HTC Touch Diamond Cell Phone Review - Making/Receiving Calls
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Marianne Schultz Published on October 14, 2008 Comment on this |
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| As with many touchscreen phones, dialing on the Touch Diamond can require some concentration to accurately hit the small on-screen dialpad buttons, but its send and end buttons offer good feedback, though they may be hard to find by feel alone. It takes eons for the phone to start up to make a call, but this is offset somewhat by the fantastic level of ringtone customizability it offers. | |
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Dialing Speed (5.94)
To test dialing speed, we start with the phone on its home screen in the unlocked state and time how quickly it takes to dial test numbers. Getting to the phone application is pretty quick on the Touch Diamond with a shortcut to it on the home screen as the virtual soft key on the bottom left, or simply pressing the send key will get you there immediately as well. Dialing takes a bit of focus, though - the on-screen keypad is a bit cramped compared to a phone with a larger touchscreen like the iPhone 3G, and it's not nearly as responsive, requiring firm presses or taps with a finger nail. Despite this, the Touch Diamond scored better than the iPhone 3G and its predecessor, the HTC Touch, with a dialing time of 3.37 seconds. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Send and End Buttons (6.0)
The Touch Diamond has physical send and end buttons, as well as an on-screen end button while on a live call. The physical buttons share the same plastic face with the home band back buttons, and pressing on them simply tilts the respective end of the entire section in that direction. There is good tactile feedback when either is pressed - you can feel and hear a click that's just right and not too loud. The only issues are the placement of these buttons and the lack of any raised markings so they can be found by touch alone. In terms of placement, they are at the very bottom on the front and pushing them can unbalance the phone unless you have a firm grip on it. Without any raised markings on them, you'll have to find them by for feeling the bottom edge of the phone if it's out of sight in a pocket while you're using a headset without phone controls.
The on-screen end button is red and appears below the buttons showing the in-call options. The Touch Diamond's touch screen does not offer physical feedback, but it will flash to a lighter red when pressed, so you do have a visual clue that you've activated it.
Call Management (7.0)
Call history on the Touch Diamond is most easily accessed while in the phone application and pressing the on-screen soft key on the right to access the Menu. History is presented on four tabs: all calls, missed calls, outgoing calls, and incoming calls. In the all calls view, it's also possible to filter the view by going through the Menu instead of going through the tabs, if desired. The Menu also offers options to save numbers to the contacts list, delete numbers, or send a text message to a number. Selecting any call in the list with the center select key shows the date and time of the call as well as its duration. The on-screen soft menu buttons in this view allow you to call the number immediately or delete it.
Call log
While on a call, there are several options available, with 6 buttons shown above the on-screen end button: call history, calendar, note, mute, speaker, and contacts. One neat feature is that a new note will be opened automatically while on a call when the stylus is pulled out (this can be disabled in the Settings menu). The home button can be used during a call at any time to access any of the other installed programs, though any action requiring a data connection will not work while on a call. The ability to multi-task and reference other applications are always welcome, and are pretty much expected as standard fare on a smartphone. What's missing are options to place a call on hold, dial another number to create a conference call, or record a call.
Dialing menu Dialing a number
Startup to Call (1.35)
Staring up the Touch Diamond from the completely-off state takes a *really* long time. Not enough time to read War & Peace, but it's close. We think the culprit here is the TouchFLO interface which starts up as an add-on after the Windows Mobile 6.1 system boots up. Going from off to dialing a test call took 70.91 seconds, longer than any of our comparison phones and even its predecessor. We'd say that eye candy takes time to load in general, but the iPhone 3G took less than half the time in this test than the Touch Diamond and it has eye candy consistently throughout its entire interface. Suffice it to say that the Touch Diamond will leave you hanging quite a bit if you're in a rush to make a call and are starting the phone up from the off state. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Ring Volume (9.43)
We use a sound pressure meter to measure ring volume and test phones with the ring volume at its maximum level. The Touch Diamond's ring volume sounds off at 94.3 decibels, a bit less than its predecessor but still louder than the iPhone 3G. With the ring volume at maximum, you shouldn't miss any calls on the Touch Diamond except in very noisy environments.
Ringtones (10.0)
To test ringtone customizability, we save reference files in MP3, WMA, and AAC formats to the phone to see if they can be used as ringtones. As with its predecessor, the Touch Diamond is capable of using any of these file formats as ringtones. We also check to see if recordings made using any native voice recorder application can be used as ringtones, and this is indeed the case with the Touch Diamond. Additionally, the Touch Diamond includes something its predecessor did not: an MP3 trimmer application that allows you to select MP3 files saved anywhere on the device, select the desired section of the song in the desired length, and then save the resulting trimmed file to the ringtone folder or set it as the default ringtone immediately. We love this level of ringtone customizability, and the Touch Diamond scores full points in this area.
Non Audio Alerts (9.0)
The vibrate function of the Touch Diamond is weaker than we expected - it can be felt in your pocket, but not in a purse or bag unless it's right against a side that's touching you. It will be noticeable on a table in quiet meeting, but may not be strong enough to wake you in the middle of the night if you're a sound sleeper. With an incoming call, the screen lights up with the caller ID information and the backlight behind the send button and the center select key flash to help you find where to press if you're in the dark. When you've missed a call, the backlight around the center select key will light up in a circular pattern until you've acknowledged the missed call by viewing the call log.
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