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HTC Touch Diamond Hands-on Update
Posted by Jason Chen at 6:20 AM on June 26, 2008
I'm still working on the full review, but I wanted to give everyone an update on that performance fix that was released last week for the HTC Touch Diamond. I installed the new ROM (it was easy, just run the executable on your PC), and now TouchFLO is noticeably faster. It's still not instant, but it's definitely improved to the point where it's usable and you won't really mind it. Yeah, it's passed that bar. I'd even say that it's just as fast as the iPhone. Current owners will be able to upgrade to the newer official ROM soon.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
David Bayliss
Posted June 26, 2008 3:16 PM
Sounds great, but does HSDPA work on Telstra's 850MHz? The current advertised model is on 2100MHz.
John B
Posted July 5, 2008 5:42 PM
Telstra branded stores are due to get the Diamond 850 in the next two weeks. There's a few dodgey eBay stores offering zero-warranty options.. And a couple of the more reputable PDA stores like Press Digital doing localised 2100Mhz (Optus and Vodafone / Three) kits locally as bundles.
I got mine for Vodafone from Press Digital last week.. Awesome bit of kit. www.pressdigital.com.au
BTW: What version is the update your talking about above?
Thanks
John B
Itsuru
Posted 7:17 AM 26/6/08
I think it comes out on contract in a few days in the UK, I'm really looking forward to picking one up.
Itsuru
jackyche
Posted 7:05 AM 26/6/08
you need to do a full review to say what you just said? Touch Flo 3D fast enough. Got it. Now where's north american 3G?
jackyche
blitzkrieg999
Posted 7:03 AM 26/6/08
I can't wait until this phone is available!
blitzkrieg999
Sean Harrington
Posted 6:59 AM 26/6/08
@lolec: Agreed: a side-by-side would be awesome JC.
And when one of you gets your hands on the Touch Pro (Diamond with a QWERTY slider), PLEASE share. It looks to be my next phone...
Sean Harrington
peterfnet
Posted 6:52 AM 26/6/08
I'm glad to hear that. I was going to be a tad upset if that was going to be a failed product.
@mhlaxp: Beat me to the punch. I wonder where their improvements came from. Either enhanced touchflo apps or enhanced drivers.
peterfnet
lolec
Posted 6:51 AM 26/6/08
a side by side comparission with iPhone sounds good.
im interested in the browser and media. anyway tx!
lolec
mhlaxp
Posted 6:33 AM 26/6/08
Hopefully this performance fix for the Diamond will have a place in some of the Diamond roms that have been getting ported to the Kaiser. My poor phone is still waiting for those video drivers...
mhlaxp
Stacky Botrus
Posted 6:32 AM 26/6/08
Aah.. what would really be kille ris a side by side video of two of the same operation happening.. then we will SEE as well as SEE what you SEE. See?
Stacky Botrus
TheSonOfKrypton
Posted 6:30 AM 26/6/08
YAY! Good competition FTW!
TheSonOfKrypton
zed0
Posted 7:36 AM 26/6/08
That's certainly good news for HTC. This could be my next device for me.
zed0
Ron-Mexico
Posted 7:24 AM 26/6/08
Not that I'll get one (going to wait for Android and WM7 at this point) but assuming the rumors are true, it'll be nice to see this and the TouchPro on Sprint's network later this year. After traveling a lot with my AT&T-toting coworkers over the last month, I'm finally starting to appreciate how good Sprint's 3G network is.
Ron-Mexico
snowman8
Posted 7:24 AM 26/6/08
oops, here's a clickable link (for you iPhone users without copy and paste)
[gizmodo.com]
snowman8
snowman8
Posted 7:23 AM 26/6/08
@mhlaxp: "However this fix is not a new video driver to utilize hardware acceleration; it is a software optimization."http://gizmodo.com/360514/htc-says-software-fix-is-coming-for-lousy-video-drivers
snowman8
Cordfucious the Black
Posted 8:28 AM 26/6/08
@draiko: I second that. I cant wait until that baby drops. This year is my year of portabilty.
Hot List
MSI Wind or ECS G10iL
HTC Touch Pro
and a Timbuktu bag to throw it all in
A man can dream can't he?
Cordfucious the Black
Ken_Darrow
Posted 8:22 AM 26/6/08
So its not a multi-touch device? Kinda like your basic ATM/Grocery store touch screen as Mossberg have said.
Ken_Darrow
draiko
Posted 8:14 AM 26/6/08
hey, is that a second camera in the pic or just a fingerprint smudge? tee hee
draiko
draiko
Posted 8:12 AM 26/6/08
Touch Pro = my next phone
It's the Touch Diamond and a bag of chips!
It's so nice to see some decent iPhone competition... I wonder how these phones will affect the iPhone 3G?
draiko
igneous
Posted 10:27 AM 26/6/08
id like to see how web browsing is on it. My #1 thing for a phone is web, and the iPhones big screen kinda dominates that right now
igneous
mhlaxp
Posted 11:21 AM 26/6/08
@snowman8: Yep, I was aware of that. The rom chefs over at xda developers have been porting the CE OS from the Touch Diamond to the Kaiser and tweaking it for enhanced speed; it's those projects that I hope will benefit from the speediernessitude.
But I am STILL waiting on those video drivers.
mhlaxp
Goooman
Posted 11:26 PM 26/6/08
Can't wait for the whole review. I'm definitely interested in this phone.
Goooman
DarkHavoc99
Posted 12:26 AM 27/6/08
Does anyone know what the general price of this is going to be yet? Not the $780 if I bought it now, but the price I would pay when its released.
DarkHavoc99
Kirkaiya
Posted 8:46 PM 26/6/08
I got my Touch Diamond on Tuesday (my old HTC Star Trek flip-phone, aka Dopod S300, went swimming with me and didn't like it...)
It came with ROM 1.35.xx, and .Net CF 2.0. TouchFlo was a little sluggish, and had random slow-downs sometimes. So (tip 'o the hat to xda-developers), I flashed 1.37, and then installed the .Net CF 3.5, and it's now *much* better.
Overall, while it's not quite as drop-dead simple to use as an iPhone, the Diamond is still very easy to use - including one-handed, which I find less than easy with my wife's iPhone. I used the "AppToDate" program also, which updated Opera and then updated my .Net CF 3.5 also. I'm finding little short-cuts and things as I play with it, since I'm too congenitally lazy to RTFM.
So far, so good! And strangely, contrary to everything I've read, some (as in, two) of my album covers DID sync over from Windows Media Player when I synced music. Why those two? I have not a clue.
Kirkaiya
TurboFool
Posted 3:38 AM 27/6/08
This is great news, especially since out of all the reviews I read, you guys were the only ones to give it SUCH poor marks for speed (the others noted it wasn't peppy, but didn't seem to think it was such a big deal), which means if YOU'RE now comfortable with it and saying it compares the iPhone, the less-picky people are going to be really happy.
I can't wait for the Touch Pro.
TurboFool
shadymilkman
Posted 8:59 AM 27/6/08
wheres the NA touch pro ... i want QuadBand GSM and TriBand HSDPA ... plus that batter looks to keep things going for a bit as well and all the SAME size as my SE K850i hopefully i dont have to wait till october or later to get a US version for ~500.
shadymilkman