Database Develop

Newbie questions : differences between Diamond and Raphael please?

Hi,
I had an HTC Hermes/T-Mobile Vario II for a few years and was quite happy with it as a handset.
Then came upgrade time from T-Mobile and I decided to go for a non Windows Mobile based handset. I went for an LG Renoir which is "ok" and has a fantastic 8.0mp camera on it but I have now realised I miss my WM based phone.
I'm looking at getting rid of the Renoir + buying either an HTC Diamond/MDA Compact IV or an HTC Raphael/MDA Vario IV.
Can someone outline the differences between these two handsets please?. I know the Diamond has no expandable memory in the form of SD cards and no slide out QWERTY keyboard but aside from that is there any other difference between it and the Raphael?. Is the Touch Flo interface the same on both handsets?.
In short, aside from the SD card and keyboard, are they essentially the same phones?.
Many thanks for any advice.

Probably best to look at the specs sheets for hardware differences...
http://www.htc.com/www/product/touchdiamond/specification.html
http://www.htc.com/www/product/touchpro/specification.html
Don't think there's any other difference in tf3d interface other than the Action Menu (when you slide out the keyboard in tf3d)
Personal opinion: I'm a Diamond user and I can't help but wish that we also got the the extra 96 MB of RAM that TouchPro users enjoy. Glad that Diamond2 users don't have to worry about that versus TouchPro2.

Hi,
Thanks for the info. I've now taken delivery of a Touch Pro and have started playing around with it. My old Vario II was running WM 6 so I'm reasonably familiar with that but I haven't really got much of a clue where to start as far as modding the handset goes. Would like to flash it to the latest ROM for a start I think and go from there.
So thank you for the info and I will now toddle off to the Raphael section of the forums and take it from there!!.

New Kaiser owner..

Hi guys,i'm new to the forum and have just last week bought an HTC Tytn II,it was box stock and is in excellent condish,i've already flashed it once with the upgrade from V.6.0 to 6.1 via the HTC support site.
The question i'm wanting an answer to is,which is the easiest or best version of WinMo 6.5 to use to update my device,the UI looks so much better than it is currently,I like it as is but would love a more modern look,I tried a Vista theme that has been released but it wont run right,the only theme type software i've managed to get to work is S2U2 which works flawlessly.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated,i'm pretty new to ROM flashing but am familiar with WM smartphones after owning them since the SPV E200 but only just started to experiment with the OS.Once again,thanx in advance..
Mr Terminator aka Carl....

We can't tell you what is best (and asking is against forum rules), go have a look in the rom dev forum and see what tickles your fancy.

Thanks for the input fella,i'll go have a gander and see whats what.Cheers...

The PDA Corner latest version is probably one of the better options.
It really is a case of "sucking & see" so worth doing a fair bit of searching & reading.

Quick question about 'OEM' product.

First of all Hello everyone, I'm Luke and I'm pretty new to the windows mobile scene.
I've wanted a windows mobile phone for a few years now however price tags were not so appealing to me, but now I've purchased my first windows phone and it should be arriving tomorrow or within the next few days. It also seems that I've bought one at a good time as I'm happy to see a lot of development going on for 6.1/6.5 which is awesome - I like playing around with gadgets more than actually using them.
But here is the catch, whilst I've posted this in the HTC TD2 section here, the phone I've bought isn't actually a TD2. At least not an official one. It's one of the Chinese models found on eBay. I don't want a moral debate going on here - it was a bargain and it's my first step into using a Windows phone which I'm looking forward to for a decent price. It looks like a TD2 and the seller has claimed it is 'OEM Produce' however I don't believe him really.
What I wanted to ask was how will I go about flashing, updating, installing ROM's and the such on this phone? Will it be more than enough to follow instructions for a standard TD2? I hope someone here who understands hardware device and such will be able to clear that up for me.
The phone is using the same processor as the original TD2, and has the same resolution etc. Not sure if it has the same amount of ROM/RAM however it's being shipped with WM 6.1 so it has enough I presume. Are there any other hardware differences that will effect the ROM's I can use? Can I even use the same ROM's you guys are using? I don't care about the lower quality camera and less important things like that.
Thanks for any advice (sorry it was a bit long winded)
Please scroll down to see my most recent post! Thanks!

Thats is a very tricky question you are asking here.
First of all, nothing is certain or guaranteed of what you might receive there. After all, the product you receive will be a counterfeit phone, a fake trying to mock a real TD2. And as with any fake products you get the same quality issues. How do you know for sure that it has the same processor?? Just because they write it there? The same can apply to the RAM, ROM, Display etc.! It is in my opinion HIGHLY unlikely that the phone you will receive, will have anything in common (technology-wise) with the real TD2. The TD2 combines a lot of recent technology like that hd screen, cam and ram. What you will find underneath of yours might be a mash-up of older HTC phones like the Diamond or even older..who knows!? You can continue this uncertainty with the Windows that phone is running...it will be some homecooked release that is made to work with the components the phone features. As they will be different to TD2 as we have clarified earlier, the ROMs available here will most certainly not work ideally with yours....and i would be highly surprised to see a forum that will be dedicated to a fake TD2 lolz. Anyways, I think you get my point...I dont really see why you would ship yourself a chinese mock-up to start with a Windows Mobile phone...I dont, really. There are so many nice cheap hq HTC phones out there that still support 6.5 to-date. I have been using a HTC Excalibur (S620/621/Dash) for like 4 years and kept buying the same phone since then because i LOVE it. The quality is superb and it runs Windows Mobile 6.5 like a charm. You can pickup a brandnew unlocked one for $100 at the bay. Just a week ago i decided to upgrade and bought a new TD2...not here yet but same as you i am very excited Im sorry that i drifted off into a moral debate by the way
If you really want to embark on trying to update your phone you will have to analyze the rom closely to see what phone's ROM it is actually running. This will help you to find the according forum in here.
Good luck

I concur with vivid22, The internals of your phone will certainly be different to those of the original HTC build and as such you may have many unforseen troubles if you do flash the rom.
But if you decide to proceed with a rom flash i would be very interested to hear of your results.
You may also be interested in using some benchmark software and comparing how your phone performs compared to ours, maybe you can discover if the CPU is indeed the correct performance. Its all quite interesting.
Oh and welcome to the forums

Thanks for your responses guys! Very informative.
While I'm not going to respond to the most obvious statements like it being a counterfeit and it sucking etc in much detail because of course you are right! but I knew this when I bought it. The price is the real difference here and I don't mind if I can't flash it but I too am interested if it will actually work .
I'm still waiting for the phone to arrive and yes you both are right it has a very high chance that it is using different internals and I expect this, however the seller seems to state its using very similar hardware.
I will be more than happy to mess around with it, I guess I will dump the ROM first if I can then try installing some 6.5 etc - no problem trying I guess. I must say I've seen some clones from merimobiles.com (or something) with TouchFlo and I think even WinMo 6.5 but then again obtaining those ROM's will be a quest in itself. Not sure if mine is being shipped with TouchFlo, it has it in the screen shots on the listening but that really counts for nothing .
I have seen a few threads on these devices and their flash capability but not any with any definitive results so hopefully I can get the ball rolling. When I actually receive my product I will be able to tell if it is actually using the same processor, etc.

I believe you will find that Hard SPL will not flash to unlock your device.
Many here have tried with the same knock-offs.

Unlock in which way do you mean?
Network unlock? (assuming not)
Maybe worth noting: The guy who is selling these flashes the phone with the version of WinMo (language-wise) that the buyer asks for before shipping out. Meaning they can be flashed, however with what ROM's and what method I've no idea. Might ask him?
Ok if I'm going to poke around this I have two questions to ask that will help me determine things about the phone:
(They may seem very dumb but I just need to clarify)
1. Is there a way to find out the Hard SPL version without installing a new one? Like the current one it has.
2. Is it possible to get into the Bootloader no matter what Hard SPL version you have?

Lukeff7 said:
Unlock in which way do you mean?
Network unlock? (assuming not)
Maybe worth noting: The guy who is selling these flashes the phone with the version of WinMo (language-wise) that the buyer asks for before shipping out. Meaning they can be flashed, however with what ROM's and what method I've no idea. Might ask him?
Ok if I'm going to poke around this I have two questions to ask that will help me determine things about the phone:
(They may seem very dumb but I just need to clarify)
1. Is there a way to find out the Hard SPL version without installing a new one? Like the current one it has.
2. Is it possible to get into the Bootloader no matter what Hard SPL version you have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, SPL unlocks the OS, not the SIM.
Bootloader mode is how you determine your current SPL.

Okay. So I should be able to (hopefully) get into bootloader and find the SPL it currently has.
Well I guess thats it until I actually recieve the phone, cheers guys I'll post how I get on for the people who are interested.

It will be very interesting to hear about it. hope you get what you ordered?
God luck

Well, I'm back, for anyone who is interested!
Phone finally came, snow over here in the UK slowed it down haha!
So, the phone is very good for what I paid, and very nice.
I'd like to go about flashing it though, as it's currently running 6.1 with SPB Mobile Shell. SPB is very nice, but I really like the look of Touch Flo.
Now while cosmetically the phone looks pretty close to the TD2, it has a few things like no front camera (don't really care) and the zoom bar also seems to do absolutely nothing. The phone runs as smooth as it should. It has no g-sensor as far as I can tell, shame but doesn't really matter.
All of this sounds like it has no chance, I think it even has less RAM than it was meant to but I'm not sure... But here is why I am still curious about trying:
Windows Mobile is reporting that it is using the 528Mhz MSM7200A processor.
That is what I believe the real TD2 uses, correct me if I am wrong.
If this means it is using the same chipset or what-have you as the TD2, I don't know. This is why I need help.
Really, what I am asking, is what kind of things can I look at in the phone to tell what I could possibly flash it with?
Do you think the HardSPL utility you all use will work with it? Is there even any way to tell, or should I just try anyway? And could that break the phone beyond repair? Is there a way to find out the real specs of this phone, because it may have been modified so that it read that processor name?
What do you guys think. I'm willing to try all sorts, I just don't want to brick it with no way of getting it back that's why I am just asking for opinions before I do it anyway.
Thanks

You will brick your phone for sure if you try a rom for Diamond2, search this forum for chinese ROM (I saw it somewhere on another thread in Topaz section), but watch out that you will have a clean windows without customizations includind TF3D.

A Couple Questions

Okay I am very new to this phone got it yesterday The HTC Touch Diamond 2 and i have a couple questions please respond to them if you know anything:
1. What is Topaz?
2. I have WM 6.5 (I checked) and how do I get Manilla 2.5 or what ever it is called that lets be have 3 icons at the bottom of the today screen?
3. Can i change the theme? (I tried the themes already in the phone but that just changes the background of the programs page and a couple others and not the slidey thing.
4. Why are my icons at the bottom slide thing coloured and different from the black and white icons in some pictures of the phone?
Yes I am sorry for being a noob I did read stickies and am still lost somewhat and I just needed some help clearing this up. If you can can help please do.

toztigger said:
Okay I am very new to this phone got it yesterday The HTC Touch Diamond 2 and i have a couple questions please respond to them if you know anything:
1. What is Topaz?
2. I have WM 6.5 (I checked) and how do I get Manilla 2.5 or what ever it is called that lets be have 3 icons at the bottom of the today screen?
3. Can i change the theme? (I tried the themes already in the phone but that just changes the background of the programs page and a couple others and not the slidey thing.
4. Why are my icons at the bottom slide thing coloured and different from the black and white icons in some pictures of the phone?
Yes I am sorry for being a noob I did read stickies and am still lost somewhat and I just needed some help clearing this up. If you can can help please do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Topaz is a codename for the HTC Touch Diamond 2.
2. You're going to have to flash a custom ROM. Here's a good place to start.
3. Short answer: Yes. But give custom ROMs a shot first.
4. ROMs vary. And so the way icons look varies. And on cooked ROMs, they greatly vary.
Hope that helps!

whats a good rom that similar to the original and that will let me add sense 2.5 and with themes

toztigger said:
whats a good rom that similar to the original and that will let me add sense 2.5 and with themes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash the ROM in my signature then look up Max Manila Themes.

THANK YOU and wat are the chances of me screwing up my diamond2

Diamond 2 VS 9550
Hi guys
My wife bought an unlocked diamond 2 as new year present for me . I haven't broken the seal yet as i am not sure if this is the right gadget for me .
I was planing to buy a 9550 storm 2 ;Would you please make a comparison between these two gadgets ?
After reading a few reviews i am disappointed with virtual keyboard and the lack of 3.5mm jack . have you had any serious issue with this device ?
Should i keep it or go for storm 2 ?(as I'm a mac user and I guess I will have some issues with active sync and flashing ,I am listening to a lot of music too so lack of 3.5 mm is a great deal for me ) .
I really don't know what to do any suggestion is welcomed .

@ oldarash:
Hi, I quickly read the Storm 2 sheet because i'm ignorant about Blackberries. My first impression is that Storm2 is intended for professional use, in a few words:a valuable and reliable work tool, does few things but in the right way. Topaz,on the other hand, covers a wider range of application fields such as multimedia,gps navigation,internet (real internet,not blackberry network)..it's a less "serious" phone, a nice toy. Being Windows Mobile-based, it is highly customizable (as you can see in this forum) but also may have some bugs, that are often promptly patched by XDA specialist-members. Reading around in this forum one may have the impression that thare are many,too many issues..but sometimes problems come when you want to do more, to experience new things. On paper, Diamond2 has better hardware resources, but it's not enough to tell it's "better" than Storm2, it depends on the use you make of the device.
Note1: 3.5mm jack can be used with an adapter, as a workaround. If you are a heavy mp3 user, you should take in consideration battery lifetime: Diamond2's is really not that brilliant.
Note2: Watch out! Looks like Storm2 has a virtual keyboard aswell.

HTC Official ROM - question.

Hi there
I posted this in another thread, but got no reply? So I have started another thread hoping for better response.
I do not normally get any answers or replies on this forum for some reason, hopefully i will be more lucky with this post.
I have just bought a used Touch Diamond, and was looking at downloading and upgrading the system with the official ROM upgrade from HTC, (Diamond_HTC_WWE_1.93.405.1)
It doesn't give you that much info on the HTC site, and I was wondering if
1 - it will be WM 6.5?
2 - It say 'Orange' ROM, would this revert the phone back to Orange only sim settings, or would I still be able to use my O2 sim card? The phone is 'Orange' branded but unlocked.
Thank you and here's hoping for help.
Steve

steveluigi said:
Hi there
I posted this in another thread, but got no reply? So I have started another thread hoping for better response.
I do not normally get any answers or replies on this forum for some reason, hopefully i will be more lucky with this post.
I have just bought a used Touch Diamond, and was looking at downloading and upgrading the system with the official ROM upgrade from HTC, (Diamond_HTC_WWE_1.93.405.1)
It doesn't give you that much info on the HTC site, and I was wondering if
1 - it will be WM 6.5?
2 - It say 'Orange' ROM, would this revert the phone back to Orange only sim settings, or would I still be able to use my O2 sim card? The phone is 'Orange' branded but unlocked.
Thank you and here's hoping for help.
Steve
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think 1.93.405.1 is the current official ROM from HTC. There has to be a newer one like 2.03. xxxxxxxx
Anyway the newest ROM for Diamond is still WM6.1. There is no official WM6.5 ROM.
If your diamond is simlock-free then you can use the orange-ROM with other providers. I had the official ROM from O2 and used it with a T-Mobile-SIM-card without problems.
The only thing is that the provider-settings are false. But there are tools to configure this.
Or you use the official HTC-ROM without branding:
www.htc.com => support
There are also good custom-made ROMs.
Good luck.

Thank you for your reply.
I have tried a couple of ROMs since I got the phone, but there always little niggles with many of them. At the moment I am using a 'BsB Ultimate 6.6' ROM which is quite good, but I would like one with the animated weather reports (the windscreen wiper) and the book like image viewer that you can flick through.
Any idea which I am looking for by that description please?
Thank you
Steve
P.S. Oh and maybe I should mention that i am the O2 network so if there is an O2 ROM available, that would be a bonus.

steveluigi said:
Thank you for your reply.
I have tried a couple of ROMs since I got the phone, but there always little niggles with many of them. At the moment I am using a 'BsB Ultimate 6.6' ROM which is quite good, but I would like one with the animated weather reports (the windscreen wiper) and the book like image viewer that you can flick through.
Any idea which I am looking for by that description please?
Thank you
Steve
P.S. Oh and maybe I should mention that i am the O2 network so if there is an O2 ROM available, that would be a bonus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this ROM on my diamond and I was pretty happy with it. I don't know wich language you prefer.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=521941
It's with Sense 2.1 wich runs really good. A network-wizard to setup your provider settings is integrated.