HTC Touch Diamond (Sprint)

Call quality: We’re happy to report the call quality on the HTC Touch Diamond was very clear. Voices sounded crisp with richer tones than we’re used to getting with cell phones. Callers also reported clear results on their end. On the downside, the volume buttons are set so deep into the left spine that it’s difficult to adjust the volume during calls. The speakerphone is plenty loud, though we don't recommend turning it up to the highest volume as callers begin to sound harsh and distorted. Callers reported little problems hearing us when using the speaker, though we weren’t as clear as we were in normal mode.

Audio quality: Music playback through the integrated speaker sounds tinny, though it’s clear enough. Still, it’s better to use the included earbuds. Even then, the sound has a bit too much treble, and not enough bass. On the plus side, the Audio Booster application—a 10-band equalizer with 21 presets and a user-defined mode—helps a bit.

Menu/phone book: Unlike other Windows Mobile devices, the Touch Diamond features a customized Home screen featuring an oversized clock, notifications for upcoming appointments and missed calls, and a ribbon of application icons running along the bottom of the screen. We found the Home screen layout, with bright white lettering on a smoky blue backdrop, to be very pleasing.

The main feature here is the 3D TouchFlo interface, which allows you to scroll and flip through all sorts of items. Pressing and gliding your thumb across the row of icons on the Home screen, for example, lets you scroll through all the applications with a single touch. You can also quickly browse through e-mail messages by quickly swiping your finger up and down on unopened message envelopes, or swiping left or right within opened messages. And you can slide your finger across the display to scroll through pictures in your photo album. It takes a bit of practice to master the art of swiping (for slower, manual scrolling, whereas flicking is for rapid auto-scrolling). We often found ourselves inadvertently selecting items when trying to swipe.

The phone book is limited only by available memory and syncs all contact information from Microsoft Outlook, including e-mail addresses, Web sites, and notes. You can also assign up to 15 favorite contacts to the People tab on the Home screen—complete with photo—for quick access to make calls or send messages to those you contact most frequently.

Messaging: The Touch Diamond handles POP3 and IMAP 4 e-mail accounts as well as Web mail accounts (AOL, Yahoo, Gmail) with ease. To set up our Comcast and Gmail accounts, we simply entered our username and passwords and the rest of our settings were automatically established. You can set the Touch Diamond to check for messages at specific intervals, or you can check them manually at any time. For corporate users, the Touch Diamond also includes Microsoft’s Direct Push Technology for real-time e-mail delivery and automatic synchronization with your Outlook calendar, tasks, and contacts via Exchange Server. Although instant messaging isn’t set up out-of-the-box, you can get a free download that installs AIM, Yahoo Messenger, and Windows Live Messenger.

Camera/video: The Touch Diamond includes a 3.2-megapixel camera. We were impressed with the sharpness of the images, which presented objects with vivid detail, but the color saturation was disappointing. Also, the shutter lag is longer than needed because the autofocus takes a while to lock in on the subject. We found ourselves waiting several seconds for the shutter to release after pressing the button. The camcorder function records in 352-by-288 pixels. The results are dark and the movements appear jerky upon playback.

Music: The Touch Diamond includes the mobile version of Windows Media player, as well as access to the carrier’s Music Store and live streaming music from Sirius, VH1, Mobile, and MTV Mobile. Windows Media Player supports AAC (Apple’s audio file), MP3, WAV, and WMA (Microsoft’s audio file) formats. You can transfer songs from your computer or purchase tunes from the carrier’s Music Store. Unlike many other cell phones currently available, the Touch Diamond doesn’t have an expandable MicroSD card slot to add more memory. However, the Touch Diamond does come with 4GB of onboard memory, which is enough to store to well over 50 albums of music and still have plenty of room for photos, videos and other applications.

Connectivity/Bluetooth/Wi-Fi: There’s not much to complain about when you get 3G connectivity, Bluetooth 2.0 support (including stereo headsets and dial-up networking support), and Wi-Fi connectivity. It took about a minute to connect to our Wi-Fi network, and the Touch Diamond paired successfully with a Plantronics Discovery 610 Bluetooth earpiece.

Look and feel: The Touch Diamond certainly makes a good first impression. The first thing you’ll notice is the large 2.8-inch display surrounded by a glossy black casing. The screen is absolutely gorgeous, with bright, crisp graphics. The back of the device features a smooth, rubbery grip that’s nice to the touch and offers a sense of durability. Except for the volume controls, the round Enter button is the only physical button on the smartphone. Though it’s not immediately obvious, the areas immediately surrounding the Enter button act as navigation control for moving left, right, up, and down. Also, the area encircling the button is touch sensitive, allowing you to slowly zoom in and out of photos, documents, or Web pages by rotating your finger clockwise or counterclockwise. It takes some getting used to, but it’s a nifty feature. (TIP: You can also auto-zoom in and out on a Web page by double-tapping the screen.)

The USB jack serves as the headphone jack, as well. The smartphone comes with a USB adapter that includes 2.5mm and 3.5mm jacks, so you can swap out the included earbuds for a better set of headphones, but the jack only adds clutter to the device. The Touch Diamond comes with a stylus that magnetically locks into the device. A nifty feature: removing the stylus during sleep mode automatically wakes the device.

Keypad: Of course, there’s no physical keyboard, but the Touch Diamond offers a choice of three virtual keypads. The “keyboard” mode is small and only usable with the stylus. The compact QWERTY mode is the largest by doubling up the letters on each key, while the full QWERTY mode is better suited for extended typing, but the keys are smaller. We find the lack of a keyboard to be a negative for extended typing of saying long documents, but it’s fine for short notes and quick response to e-mail. If you do a lot of text messaging, you’ll want to play around with the virtual keypad quite a bit before making your decision. True, there’s a stylus for more accurate input, but which method of input you prefer is a personal choice and just know that you’ll likely be using the stylus more than the touchscreen to type messages.

All those connectivity features are a drain on the battery. We set the device to check e-mail every 30 minutes. Even with making only occasional phone calls and checking the Web for a few minutes each day, we had to recharge the battery every other day. On the upside, the device charges itself when you connect to a PC via the USB cable.

• PhoneDog review of HTC Touch Diamond: Part 1
• PhoneDog review of HTC Touch Diamond: Part 2
• HTC Touch Diamond: 360 View
• HTC Touch Diamond: Video Demo