HTC Touch Diamond launch coverage
News iconPublished on: 06 May, 2008 by PhoneArena Team
On the other hand, operating the device with fingers is getting easier and easier
with the new generation of user interface personalization, called
TouchFlo 3D. Previous HTC phones had the “HTC Home” with four or five
tabs in the upper half of the screen and the rest was the standard for
the OS notification area. The Diamond is way more sophisticated with
ten categories, which change the whole content of the homescreen. They
are visualized as icons in the bottom and to change from one to the
other, you must grab and scroll an icon or swipe from left to right (or
vice verse) anywhere on the screen. The tabs house the following
functionality:
1. Home screen with clock, notifications and upcoming events/tasks.
2. Favorite contacts: instead of just a few small icons, now you will see large photos with thumbnails at the right. You can choose the person by swiping vertically or pointing their thumb.
HTC Touch Diamond Interface walktrough
3. Messages visualized directly in the tab; scroll to change from one to other.
4. Email: very similar to the messaging, but you’d read your emails.
5. Internet with shortcut to the browser and to YouTube.
a. The Diamomd is touted for its “next generation Internet browser”. When announcing it, HTC claimed it delivers “desktop experience instead of desktop-like” and their words were almost the pure truth. Based on Opera, the browser is times better than the pocket Internet Explorer found on other Windows Mobile phones. The IE is usable, but very uncomfortable, while the Opera is almost excellent. The user experience is very similar to using the iPhone’s Safari: by default you see the whole page, fitted on the screen but tapping on any part will zoom in on it. You can rotate the display to change the screen orientation (using accelerometer) and use fullscreen. Numerous tabs are also supported. Loading our page on one of the showcased units, through the local WiFi connection, took a few seconds only, which means that the rendering engine is pretty fast. Coupled with WiFi or 3G network (HSDPA 7.2 and HSUPA is supported) it will open pages in a seconds, anywhere in the world. Usability is really great, much better than our first test of the Opera back in February, but we’ll wait for a final review unit to give our real opinion. So far, we are really pleasantly surprised.
1. Home screen with clock, notifications and upcoming events/tasks.
2. Favorite contacts: instead of just a few small icons, now you will see large photos with thumbnails at the right. You can choose the person by swiping vertically or pointing their thumb.
| Home Screen | |
| Favorite contacts | |
3. Messages visualized directly in the tab; scroll to change from one to other.
4. Email: very similar to the messaging, but you’d read your emails.
| Messaging | |
5. Internet with shortcut to the browser and to YouTube.
a. The Diamomd is touted for its “next generation Internet browser”. When announcing it, HTC claimed it delivers “desktop experience instead of desktop-like” and their words were almost the pure truth. Based on Opera, the browser is times better than the pocket Internet Explorer found on other Windows Mobile phones. The IE is usable, but very uncomfortable, while the Opera is almost excellent. The user experience is very similar to using the iPhone’s Safari: by default you see the whole page, fitted on the screen but tapping on any part will zoom in on it. You can rotate the display to change the screen orientation (using accelerometer) and use fullscreen. Numerous tabs are also supported. Loading our page on one of the showcased units, through the local WiFi connection, took a few seconds only, which means that the rendering engine is pretty fast. Coupled with WiFi or 3G network (HSDPA 7.2 and HSUPA is supported) it will open pages in a seconds, anywhere in the world. Usability is really great, much better than our first test of the Opera back in February, but we’ll wait for a final review unit to give our real opinion. So far, we are really pleasantly surprised.
| Web browsing | |||
| YouTube video playback | ||
| Imaging album | |
7. It is obvious where HTC’s inspiration came from for the music player. Large album covers are visualized one over the other just as the CoverFlow in iPhone. On the right you have play/pause and option to switch the track (alternative to swiping through the display). As in the imaging album, the full music player interface should be opened for more options. Here, the icons on the bottom will allow for different filtering (by artist, album, genre, composer, etc), once again giving us a Deja Vu of the iPhone.
| Music player | |||
8. The Weather forecast is something that almost everybody is interested in. HTC has already offered an application that gives you up to date information for a desired city, but now more than one can be added and the forecast is visualized with a very nice looking animation.
| Weather forecast | |||
| Settings shortcuts | Applcation shortcuts |
10. Shortcuts to applications you want.
a. Here we find one of the preloaded games, in which you control a ball on a table by tilting and moving the phone. We’ve seen such interactive games in other phones with accelerometer also, but it is nice to see that HTC has finally added something in addition to the standard Solitaire and Bubble Breaker.
As the previous phones with TouchFlo, the most of the rest of the interface is standard for the OS. However, there are still few other new additions. These help for more refined appearance and the modified interface now looks as a whole new version (based on the original) instead of one just upgraded with patches.
- In many menus the system font has been increased, so you can see the options easier.
- The call history and the dialing screen have been modified. The latter now has iPhone style large Start and End call keys (respectively in green or red). The Dialer also matches the style of the rest of the interface.
QWERTY 20-key QWERTY
- For text input, the large full QWERTY and 20-key QWERTY has been redesigned. Still, we are not sure the full QWERTY is as good as the iPhone’s one, but is much better than the default.
- The Programs menu has been redesigned to match the style of the TouchFlo 3D.
- The Task bar is also updated with larger icons and text size.
Overall,
we’d like to see the final unit to judge the Diamond and give it a
rating. Design-wise it is great, although it has some flaws (imagine
cleaning it every time you take it out of the pouch). The software is
really promising, but Windows Mobile smartphones are known for their
not-so-instant reactions. We would like to judge how the Touch Diamond
performs after using a commercial unit instead of a prototype, although
the animations in the interface were as good as they should be. The
battery of 950 mAh sounds weak, but HTC promises it will be enough (a
bigger one will be launched later as accessory for battery-freaks). The
main drawback in our opinion is that it is not a truly global phone,
but once HTC launches version on every market, most people will be
happy enough.
Most Popular Articles
news icon
Most Popular Articles
Most Popular Articles
- Peter Chou launches HTC HD2, insults iPhone and calls Microsoft HTC's Strongest Partner
- Differences between iPhone and BlackBerry owners
- Hands-on with Verizon's upcoming fourth quarter devices
- HTC Hero takes on DROID Eris in battle for the ages
- DROID causes Midnight-Madness in Manhattan Verizon Wireless store
- New images of the HTC Droid Eris
- Motorola DROID vs. BlackBerry Storm2 in Verizon Video showdown
Home page
News
Reviews
Phones (all)
Carriers (all)
Forum
Phone filter
Compare
User comments
Post comment