This week we are comparing two of the most talked about touch screen phones around - the iPhone 3G and the HTC Touch Diamond.
By HTC Touch Diamond Fan – Mark Hadley
"The tiny size is the first thing that you notice when you first hold a HTC Touch Diamond in the palm of your hand.
But don’t think this constrains its use as the TouchFLO interface is a joy to use. Navigating through menus and websites is a very simple process. Flicking through photo albums has a nice touch when using your finger and the accelerometer mean that when you turn the phone on its side, the screen automatically rotates to landscape mode so your photos fill the whole screen.
It looks great – the back of the phone has many faceted edges, resembling the surface of a diamond. This gives the phone a special feel and makes it look classy! Also a cool little feature is that the slot that the stylus is stored in is magnetized, so the stylus is ‘sucked’ back into the slot when inserting the stylus.
Overall, internet browsing is a simple, enjoyable experience with the large 2.8" inch screen and full Internet Explorer functionality giving you a classy user experience."
For those of you who are interested in buying the HTC Touch Diamond, we have a SIM free version available. If you already have the HTC Touch Diamond, why not check out our great range of accessories.
By iPhone 3G Fan – Andrew Simpson
"When the original iPhone launched last year, I was all set to get one. 
That was until I saw the spec and realised how limited it was in regards to the choice of network operator (only available on 02), the lack of 3G and the price. Knowing Apple as I do, I knew it wouldn’t be long until they brought out an upgraded model and that it would be the one I’d get. I use my phone a lot for browsing the internet and for email, so having a phone only running on O2’s Edge would be painful. The Edge network was poor but I’ve noticed that over the last few months, coverage has increased and you can now get HSDPA signal pretty much everywhere you go – equating to speeds of around 3mbps.
Although there have been loads of "iPhone Killers" launched over the last 12 months, none of them have come close to the iPhone. Their touch screen interfaces tend to be sticky and uncomfortable to use, where as the iPhone is slick and easy. iPhone 3G also comes shipped with the latest version iPhone 2.0 software, which adds support for third party applications and games. This was something that was only possible on earlier versions if you unlocked you iPhone. The iPhone 2.0 software is also rumoured to act as a remote control for iTunes, so no more running around the house to change tracks – great if you use airport express at home to stream your music around the house.
Visually, there's not much difference between the new version and the old iPhone, other than the introduction of a white 16GB model. The best news for me now is that i'm not going to have to shell out £269 for it as I can get this iPhone for free!"
See the full range of iPhone 3G accessories.
To me, time is always the matter. HTC Diamond simply slow response compare to iPhone. No matter what features it has, slow means slow. Iphone win.
I’ve had my iphone for about 4 days now, the battery seems to be improving as each day goes by. I’ve turned 3G off as there isn’t a lot of signal where i work, and this has made quite a significant difference.
I’m finding the OS a bit buggy though, apps seem to crash quite often and then it returns to the homescreen. I’ve done the software upgrade by restoring the iphone, but this hasn’t made any difference.
Overall though i’m very impressed, its quick, email is great and having full internet not just condensed version is extremely handy. A colleague of mine has the touch diamond, i’ve had a quick play with it, but found the menu system to be very slow and awkward. One question though, i’m trying to find a dock for it, but can only find them at the apple store? Are mobile fun going to be selling them anytime soon?
I’ve had my 3G iphone for 24 hours now and it is great! Internet is much faster than Edge using 3G and the addition of GPS makes it impossible to get lost now! There are loads of applications available on iTunes (perhaps too many that do the same thing) and plenty of good free ones. The sound quality is so much better than the 2G phone and it looks and feels good.
On the down side, 3G does use up the battery and I’ve had to keep the charger on hand. There are still a few important things missing – no video and no voice activated dialing and Safari still doesn’t support Flash Player so it’s not quite 100% internet access but hopefully Apple will be fixing these in future updates.
Out of all the phones I’ve had, this does seem to be the best as it acts like a mini office in my pocket.
Just got mine, porting is a pain. But the Super Monkey Ball really makes this worth while.
I got my iphone on friday, love it! Battery isn’t that great, about as good as O2’s coverage, but i charge it everyday anyway so not a problem!