Tom's unlocked Touch Diamond that he showed us was a sad little brick, barely readable, and absolutely impossible to use in the daylight. Interestingly, according to the mod wizards at XDA, the issue doesn't appear to be a hardware cock-upit's apparently a firmware problem that HTC has yet to fix. Modder efforts have also been unsuccessful, since a standard firmware flash seems to leave the problematic code untouched.

Worse, HTC's support system is broken as well. They're not able to fix the phones, and have been directing users to deal with carrierswhich leaves people with unlocked phones effectively screwed. Tom was simply told to buy a new one, even though his is just a few months old, and, you know, an unlocked Diamond costs several hundred dollars. BTW, Sprint Diamond owners, how are things on your end? I suspect this issue might be behind the delays there.

This stupid backlight problem illustrates two seemingly contradictory points about today's tech. We live in a beta culture that leaves us constantly waiting for updates and fixes to crappy firmware and software shoved out the door, and that it's safer than ever to buy first-gen hardware, since refinements in design and manufacturing mean most of the problems we run into as early adopters are the kind that can be updated or patched.

Not that this makes it any less goddamn infuriating. Fix your ducking phones, HTC.

Update: HTC responds to the issue:

"HTC’s tech team has looked at the XDA developer thread and determined that the problem is limited to people installing cooked ROMs that do not match the firmware on the HTC Touch Diamonds. Apparently very few people have experienced this problem..."

[XDA Developers - Thanks Tom]

Don't get too excited about VZWMap redesignit's likely not talking about revamping their craptastic VZ Navigator, but their coverage maps. Anyways, our tipster also points out that Get It Now phones will be able to back up ringtones and games OTA to the Verizon Vault, so you can carry them from phone to phone and not have to re-purchase. Way to be not be a dick, Verizon. [Thanks tipster!]

[Tele Online via Engadget Spain]

It's not necessarily the easiest feature to market, but hopefully future firmware updates will take advantage of the newly revealed tech. [mobiletopsoft]

Even the "Tap here to launch TouchFLO 3D" intro screen that launches the TouchFLO interface is not very responsive. Here are the two biggest problems here with the interface that we can see. (Spoiler: it's pretty much the same problems as the original HTC Touch.)

One, the screen is the same hard screen that was introduced back when the first HTC Touch a year ago. It's harder than normal HTC screens like the AT&T Tilt (HTC TyTN II) because there's no raised ridge around it to protect the screen, and is a compromise made between using the stylus to touch the screen and using your finger. This makes it feel not ideal for your fingerpad (the way the iPhone works) and better for your fingernail (like the crazy Singaporean gal likes). Don't even try it with sweaty hands.

The other problem is that the processing power is not fast enough to keep up with natural gestures. Sweeping through the list of available applications on the bottom of the screen in the app strip often gets locked up halfway through, when some app decides it wants to slow everyone down and load up its icons. It's unclear whether it's because the Touch Diamond doesn't have the graphical capacity and processing power to keep up with the fancy 3D TouchFLO they rigged up, or if it's a problem with the touch sensor not registering inputs well enough when you use your finger. We think it's the latter, since it works fine with a stylus or a fingernail. Cycling through the same apps one by one using the hardware D-Pad is also excruciatingly slow as well, taking two seconds each to bring up the next menu item.

The good news is that the virtual BlackBerry-esque SureType split-key keyboard is much better than the built-in one Windows Mobile sticks you with, and can actually be used with your finger tip. The bad news is that it takes up 60% of the screen, so when you're sending an SMS, you've got only one line of text visible at a time. Ouch.

Other things we like are the improved dialer screen and call screen (it's very, very iPhone-like), the fancy weather app, the very bright screen, the size, the glowing circle inside the D-Pad, the magnet on the right side that grips the stylus, and the general prettiness of the UI. Look for a full review in the near future.

Update: The new UI fix is a lot faster.