Yesterday at a press event hosted in London, HTC unveiled its latest Windows Mobile device, the diamond.
The device is equipped with a generous 528 MHz processor, 4GB storage inbuilt, HSDPA, FM Radio, 3.2MP camera and GPS built in. The Diamond runs on Microsoft"s Windows Mobile 6.1 which is the latest offering from Microsoft. Unfortunately Microsoft hasn"t made many great improvements to the user interface of Windows Mobile recently and HTC have built applications and customizations for their devices.
The most important factor of this new device is HTC"s new Touch Flo 3D interface. The new interface aims to compete against Apple"s iPhone touch interface. From a video demonstration by MoDaCo it appears that the technology suffers from some common drawbacks to Windows Mobile"s own interface and system. Occasionally freezing and not always responding to screen taps correctly. Checkout the video below to see what I am referring to. HTC has integrated Opera"s mobile browser into the device and it appears to offer an improved interface for web browsing on Windows Mobile devices. A YouTube specific application features on the device almost like the iPhone equivalent.
In my own opinion, until Microsoft revamp Windows Mobile so that any area you navigate to on the device you can use gestures and the Touch-Flo like interface, these devices cannot compete with the interface of the iPhone. The iPhone is specifically built with touch in mind. Unfortunately there is no synergy with Windows Mobile yet and you feel frustrated when you navigate to an area of the OS that does not function the same as another. I am hoping for bigger things with Windows Mobile 7 and Microsoft has promised them.