Database Develop

[UPDATED 6 AUG 08] - Diamond - First Impressions of a Power User

These are the first impressions of a power user after a week with the Diamond - I hope they might help others to decide whether to get one.
EDIT: Things have moved on since this post, you might want to look at post #39 too (page 4)
Background
I'm a power user but also a heavy day-to-day user as well. I use my phone for calling people, basic PDA functions, OTA google sync, web access, IMAP mail, GPS and also .NET software development. (I'm the author of 'Touch Settings') I used to have an HTC Touch. Before that, an HTC Prophet. Before that, an HTC MDA Compact.. ..you get the idea. I like HTC devices. I've stuck with them all, put up with their frustrations and watched them steadily improve. But this phone felt like the most exciting release yet. A massive leap forward in terms of specs. I was calling up Orange for about a month to find out the ETA. I actually RAN to the Orange Shop in Oxford Street and managed to get their last one in stock at the weekend!
So, one week in, here we go...
Great things
THE SCREEN
My favourite thing is the VGA screen. I cannot believe the difference it makes to the look of the phone, seriously. I could never go back to QVGA again now, this is a major improvement. Just reading the operator name in a slim, Arial-Narrow type font at the top of the screen and not being able to see the individual pixels, this is a true step forward. Everything, repeat, EVERYTHING looks better.
THE CAMERA
The auto-focus camera is nothing short of brilliant. Still rubbish in low-light levels, still no flash, but this is light-years ahead of the last one! I still get a little smirk of delight on my face when I hear it whirring as it focuses ahead of taking a picture!
A FASTER PROCESSOR
Hooray! FINALLY!... 528MHz ...4 times faster than my HTC Touch!...in theory. See below.
THE NEW ADD-ONS
Having GPS, FM radio, a tilt switch, a light sensor and more is fantastic. Teeter, the game, is awesome and will impress every person you know at a party.
THE SIZE
The Diamond is slightly smaller than the HTC Touch as well - easier to fit in a pocket. And it really does look gorgeous. Well done HTC.
Enough praise. Because then there's all this:
The Not-so-great things:
THE SPEED
Pop Quiz. Take your Windows Mobile phone. Tap the start button. Then tap 'Programs'. Does the window flash onto your screen immediately? No. There's a delay, isn't there? And sometimes you can even see it drawing every individual icon, top-to-bottom. On my HTC Touch, after a day of use, this took about 2 seconds.
On the Diamond, with TouchFlo 3D running, it's worse.
Skip this paragraph if you don't want a rant. Seriously, when are Windows Mobile phones actually going to get responsive enough to be useable? Delays when you press buttons, delays when you bring up menus, switch applications, etc, etc. What the hell is this operating system DOING with those 537 mega cycles per second??? Having patiently waited through my last THREE sloooow devices, I was thrilled at the thought of a phone that actually whizzed along... ...but it's a bit like going from XP on a slow computer to Vista on a fast computer - no noticable increase in speed at all. Such a crushing disappointment. My old Nokia could re-draw a screen faster 3 years ago. In this day and age, and with a processor doing a belting 500+ MHz, this should NOT be happening. Things should appear INSTANTLY and react the VERY MOMENT you touch them. I am running out of patience. The iPhone is looking more attactive every day.
TFL3D - INTERFACE
Fantastic to look at, but surprisngly sluggish to use. The more days that pass, the more it's becoming apparent that this interface is more about form and less about function. It's also often lacking in visual feedback; sometimes a button will move when you drag it (main nav bar at the bottom), sometimes not! You just have to swipe and see! Visual feedback is a very important part of user interface design.
COMMON ACTIONS, E.G. CALLING PEOPLE
I feel that, action-wise, some things have (incredibly) got HARDER since my HTC Touch. For example, I used to be able to call my favourite contacts with a swipe and a tap.. ..now it's a swipe, a complicated side-swipey thing, a painstaking wait for the piccies to flip around, and finally a tap. Er, hello? This is the MAIN THING I USE THE PHONE FOR - CALLING PEOPLE! I can't even position my favourite contacts in memorable places; again, a big factor in user interface design, hence why you remember where your icons are on your PC's desktop.
HOME SCREEN (TFL3D again really)
I can't add any custom home screen items! What the hell happened to being able to view my list of things to do? (tasks) Seriously, this is a shockingly bad step back. I know there are some apps to work around this, but I'm doing a review of the stock phone and software here.
THE JOYPAD
This should be renamed the joy-less pad. It's virtually impossible to click the Left and Right buttons without frequently mis-tapping and hitting the 'Back' or 'Hang Up' keys instead. There are no markings, you just sort of have to 'guess' where abouts on the flat screen to tap. The actual target area isn't big enough and I'm getting sick of quitting out of screens when I just want to move right or left. I've got fairly big hands but I'm no elephant.
The ipod-style 'whiz-around' wheel seems promising but when you try it, it's under-responsive and jerky in its movements. I would suggest that's why they've limited the applications that support it by default.
NO MINI SD CARD SLOT
Another step back - from 8Gb storage on my HTC Touch (with a mini SD card) to a paltry 4Gb now. Not enough to put all my music on the phone plus nav software, and no slot for more storage.
GROSS GREASINESS
As other forum users have pointed out, all that swiping on this shiny black device - it looks like the back of a transit van after a minute or so of use.
CONCLUSION
Owning an HTC Diamond is without doubt a step forward from an HTC Touch, but it's a smaller step than you might think. Be prepared for a mixed bag of emotions. Joy at the look of the thing, disappointment when you realise it's slower than you hoped, shouts of happiness when you first play 'Teeter', cries of frustration when the screen turns off randomly during calls or you miss-hit the joypad button or you can't swipe the tiny bit of the screen you're meant to.
After all that, I might surprise you by saying this. I would still say this phone is the best option on the market for the day-to-day user who wants an ultra-portable device that packs enough power to do that bit more than just making calls.
Just 24 hours into owning the phone I did my first ROM flash, from 1.37...1 to 1.37...3 - and this helped the speed somewhat and fixed a memory leak. I also tweaked the registry as much as I could. This has helped too, but the above problems are all still too evident, nothing has really improved enough to make me retract any of them. Keep watching these forums, though, because future ROM updates have the power to make this device much, much better.
That's about it, I hope these comments have helped, or given you something to debate in the space below. I'm going to stick with the Diamond for now. But I wouldn't mind betting I'll have completely disabled TouchFlo 3D before the week is out...
Carlos

I too wonder how long I will last with TF3D. However, the joypad is no problem. Simply use the centre button as a reference point. If you rest part of your thumb in there and press any side of it, then it is easy to navigate. At least I find it easy anyway. Hope that might help you.

carlosp_uk said:
I was calling up Orange for about a month to find out the ETA. I actually RAN to the Orange Shop in Oxford Street and managed to get their last one in stock at the weekend!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you were really a fan you would have made sure you were the first, and didn't have to run

mcwtrekkie said:
If you were really a fan you would have made sure you were the first, and didn't have to run
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I may well have been Orange's first online order! Could not wait.

evilskanker said:
I think I may well have been Orange's first online order! Could not wait.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the spirit!

Has anyone managed to add a UK city to the weather forecast page ? I found it almost impossible to scroll down to the last page, it keeps selecting wrong countries, the only way I see - scroll one-by-one using hardware buttons ....

Yes, I added 3. Scroll with finger, well, more of a flick.

evilskanker said:
Yes, I added 3. Scroll with finger, well, more of a flick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I've tried about 20 different ways of scrolling with a finger, always end up with a list of south american cities ... (
Comparing to my old Orbit, I would say I have to press harder for screen to react ..

hertc said:
I think I've tried about 20 different ways of scrolling with a finger, always end up with a list of south american cities ... (
Comparing to my old Orbit, I would say I have to press harder for screen to react ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's at times like these that it would be good to be able to use the wheel for scrolling down.

evilskanker said:
It's at times like these that it would be good to be able to use the wheel for scrolling down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree, still remember Sony J7 I had long time ago, all these things were so easy with a wheel ..

hertc said:
Comparing to my old Orbit, I would say I have to press harder for screen to react ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently the Diamond is the first PocketPC device to have a tempered glass screen to make it extra tough. This makes it require a little more pressure than other devices.
But much more resilient to damage, and also nicer on the eye.

wasn't to amazed with the stock rom,
but after some days of usage and flashing the first cooked rom,
i am getting more and more into my new mobile..

Totally agree, using my Diamond for a week after three years on I-mate's.

carlosp_uk said:
CALLING PEOPLE
I feel that, action-wise, some things have (incredibly) got HARDER since my HTC Touch. For example, I used to be able to call my favourite contacts with a swipe and a tap.. ..now it's a swipe, a complicated side-swipey thing, a painstaking wait for the piccies to flip around, and finally a tap. Er, hello? This is the MAIN THING I USE THE PHONE FOR - CALLING PEOPLE! I can't even position my favourite contacts in memorable places;
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a suggestion -
Speed Dialing.
you can place at least SOME off your favorites in the positions you want.. and then it will just be one long press.. and it will dial.
Phone - menu - Speed Dial.
and of course.. there is always voice dialing.

Turn off TF3D. Ive heard is does HUGE things for the interface speed, and you'll get your tasks back (first thing Im going to do when I get a sprint diamond on this side of the pond)

I agree on almost every point
Not having used touch before, I really can't say anything bad about the navigation. To me it's a revolution, but it's not quite there yet.
The biggest flaw is the biggest asset. Let me explain.
The biggest asset to this device is the screen. I have never liked the screen on any of the QVGA devices I have used (Wizard and Hermes). The VGA screen on the Diamond is fantastic! Crisp and easy to read, even in direct sunlight. The words by HTC "Not too big, not too small" really sums up my feelings about it. However. Screen size is relative to what you display on it. I'm sure a lot of research, testing and effort went in to decide the size of the elements on the TF3D interface. Personally I would have designed it differently.
The main professional reason I choose to use a WiMo is Active Sync OTA (Over-The-Air). Having direct push of Mail, Calendar and Contacts to my device is critical in my profession. This HAS to work, it has to be easy to use, and easy to read. On the Diamond it works fantastically. Lots better than on the Hermes. It takes some getting used to, when you have never used touchflo before.
The touch interface has to be finger friendly, demanding finger sized icons and buttons. Having a small screen required HTC to use the entire screen. That makes you wish for a larger screen, yet a larger screen would require a larger device and I dont want that. Dilemma.
Like you said, the TF3D interface lacks in visual feedback. This could be replaced by tactile feedback. The same technology used in the game TEETER could be used to give me feedback on my actions.
Being a WiMo certified pro I know that the main obstacle for HTC is WiMo itself, or rather the Windows CE it is built upon. Win CE 5 is nowhere near a realtime OS and the switch to Win CE 6 (afaik it will be the foundation for WiMo 7) will be a major leap. CE6 is not a RTOS either, but it has the means to enable truly great applications. I look forward to what Developers will create for WiMo7.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Embedded_CE_6.0)
The only thing I really dislike on my Diamond is the scrollwheel. I clearly does not work like you would expect it to. Unintuitive. And the Up/Down/Left/Right navigation around it is near unusable. Using the touch screen works though so it is not a showstopper for me.
Speed of the interface is good once you have used the cache size tweaks. Not great but good.

I fully agree on the speed comment, 527mhz... but it seems it's different mhz compared to my HTC Herald (P4350).
On my Herald I also have WM6.1, a 200mhz cpu (o'ced to 240 mhz) and everything starts faster!
I've got the 1.37.xxx.3 rom on my Diamond, TF3D disabled and still it's slower.
Very strange indeed.

guys i suggest you all to flash duttythroy's diamond project v2 rom. it increased the usability amazingly.

guys i suggest you all to flash duttythroy's diamond project v2 rom. it increased the usability amazingly. and c'mon guys, our shiny precioussssssss is out some weeks. look what they've done with the kaiser within one year... stay patient and keep being excited for that genius piece of hardware.

carlosp_uk said:
These are the first impressions of a power user after a week with the Diamond - I hope they might help others to decide whether to get one.
Background
I'm a power user but also a heavy day-to-day user as well. I use my phone for calling people, basic PDA functions, OTA google sync, web access, IMAP mail, GPS and also .NET software development. (I'm the author of 'Touch Settings') I used to have an HTC Touch. Before that, an HTC Prophet. Before that, an HTC MDA Compact.. ..you get the idea. I like HTC devices. I've stuck with them all, put up with their frustrations and watched them steadily improve. But this phone felt like the most exciting release yet. A massive leap forward in terms of specs. I was calling up Orange for about a month to find out the ETA. I actually RAN to the Orange Shop in Oxford Street and managed to get their last one in stock at the weekend!
So, one week in, here we go...
Great things
THE SCREEN
My favourite thing is the VGA screen. I cannot believe the difference it makes to the look of the phone, seriously. I could never go back to QVGA again now, this is a major improvement. Just reading the operator name in a slim, Arial-Narrow type font at the top of the screen and not being able to see the individual pixels, this is a true step forward. Everything, repeat, EVERYTHING looks better.
THE CAMERA
The auto-focus camera is nothing short of brilliant. Still rubbish in low-light levels, still no flash, but this is light-years ahead of the last one! I still get a little smirk of delight on my face when I hear it whirring as it focuses ahead of taking a picture!
A FASTER PROCESSOR
Hooray! FINALLY!... 528MHz ...4 times faster than my HTC Touch!...in theory. See below.
THE NEW ADD-ONS
Having GPS, FM radio, a tilt switch, a light sensor and more is fantastic. Teeter, the game, is awesome and will impress every person you know at a party.
THE SIZE
The Diamond is slightly smaller than the HTC Touch as well - easier to fit in a pocket. And it really does look gorgeous. Well done HTC.
Enough praise. Because then there's all this:
The Not-so-great things:
THE SPEED
Pop Quiz. Take your Windows Mobile phone. Tap the start button. Then tap 'Programs'. Does the window flash onto your screen immediately? No. There's a delay, isn't there? And sometimes you can even see it drawing every individual icon, top-to-bottom. On my HTC Touch, after a day of use, this took about 2 seconds.
On the Diamond, with TouchFlo 3D running, it's worse.
Skip this paragraph if you don't want a rant. Seriously, when are Windows Mobile phones actually going to get responsive enough to be useable? Delays when you press buttons, delays when you bring up menus, switch applications, etc, etc. What the hell is this operating system DOING with those 537 mega cycles per second??? Having patiently waited through my last THREE sloooow devices, I was thrilled at the thought of a phone that actually whizzed along... ...but it's a bit like going from XP on a slow computer to Vista on a fast computer - no noticable increase in speed at all. Such a crushing disappointment. My old Nokia could re-draw a screen faster 3 years ago. In this day and age, and with a processor doing a belting 500+ MHz, this should NOT be happening. Things should appear INSTANTLY and react the VERY MOMENT you touch them. I am running out of patience. The iPhone is looking more attactive every day.
TFL3D - INTERFACE
Fantastic to look at, but surprisngly sluggish to use. The more days that pass, the more it's becoming apparent that this interface is more about form and less about function. It's also often lacking in visual feedback; sometimes a button will move when you drag it (main nav bar at the bottom), sometimes not! You just have to swipe and see! Visual feedback is a very important part of user interface design.
COMMON ACTIONS, E.G. CALLING PEOPLE
I feel that, action-wise, some things have (incredibly) got HARDER since my HTC Touch. For example, I used to be able to call my favourite contacts with a swipe and a tap.. ..now it's a swipe, a complicated side-swipey thing, a painstaking wait for the piccies to flip around, and finally a tap. Er, hello? This is the MAIN THING I USE THE PHONE FOR - CALLING PEOPLE! I can't even position my favourite contacts in memorable places; again, a big factor in user interface design, hence why you remember where your icons are on your PC's desktop.
HOME SCREEN (TFL3D again really)
I can't add any custom home screen items! What the hell happened to being able to view my list of things to do? (tasks) Seriously, this is a shockingly bad step back. I know there are some apps to work around this, but I'm doing a review of the stock phone and software here.
THE JOYPAD
This should be renamed the joy-less pad. It's virtually impossible to click the Left and Right buttons without frequently mis-tapping and hitting the 'Back' or 'Hang Up' keys instead. There are no markings, you just sort of have to 'guess' where abouts on the flat screen to tap. The actual target area isn't big enough and I'm getting sick of quitting out of screens when I just want to move right or left. I've got fairly big hands but I'm no elephant.
The ipod-style 'whiz-around' wheel seems promising but when you try it, it's under-responsive and jerky in its movements. I would suggest that's why they've limited the applications that support it by default.
NO MINI SD CARD SLOT
Another step back - from 8Gb storage on my HTC Touch (with a mini SD card) to a paltry 4Gb now. Not enough to put all my music on the phone plus nav software, and no slot for more storage.
GROSS GREASINESS
As other forum users have pointed out, all that swiping on this shiny black device - it looks like the back of a transit van after a minute or so of use.
CONCLUSION
Owning an HTC Diamond is without doubt a step forward from an HTC Touch, but it's a smaller step than you might think. Be prepared for a mixed bag of emotions. Joy at the look of the thing, disappointment when you realise it's slower than you hoped, shouts of happiness when you first play 'Teeter', cries of frustration when the screen turns off randomly during calls or you miss-hit the joypad button or you can't swipe the tiny bit of the screen you're meant to.
After all that, I might surprise you by saying this. I would still say this phone is the best option on the market for the day-to-day user who wants an ultra-portable device that packs enough power to do that bit more than just making calls.
Just 24 hours into owning the phone I did my first ROM flash, from 1.37...1 to 1.37...3 - and this helped the speed somewhat and fixed a memory leak. I also tweaked the registry as much as I could. This has helped too, but the above problems are all still too evident, nothing has really improved enough to make me retract any of them. Keep watching these forums, though, because future ROM updates have the power to make this device much, much better.
That's about it, I hope these comments have helped, or given you something to debate in the space below. I'm going to stick with the Diamond for now. But I wouldn't mind betting I'll have completely disabled TouchFlo 3D before the week is out...
Carlos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what a crap...
THE SPEED
Put one of the new ROMs on it (Dutty, Walshieau), runs like hell. No delay here!
TFL3D - INTERFACE
Simply switch TF3D off if you don't like it.
And use an existing tool for your today (SPB Mobile Shell ect.).
COMMON ACTIONS, E.G. CALLING PEOPLE
Disable the Diamond dialer, you get your traditional dialer back.
HOME SCREEN (TFL3D again really)
Simply switch TF3D off.
Use an existing tool for today (SPB Mobile Shell ect.).
THE JOYPAD
Get used to it, it works perfect after a few weeks.
NO MINI SD CARD SLOT
Ok, maybe you got a point...
On the other hand: do you really need ALL your music all the time. A sync now and then for other music isn't that hard.
GROSS GREASINESS
Ok, the shiny cover gets greasy. But is't so beautiful,,,

Do you regret choosing the HTC Diamond?

How long have you had your Diamond for and do you wish you had opted for something else? I'm just trying to gauge opinions of people who have owned the phone for a few months. Thanks.
I've owned mine for just 3 days so I'm still getting used to it....I think it's a terrible 'out of the box' product but it seems to improve with various add-ons. So far I've downloaded Diamond Tweak and IContacts.
My latest problem with it is that I'm encountering the notorious TomTom 'no maps found' error (Grrrr....this was never an issue on my old HTC device)

The Diamond is my first HTC or WinMo phone, I've owned it for 7 months and I don't regret it.
It's pretty slow at doing things and the battery life if terrible if you actually use the device, rather than leaving it in suspend mode with 3G coverage switched off. However, charge it at least once daily and it's livable with.
TF3D is crap too, get rid of that and it gets much better!

I have just sold my Diamond. I used it for about 6 months and could never get used to it's very slow speeds. Especially out of the box it was a huge dissapointment, although with a custom rom things did improve.
But still, the thing is just too slow in my opinion. Probably all due to the lovely Qualcomm chipset that's inside it. When you look at the specs (memory, mhz etc) it should fly, be awesome. But it just isn't.
I always compare to my old mda compact (qtek s100). When I used to run TomTom on that one it was smooth with good fps. Even on a device like the Diamond, years later, it runs like crap. And that is a bit dissapointing ofcourse.
Don't get me wrong, you get a lot in return. Nicer UI, VGA screen, much better touchscreen and a much much better looking phone. But in the speed department all of my HTC phones have been dissapointing.
(Yet still I buy them, they are too much fun. qtek s100, qtek s200, htc touch, touch cruise, diamond).
But for now, HTC will have to do without me .

I love my Fuze, I hate my Fuze
This article sums my feelings up very well:
http://www.mytodayscreen.com/i-hate-my-fuze-i-love-my-fuze/
I've never had so much fun hacking a device before, but at one and the same time I resent having to hack it into a proper phone in the first place.
I'm not getting rid of my Fuze any time soon, but with anyone shopping for a new phone I steer them away from it. I'm completely up front with them, and admit to them I've spent dozens of hours scouring message boards and web sites for hacks to get the phone to behave in a way in which I'm happy with.
Users should not have to hack a registry to change ANY of the settings I've wanted to tweak!!!
That felt good to get off my chest.

I love my Diamond and the small sleek form factor more htan the Toch HD I had for a week or so.

I do not go anywhere without my trusty diamond in my pocket, I have tried so many other phones/PDA's and this is the best, the smallest for what it can do.
Its also perfect for a walking GPS device with memory map.
Its a running GPS log, my music device, organiser, camera for meetings and quick memories, reading book, comic book, games, even acts as a spirit level, does practically everything I need, oh yes and its a phone too.
Choose the right ROM and the thing is so quick and responsive.
TF3D is brilliant, I am so used to it now I can't get on with anything else.

Simple answer no it just keeps getting better and better.

I regret not!
But it seems like software is always ahead of the hardware. Before I had my branded Diamond I had the GloFiish X500+, so in comparison to that I'm very happy with my MDAIV.
But WinMo does helps to keep me using PPC's, it's a great platform to work with.

no!
and a comparative with old devices is like ... ach no need any words.
dont forgett, the devices are all at first a phone. all other functions wasnt the premiere function. something was good something cant be good.
i.e. old device open a webside with more speed than a new device.
but how you go to internet? by cable or by gms ($).
and if you are finished with scrolling left-to-right and back you have to scroll up and down. the new device uses wlan to go internet or umts and your scroll-action is minimizing by overview the complete internet-side.
but asking other people for feeling if buy or not buy ... hmmm, be carefull, that are only feelings and oppinnions.
i can say, that all devices (htc, nokia, apple) have good and not-good thinks. my buddy have apple. with standars he have no problems, after installation some progs the apple will be slowly and he do resets his devicxe many time like me. YOUR GUT FEELING IS NEEDED!!!

No regrets at all. Like stated above with the right custom rom, tweaks and apps this is everything I need in a phone/ppc.
And whats fun about getting a phone right out of the box that does everything you want? Heck, modding it to your likings is most the fun.

after 2 years of using WinMob my diamond is the first one that people is asking "What is this?". I mean that has the greatest software (WinMob) and the best design.
What do you want more?

Hate it, but use it!
I have had a Diamond for about 6 months now, and only use it because of the size.
I prefer my TyTN II but it is just too bulky
I hate a touch screen keyboard and prefer the slide out of the TyTN II.
I also find the Diamond's volume very soft as compared to the TyTN II
But in any case this will be my last M$ Windows based device, until M$ issues a decent OS.
PS: The motherboard has already been replaced.

i just love my Diamond....

Hi !
I bot love and hate it equally... After six happy months, new ROMs etc... I am forced to send it back, since from the start, when I stay in H or 3G (I am 30 meters away from a big antenna), I don't get any call... One bar of H or 3G in my home... The phone displays bars, one or two, but is totally disconnected from network, and I miss ALL my phonecalls. Sometimes, two days after, I get messages notifications: twenty voicemails, 50 SMS... all sent two days ago but not received by the phone...
If you have any suggestion... I have tried everything, but I'm forced to leave it on "G" only (GSM/GPRS) which is a serious drawback as I'm always using it to surf the web, mail, TV on phone etc... with my all inclusive plan (French network SFR).
When I go to downtown (one km from my home, so I am downtown!) I have none of the issues stated above.
This phone is probably the worst receiver in the history of mobile phones... All y previous phones gave me five constant bars of H or 3G, this one only one or less... All my friends with cheaper devices have five bars in my place...

I really love my Diamond. Being my first WinMo phone I have to say sites like this here really help improve the phone. Coming from the iPhone I miss the multi-touch and easy surfing on Safari (but I found that Iris is an awesome browser.)
I love the size of my phone, that is what I did not like about the iPhone (too big for me)
In case you are wondering I have had it since it first launched in Canada (Dec 4, 2008)

i wont say that i regret buying my diamond but i am for sure going to buy the new touch pro2 as soon as it comes to denmark. the diamond is good but it aint the best... ive always have a lot of problem with the speed of the diamiond jsut like everyone else but after getting rid of tf3d it has improved a bit. but all in all im not disappointed with the phone.
Cornwall are you sure its because of the device? i dont know anyone who ever had that problem. it might not be the phone but the provider of the net. if that isnt the problem i sure would go to the place i bought the phone and demand to get a new one cause it might be that single phone that is screwed up.

I like the Diamond especially for its size. I have a clip-on pouch that is designed especially for Diamond. I don't like the ROM that came with my operator Telstra but I have since then upgraded to CT6.4 HD Lite ROM. It is fast, lite and stable and good battery. I also like the onscreen keyboard where I can hold the key and it types numbers instead of letters. Very handy.
One feature I wish it had was the TV-OUT capability, like that in Touch Pro.
Anyway, for the keyboardless phone, Diamond is the best for me so far. For phone with keyboard, I think Touch Pro 2 is the one to beat.

My Diamond is now 8 months old and the more I use it, the more I love it. But, I surely have plans to upgrade to TOUCH HD. Reason? I want a bigger screen to actually use those pixels. Cramming VGA display into a 2.8" does not bring any huge practical advantage as only Opera Mobile uses those pixels effectively.
Touch Diamond-2 has bigger screen, but it is 3.2" and crams WVGA resolution. Scene won't change much for me. I do not want a hardware keyboard and that rules out TP-2

I've just bought a Nokia E51 to replace my Diamond. The Diamond was my second HTC phone, the Touch was my first. I thought that the diamond would be a massive step up and for the first six months it was. The screen is much better, the touch sensitivity was better and it was loads quicker. However, once the honeymoon period is over the overall usability of the phone starts to show and for me it wasn't good.
The main negative is the battery life. You have to consciously manage the Diamond to make the battery last. Why cant I just put it in my pocket and have one less worry on life! After normal usage I could unplug the Diamond from the wall charger at 07:30 and by 18:00 it was showing critical battery level warnings. By comparison, with the same usage I unplugged my Nokia E51 over 24 hours ago and the battery is still almost full. One less worry!
Travelling abroad quite a lot I use Skype often, with the diamond I had to ensure I carried my handsfree kit with me so I could make a private call and not through the speaker phone. On top of that I had to keep pressing a button on the phone to stop it going into standby so the wifi doesn't go to sleep - A pain in the ass at best. With the E51 I can access the same wifi hotspot, load up fring and instantly use skype (or MSN) to phone home with the luxury of holding the handset to my ear - what a novelty! also knowing that the battery can cope.
Another big thing was the bluetooth integration to my car stereo. I have a Kenwood stereo and granted I could get into my car and turn the stereo on and that was it, I was connected to the handsfree. However it took 3 minutes or so do download the address book and when I finished a call it would disconnect forcing me to turn off the stereo and turn it back on again to initiate a handshake. The E51 establishes automatically, downloads the phone book in about 15 seconds and never disconnects, pretty much everything you would expect (oh, also it connects the audio automatically so I can play music from the phone through the car with no further faffing about)!
I've come to realise that the Diamond and Windows Mobile is a complete pain in the ass taking up far to much of my time to do things that should just happen. I cant believe how good the nokia E51 is in comparison. It does everything better according to my usual usage of a mobile phone.
It's going to be a few years before I go back to windows mobile, probably after WM 7 has been well established. Untill then I've got my Diamond in a draw as my spare phone.

I have owned my Diamond since June 2008.
The greatest thing about it is it's small size. I like my phones small, and would never consider a phone with a 3.5 inch screen.
I leave the Diamond in 2G mode, and only switch to 3G when I want to use data. My battery life easily lasts more than one day - usually 2 days, although I tend to recharge it every day anyway, so that I don't have to worry about the battery life.
I still use the stock ROM. Best thing you can do, is disable TouchFlo 3D and install the finger friendly SPB Mobile Shell. It is just so much faster, and above all, so much more practical to use, than TouchFlo 3D. I have introduced 3 colleagues with Diamonds to Mobile Shell, and each have promptly switched to Mobile Shell and haven't looked back.
No regrets about getting the Diamond. It was (and still is) really special when it first came out. Now however, I would recommend waiting for the Diamond 2 rather than the Diamond. The microSD card slot will come in handy. It is slightly larger than the Diamond, but not too big, with a bigger screen.

Help Needed From Artemis To Diamond !!

WOW, Before I start please don't flame me for maybe some stupid questions !!!
Having used my artemis for well over 2 yrs now , i've flashed, put apps on it , re-installed various ROM's & got it working to my likening.
Now I treated myself to the Diamond which I think is currently one of the best on the market as it stands,
Well here we go, WM6.5 - Does the Diamond take the OS safely ?? Like the format, but don't want to get rid of TouchFLO 3D coz it rocks !!
Is it a different app i need for customization of themes instead of Manilla 2D ??
Can i use the same IGO8 & TOM TOM that i've got or is that for QVGA only (basically will it work on the Diamond VGA ? )
Oh ! and anymore help would be appreciated
Many Thanks, D

Hey, I also just changed from the artemis after 2 years to the diamond. I've installed tomtom 6 onto the diamond which worked perfect on the artemis. I haven't been outside yet to see if it works, I guess it will. But even with no signal, there's usually a row of grey circles in the waiting for gps signal screen on the artemis, and mine is blank on the diamond. Tomtom7 might be better, dunno yet. Igo8 was slow as **** on the artemis, too memory intensive especially with those 3D maps so I binned it. Might be better on the diamond. Diamond has some great features, but you will probably, like me, be disappointed with a few things, such as:
Volume not as loud as artemis, particularly important when driving on noisy motorways and you want to hear the sat nav voice louder. There's a tweak on this forum for volume.
On/off button on top, much nicer on artemis on right side.
Soft reset button trickier to press as it's located inside the stylus housing. On artemis, as you know, it's on the left side.
Light goes off during phone calls after 4 seconds.
Using the stylus on the diamond screen is harder work than the artemis, you have to press more.The artemis is much better for that.
Gets very warm at the bottom of the device, artemis didn't.
Less physical buttons of course than the artemis, and the settings/buttons assignment tab is practically non existent, you'll need to get a 3rd party app.
No camera button like the one on the right side of the artemis.
Battery indicator shows blocks and no % numbers, no big deal I suppose.
Touch flow 3D is nice but makes things fiddly and a bit confusing till you get used to it. Sometimes I turn it off to get the same UI as the artemis, it makes getting around the device easier and looks less cluttered.
Screen is fractionally smaller I think.

Mr Roman5, do you think the Diamond is not as good as the artemis on spec alone maybe, or is it gonna take a bit of time to get used to the software ??
Cheers, D
Before i flash, any recommendations coz every ROM I've looked at looks TOP DOLLAR !!!

The diamond is better spec for sure, faster processor, better camera (3.2mp instead of 2.0) wifi, 3G, touch screen, etc. It's just that I miss certain features of the artemis that allowed me to go between applications incredibly easily. However, I definitely recommend the diamond. I've been adding tweaks that I found on here and that has improved things a lot already. It's definitely quite a fun phone.

Roman5 said:
The diamond is better spec for sure, faster processor, better camera (3.2mp instead of 2.0) wifi, 3G, touch screen, etc. It's just that I miss certain features of the artemis that allowed me to go between applications incredibly easily. However, I definitely recommend the diamond. I've been adding tweaks that I found on here and that has improved things a lot already. It's definitely quite a fun phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't want to annoy you or bug you, but what about some of the questions i was asking earlier, WM6.5, Custimations, ETC, Sorry D.

droy68 said:
Don't want to annoy you or bug you, but what about some of the questions i was asking earlier, WM6.5, Custimations, ETC, Sorry D.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, not annoying me at all, I've been asking loads of questions myself as the diamond is a brand new toy for me.
I'm afraid I don't have the faintest clue about your other questions, but I reckon someone here will probably say that WM6.5 will work ok so you might be in luck. As far as themes, I don't know that either, and I would love to have one particular theme myself if someone knows. The blue one that the artemis has. That's the windows default one on artemis I think, and the one I've always used on that phone. Currently I've got guava bubbles theme on the diamond and without the TF3D on, the whole screen goes a really vibrant and warm sort of flameburst orange and red colour.

Roman5 said:
Oh, not annoying me at all, I've been asking loads of questions myself as the diamond is a brand new toy for me.
I'm afraid I don't have the faintest clue about your other questions, but I reckon someone here will probably say that WM6.5 will work ok so you might be in luck. As far as themes, I don't know that either, and I would love to have one particular theme myself if someone knows. The blue one that the artemis has. That's the windows default one on artemis I think, and the one I've always used on that phone. Currently I've got guava bubbles theme on the diamond and without the TF3D on, the whole screen goes a really vibrant and warm sort of flameburst orange and red colour.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Getting there slowly but surely, themes as in TF3D, i used the customization on the artemis but reading the forum there is one i might need to use for the Diamond, but surely i'll get there with some of the great members of this thread, Heh Heh

Hey, I mentioned the gps and tomtom. Well, it's way better than the artemis for a fix. I've just been outside and got a fix for both copilot and tomtom6 in a matter of seconds. That's in my car, in the phone holder, WITH the silicon case over it. Even after switching off the phone for a few minutes and rebooting, it got an instant fix. I'll test it further by leaving the phone off for an hour and see how fast it is then. But, at least it works!
EDIT: retested by switching phone back from cold 45 minutes later. Yes, instant gps fix, woohoo! Compared to 2 minutes or sometimes more on the artemis, this has to be the single best thing about the diamond. I hope it continues to find a fix quickly in different areas.

Opinions about diamond 2?

Hi, i am thinking of switching to diamond 2, however may i know is there any problems encountered with diamond 2? Like the parts spoils easily or software lag? Reviews from anyone here? Thank You.

i moved to d2 from polaris,
its huge upgrade specially the screen quality and it can run 3d apps and its faster + gsensor & light sensor are cool, but after the first week of excitement and getting used to new features, overall its pretty much the same...
i mean still the same windows, same games, same apps in much prettier package.
on the other hand when i hold it next to my polaris the polaris looks like a dinosaur i would never go back to that crappy qvga screen
the only disadvantage of d2 is the lack of d-pad its kinda missing cause not all apps & games made for only touch use.

An amazing device.
Last HTC phone I had was a Himalaya about 4 years ago, bought from eBay for a bargain price. That's still going, so I've no doubt that this device will keep me going for a good long while yet!
The only real benefits it has over other HTC devices are the camera (5MP with autofocus) and the general aesthetics... It's a very professional, very good looking phone. All of the other features are on all HTC WinMob devices, including the operating system. Ports are happening for the interface to adapt to different hardware across the range, but it's not big trouble.
In all, a very capable phone. Find one at a price you like and you will not be disappointed.

The current phone i had is Dream, however i met with keyboard problems. Thus no slider phone anymore for me, candybar is the obvious choice.
In the market i feel that TD2 is the most beautiful phone currently, but i am hoping i would never need to send it in to repair. Thank you for your reviews.

TD2
I agreed with BNM, the buttons & D-pad are essential to operate most games and programme mapping to. I also found that pocket player don't work very well with TD2. Going to try Pocket Music next.

where do you stand?
It all depends on your luck and what you want to do with your TD 2. For the former, it is all about receiving a version which doesn't present problems (I have this device for a month and going and still haven't had problems with it. Read here a lot about hardware failure, not charging to the maximum, lag in menu and so on); as for the latter, you must consider if your phone is a phone or is a testing device (a lot of problems arise when users try to make "fried eggs" with a phone - some of the users here are doing/did to their TD 2 some things just to test the device. I myself avoid changing the windows reg as it is how it is for a reason. Also I found it very dangerous to use programs to boost audio (consider that the levels are how they are because maybe, just maybe, that is the maximum of the speakers and more will fry them)). So you must decide where you stand

google g1 to d2
i just changed my g1 after using it for 6 months and bought d2.
what htc has done to windows is simply AMAZING.
i have never ever been so happy with a windows device.
i hardly feel im using the crappy windows interface but am able to enjoy all the usefulness of windows at the same time with a slick interface.
the only gripe i have is that htc should have put in a capactiive display.
the battery is cool...
wifi, 3g... everything is great
cheers HTC

I'm as happy now as when I purchased it 2+ months ago. Perhaps I've been lucky in not suffering some of the problems (screen and charging) some have.
Good points: TF3D is great. You get a really nice interface whilst retaining the power of WM underneath, the best of both worlds. Superb screen. Good Bluetooth sound quality. Excellent camera for stills. Styling is cool (if you like retro 70's, which I do!)
Bad: Wifi is weak, 3G sensitivity only average, camera poor for movies. Screen might be fragile.
The good points outweigh the bad, for me.

Happy with my D2 after 2 months of usage. I have not changed Rom or radio yet, I'll probably wait for official 6.5 upgrade before playing with hardspl and custom rom, but overall, the stock device is very nice. Battery life is what I expected (not great, but I have 2 days of moderate usage or 1 day of heavy usage ... it is ok. And it seems to get better with radio upgrade, and an extended battery in the 1300 mAh range may become available while keeping the same size...)
Screen is amazing, the resolution is so high that everything is very very crisp and ebook reading is almost as nice as e-ink. Only difference is that it is a transmissive technology, not reflective, so nice in shadow or in your bed, not nice in direct sunlight. touch sensitivity is ok, not as good as capacitive but not by much...and you have the stylus for old-style interface...and for handwriting recognition...and old keyboard...and making drawings. Best of both worlds, in the end i prefer this to a capacitive screen...
And the D2 size is perfect for me: not too big i never feel it is more anoying than a normal dumb phone...But still big enough to have a usable screen where WVGA is not overkill (it is not, but just barely: people which can not focus on nearby objects should beware that WVGA will be a disadvantage).
Whatever the technical evolutions in the future HTC models, or competing smartphones, I think the D2 has hit the perfect size: I would not change it at all, keep the overall size of the D3 or whatever exactly the same (but make its screen 3.4 inches maybe ;-) )
So to summarize, the screen, overall size and style of the phone makes it a winner for me, there is currently no other smartphone I would have instead. I expect this will change in 2010, but for me the D2 is the best choice in 2009...As a bonus, I have found the GPS very sensitive (even indoor) and accurate. It is a battery draw and it lags (not too much, but sometimes annoying), but it is more sensitive than my previous bluetooth GPS-only device!
Now for the drawbacks:
-lowlight performance of camera. It is not only the absence of flash, the camera is not sensitive enough, or the auto-iso is not correctly programmed. Low-end nokia phone are much much better at nightshots, and iphone 3GS is better too. They have less pixel, but imho a highly sensitive sensor with less pixels is better for a phone, for high def pictures I have a dedicated camera, the phone is there for the unplanned shots, and lowlight performance is much more important for those kinds of shots than megapixels...I hope this can be corrected by OS upgrade, the lens opening seems no worse than the iphone and better than the nokia...but maybe 5 megapixels CMOS sensor are inherently less sensitive than 2MP or 3MP ones...
- poor wifi sensitivity, D2 have much more trouble than a laptop with weak wifi signals...and more trouble than other handheld device. I hope radio upgrade may improve things a little, but I al not too optimistic, it may be a poor antenna...
- some slowdown of TF3D sometimes, or of the phone in general, and poor playback of movies...but here I am almost certain that playing with custom roms and using something else than windowsplayer should improve things a lot.
With xda-developers, I expect to keep enjoying the D2 for at least 3 years before getting tired of tuning my phone and buying the latest and greatest as replacement.

Had Diamond 1 now have TD2, first thought: not a big update and seemed bigger! missed scroll wheel, but now im used to it (after 1 week) glad i got it, much faster and more ram! as for wifi ok for me? did you try and go to settings/wifi/advanced/power mode and change to best performance????????

Yes I tried it, it does not make much difference. No problem at all when the signal is strong, but D2 can not catch signals as weak as my laptop can (normal), or even some not so weak that my older PDA can catch too (not normal)...

gkai said:
Yes I tried it, it does not make much difference. No problem at all when the signal is strong, but D2 can not catch signals as weak as my laptop can (normal), or even some not so weak that my older PDA can catch too (not normal)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am 3 meters away from my wireless access point and still struggle to connect with all settings correct that work with HTC Elf and Wizard with ease.
I still don't think we have reached the ease of use of an iPhone and I think the WVGA format may not be the best for phones (too skinny in portrait and too wide in landscape)
TouchFlo3D still isn't sufficiently clever or fully featured although it is gratifyingly pretty.
I come to the TD2 from an MDA touch (HTC Elf) and in a few ways it is a step backward:
- battery life is far better on the Touch
- WIFI is also far better
- rounded rubberised style is more solidly constructed and has a better feel
- TF2D home has quicker access to SMS, tasks, program launcher, weather, missed calls
- snooze control more varied (I think this is a WM6.0 thing)
- And very significantly the radio reception shows 4 bars pretty much all the time where the TD2 struggles to get even 2 bars.
In every other way the TD2 is better
Tony

New diamond user-show me goodies :)

hi everyone you might know me from HD2 scenes, well i got another toy to play with it's brand new HTC diamond(!!!!!) from local store which hadn't sold everything out from 2008 lol i needed backup phone, so i bought it for 50 euros(lol) and ive got 2 years of warranty xD
kinda cool to see how little htc actually envolved during 2 years(diamond-->leo).. apart from screen size and technology..well not actually that much difference. i find diamond build with alot more passion like...-glowing wall adapter, phone when charging, ringing, sms..(nice effect), button backlight turns on on light touch, cool back cover, stylus gets sucked in...
well after a day i'm all into games like COD2, THPS2(i had to use cotulla's wvgafix before, and no hw arrow pad)...vga on such screen is mind blowing
i flashed energyrom yesterday, didn't impress me really :/ stock was much faster.
to make long story short, what else can i try on this htc masterpiece?
thank you

I have a HD2 and use Diamond as work phone, I installed Advanced config v3.3 which has lots of tweaks etc, and Touchflo 3d config which has a couple of tweaks as well as an easy way to install themes, Other than that I have just searched alot and found various icon sets and task bars, Clean Ram is another great app for freeing up memory seeing as the diamond has only 192mb lol, Net CF 3.5 is a good app that allows installation of most apps,Getting rid of the curtains on Home screen is cool as well as a Black clock and doing away with the touchflo 3d Blocks wallpaper, As I said Its out there if you look hard enough, Have fun.......

Look up DiamondTF3D Config. Its a very nice application wich allows you to modify out TouchFlo3D in any was possibile. For starters , i like the "flip to silent" option. If your phone rings while the display is pointed upwards , and want to rapidly silence the ringtone , flip the phone and it will silent itself up. It`s mindblowing , believe me.
Try getting a nice GPS for it , like IGO8 or Garmin , and hook it up on your car. Personally i preferr IGO8 because it is more accurate. More than that , your headset comes with QuickGPS application that requires a weekly update (and notifies you when needed) to keep the maps up-to-date. It also has Pedestrian Option , and i had alot of fun with it with a friend when testing it. We started the software and began running like idiots around the block to see just how accurate it really is. You`d be amazed , it is capable of foreseeing your actions and ploting a trajectory , even showing you your speed as you are walking/running. Heh!
The factory music player is exceptional. Doesn`t drain alot of your PSU energy (i have a 1000mAh PSU wich last long enough to get me through the day , despite Diamonds batery life issues)...The Audio Booster is very handy togheter with the good ol` HTC headphones (probablly the only pair of headphones that fit in my gigantic ears and won`t fall out!)
It`s 4 GB internal storage. I`m happy with it , cannot manage to fill it up!
As you said , the stylus gets sucked wich is very handy in avoiding its loss! Moreso, the stylus sticks to the metal strip surrounding the body of the phone! I use this thing when browsing the internet and get caught up with something else , finding myself sticking it on the outside rather than shoving it in the phone like a bloddy rapist ^^
The Windows Mobile 6.1 has TouchFlo3D , the Windows Mobile 6.5 has Sense 2.1/2.5;
Though different in functionality , the both work on the same principle (i personally preferr 6.5 because it`s more finger friendly than 6.1 , though i would not recommend flashing it without exceptional skills in headset personalisation.I`ve heard people with Diamonds that flashed it cause the headset to brick! Service centers request obscene fees if you want to repair it , or , to make it worst , they refuse to do it because you would , most likely , download a 6.5 ROM from this forum , wich is un-official )
It took me 2 weeks to learn all the mind-jizzing things this little headset can do!
And just recently descovered the music player progress bar scrolling by doing a circular motion on the outer bounds of the Enter Button! (yeah , impressive how some find this thing magical!)
Good luck with your exploration! I won`t give it for any other headset (maybe for a better HTC version)