Windows Phone Thoughts: Hands-On With the HTC Touch Diamond

Paul from MoDaCo and Matt from Tracy And Matt's Blog (they really need a new domain name, something like "Daily Unboxings.com", but I digress...) have published a great hands-on video that shows the HTC Touch Diamond in action. My verdict after watching the video? Everything looks nicer in the marketing world. Although the Touch Diamond has some impressive specifications, as you can see in the video, Paul ran into a significant amount of trouble with the controls, getting TouchFlo to work, and even using the d-pad. Maybe this is pre-production hardware, or maybe there was something wrong with this particular device - but it did not look like the fast, fluid, seamless experience I was hoping to see.

Another issue with the Diamond, and frankly one that worries me the most because it sets a precedent, is the fact that while they've added 4 GB of storage (which is great!), it's one of the only Windows Mobile devices that I can think of that does not have a memory card. Sure, 4 GB of storage is a nice start, and might be enough for some people, but by breaking the tradition of Windows Mobile devices being expandable, HTC is limiting the potential audience for this device - and making me worry about what's going to be coming next from them.

Flash memory is cheap (8 GB of storage on a microSD is only $82 USD [Affiliate]), and it's only going to get cheaper. I expect to see 16 GB microSD cards being offered for around $100 USD by the end of this year, and by not offering a storage card slot HTC is restricting these devices to only being used by people who have a small amount of music/photos/videos or people who won't use the Diamond for media. Why would HTC limit their potential market like that? Was adding the storage card slot really going to alter the design by that much?

Just because Apple does something doesn't automatically make it the right decision - I don't want to see HTC go down the road of doing things just like Apple (although offering easy device updates would sure be nice). What do you think?