HTC Touch Diamond review: Geek's best friend

We called it a game for the Diamond and Omnia but the crowd is still on their feet, so there we go with the HTC Diamond's lap of honor. The latest HTC squad member, HTC Touch Diamond, might as well be starting a new era for Microsoft OS-powered mobiles. 

Never before has Windows Mobile looked this sharp, nor has it been as feature-loaded. Gem-inspired design, VGA screen, GPS and a built-in accelerometer might just be enough to get WinMo fans exited but the HTC Touch Diamond reaches beyond. A usable 3 megapixel camera and the latest edition of the TouchFLO UI are running on the brand new 6.1 version of the Windows Mobile Professional OS. And all that is packed into a package that's as compact as they get.

We already saw the Diamond in action - and up against some cutthroat competition. It now has the spotlight all to itself and we're about to see if it's got the diamond-hard performance to become a true blockbuster. 

   
HTC Touch Diamond official photos
Key features
2.8" 65K-color VGA display 
TouchFLO 3D Home screen and gesture controls 
4 GB of internal storage 
Wi-Fi 
Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 Mhz CPU and 192 MB DDR SDRAM 
Dedicated graphics chip (64MB RAM reserved for graphics) 
HSDPA 7.2Mbps 
Built-in GPS receiver 
Standout design 
Compact and lightweight 
Stereo FM radio with RDS 
3.15 MP auto focus camera 
Active magnetic stylus 
Touch-sensitive scroll wheel 
MS Office Mobile document editor 
Opera 9.5 web browser 
Standard miniUSB slot and Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP 
Comes with the amusing Teeter game 
YouTube client 
Excellent video playback performance 
Main disadvantages:
Poor battery life 
Fingerprint nightmare 
Average sunlight legibility 
No memory card slot 
Questionable build quality 
Tri-band GSM support only 
No TV out port 
No standard 3.5mm audio jack 
Back panel design has negative impact on usability and camera image quality 
Back panel finish started to wear off in a few weeks of usage 
Limited scroll wheel usage 

It's rather hard to find a Windows mobile device to boast the same extras as the Diamond and be just as pocket-friendly. The compact size of the HTC Touch Diamond and the VGA screen are its best ammo in the market share war.