New HTC Touch Diamond mobile phone

clio

I,m off into town tomorrow to the t-mobile shop to have a look at the HTC phone. Is there any reason not to get it on T-Mobile, and what other shops sell this brand??? Don't know if Plymouth has an Orange shop...

Sid_Harper

they also used to make HP iPaq PDAs

hellomoneyfromaus

clio wrote: »

I,m off into town tomorrow to the t-mobile shop to have a look at the HTC phone. Is there any reason not to get it on T-Mobile, and what other shops sell this brand??? Don't know if Plymouth has an Orange shop...

Im currently with t-mobile and they seem ok, the networks do tend to 're-label' phones sometimes when they get an exclusive deal with the maker. beepy seems to be selling the htc tytn regular on 3 for example and the htc tytn II on orange. Both are 3G are seems to be better than the iPhone that they are offering -as it is only 2G, but if you like the iPhone then you may not be interested in HTC. but HTC are clearly improving.

cheers

Cavey

The best site for HTC related stuff (news/discussion/help/updates etc...) is http://forum.xda-developers.com/ It contains a lot of information for the whole range of HTC phones from the original XDA's through to the more recent Stellar/TyTN/Vario devices.

It contains a large number of free programs written by the regulars (some Open Source, some freeware, none pirate) for Windows Mobile devices which allow you to extend the feature set of these phones for free. The warning is you can lose a day or two on there as you find more cool stuff and it is generally the case that anything one phone can do, another can do.

And as an aside, I also have to point out the website http://www.htcclassaction.org . Quite a few of the recent HTC devices use the Qualcomm 7200 and 7500 series chip-sets which have an integrated graphics chip that are currently the subject of a legal/patent problem in the US. The result is that these devices do not have proper graphics drivers for them, which some people cite as a big problem that makes it unusable, while others tolerate the slightly choppy video playback and the 5 second pause as the screen re-orients.

Realistically this doesn't help the devices be all that they can be, but they are pretty fantastic without them and an update is rumoured to be coming "this month" and hopefully that will make the interface as smooth as the iPhone.

If you are going looking for these devices, the HTC Kaiser is also known (in the UK at least) as the O2 Stellar, T-Mobile MDA Vario 3, Orange TyTn II (which seems to be currently unavailable) and Vodafone v1615 (but that is only offered to those on business contracts). With any luck, the HTC Raphael will be out soon to carry on the line with the slide out keyboard, but I won't hold my breath.

As for the Diamond, it's currently only available in Germany. On T-Mobile it will be the MDA Compact IV, on Orange the Touch Diamond and on O2 the XDA Diamond, but it will no doubt be out here soon (next month?).

If you just want to buy the phone, take a look at https://www.expansys.com and see what you think, but they also seem to be offering the Diamond on its own (£500) or with a contract.

As for the naming conventions, they get really confusing after a while as most carriers seem to use different names (I wont go into details, but there's a fairly comprehensive list here on the XDA Developer wiki and here on the HTC site).

Hope that helps.

Cavey

Sorry, for the double post, but I just found this and I think it's quite cheap -

HTC Touch White on Orange PAYG for £150 (its £300 on Expansys and £190 on a generic auction site).

Then unlock the phone using the free unlocking software on XDA-Developers and you're away....

earwigg

Hi, bought an HTC Touch from Orange the other day and unlocked it via xda developers so I could use another sim. £149.99 is good value. The Touch has WiFi (but not 3G. Edge only, but quick enough for most). Text input is not a big deal as the Touch has a clever multitap keyboard and handwriting recognition via transcriber. Most of all I love the tiny size, it fits any pocket easily, unlike the Kaiser. Also note that the Orange Touch has the later beefed up RAM & ROM (128mb & 256mb not the earlier 64mb & 128mb). It also comes with a 1gb micro SD.

This is my 6th HTC (including a couple of SPVs) and have found the build quality to be excellent. Windows Mobile can be a bit slow at times (The Touch only has a 200mhz processor) but I find that ending any background programs helps.

Cavey

earwigg wrote: »

...
The Touch has WiFi (but not 3G. Edge only, but quick enough for most). Text input is not a big deal as the Touch has a clever multitap keyboard and handwriting recognition via transcriber. Most of all I love the tiny size, it fits any pocket easily, unlike the Kaiser. Also note that the Orange Touch has the later beefed up RAM & ROM (128mb & 256mb not the earlier 64mb & 128mb). It also comes with a 1gb micro SD.
...
(The Touch only has a 200mhz processor) but I find that ending any background programs helps.

Don't forget that not all processors are equal. The Kaiser/Stellar has a 400Mhz Qualcomm chip and no drivers, the Hermes/Trion has a 400Mhz Samsung processor and the 200Mhz OMAP chip in the Touch is easily overclockable (which leads to some people preferring OMAP based devices). Have a search for BatteryStatus (which can do it) or OMAPClock. People had it clocked up to 260Mhz. Also, grab the HTC Task Manager (or one of the other freebies, or buy SPB Pocket Plus) as it will allow you to close programs automatically when you hit the X.

MicroSD cards are fairly cheap and as it is WM6 you can use SDHC cards. I swear I got an 8Gb card for under £30, but they now appear to be more like £40. Either way, I was finding 2Gb somewhat restrictive.

As for 3G, there are reports (and my own experience) that says 3G severely reduces the battery life of these phones - I may have a 3G capable Kaiser, but I keep 3G disabled.

Urge to buy new toy rising Awww... now out of stock

clio

Is the only difference between the touch white & black the colour, do they have same type spec.
Earwigg is the white wifi as well???. that white is out of stock at the minute

Cavey
top job on your posts lots of info there cheers:)

earwigg

Yes Clio, the white Touch has wifi (great for Skype though I have found only the previous PPC Version works, not the latest 2.2)

I think colour is is the only difference between the Black and White versions of the Touch but I'm not sure)

BTW I have seen that on the Orange website it keeps going out of stock. I went to my local Orange shop, the chap there forgot to add the obligatory £10 top up so it worked out cheaper (I knew I would not be using an orange sim in it) :j

tigerboo

I've been looking at built in GPS HTC phones, as I like the idea of it doubling up as a SAT NAV.

Does the Orange White Touch have this?