One touch, one HTC Touch Diamond

After much a fuss and rumors HTC announcements today all came down to one single device - the HTC Touch Diamond. The device features the latest HTC Touch 3D interface (codenamed HTC Manila), which was also showcased officially for the first time today. The HTC Diamond is extremely touch-optimized - a route Windows Mobile should have taken a long time ago.

We've already told you about the tons of HTC devices that were expected today. Only the HTC Touch Diamond was announced at the HTC event in London which is a bit of disappointment. The device itself is nothing near a disappointment however.

HTC Touch Diamond

Powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro, the HTC Touch Diamond packs a 2.8-inch VGA display and is extremely thin at 11.5mm. It has a built-in accelerometer which allows screen auto rotation - another feature that should have been on-board a long time ago. A GPS receiver, Wi-Fi and a 3.2 megapixel auto focus camera add to the lengthy specs sheet.

HTC Touch Diamond

The HTC Touch Diamond will run on a Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 MHz processor and will have 192MB DDR SDRAM. Additionally, it would have the sweet 4GB of storage memory (no memory card slot though). FM radio with RDS and a proprietary HTC mini-USB port are also on board along with Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR.

The highlight of the new HTC Touch 3D user interface will be the web capabilities - smart desktop-like rendering and superb touch navigation through web pages and hyperlinks. Besides Wi-Fi the HTC Touch Diamond will also make use of dual-band UMTS support plus HSDPA 7.2 Mbps.

Among the few let-downs about the new HTC Diamond (yes, there are some) is firstly the tri-band-only GSM support. There are going to be two tri-band versions – one for Europe and Asia and another for the Americas. The other small thing that strikes the eye is the inadequate 900 mAh battery, which hardly last the thing long in data or GPS intensive applications.

The HTC Touch Diamond will be available in June 2008 throughout Europe and Asia with availability in other regions expected before the end of the year. Unfortunately, we were not invited to the HTC event in London so we won't be able to provide you with hands-on coverage of the device just yet.