HTC’s Diamond iPhone rival unwrapped

A glitzy London hotel was this morning's setting for the launch of HTC’s new handset, Diamond, the latest phone in a long line of would-be iPhone killers. The Diamond is roughly the same size as Apple’s iPhone, although the HTC device has a smaller, 2.8in touchscreen - the display's resolution is a much larger 480 x 640, …

[Simon]

iPhone

I don't have an iPhone (not officially available here in Oz) but I have an O2 Flame. The screen makes a huge (pardon the pun) difference. I can use it as a phone, GPS in the car, eBook reader and for basic internet use. I can even SSH using PocketPutty.

Size matters, we all know it.

Mine's the one with the bulge in the pocket.

[MrT]

So close...!

Two things:

- No flash (proper xenon or otherwise) - makes all the difference on K800

- Battery only 900mAh? With all the power-draining bits from a Tytn II, I reckon that'll be less than a day's worth. Let's hope the extended battery kits follow the design - shame to lose the faceted back when upping it to a usable 1500-1800mAh.

Other than that, not bad at all.

[NuShrike]

video drivers?

So does it have video drivers to support the fancy display, or it's just another fluff by HTC and so can never be an iPhone competitor?

[eddiewrenn]

closer...

Not bad. Still waiting for the perfect phone with a 5mp camera/focus/flash, slinky mp3/video player, and GPS but we keep getting closer. iPhone is style over substance, and Sony and Nokia keep just missing the mark. Hopefully the HTC will help them up their game.

[Punky]

Price

According to Expansys, the handset-only price is £434.95 (£370.17 exc. VAT), with an estimated ship date of 19th June.

http://www.expansys.com/p.aspx?i=163250

[Bobak Fakhraee]

Making the same mistake

Why do HTC do it? Everytime they leave off the 3.5mm headphone jack. For anyone that actually wants to listen to music properly (using decent headphones) this rules the HTC out totally.

Pass me an iPhone

[Surur]

iPhone does not have a proper 3.5mm headphone jack either

The jack is recessed, so you either use the headphones supplied by Apple (like HTC) or you buy an unsightly adapter (like HTC).

The difference is of course that you can use A2DP on a Windows Mobile phone, but then audiophiles may not be too happy with this convenient solution.

(Paris because both Apple and HTC are stupid in this way)

[Chris]

no Micro-SD slot

According to the discussions over at modaco.com, there is *NO* Micro-SD expansion available.

According to HTC the efficiency of the processor, and GPU (yes there is hardware acceleration) mean that the measly 900mAh battery needed to keep the size/weight down will still give acceptable time between recharges (unlike my a-day-if-lucky tytn)

[James Bassett]

Re: Bobak Fakhraee

The missing 3.5mm headphone jack is no issue. A £1.99 adaptor sorts that out and allows me to charge at the same time (e.g. in the car) and make handsfree calls. If you really want to listen to music THAT much, a £2 adaptor is not much of a hassle. Good sound quality too.

The real killer, as Chris says, is no MicroSD. 4GB storage is pittifull. What WERE they thinking?

Oh, on the battery, apparantly it uses some new screen tech to massively reduce the power drain making battery life equal to or better than a touch....I'm yet to be convinced!

[Rich]

What a joke...

Reasons why for me this is a definate fail:

-4GB internal memory, NO additional SD expansion slot. They think 4GB is enough for a new flagship model? Are they serious? The iPhone has 8GB, double the capacity, how they can only give 4GB and no room for expansion is beyond me. This instantly makes it next to useless as a serious media player.

-No 3.5mm jack. No excuse for this nowadays, and make it useless as an MP3 player imo. I don't care adapters, it's a huge oversight and unforgivable in any modern device.

So yeah... despite a decent touchscreen and GPS functionality this is a complete no-go for me. It's a castrated device with one major shortcoming: the memory, and a minor but not insignificant shortcoming, the 3.5mm jack.

Also the lack of a decent on-screen keyboard a-la iPhone in Windows is a major drawback to any PDA phone without a QWERTY keyboard imo.

I'll wait for iPhone v2, the new HTC Raphael, or the Xperia X1 methinks.

[Leigh Geary]

No MicroSD slot

Despite what the article above states, there's no microSD slot on this device.