HTC Touch
Diamond II’s spec sheet:
- Windows
Mobile® 6.1 Professional
- Qualcomm®
MSM7200A™, 528 MHz
- ROM: 512
MB
- RAM: 288
MB
- microSD
memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
- 3.2” TFT-LCD
touch-sensitive screen with 480 X 800 WVGA
resolution
- HSPA/WCDMA
900/2100 MHz
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE
850/900/1800/1900 MHz
- Bluetooth®
2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for
wireless stereo headsets
- Wi-Fi®:
IEEE 802.11 b/g
- HTC ExtUSB™
(11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
- Internal
GPS antenna
- Main
camera: 5.0 megapixel color camera with auto
focus
- Second
camera: VGA CMOS color camera
- Capacity:
1100 mAh
- FM Radio,
G-Sensor
- 107.85 X
53.1 X 13.7 mm
- 117.5
grams (4.15 ounces) with battery
Without going
into too much detail, the Diamond II is good old
Touch HD, but in a new, more streamlined and
pocketable package. Our only niggle with its
design is the touch-sensitive stripe at the foot
of the front fascia. Apparently, HTC wanted
their latest and greatest phone to have a
distinctive feature that would set it apart from
a legion of other candybar-shaped Windows Mobile
devices. However in this case the end doesn’t
quite justify the means – I played around with
it for 10 minutes or so and still couldn’t
figure out how it was supposed to help me,
unlike, say, the navigation wheel found in the
Touch Cruise, where it was tied up with the
communicator’s GPS navigation department.
 |
Main disadvantages:
-
Fingerprint
nightmare
-
Average sunlight
legibility
-
Questionable build
quality
-
No TV out port
-
No standard 3.5mm
audio jack
-
No magnetic stylus
|
Audio Quality: Top Notch
The audio quality of the HTC Touch Diamond2 has improved greatly over its predecessor. It now sports a much better frequency response, which keeps within the +-1db level throughout the audible range.
The noise level, dynamic range and stereo crosstalk readings haven't changed too much but this is only because they were pretty good on the original Diamond already.
The total harmonic and intermodulation distortion readings are also improved although we have to admit that they have still remained only average.
|
Poor
video recording
The Touch Diamond2 video capturing capabilities are not impressive at all - VGA recording at 15 fps. Given the video capabilities of many modern phones and bearing in mind the powerful Diamond2 CPU, we really expected more. The video quality is almost decent though the colors are dull, the detail levels seem normal, but they really should be better. The biggest problem of course is the low frame rate, and it's really not what we've come to expect in such a high-end device.
Excellent Image Quality
The picture quality is surprisingly good with excellent detail, natural colors and little over-sharpening. Even foliage came out well and didn't suffer any loss of detail. In fact, everything is just fine and subjectively, the camera on the Diamond2 fares even a notch above the one on the LG KM900 Arena.
|
|
We were
very impressed with the HTC Touch HD but its
size was a bit of a limiting factor. The
Diamond2 packs most of the hardware of the HD
into a smaller, more manageable package (using
the HD with one hand can be troublesome). That
coveted 3.5 mm audio jack alas didn't cross over
to the Diamond2.
HTC Touch
Diamond2 is an excellent Windows Mobile phone
that will handle whatever you throw at it with
ease. But that's no news for an HTC-made
PocketPC . The news is HTC have themselves a
solid upgrade of an excellent device and a
strong contender in the increasingly competitive
smartphone market. |
Rating Against Price:
**** A '4 Star'.
Recommended!
|
