Gizmodo: Htc

HTC Touch Diamond ROM Gives Faster TouchFLO and 850MHz Support

Jason Chen — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:20:00 EDT

A ROM update from Hong Kong for the HTC Touch Diamond released yesterday adds some fantastic functionality such as the use of the 850MHz GSM band (used by AT&T here in the US) and the improved TouchFLO 3D performance. (For the record, the performance update is great.) There are also a few bug fixes like the "no signal issue" and home page loading. Grab it at the links from XDA Devs. [XDA Devs]

HTC Releases Windows Mobile 6.1 Update For Touch on Sprint

John Mahoney — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:04:09 EDT

Mr. T told us about the Win-Mo 6.1 update back in April, but Sprint and HTC have finally gotten around to releasing the official update for the Touch. It brings support for EV-DO Rev. A, improved GPS, an Opera browser and a full-screen QWERTY keyboard. [HTC via BGR]

HTC Diamond To Lose its Crinkles, Get Smooth Back-Side, Codename Victor

Kit Eaton — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:30:00 EDT

The HTC Diamond isn't even out yet in the US, but a leaked photo shown over at BoyGeniusReports seems to show that HTC is planning a new version that doesn't have the Diamond's trademark crinkly, angular shape. The smooth-sided, round-reared phone is dubbed "Victor" apparently, and seems to be in every function identical to the Diamond. Except being perhaps a little less pointy to hold. [BGR]

Leaked Sprint Roadmap Shows Palm Treo 800W, BlackBerry Curve And Possibly the HTC Touch Pro

Jason Chen — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:19:26 EDT

Here's an alleged upcoming Sprint roadmap for Q3 2008 that shows several interesting phones and several lowbies. What you're probably looking forward to is the Palm Treo 800W and the BlackBerry Curve in red on July 13, but there's also the blue LG Rumor, MotoRAZR VE20, Sanyo Katana Eclipse, Samsung M320, Samsung M220, Moto Renegade V950, HTC MP6950 and Moto i365. The HTC MP6950 sticks out to us since the current HTC Touch is the MP6900, so this probably makes it the Touch Pro with slide-out keyboard. We'd definitely want one of those. [Sprint Users]

Sprint's HTC Touch Diamond Gets Photographed By Digital Camera From 1998

Jason Chen — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:41:43 EDT

Nothing confirms that Sprint is indeed getting the HTC Touch Diamond like a blurry picture of the phone posted in some forum. You can't tell much, but you can see that TouchFLO 3D is still there, and that there's a big yellow Sprint sticker on the top right where the, uh, front camera is supposed to be. Either there's no front cam on this or your face is going to get a Sprint logo all over it during conversations (or it's on the left, but we can't make it out in this vaselined photo). [PPCGeeks via Phone Arena]

AT&T 2008 Smartphone Roadmap Leaked

matt buchanan — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:59:19 EDT

Believe it or not, AT&T actually does have other smartphones coming this year besides the iPhone 3G and BlackBerry Bold. Four sequel-y Windows Mobile phones all slated for winter, and 6.1 updates for existing ones. Besides the Pantech Tech Duo 2, there's the BlackJack 3 (with a better cam and a little faster hardware), Tilt 2 (Update: BGR says Tilt 2 is probably the Touch Pro), and another unnamed Sammy, possibly the Omnia. There's also a "non-QWERTY" LG phone of some sort and a Wi-Fi version of the Curve (8320). Since these are all smartphones, we're guessing there's another consumer roadmap. [Gear Diary]

Verizon and Sprint Both Getting Blessed With HTC Touch Pro and Diamond

matt buchanan — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:01:00 EDT

If you're craving HTC's Diamond or Touch Pro (aka Raphael) it looks you're going be satisfied no matter what carrier you're on. Phone Arena says the CDMA flavors of both will hit Sprint AND Verizon, so there's no need to bounce to another carrier to get your hands on one. No word on the dates. In a side note, Moto's Blaze is due on Big Red by Sept. 22, if you're interested in a meh touchscreen phone. [Phone Arena, Thanks Matthew]

HTC Touch Pro Gets Fondled, But That Doesn't Turn It On

Sean Fallon — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:32:00 EDT

The guys over at Phone Mag managed to get their hands on the HTC Touch Pro "Raphael" and its sweet slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Unfortunately, there was no battery and the device could not be turned on—but no significant changes are expected on that front over the previous Touch handset. All in all, Phone Mag felt that the device would satisfy HTC owners and keyboard lovers alike.

Hit the following link for a full gallery. [Phone Mag]

Wired: How and Why Android Came to Be

matt buchanan — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:40:00 EDT

You might already know that Google bought Android for $50 million in 2005 after Danger co-founder Andy Rubin just asked them for an endorsement of it. But did you know that Google feared Windows Mobile? Yep, that one, Wired's massive top-to-bottom Android feature (with awesome art) reveals. Google thought Microsoft had beat it to mobile—it had a quickly growing platform, tied to Microsoft's ends. Google, on the other hand, was having its apps, like mobile Picasa, shot down by carriers who wanted to extort users to do the same thing Google offered for free.

That's just one reason it needed Android. Unlike Windows Mobile, which is all tangled up with Windows, Android's totally centered the web—where people naturally go to Google. While Android vs. iPhone is shaping up to be the new Windows vs. Mac (or open vs. closed), the iPhone actually proved the thesis that easy mobile net access is really easy access to Google: Christmas Day, the iPhone, "fewer than 5 percent of all smartphones worldwide, drove more traffic to Google than any other mobile device." By making Android all about net connectivity and giving developers a common platform to develop for hundreds of phone, the bet is that even with tons of third-party apps, it all comes back to Google. The web is the platform as much as the actual code-y bits.

Naturally, handset makers fear losing their brand in the hype, even as Google argues it means they don't have to waste time on the OS, but can concentrate on hardware and their own proprietary apps. (Course, if you're of the mind it's all about software now, then Google's argument is funky bunk. Hardware will matter maybe as much as Dell vs. HP—maybe that's a lot to you, maybe not so much. Besides, has HTC really had an identity in the first place?) Motorola is actually betting big, putting the original team behind the Razr on its Android phones, hoping it'll be a path to newfound glory.

Even if it (or anyone else) succeeds, ultimately they'll still just be a cog in the Android machine. By the same token, even if Android itself bombs out, as long as it forces open access to the internet, Google still stands to rake in the rewards. [Wired]

HTC Touch Diamond Hands-on Update

Jason Chen — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:20:00 EDT

I'm still working on the full review, but I wanted to give everyone an update on that performance fix that was released last week for the HTC Touch Diamond. I installed the new ROM (it was easy, just run the executable on your PC), and now TouchFLO is noticeably faster. It's still not instant, but it's definitely improved to the point where it's usable and you won't really mind it. Yeah, it's passed that bar. I'd even say that it's just as fast as the iPhone. Current owners will be able to upgrade to the newer official ROM soon.

HTC's Performance Fix for Touch Diamond's TouchFLO 3D

Jason Chen — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:52:12 EDT

HTC's installing an updated ROM on all the Touch Diamonds they're shiping out in Europe now, which hopefully will fix the sluggish TouchFLO 3D issues we noticed in our preliminary hands on. We're trying to track down some kinda download link so current owners can get in on the slightly-less-slow action, and we'll update if we find one. If you've got a lead, let us know. [Unwired via Boy Genius]

HTC Touch Diamond Available on CompUSA For $779

Jason Chen — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EDT

If you really want to get your hands on an HTC Touch Diamond before the official US launch, CompUSA has one available for $779. The good news is that it's unlocked, so you can use it on both AT&T and T-Mobile, and quad-band, so you can take it just about anywhere where GSM goes. It's a nice phone, though kinda slow in our first impressions. Might want to wait until some more reviews hit before making your decision. [CompUSA]

HTC Revamping UMPC Line Into Mini Notebook Line Soon

Jason Chen — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:10:00 EDT

HTC's already familiar with the UMPC seeing as they've been shipping the Shift for a while, but they're going to go even more hardcore into mini laptops. Their CEO Peter Chou didn't elaborate exactly what their strategy was, but Digitime's sources say HTC is planning on making mobile internet devices with Intel's Atm and Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipsets. To us this says many Eee PC-like laptops, as well as UMPCs that are running on Windows Mobile 7. [digitimes via Boing Boing Gadgets]

HTC Touch Diamond Impressions (Verdict: It's Kinda Slow)

Jason Chen — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 17:01:00 EDT

Addy fiddled with the HTC Touch at the official unveiling about a month ago, but we've just got our own units delivered to us for extensive in-home testing. The exterior looks as nice as we've already seen in unboxing shots, and the TouchFlo is much more refined than the previous incarnations in HTC's ever-expanding Touch line. The problem? TouchFlo is slow as balls. And that's kind of an insult to balls, which are actually pretty fast from our past experience.

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.

HTC Touch Diamond Release Delayed in Europe Until June 23

AddyDugdale — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:15:00 EDT

Anyone hoping to get their hands on the Touch Diamond this month in Europe will have to hold their horses. HTC looks to be delaying the launch of its touchy-touchy titchy phone until the end of the month.

HTC Touch Diamond™ - Delay In Stock Delivery
Due to circumstances beyond our control the estimated delivery date for the HTC Touch Diamond™ of the 9th June will not be met. Please rest assured that HTC have provided us with a new worse case scenario delivery date of 23rd June.

We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Mobility Today claims, it is to do with a ROM update. If HTC needs to update the chip-embedded firmware, then it's a big problem, but if it's just an electronic firmware update, then it's not so bad. Still, that's a two-week delay, folks. [Mobility Today]

HTC Touch Pro Advances Slide-Out Windows Mobile Action

Jason Chen — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:00:00 EDT

HTC's going back to what they do best—Windows Mobile phones with slide-out QWERTY keyboards—by way of the HTC Touch Pro, also known as the HTC Raphael. It's got a very Touch-Diamond-like back, and has 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, 512MB internal storage, 288MB RAM, microSD slot, a 2.8-inch VGA screen, 3.2-megapixel camera, GPS, video calling and a 1350 mAh battery that gives 8 hours of talk time.

TouchFLO 3D, the improved UI we saw back on the Touch Diamond, is also there, along with a YouTube app and Google Maps (works w/ that GPS). Release date looks like late summer for Europe, Asia and the Middle East, then later 2008 for North and Latin America. We really like the way the Touch Diamond shaped up, but we're partial to this version of HTC's form factor. Windows Mobile really isn't Windows Mobile without a sturdy keyboard. [HTC]

HTC Touch Diamond Available Online Now

Jason Chen — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:36:53 EDT

European users who want to get their HTC Touch Diamond slightly earlier than the June release date can hop online and buy them for a slightly exhorbitant price right now. DechoWireless, PopularElect and Welectronics have them in stock anywhere between $780 to $850 (you'll probably want to go with the $780 one) ready to ship to you. We think they ship to the US as well, so if you don't want to wait the extra few months for HTC to officially declare support here, this is your (kinda expensive) ticket. [Phone Arena]

HTC Dream Android Phone Shown Off at Google Conference

Jason Chen — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:59:58 EDT

Engadget's saying the HTC Dream has just been shown off at the Google I/O Conference. No pics or vids yet, but from what we've heard before, it's a phone with a touchscreen and a large QWERTY keypad. Just like the rest of HTC's phones, except this one's screen is 5x3-inches. There's an accelerometer as well. Check back soon for pics and vids when we get them. [Engadget]

This isn't the Dream, but Android Community has shots and videos of the UI. Here's one of them. Head over to their site to see the rest.

[Android Community]

The History of the VIA CPU Company

Brian Lam — Tue, 27 May 2008 01:54:51 EDT

The SF Chronicle has a feature on VIA, outlining the low-cost, low-power CPU company's fight against the upcoming Intel Atom. Did you know that the person in charge of VIA, Cher Wong, is also in charge of HTC? [SFGate]

HTC TyTN II Gets Windows Mobile 6.1 Update, AT&T Tilt Soon

matt buchanan — Sat, 24 May 2008 13:46:01 EDT

HTC's TyTN II, the Euro/whitebox version of AT&T's Tilt, just officially got updated to Windows Mobile 6.1. While you could put the update on a Tilt if you were seriously jonesing for WinMo 6.1, it would wipe out all the AT&T stuff and give you a regular HTC phone. Besides, it'll start rolling out to branded phones like the Tilt soon, probably in a matter of weeks. [HTC]

Best Buy Selling Unlocked HTC Touch Dual This Weekend

matt buchanan — Fri, 23 May 2008 19:00:00 EDT

As promised, the HTC Touch Dual is making its US debut at Best Buy this weekend, at B&M stores and online. Unlocked, it's $549. Not cheap, but hey, freedom isn't free. [Phonescoop]

HTC Advantage 7510 Not US-Bound

Mark Wilson — Sat, 17 May 2008 09:36:00 EDT

Sorry HTC fans, the HTC Advantage 7510—HTC's updated 3G (HSDPA) UMPC—is not coming to the US because its Qualcomm chipset is not permitted for sale here. Interested parties can still import the device for those fun extra costs and inconveniences associated with international third-party dealers. Meanwhile, we'll celebrate that since the UMPC market is exploding at the moment, we'll finally have plenty of other decent options among US-native tiny PCs. [jkOnTheRun]

HTC Touch Diamond Unboxed, Looks Diamondy

Jason Chen — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:48:55 EDT

We got hands-on time with the HTC Diamond when it was released, but nothing beats taking photos at home under optimal lighting conditions. EPrice in Taiwan got a unit for themselves (HTC is from Taiwan) and took loads of shots, some of which illustrate why this thing is called the Diamond. Go on, check the gallery to see what we mean. [Eprice]

Semi-Official Sprint Mogul Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM Leaked

Jason Chen — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:40:00 EDT

This isn't the final official version of the Sprint Mogul Windows Mobile 6.1 firmware update—which probably means that it shouldn't be called "official"—but it has been leaked on WinMo dev sites. New features are Sprint TV, a larger Start Menu, speedier response and of course, Windows Mobile 6.1. If you're really dying for new features on your phone you can download and install it now, otherwise we'd wait until the final version is available within the next month or so. [PPC Geeks via WMExperts via Boy Genius]

HTC Touch Diamond Gets Classy Desktop Dock, Headphones

Jason Chen — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT

The HTC Touch Diamond is pretty classy already, but this desktop cradle/desktop dock gives it a nice house on your desk for it to sleep and dock. From the looks of it, it's even got earbuds and a 3.5mm jack for you to connect to a set of speakers as well. The footprint looks slightly large compared to say, an iPhone dock, but we can throw some crap on the floor to make room. [Clove via Tracy and Matt via Tech Digest]

HTC Touch Diamond Lands on FCC, Puts Up Mission Accomplished Banner

Jason Chen — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT

The Touch Diamond, HTC's 2008 flagship phone, just hit the FCC. This means that it's well on its way to one of the four carriers, most likely either AT&T or Sprint first, judging from the way the original HTC Touch played out. As Addy said in the hands-on, it's the most iPhoney of Windows Mobile phones yet, and feels much like a tiny iPhone for people who have small hands. [FCC]

Hands-On with the HTC Touch Diamond (Verdict: Slightly Sluggish, But Has Nice UI Touches)

AddyDugdale — Tue, 06 May 2008 10:18:55 EDT

The HTC Touch Diamond—iPhone Killer or just another Windows Mobile device? It kinda reminds me of a mini-iPhone. A couple of nice design features: the animated weather display (you can have up to six places' weather forecast bookmarked) makes me think of the widget on my MacBook; the click-wheel in miniature that lets you zoom in on the screen; and there's a very nifty little feature that automatically switches the phone onto silent mode when you lie it on its front. UI was much more attractive than I was expecting, but the touchscreen takes quite a bit of getting used to: it's sluggish to the touch, compared to the hot-butterish iPhone, but the HTC rep assured me that it's not a final version of the software, and everything should have been ironed out by the time of the European and Asian launches next month. So, to answer my questions, No, and No.

HTC Touch Diamond: the Blurb, Specs and Official Pics

AddyDugdale — Tue, 06 May 2008 08:45:00 EDT

We came, we saw, we blogged, or Venimus, Vidimus, Blogimus, as they used to say in Roman times. HTC's press release for the Touch Diamond is after the gallery.

A NEW AGE FOR MOBILE PHONES BEGINS; HTC UNVEILS 'TOUCH DIAMOND'
Debut brings breakthroughs in size, style connectivity and overall user experience, leaves compromise at the door.
 LONDON — May 6, 2008 — Born from a unique heritage of innovation and a deep desire to blend design with simplicity, HTC Corp., a global leader in mobile phone innovation and design, today unveiled its new flagship phone, the HTC Touch Diamond. Delivering unmistakable style and meticulous craftsmanship the HTC Touch Diamond is defined by its compact size, game-changing Internet and its new captivating 3D touch interface called TouchFLO™ 3D. The result is an uncompromising mobile phone that sets a new benchmark for phone sophistication and shapes consumer expectations for how a phone can be used.

"Today we mark a new era in mobile phone evolution, an era where beauty and size integrate with uncompromising innovation at broadband speeds," said Peter Chou, president and CEO, HTC Corp. "The HTC Touch Diamond will make browsing the Web and using Web-enabled applications just as practical and easy to use as making calls."

A New Dimension To Touch
HTC has taken a great leap forward in touch screen innovation with the introduction of its new 3D touch interface called TouchFLO 3D. TouchFLO 3D provides animated access to people, messaging, email, photos, music, weather and more. In addition, HTC is introducing a new innovative touch-sensitive control for interacting with Touch Diamond.

Making The Mobile Internet Fun
With the introduction of the Touch Diamond, HTC delivers an entirely new mobile Internet experience that utilizes broadband-like speeds with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA wireless connectivity. Committed to improving Web browsing, HTC provides a new customized mobile Web browser that enables easy viewing and effortless navigation of Websites in the way they were designed. As part of this browsing experience users can zoom and pan Websites with one-hand and automatically view optimized content that has been specially created to fit the display. Turning the device sideways automatically rotates the web page view from a portrait to landscape view.

In addition to Web browsing, the Touch Diamond includes a customized new, HTC-developed, YouTube application for watching a variety of user generated video content as well as utilizing Google Maps for mobile for mapping and traffic data.

Unmatched Style and Size
The Touch Diamond is crafted with precision to fit comfortably in a user's hand without compromising on features or functionality. Blending contrasting design elements of metal and unique geometric facets, the Touch Diamond complements a user's personal style.

Bursting with Innovation
The Touch Diamond delivers an unrivalled combination of features and functionality that set a new standard for integrating mobile phone innovation into a small package. The 2.8 inch display provides near-print quality viewing that enables beautiful Web browsing and viewing of photographs. The built-in camera includes an optical auto-focus lens that ensures the photos you take will be clear and consistent. Advanced wireless and auto sensor screen pivoting are just a few of the features that make the Touch Diamond experience a stand out.

Availability
The HTC Touch Diamond™ will be available to customers across all major European carriers in June. It will be available later this quarter in Asia and the Middle East. The North American and Latin American versions of the Touch Diamond will be available in the second half of 2008.

"Our long-standing relationship with HTC meant they shared their phone concept and worked with us from the earliest stage. This early collaboration is important to us because at Orange, we know that the right multimedia experience is about more than just the phone," said Olaf Swantee, EVP of Orange's global mobile operations. "Our approach is to select and test the best phones and integrate our applications, combining them with access to the Orange World portal, the best tariffs, integrated billing, a user-friendly interface and excellent customer support. With the Touch Diamond from Orange we have created a unique phone which has taken advantage of our latest service innovation to build upon the consistently rich experience customers expect from Orange."

HTC Touch Diamond Key Specifications
Size: 102 x 51 x 11.33mm
Weight: 110 g
Connectivity: WCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA
Operating system: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
Display: 2.8-inch VGA touch screen
Camera: 3.2MP, with video calling
Internal memory: 4 GB Internal Storage, 256 MB flash, 192 MB RAM,
Bluetooth: 2.0 with EDR
Wireless: WiFi 802.11b/g
GPS: GPS/AGPS
Interface: HTC ExtUSB™ (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
Battery: 900 mAh
Talk time: GSM: up to 4 hours
Standby time: GSM: up to 300 hours/100 hours with push email
Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM 7201A™ 528MHz

HTC Launches the Diamond—Small and Very iPhone-esque

AddyDugdale — Tue, 06 May 2008 07:40:00 EDT

So, this is the Touch Diamond. It's small, slim, "a holistic experience," according to Horace Luke, HTC's Chief Innovations Officer, and "just like your life." Out in Europe and Asia next month, we should get our hands on it later on this year, and it's the closest thing so far to an iPhone that hasn't come out of Cupertino. Not surprising, since Luke and his team wanted the design to be worthy of MoMA. I'm just not sure about the diamond design on the back. Here is a gallery, the specs and some of the choice quotes from the presentation:

• Windows Mobile 6.1
• VGA Screen
• Quad-band HSDPA 7.2
• One-touch navigation, single-finger dialing
• The accelerometer rotates pictures as you rotate the phone
• One-touch music playback
• An animated weather forecast app
• Full web browser—Opera—with zoom-in
• Microsoft promises IE 6 coming soon
• Youtube app
• Available June in Europe on Orange and the rest of the world TBD
• Orange mobile TV
• No price yet

According to HTC boss Peter Chou, the Touch Diamond is "simplified user experience with fun usability." The word innovation has been bandied around by just about everyone who's got up on stage at the launch.

"In 2008, Vista will make mobile internet fun."
Chou said that HTC is the first company in the world to do a 3-D animated touchscreen interface, and reiterated his desire to make browser and web-based applications as easy as a phone call. "Just a touch. Just one hand. We don't need too many fingers, just one touch." Speak for yourself, mate.

Horace Luke says his team studied the fashion industry as well as the design industry when coming up with the Diamond Touch. He reckons the design is iconic enough to be recognized by people from across the street, and cited the "meticulous craftsmanship like a Swiss watch." The phone's UI is so like the iPhone it's uncanny. You can flick through your contacts rather like a Rolodex, calling is one-click, and your messages are "like beautiful words dancing in the air."

Andy Lees, one of the Senior VPs at Microsoft was playing with his Diamond Touch yesterday. "It makes me smile, but it enables me to get things done that need to be done. With one finger." [HTC]

Live From the HTC Launch in London

AddyDugdale — Tue, 06 May 2008 06:00:47 EDT

Well, we're here. This is the Soho Hotel in, er, Soho, where HTC is launching something (although I think we all know it's going to be the Diamond.) Come back in a bit for the juicy stuff.
UPDATE: Check our our coverage and the official specs and pics.

HTC Census Device Revealed in New FCC Filing

Kit Eaton — Tue, 06 May 2008 05:08:42 EDT

HTC's Census device first hit the FCC over a year ago, but it's just appeared there for approval again. The data-only device, complete with touchscreen and fingerprint reader, but lacking voice-calling capabilities and a camera, was going to be used in the 2010 census before technical issues led to it being ditched. But here it is again, with a prominent Harris branding and what looks like a hand strap across the back. What's going on? Is it back on the cards to aid Census Bureau staff, or is it getting a new lease on life targeted at other industrial users? Pretty confusing, especially since there's no info on the release date yet. [FCC and Reghardware]

Giga-Byte GSmart Windows Mobile Phones Have a Fancy Smart Touch UI

Jason Chen — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:20:00 EDT

It took a year for Giga-Byte to follow in HTC's footsteps, but the upcoming GSmart Windows Mobile smartphones will have a brand new UI on top of the standard WinMo affair. The interface is called "Smart Touch," and will be more finger-friendly—more oriented toward gestures and finger-navigation—lending itself to launching your commonly used programs directly from the home screen. The Chinese version of this has been available since April, but suffers from some incompatibility issues that most likely won't be in the European release version coming sometime after May. [The Unwired via Into Mobile]

HTC Diamond Has Ultra-High Density Display

Elaine Chow — Sat, 03 May 2008 18:00:00 EDT

The first "official" photos and specs for the HTC Diamond have been leaked, complete with a 2.8-inch 640 x 480 pixel screen (twice the lines of the iPhone in smaller surface,) Windows Mobile 6.1 and 3G connectivity. Could this be the most important product of the year HTC said it would reveal in London on Tuesday? The fabled iPhone Killer? Addy will be liveblogging the event, so we will discover it then. It certainly seems like a good cellphone, judging from the specs.

• large 2.8 inch VGA display (640x480 pixel resolution)
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• Quadband GSM/GPRS/Edge and UMTS/HSDPA
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0
• 3.2megapixel camera with autofocus
• extra VGA camera in the front for video telephony
• QWERTY keyboard
• Qualcomm 528 Mhz CPU
• 4 GB of internal memory plus a MicroSD slot
• FM Radio
• an accelerometer sensor (like the iPhone's)

[newsMobile— Thanks Giancarlo!]

HTC Touch Diamond, Raphael, Titanium and Find to Be Released Soon?

Jason Chen — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:30:00 EDT

Following up on the news of HTC launching its most important product of the year next month, GSMArena dug up some more info on two phones they think will be unveiled there, the HTC Touch Diamond and HTC Touch Find. According to MSMobiles, the HTC Touch Find seems to a version of the HTC Touch Cruise, which is out already, but this seems to be a rounder, more ergonomic version. The HTC Touch Diamond is actually the T-Mobile MDA Compact IV shown at CeBIT 2008, and will have a 528MHz Qualcomm CPU and GPS. It'll also have an accelerometer (like the iPhone) to rotate the UI when you go horizontal.

The Raphael seems to be pretty interesting as well, and GSMArena says it's a successor to the HTC TyTN II (AT&T Tilt). It'll be sold as the Touch Pro, further illustrating how much junk HTC is shoving under the Touch brand, and still have a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

And last, the HTC Titanium, will be probably the HTC Touch Dual Pro and have a 12 or 20 key slide-out keypad. [GSM Arena and MS Mobiles]

T-Mobile 3G Rollout in NYC Could Come as Early as May 1st

Sean Fallon — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:15:00 EDT

Sources for Boy Genius are confirming an earlier rumor stating that T-Mobile's 3G network will get a May rollout in NYC. The sources also update the rumor pointing to May 1st as the actual drop date. [BGR]

HTC Launching Most Important Product of the Year Next Month

Jason Chen — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:40:52 EDT

The Taipei times quotes HTC's own financial executive Cheng Hui-ming at an investor's conference as saying they will launch "the most important product for HTC this year" at an event on May 6. Cheng wasn't too forthcoming with details, but it seems like it's going to be a "Touch" phone—as in one of the HTC Touch models—and be called the "Diamond". He says that it's going to be so good, he's "confident of landing orders from most major carriers," but warned about possible delays because they haven't gotten certification for the phone yet. Sounds very interesting. Could it be this phone? [Taipei Times via Engadget]

HTC Says Software Update Coming, May or May Not Fix Video Issues

Jason Chen — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:30:00 EDT

The HTC video driver controversy might be coming to an end, as the promised software fix may or may not be released soon. Why the uncertainty? Because HTC themselves didn't specify whether this update even fixes it, not confirming one way or the other that on it enabling Qualcomm's 2D or 3D graphics support. Actually, we're no more informed after reading, other than know HTC is still working on a fix and it' still coming. [Phone News]

HTC's First Big Ad Push Focuses on Fingering

Jason Chen — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:30:00 EDT

This is HTC's first big TV ad in the US. Rather than focus on their devices individually, HTC's going for a general "brand" awareness. Seeing as how they've previously marketed their phones under the four big providers' own names (AT&T TilT, T-Mobile MDA, Verizon 6700), it's a smart step in breaking away from their control. This particular ad, one of a few that will hit print and online outlets, is underwhelming. It wants compare the HTC Touch with the iPhone (implicitly), but if you've read any of the many reviews of the device, you'll see that it's nowhere near as usable. If we were HTC, we'd focus more on their slide-out QWERTY devices that are like Sidekicks, but for businessmen.

Mystery No-Name HTC Revealed In Pic

Wilson Rothman — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:30:00 EDT

The phone blogs are abuzz with this sighting of HTC's lineup, showing both existing models and a mystery or two on the bottom row. Boy Genius thinks the first, third and fourth are the same, but I'm wondering if the first is a slide-out key version of the second (a P3470), while the third and fourth are something else entirely. In any case, it's a peculiarity that will hopefully be clarified soon, as it's also a damn nice looking phone. WinMo, Android or whatever, we'll be ready to have a look. In the meantime, your guess is as good as ours. (Hint, hint.) [BGR]

T-Mobile's 3G Network Rolling Out May in NYC, Coincides With 3G HTC Touch Dual?

Jason Chen — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:52:26 EDT

We've been waiting for 3G on T-Mobile longer than we've been waiting for The Police to get back together, and it looks like May will be the month that all this patience finally pays off. TmoNews is pegging the first launch to be in NYC, and spreading to the rest of the country's major cities throughout the rest of 2008 (list after the jump). Of course, it's just a rumor so far, but it does seem to coincide with this HTC Touch Dual Into Mobile found on the FCC, which is supposedly headed toward T-Mobile and features 3G HSDPA. We'll post as we learn more, though we're hopeful that this could finally be it for T-Mobile users to not pull down mobile data at 1996 dial-up speeds. [FCC via IntoMobile - TmoNews]

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