The big brother of the HTC Diamond has arrived and we are expecting great things. Its been called a brick by many but if this device lives up to expectations it could be the best Windows Mobile device around. When the Diamond was launched we reviewed it and it was not a great experience, since then a couple of Rom upgrades have made it a new experience and a well received device. Let us hope that HTC have this one right straight out the box, lets find out. Read on for the full review.

On the Outside

The phone comes packaged in a box shaped like a pyramid with the top chopped off identical to the HTC Diamond  and it really is well packaged and looks very enticing. Inside the box is the phone, wired headset, spare stylus, CD ROM with a user manual and extra software, battery, mains charger and a USB cable, all neatly tucked away inside.

The phone feels quite heavy but well made with a lovely quality feel. It is very similar in size to the Nokia N95 and you can see some comparison photographs here.

Looking at the phone from the outside, the front is totally flat it has 4 buttons . Home, back, phone send and end keys and the additional centre button which also works as a virtual scroll wheel for zooming in Opera. From this perspective the phone is identical to the Diamond.

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The bottom of the phone has the mini USB connector for charging the device and using the supplied HTC Headset. The bottom right side of the unit gives access to the stylus which is magnetic and there is also a small button to perform the Windows Mobile soft reset. The top of the phone has the on off push button. The sides of the phone are blank on the right side and the volume up and down buttons on the left hand side. The back of the phone houses the 3.2 mega pixel auto focus camera and flash. Again the back cover is angled like the Diamond however on this phone the case has a matt finish rather than the glossy black finger print magnet that the Diamond has.

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