I have been a huge fan of Windows Mobile for years and the Apple iPhone 3G has been the only phone to tear me away from the OS I know and love. Whether Windows Mobile users want to admit it or not, Apple’s iPhone has changed the game when it comes to mobile phone user interface. Not to be left in the cold, HTC has taken Windows Mobile, and wrapped in a very “finger friendly” interface in order to make WM more bearable. I am lucky enough to have both phones in my possession, so I figured I would do a write up on what I do and don’t like about each device. I also took some comparison pictures to demonstrate what I am talking about. So lets get to it!
I am not going to go into great detail with the general features of either of these phones, as there are plenty of reviews out there that cover these things. Instead I am going to break down the positives and negatives of the Apple iPhone 3G and the HTC Touch Diamond in my opinion.
Apple iPhone 3G:
The iPhone wins points in the “attractiveness” department for sure. Everything on the iPhone has that polished look to it making it very pleasing to the eye. The UI is very smooth, responsive, and easy to navigate. The simplisticness (not a word I know) of the iPhone is a blessing as much as it is a curse. The user interface is great to use, but in some areas leaves you wanting more customization. I hate you cannot change your calendar reminder tone, email tone, or add your own SMS tone. Of course you can jailbreak the iPhone and do this, but it is something that should be available right out of the box. Even with the limitations of Apple’s iPhone it’s positives strongly out weigh it’s negatives. One major plus of the iPhone is the Safari web browser, it is hands down the best mobile browser out there. The smoothness of Safari combined with multi touch make for an easy to use and great to look at web browser. Of course the iPhone wins in the multimedia department. The iPod feature handles videos, music, and podcasts better than any other phone I have ever used. The mail app is another example of the iPhone’s double edged sword qualities. Mail looks great, HTML shows up perfect, attachment viewing is fantastic. Switching between multiple accounts though is a bit of a pain. It requires multiple clicks to go back and forth between accounts, unlike the Diamond which just requires a flick to the left or right to change accounts. Now text messaging is another story. The iPhone’s text app is perfect except for the absence of copy/paste. Texts are shown in a great chat style format and it is easy to view multiple conversations between different people all at once. So to type all of these messages you need a keyboard right? So how does the iPhone’s virtual keyboard do? In one word, great! The keys are perfect size and show a virtual pop up of each letter hit so you know what button you have pressed. Also the software never has the keyboard cover areas where you type, so you can always see what you are typing as it appears on the screen. Another benefit of the iPhone’s keyboard is the auto correction. Once you get used to it, you will type and let the software fix your mistakes, saving you time and frustration. One of the biggest, if not THE biggest, positives about the iPhone is the Apps Store. Having direct access to thousands of apps is great. Hear about a cool app and want to download it? No problem! Just fire up the Apps Store and search for the app, in a few seconds it is installed and ready to go. The down side of the Apps Store on the iPhone and on iTunes is that the store is filed with 90% crap and 10% of actual useful applications. I guess it is better than the alternative and having no apps, but still makes wading through all the apps quite the process. One last thing I would like to say about the iPhone is how awesome the screen is! Weather it is Safari, mail, or any other app, the screen makes everything look great. There is plenty of room when browsing the web, and you can see all of your email without much scrolling around. Not to mention videos look amazing on the iPhone.
On to the HTC Touch Diamond:
The HTC Diamond is the most finger friendly Windows Mobile phone I have ever used. The TouchFlo 3D interface is easy to use and great to look at. But under all the pretty stuff, it’s still Windows Mobile, which is not as nice to look at or as user friendly as the iPhone. Ah but Windows Mobile packs function over form to the fullest. With Windows Mobile you get a great file system, cut/paste throughout the whole OS, creating and editing office docs, saving attachments form email, and loads of customization. Everything about Windows Mobile is customizable, from the simple ring tones, to the whole user interface. One huge benefit of the Diamond is that there are plenty of tools to tweak and adjust the things you want. I installed SPB mobile shell on my Diamond and all I can say is WOW! I have never enjoyed using a Windows Mobile phone as much as I do now. With that said, some of the old WM problems do creep their way back into the equation. For starters the mail app looks horrible. Even with the addition of HTML email, it looks plain and requires a lot of scrolling to read the entire message. HTC does a good job of covering this up with TouchFlo 3D, but when you need to read the entire message, you are back to regular old Windows Mobile. Opera does a great job at rendering web pages and panning and scrolling work well, just not as smooth as Safari, but hands down the best browser for WM. Another thing I really like about the Diamond is the size. This thing is tiny! It feels good in the hand and fits great in my pocket. The down side to that is that the screen is not as large as the iPhone’s. Don’t get me wrong the VGA display on the Diamond looks very nice, especially compared to other Windows phones, but it is just not as nice as the iPhone’s.
Both the Apple iPhone 3G and the HTC Touch Diamond are great devices. They both have their positives and negatives. There are things I really love about each phone, but things I hate about each phone as well. It really is a tough call as to which one is better. I guess it comes down to what type of user you are. The more “savvy” crowd will enjoy the Diamond more due to the ability to customize and tweak, but those who just want a great user interface with little to no hassle will love the iPhone. If you choose the iPhone, you will just have to get over it’s short comings and “locked down” OS. If you choose the Diamond you will have to put in some effort to get it the way you want and learn to love soft resets. Either way you can’t go wrong, both phones are awesome!
Hit the link below for some comparison shots of the Apple iPhone 3G and HTC Diamond.
