HTC Diamond - Size and Power

One of the most important aspects of any phone is its battery life. There are two ways HTC could have gone. They could have included a bigger battery that might stick out, but give you longer battery life and longer times between charges, or they could have gone with a standard-sized battery that won't take up much room. 

HTC decided to go with a smaller battery, at 900mAh. It isn't going to last you very long. For day-to-day use in business, you can charge it when you are in the office, but it will die before the weekend is over if not charged again. 

I would have liked to see a more powerful battery in this device. I like it when I can leave my phone on 24/7 just fine and not have to worry about charging. The larger battery would have meant that forgetting to recharge my battery, as I occasionally do, wouldn't leave me with no charge halfway through the day. The upside is that the battery is user replaceable, so if you want to carry an additional battery around with you, you can. 

Size is a huge consideration for a cell phone.  You have to carry it around all day, so you don't want something too big; on the other hand, you also want to be able to use your phone, which means it needs to have a good size screen and should also be good size overall, so you can hold it comfortably. The HTC Diamond weighs in at 3.8 oz and is .44 inches thick. This fits perfectly in the hand, without being too big and heavy to carry around. 

The device is notably smaller than the iPhone, and its screen is even smaller than the iPhone's. I don't think the smaller screen will be a problem for normal use.  Thanks to HTC and their customized interface, navigating is pretty easy to do. 

I might be a little less sanguine about the applications for Windows Mobile that aren't really made for touch input rather than stylus input. The Diamond does come with stylus, but I'm not sure everyone wants one. I can't imagine seeing people peck at a screen with a stylus after getting halfway into the menus with their finger. But I guess it's a good thing they included it. I would blame this issue more on Microsoft's OS rather than HTC for not making everything finger friendly.  Overall it's small and sleek, and should be loved by many and hated by only a few. 

Normally I don't talk much about the back of a device. Usually phone makers put only a camera and battery on the back of a phone. The HTC Diamond has those things, but is also designed differently. I say differently because I think some people will like it and others will hate it. To go along with the Diamond theme of the phone, it features a diamond cut, angled design.  It reminds me a lot of the black stealth aircraft that the Air Force uses. It does pose some issues with wobbling when put on a table, however. I think this aspect will frustrate many customers.

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