HTC Launch the Diamond--Small and Very iPhone-esque

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 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 recognised 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]


And also you can see the gallery of the HTC Touch Diamond

iPAQ 600 Series

Verizon XV6900 Now Available

As promised, Verizon has just released the XV6900, a Windows Mobile smartphone based on the very successful HTC Touch design.

It has a tablet shape with minimal buttons, instead emphasizing its touchscreen. It offers a customized launcher called TouchFLO, designed by HTC to make the device easy to use with fingers instead of a stylus.


This device supports Verizon's 3G network, which it calls BroadbandAccess. It also has Bluetooth.

The XV6900 runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional, and comes with a suite of applications for handling Internet-based tasks like web browsing and email. Other applications include Microsoft Office Mobile for editing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, and Adobe Reader for viewing PDF files.

Other features include a 128 MB RAM/256 MB ROM, 2.0 megapixel camera, and a microSDHC card slot.

Verizon says its its standard 1100 mAh battery gives to 3.5 hours of use or 10 days of stand-by time. Its extended 1880 mAh battery gives 6 hours of use or 17 days of stand-by time.

Physically, the XV6900 is 4.0 inches tall, 2.4 inches wide, and 0.6 inches thick. It weighs 4.0 ounces.

The Verizon XV6900 is available now $300 with a two-year contract and online discount.

As mentioned earlier, this is a version of the extremely popular HTC Touch, which is already available from Sprint and Alltel in the U.S., as well as a number of wireless carriers around the world.

From http://www.brighthand.com

Get Ready for Water-Powered Cell Phones

"Samsung Electro-Mechanics has developed a micro-fuel cell and hydrogen generator that runs on water, writes the Chosun Ilbo. Oh Yong-soo, vice president of Samsung Electro-Mechanics' research centre, who said that when the handset is turned on, metal and water in the phone react to produce hydrogen gas. The gas is then supplied to the fuel cell where it reacts with oxygen in the air to generate power. Other fuel cells need methanol to produce hydrogen, while Samsung's needs only water. Since the micro-fuel cell can generate up to three watts of electricity, it could be used in mobile devices. The new fuel cell could power a handset for ten hours, twice as long as rechargeable batteries. Oh Yong-soo said water-powered handsets are expected to hit the market by 2010."



I've always been a bit of a skeptic. This is one of those "I'll believe it when I see it" stories. Think it'll really happen? When you're in the mall you can get a drink from the drinking fountain and charge your phone at the same time? Maybe in the summer when your power's getting low, you can just take a dip in the pool and poof! - you're all charged up! I wonder if eventually it can be used for laptops too. I'll be sure and update this story in 2010 and see where we're at.

from Pocket PC Thoughts

The HTC Diamond

We first heard about the HTC Diamond a few months ago when we learned from our contact at Orange that a new HTC product had appeared in the 'coming soon' section of the Orange price list.

Initial enquiries didn't reveal much about the origins of the HTC Diamond - my initial thoughts were that this would be an existing HTC device that had been renamed for the Orange market. Our contacts as HTC even said that they had never heard of the HTC Diamond before.

However, we now know a little more about the HTC Diamond and can reveal the following:

The HTC Diamond will be HTC's top-end device, it has been designed to compete directly with the Apple iPhone. Specs are said to include: 2.8" VGA screen, 4GB Flash Memory, Multi-touch, new touchflo (TouchFlo II), Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, Qualcomm MSM 7201A @ 528MHz, 256MB ROM / 128MB RAM, 7.2MB HSDPA / HSUPA (rev A EVDO for Sprint versions), WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, eGPS, 3.1MP Camera with flash, Forward facing camera, TV out (Raphael only), Orientation sensor, FM Radio, microSD expansion, Diamond: 51x99x10.7mm - Raphael: 51x99x17mm

You can expect to see an annoucement from HTC in the very near future and this is something that we are going to be very involved with so watch this space for updates over the next few weeks. We suspect that the Diamond will be revealed at the press converence on the 6th May.

From Tracy and Matt's Blog