The camera has never been a strong point on HTC's devices, but they've been improving steadily. The Touch Diamond2 features a 5 megapixel model and it's a significant jump up from the original Touch Diamond's 3.2 megapixels, let alone the iPhone's paltry 2 megapixel effort.
You can access it from the home page and it takes about three seconds to load. There's auto-focus but no flash and it takes about four seconds to take a pic, which makes it unsuitable for quick snaps.
Maximum resolution is 2592x1552 pixels and you can adjust ISO, white balance and brightness, plus there's a self-timer (up to ten seconds) and a panorama mode, but there are no post-pic editing options.
The camera is certainly better than its predecessor, but still falls behind similarly specced snappers from the likes of Nokia and Sony Ericsson. Colours are less than vibrant and there's not really as much detail as there should be.
Example shots...
Video quality drops to VGA resolution (640x480) in MPEG4 format and will look okay on YouTube, but it doesn't handle movement very well and there's a fair degree of noise.
Internet
Opera is the default browser, though Internet Explorer is also on board should you feel the need.
Web access is fast too, with either the HSDPA 3G link (up to 7.2Mbps download) or Wi-Fi and the zoom slider is now constantly accessible beneath the screen, or beside it if you use the onboard accelerometer to switch the screen resolution to landscape mode.
HTC has added a new feature which it likes to call 'Push Internet'. It aims to get around delays in loading your favourite web pages by preloading pages that you set up in advance at stated intervals.
So for example if you want to check in with BBC news on a regular basis, you can set it up to download at the same time every morning and you can access it instantly, even if you're out of service on the morning commute.
Video and music
Downloaded video holds up well on the HTC Touch Diamond2's luxurious screen. It can handle all the main video formats including WMV, ASF, MP4, 3GP, 3G2, M4V and AVI, plus there's a dedicated app to help you get the best out of YouTube.
The music player includes a ten-band graphic equaliser which you can customise to your personal taste, or take advantage of one of the 21 presets.
HTC's distinctive-looking earphones aren't great and unfortunately there's no 3.5mm jack plug which would make them easy to replace – you'll need a pair that connect by micro USB or Bluetooth.
The FM radio holds ups to 20 presets and gives you the option of stereo or mono, depending on the quality of the broadcast.
You'll need the earphones to act an aerial though you can also play the music through the phone's loudspeaker. There's also a sleep timer so you can set it to switch itself off automatically.
Office Mobile is on board offering pocket-sized Word, Excel and PowerPoint document creation as well as Adobe Reader for viewing PDFs.
There's also onboard GPS with Google Maps for finding your way around
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rovingrowe
November 4th
1. I bought my phone from Handtec in May. The screen is fantastic and I rarely have to reset it - a big improvement over older phones. Video streaming works a treat and the built in YouTube app is great. Sound quality is fine and it is handy to be able to pull the micro SD storage card in and out without resetting the phone. So far, I haven't had a problem with software running off the storage card locking up after the phone has been in standby mode - a big irritation with WM5.
A few gripes and 1 major ISSUE:
- Touch Flo looks great but irritates as it takes more steps to get to all the detail of a contact, diary, etc. I end up working around Touch Flo rather than using it much
- The HTC browser looks great but doesn't seem to work that well. Big delays and oversensitive zoom slider. I end up using Internet Explorer - much better than earlier versions but still nothing like as good as iphone browser
- Touchflo has a nice feature on contacts where commonly used contacts can be selected and listed on the top Contacts screen. Unfortunately the PC sync software regularly loses its mind and does a complete re-sync, overwriting these selections on the phone. Looks nice but I have lost patience reinstating them every couple of weeks and now just ignore it.
- The headphone socket is combined with the mini USB sync/charge socket is a HTC variation of the mini USB plug. You need to use HTC headphones or buy an adapter - cheap on Ebay but a little annoying
- The casing and screen are very sensitive to finger prints – I end up wiping it constantly. The screen is pretty useless in sunlight.
- MAJOR WATCHOUT: The reset button is under the back cover. Right next to this is a recessed casing screw with an anti-tamper 'void' sticker. It is very easy to stick the stylus into the screw instead of the button by mistake. I found out the very expensive consequence (£70) when the touch screen developed a fault after only a few weeks. I then spend many more weeks arguing with Handtec and HTC to no avail - I had to pay up. HTC even emailed a photo of the damaged 'void' sticker which had pretty clearly never had a screwdriver in it. There is very little clearance inside the casing to put tape over the screw hole and if you block the hole with something you would again risk damaging the sticker in some way. All this would be avoided if the 'void' sticker were simply put on a different screw. If I were cynical I might think this was deliberate to avoid paying out for warranty claims!
- The phone Handtec provided is apparently an Eastern European model. I found this out when I tried to download the Win 6.5 upgrade and was refused. A support call to HTC clarified why. Apparently the E European version will be released later in Nov.
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