INBOX:Apple's all-conquering iPhone may at last face a challenge from the HTC Touch Diamond 2, writes MIKE BUTCHER
SINCE THE iPhone appeared two years ago, phone makers have been trying to come up with a decent competitor. It would be fair to say that pretty much every attempt has failed so far. Some have done better than others, admittedly, but if I was Apple, I would not have broken into a sweat about any of them.
But what is clear is that a Windows Mobile, if done right, might, just might, offer a credible alternative. And it looks like the new HTC Touch Diamond 2 could be that handset.
The original HTC Touch Diamond came out a year ago and had a good size and feature list. Needless to say, it didn’t quite pass muster. But with its new “2” version, just launched to the media reviewers, it has come up with a pretty good offering.
HTC has clearly gone away and rethought the whole handset. The casing now shows almost all screen, which is now an expansive 3.2in diagonal from the previous 2.8in. The screen quality has much improved which makes viewing videos or pictures a delight. The triangular patterns on the back of its earlier iteration has been replaced by sturdier plain black plastic. The circular navpad has been switched for four metal buttons for call start and stop, Windows menu and back button, which add to the feeling of quality.
HTC’s TouchFlo 3D interface remains and now happily relegates the underlying Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system to the background. That means you can scroll through the main functions with your thumb and there are two on-screen keys for fast access to the phone keypad and camera.
The interface also means you can access up to 24 customisable thumb-sized buttons by pressing the on-screen button in the top left-hand corner or the hard button under the screen. That gives the handset “iPhone-like” appeal.
The added promise of an app store with Windows Mobile 6.5 will be good for users as the Diamond 2 will be upgradeable to 6.5 – providing HTC makes the update available, of course. Other tweaks like an improved contacts menu, push-e-mail, and a great browser are welcome.
You can switch easily between portrait and landscape modes, brush between pages and zoom in and out, just like an iPhone, but without all that pinching. The handset has an HSDPA 3G connection and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi. Opera is the default browser, though you can use Internet Explorer.
The camera is now a whopping 5MP from the original Diamond’s 3.2 and way in advance of what’s available on the 2MP iPhone, despite the lack of flash.
Browsing pictures in gallery mode is very easy. The media player for music works just fine. The 512MB of on-board memory is twice as big as the original Diamond’s but the microSD slot can handle cards of up to 16GB in capacity, though none come with the handset itself. Other bonuses include GPS supported by Google Maps, Office Mobile and longer battery life.
What can I say? It’s a very worthy iPhone contender for a Windows phone and comes Sim-unlocked so you don’t have to sign up with one operator, as with the iPhone.
There’s just one problem. The new version of the iPhone is rumoured to be coming in June – so the war is by no means over just yet.
