HTC, the Taiwanese handset manufacturer, has laid down the gauntlet to Apple
with a slender new phone that aims to dislodge the iPhone's from its
position as the pre-eminent touch-screen device.
HTC said that its new handset - called the Touch Diamond - was just 11.3mm
thick, giving it a 0.3mm edge on the iPhone, and had a more responsive
screen, meaning that typing - traditionally the bugbear of touch-screen
phones - was much easier.
It also had several unique features, HTC said, such as the ability of the
phone's internet browser to re-arrange text on web pages to fit the mobile
screen. Navigation also looks more three-dimensional, although it is not
possible to zoom in and out by stroking the screen with two fingers - one of
the highlights of the iPhone.
Analysts said the device was a "big step forward" for HTC in its
attempts to muscle in as a consumer handset brand alongside Nokia and Sony
Ericsson, and that some elements of the device were even an improvement on
the iPhone.
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The Diamond will for instance allow owners to choose between three different
keyboards on the touch screen - the traditional 12-key phone keypad, which
has about three letters per key, a 'hybrid QWERTY' - which will be familiar
from some BlackBerry devices - and a full keyboard.
It also has other features which outclass existing models of the iPhone,
including the ability to operate on the fastest 3G networks, a 3.2 megapixel
camera - a big advance on the iPhone's 2 megapixels - and GPS, which will be
able to accommodate the next generation of so-called 'location-based
services' for phones.
The screen, however, is still dwarfed by the iPhone's, being 2.8 inches across
the diagonal rather than 3.5.
"The Diamond takes HTC's phones to a much higher and much richer level,
and enables direct comparisons with the iPhone," Geoff Blaber, an
analyst at CCS Insight, said. "They have done a lot of work on top of
the platform to make the user experience more enjoyable, and other phones
will start to look very disappointing by comparison."
HTC said the phone would be out on Orange and other European carriers in June,
with a release in Asia and the Middle East later in the quarter, and North
America towards the end of the year.
"We wanted to create a device that would allow people to walk, chew gum
and get content from the internet all at the same time," said Horace
Luke, the chief innovations officer at HTC, adding that the phone had been
designed to be used wholly with one hand - an indication of the bid to
appeal to the consumer market.
HTC has traditionally sold devices to operators - including Orange - who have
then rebranded them as their own, but last year it launched itself as
consumer brand with its first touch-screen phone. The release of the Diamond
suggests that it will take further steps in that direction.
The Touch, which was billed as an 'iPhone killer' when it was released in June
last year, has now sold more than three million units in more than 50
countries. Like the Touch, the Diamond is based on Microsoft's Windows
Mobile operating system, though HTC has made several changes to the
interface.
Analysts said that the wide support HTC enjoyed with operators meant that the
phone was likely to be "very competitively" priced when it went on
sale next month. Orange was not immediately available to respond to a
request about pricing.
