Without a doubt, two of the most highly anticipated and sought after smartphones of 2008 are Apple's iPhone 3G and HTC's Touch Diamond. Have you ever wondered what might happen if you spliced the two together?
Upside
Where to begin? There's so much to look forward to with the information we have so far about the Touch HD. The most obvious place to start is the gorgeous 3.8-inch WVGA (480x800) resolution display. This makes the Touch HD's screen the largest and sharpest available when released, twice the resolution of the iPhone 3G and an inch diagonally bigger than Sony Ericsson's upcoming Xperia X1.
This large, sharp display should provide one of the best handheld internet experiences available once it's released. When we reviewed the Touch Diamond recently we loved the Web browsing, especially with the modified version of the Opera Web browser that HTC had pre-installed. We haven't yet heard whether HTC intend to include a similar Opera browser, but they would be mad to leave it out.
As its name suggests, the Touch HD's ability as a portable media player (PMP) is what we're most looking forward to. Windows Media Player may be leagues behind iTunes in terms of interface and navigation but the improved screen resolution is sure to make video files look absolutely stunning. Add the HD's 3.5mm headphone jack and you've got one very capable PMP.
The Touch HD will also feature Wi-Fi, A2DP Bluetooth, and A-GPS. We're crossing our fingers and praying that HTC licenses a decent mapping software (previous HTC handsets have included Co-Pilot navigation software). A GPS capable phone with a 3.8-inch would really give TomTom and Navman personal navigation devices a run for their money.
Downside
We're really hoping HTC has ironed out some of the bugs we saw in the Touch Diamond, especially regarding lag and its shabby battery life. As great as the Touch HD looks from a distance, a repeat of these shortcomings would certainly be a deal breaker for most smartphone aficionados.
The Touch HD will share s similarly powered processor to the Diamond, a 528MHz Qualcomm chipset, but will pack more RAM — 288MB to the Diamonds 192MB. We'll see a similar combination of processor and RAM when HTC releases the Touch Pro later in September, and this should give us a better indication of what to expect from the HD.
As for the battery, the Touch HD will sport a reasonably large 1350mAh which is considerably larger than the 900mAh pack we saw in the Diamond, but it will definitely need it — the large high-res screen will be a massive power leech. We wouldn't be surprised to see single day battery charges from the Touch HD.
It is also disappointing that HTC hasn't included a substantial allocation of internal memory for media storage. The Touch HD will offer users 512MB of memory and a microSD slot for expansion. This won't bother many people, especially considering you can pick up 8GB of microSD memory for about AU$80 these days, but to be a strong iPhone competitor then surely internal storage is an obvious way of catching people's attention.
Outlook
After reviewing the Diamond, we agreed that HTC was onto something special with TouchFlo 3D (the name of its interface modification for Windows Mobile), but had fallen short of blowing us away with its first attempt. The Touch HD looks like a good step towards being the phone to do just that.
HTC has announced that the Touch HD will be available in Europe in Q4 2008. We're hoping to see it locally shortly after, with pricing to be released closer to this time.
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Dazmac
06/01/2009, 12:36 AM
rating
10/10
I have had my Touch Hd for 2 weeks after upgrading from my HTC p3600 now and i cannot put it down. This phone is awesome. I purchased it from eBay for approx $1200.00 (money well spent) and it has not missed a beat. The battery life is fine considering the screen resolution is so high.I get a day and a half not problems out of the battery with high usage. The phone meets all of my daily needs and use the hell out of the web browsing. I had it set up on the 3 network in Melbourne Australia within minutes of taking out of the box. A great effort from HTC. I think it is way better than the iPhone by a mile.
Pros: Sleek looks, great layout. Fast connections for almost everything it has onboard. Get one if you are thinking about it, you will love it.
Cons: I have to agree with the other guys reviews, the camera useabiliy could be better, but it takes awesome pics anyway....so no real issue. A flash would certainly be nice, but where would they put it. This phone has no space left in its leaner than hell chassis.
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kennycox
17/12/2008, 01:30 AM
rating
10/10
have the phone unlocked, purchased off ebay...
BEST FREAKING PHONE EVER!!!
highly recommend to anyone... seriously everything about it is great
Pros: everything except one minor annoyance
Cons: no quick camera access and shutter button... have to use touch-screen
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Bl0w_m3
15/12/2008, 11:12 PM
rating
9/10
Im Just for this off eBay for $1,299 (AUD) so can't wait for it to arrive.
Pros: Dont know yet, but looks good
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Tcube
12/12/2008, 05:27 PM
rating
10/10
Great Phone and great feature, can wait for it to come to AUS
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HUMPTY
03/12/2008, 04:30 AM
rating
5/10
WHY IS IT THAT PEOPLE ARE GIVING USER REVIEWS WHEN THEY CLEARLY HAVE NOT YET EVEN PURCHASED THIS PRODUCT?
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robert smith
22/11/2008, 10:51 AM
rating
2/10
this phone is just another crappy phone with all the good things on the outside and nothing on the inside..
its just like the iphone
for htc to really make a good touch screen phone they need to not only have a good look, but loads of software.(e.g. 5mp camera, but no flash, picture editing.etc.)
Pros: big screen, high resolution
Cons: everything else
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AliE
14/11/2008, 03:18 PM
rating
9/10
No way you will get HD for less that $AUD 950 anywhere, unless you're buying more than 100 at a time. Any significantly lower price will be from a scammer, so buyer beware! Buy from an Aussie company that offers a local warranty; there's a few on the net. It's worth paying extra for the real deal as this is a sweet phone.
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HTC Touch HD
12/11/2008, 06:06 AM
rating
10/10
This the perfect multimedia phone
Pros: all
Cons: except camera no flash camcorder qvga not vga
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Dave
06/11/2008, 06:03 PM
rating
6/10
I think you will find thats in UK$, or in other words pounds sterling?? As they advertise a few differnt phones and all are around 1/3 of the price I would expect to pay here
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scotty98
04/11/2008, 07:34 AM
rating
9/10
supposedly a small business company has the touch hd and is offering it for 350 dollars and will ship next day. i really want one but i dont wanna get scammed. the website is electroappliancesltd.com. can someone give me feedback as to if they believe this is legit, please? thanks
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