toggle volume during a call conversation or when listening to your favourite MP3 songs.

There is no button on the right, but a stylus is neatly slotted at the base. The stylus is magnetic and sticks to the device when held close, an extra feature which helps to prevent the user from losing the stylus.

At the base holds a strap holder, built-in microphone and a mini-USB Sync Connector, which double-up as a headphone connector as well.

You can tell from the black glossy finish and design from this rear view why it is called the Touch Diamond. A 3.2-megapixel camera with auto focus is placed here while a smaller secondary VGA camera in front.

To remove the�back cover, just push it�upward. The Touch Diamond is powered by a rechargeable 900mAh Lithium-ion battery and boasts a talk time of up to 270 min (WCDMA) and up to 330 min (GSM).

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You can connect to the Internet via GPRS, 3G or EDGE, HSDPA or WLAN. For WLAN, the setup is quite straightforward - just turn on the WLAN on the device to detect the wireless signals in the vicinity and connect to the one of your preference. Thanks to the Wireless@SG initiative by in Singapore by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), you can easily connect to most public hotspots for free.

The Touch Diamond comes preloaded with Opera Mobile browser instead of the usual Internet Explorer. The display orientation can be in portrait or landscape modes thanks to the built-in accelerometer, similar to the iPhone and iTouch. To change to landscape mode, just tilt the Touch Diamond to the horizontal position and it will switch automatically. This feature only works for some applications such as viewing pictures and videos and web browsing.

If the text is too small to read, you can either set the font size to large in the browser settings, or zoom in with your finger or navigation control. Keying in the website address is not as tedious as it looks, thanks to the various input methods available - Full QWERTY, Compact QWERTY, Phone Keypad etc. The input panel will pop up automatically when you select a field that requires text or numbers, as well as for some applications such as SMS/MMS messaging or email.

The Touch Diamond also has a dedicated YouTube application that allows you to view and search YouTube videos with ease. When you select the video you want to watch, the display automatically changes to landscape mode. Not all videos look good on the HTC as it depends on the quality of the video,

You can also take photos and videos with the Touch Diamond either with the main (rear) camera or secondary (front) camera. Note that the orientation will be in landscape for convenience. You can select from the available modes - Photo, Video, Panorama, MMS Video, Contacts Picture and Picture Theme. Still images will be captured in JPEG format while videos are captured in either H.263 (.3gp) or MPEG-4 (.mp4) formats.

Unlike some camera phones, the Touch Diamond does not have a shutter button at the top which you use your forefinger to press. For the HTC, the circular navigation control is the shutter beside the display (in landscape mode) which requires you to use the thumb instead, which may be slightly awkward. You can also zoom in/out on your subject, though the process isn't very smooth with some lag time in between.

We were duly impressed with the overall picture quality as the scenery picture we took during the day is sharp with good colours. For the night shot, you need steady hands in order to avoid getting blurred pictures. The macro shot we took of the RCA adapter is good, even though there is no macro mode available on the camera.

SPB Benchmark Tests	Result (ms)
Write 1MB file	2931
Read 1MB file	253
Copy 1MB file	688
Write 10KB x 100 files	7652
Read 10KB x 100 files	503
Copy 10KB x 100 files	4342
Directory list of 2000 files	273
Internal database read	967
Graphics test: DDB BitBlt	7
Graphics test: DIB BitBlt	26
Graphics test: GAPI BitBlt	6
Pocket Internet Explorer HTML load	-
Pocket Internet Explorer JPEG load	-
File Explorer large folder list	3211
Compress 1MB file using ZIP	5142
Decompress 1024x768 JPEG file	413
Arkaball frames per second	10
CPU test: Whetstones MFLOPS	3633
CPU test: Whetstones MOPS	1016
CPU test: Whetstones MWIPS	7285
Copy 1MB using memcpy	9

We used Spb Benchmark (www.spbsoftwarehouse.com), a tool to measure the performance of a Pocket PC device. The results were above average and proved to have no problem running your applications. The Touch Diamond did not managed to run Pocket Internet Explorer HTML and JPEG load tests probably because Opera Mobile was set as the default browser instead of Pocket IE, and there is no way to uninstall Opera Mobile. 

JBenchmark Pro Tests	Results	Best Record (based on online)
Business Math	78	495
Chess	16	121
Game Physics	135	736
Image Processing	18	122
Shortest Route Search	20	191
XML Parsing	25	350
ZIP Compression	19	194
Business Chart	253	1134
MIDP1 Game	227	1522
MIDP2 Game	1187	4386
MIDP2 Game (Medium Quality)	761	3096
MIDP2 Imaging	155	190
MIDP2 Imaging (Medium Quality)	130	183
Map	179	2137
MIDP2 Game (High Quality)	-	2945
MIDP2 Imaging (HIgh Quality)	-	181

 

In addition to the Spb benchmark, we also used JBenchmark Pro (www.JBenchmark.com), a mobile benchmark that measures Java ME user experience, performance and quality with modular, custom-built benchmark tests. The Touch Diamond did not manage to run the MIDP2 Game and Imaging tests at High Quality mode.

Overall, the HTC Touch Diamond is not just aesthetically pleasing, but it also has abundant features and connectivity options that a mobile road warrior would want. With the intuitive TouchFLO 3D interface and sensitive touchscreen, you can access your applications easily with just a touch of a finger (or stylus). However, the limited 4GB internal storage without any expandability options might prove to be a bane for some, along with the average battery life and there is occasional lag during usage.

At $1098 (without plan), the price for the HTC Touch Diamond is pretty steep. Good news is, the Telcos are currently offering it at an attractive $498 if you sign up with their mobile plans. If you can't wait for the 3G iPhone to hit our shores, or don't want to be classified as an iPhone fan boy, the HTC Touch Diamond is a great alternative mobile smartphone to get. Check it out right now!