Review: Sprint Diamond Day 1

Our very own Moderator/Editor Michael Herald took the time out and gave us his first impressions of the new Sprint Diamond..

Well after a day of usage, I am very much pleased with the Sprint Diamond. Coming from a Sprint Touch, the Diamond is definitely a nice upgrade. Some things that I really like about it so far are:

1. The nice VGA screen! Applications that I use a lot like WebIS Pocket Informant and Slingplayer definitely looks nice on this screen, which is 4 times the resolution of my Sprint Touch. Another thing is that I can actually see the screen while outside!!!! This is great for me since I use GPS navigation and on my Sprint Touch it was very difficult to see at times.
2. The size of the device. The device is about the same size as my Sprint Touch. This, in my opinion, is the perfect size for a mobile device.
3. GPS, GPS, and GPS!!! The GPS on this device is much better than the GPS that was on my Touch. I tried both Sprint Navigation and Garmin Mobile XT and both get a lock within 3 secs!!!! And it when works when the phone
4. GSEN aka Accelerometer is definitely a nice feature. I love being able to switch from portrait to landscape just by rotating the device. Very nice while web browsing or using Sprint Navigation.
5. Teeter is a very addictive game, I can’t stop playing it. I just wish there were more games that took advantage of this nice feature.
6. Picturemail. Finally there is a WM device that has Picturemail capabilities. Yeah I know I can send pics and videos through email, but it’s nice to have this feature.
7. Touchflo3D. I really like this on my Diamond. I installed Touchflo2D on my Touch and it kind of gave me a teaser of what to expect with the Diamond. It definitely makes WM a lot easier to use.
8. The Camera. It’s a 3.2MP camera and it takes pretty good pictures. I like the auto focusing feature.
9. SprintTV. Even though I still prefer to use Slingplayer, SprintTV isn’t too shabby on this VGA screen either. Definitely a great alternative to anyone that does not have a Slingbox.
10. Speaker Phone is much better than my Touch. Even though I prefer to use my Bluetooth, it’s nice to see an improvement in the speaker volume. The ringers are also nice and loud.

1. The screen size is a big downer for this device. It has a nice VGA screen but the actual size, 2.8in, definitely can make it hard to use the stock keyboard. I definitely recommend downloading TouchPal Pro. It makes texting much easier with this small screen.
2. Lack of expandable memory! Even though I think 4GB is plenty of memory for me on my mobile phone. I have an 8GB memory card in my Touch and only use about 1.5GB of that which consists of my Garmin maps and other applications that I install on my storage card. So I’m not hurting with just 4GB. But I do like to keep my options open for possible upgrades. This can make the Touch Pro look more appealing to most.

1. Battery life! Even though it does have a bigger battery than the GSM version, 1350mah, it still can be an issue for heavy users of data and other multimedia features.
2. The battery cover. I like the feel of the battery cover and glad they didn’t keep the same one of the GSM version, but I am not too sure if I like the red color. I would prefer black, but I guess Telus got that one and they are Sprint’s sibling in Canada. Also I am not too sure if I like the plastic over the camera lens. It picks up finger prints and distorts pictures.