Audio

Ah yes, the ongoing saga of HTC and its combined USB sync/headphone jack. I won't repeat the rant about that since it seems HTC has seen the light. Unfortunately, the TD2 still has the combined jack and there's no adapter included in the kit. So, you either use the included earbuds or find an adapter.

Generally, the audio quality is good. The volume is sufficient for both indoor and outdoor use, although there isn't a lot of headroom available and that could cause problems outdoors on a moderately noisy street. The included earbuds are fine for general music listening, but to get better dynamic and frequency range, you'll need to invest in a set of stereo headphones. There is an Audio Booster application provided (which only works if a headset is plugged into the USB port) which allows you to play with an equalizer to adjust the profile. I found it to be inaccurate and of limited use. For me, it's better to leave the sound running straight, unaltered from the source.

Video

There's no mention of any graphics processors mentioned in the Touch Diamond 2, but obviously there's enough horsepower provided since all the test videos I have played smoothly at all resolutions and types. According to the specifications, the Touch Diamond 2 supports WMV, ASF, MP4, 3GP, 3G2, M4V and AVI formats. YouTube played through the supplied viewer with no problems at all.

Conclusions

The short time I had with the Touch Diamond 2 convinced me that this is definitely going to be the benchmark for Windows Mobile devices for a while. I was more productive with this unit in the last 2 weeks than with any of the other units I've tested/used in the last year. I was concerned that not having a slide out keyboard would slow me down on emails and messaging, and yes, it does (a bit). But I quickly found that I was able to navigate around the soft keyboard pretty quickly and the haptic feedback really helped.

The Touch Pro 2 is going to have some pretty big shoes to fill to match up with this baby!

Don is an Associate Director and Enterprise Mobility Lead for Fujitsu Consulting. He and his very understanding wife are raising two more gadget geeks who love to play with the latest and greatest phone and video game technologies.

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