HTC Diamond - Where to get it
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Finding one of these phones in the US can be a challenge, though it is possible. The biggest problem is that most cell phones are tied directly to a certain carrier. This is why you can take a Sprint phone and activate it on the Verizon network. The versions of the Diamond that are out now are not tied to any carrier, and are sold directly from HTC to the user. The most common way people get phones is through a carrier's store, meaning it's the carrier's version of the phone and is configured to the network already.
The one big hurdle for getting this phone is the price. he phones you buy at a carrier stores are subsidized, meaning the carrier foots part of the bill. This makes the phone a lot more affordable. My phone, for example, boasted a $400 retail price tag, but Sprint chipped in $150 in instant rebates, and another $100 in mail in rebates, making the phone cost me less than half of the retail price.
The HTC Diamond retails for $700+. The good news is that Sprint picked it up this fall, and you can get it for as low as $250 at the time of this writing -- with mail-in rebate, two-year activation agreement and so forth (the details are available at Sprint's web site). I'm sure other carriers will pick it up eventually as well. There are versions for both GSM and CMDA, so it looks like no one will miss out.
Conclusion
HTC is well known for their PDA and smart phone. They ruled this market until Apple rolled into town and shook things up a bit. This is HTC's first new release since the iPhone hit shelves, and from looking at this phone, HTC isn't sitting back and seeing what happens -- they are coming out of the gate full guns blazing aiming directly at Apple.
HTC has been in the business and knows how to make a great smart phone. The Diamond is solid and packs tons of features into a small form factor. It has almost anything you would want in a phone.
The biggest draw back of this phone, in my opinion, is the OS, but HTC has even addressed this issue to some extent. They brought over the touch flow UI from the original Touch phone and tweaked the home page to make it more user and finger friendly.
The verdict on this phone is it will be on many people's short list. I say it's worth getting even at the full retail price. When more carriers get hold of this phone and drop the price, you would be crazy to pick a different phone over this.
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