Zara zara touch me touch me touch me” — racy item number or flavour-of- the-month slogan for cell phone manufacturers? Ever since the iPhone launched early last year, every phone maker worth its salt has launched touchscreen models that may have managed to be technically better (it’s not that hard, honestly!), but few have managed to challenge the polish and winning looks of the iPhone.

Not for the lack of trying, though. Take HTC, for example. The Touch and its successor, the Cruise both ended up being fancy Windows Mobile business devices that happened to lose the keyboard and get some fancy looking thumb-enabled software that sat on top of a boring Windows Mobile user interface (UI), a far cry from the built-for-touch UI of the iPhone.

It’s only with the Touch Diamond that HTC’s launched a formidable opponent, and not a minute too late. We all know what’s hitting Indian shores in August/September this year, now don’t we?

Gone is the gimmicky TouchFLO a la the Touch, replaced by a completely overhauled TouchFLO 3D user interface. By far its greatest innovation, TouchFLO 3D looks and feels like no Windows Mobile I’ve seen so far.

Starting from the massively customised Home screen, a dock at the bottom of the screen lets you switch between the call and appointment alerts to commonly used items like your SMSs, MP3 player, e-mail and shortcuts to your favourite applications.

Each item is rendered beautifully with eye-catching transition effects, for instance the virtual visual Rolodeck of your contacts’ pictures which you can flip through with a swipe down or up on the screen.

Or for that matter, the e-mail previews in the form of a letter coming out of an envelope, or SMSs that float away when you flick your finger up or down on the screen. All very intuitive, and very visually appealing, and a lot of credit has to go to HTC for including a separate video processor, necessary to render all the fancy graphics.

If that’s not enough, look at the slick animations on the Weather tab — when it’s raining in the city that you’ve selected, the screen will be drenched in water drops, right before a big windshield wiper thoughtfully cleans them off.

If I sound like a kid let loose in a toy store, it’s because I’ve had so much fun using TouchFLO 3D. It’s slick yet fast, beautiful yet practical, and for the most part, I cannot believe I am using a Windows Mobile phone.

However, make no mistake about it; once you’re outside HTC’s interface, you may as well resign yourself to the ever-so-occasional lag that is inherent to Windows Mobile even with the Diamond’s increased processor and memory.

If you manage to drag your attention away from the phone’s brilliant 2.8 VGA resolution screen (which for a change works fine even in direct sunlight), you’ll notice the circular directional-pad that acts as an iPod- esque scroll wheel as well.

Below that, you have four buttons which are flush against the device face, that contributes to the largely uncluttered and premium feel of the device. The entire front is housed in a dark, reflective finish, and yes, fingerprints find themselves quite at home here. The only design flaw I found was the back panel of the device, which like Nokia’s Prism design, is just trying too hard to look different without serving any actual purpose.

What I did like are the small innovations that HTC has included to make their device that much more usable. For instance, if your phone display is locked with the screen turned off, pulling out the stylus will turn it on, ready for use.

Or if you have a call coming in, you only have to flip the phone around and place it face down on a table to mute it. The inbuilt orientation sensor also orients your display when in the excellent Opera browser or while you’re using the Pictures and Videos application to view your images, and it’s only a matter of time before Windows Mobile developers add wild Wii-esque uses to this sensor. See what I mean?

As a portable Internet and entertainment device, the Diamond is second to none, outside of Apple. The browser renders web pages just like they would appear on a desktop, and interface is fingertip-friendly, with pages going into full-screen mode by default when they have finished loading. A dedicated YouTube application is also included, which would be handy if we could use the inbuilt HSDPA support in India! Nevertheless, Wi-Fi and EDGE are present, as is GPS for satellite navigation.

Time to declare a new king of the smartphone segment then? It depends. If you need extra storage over the inbuilt 4GB, you’re out of luck. And the less than spectacular battery performance takes the gleam away from what has been the most well-designed and full-featured Windows Mobile phone to date. If you’re not holding out for the iPhone 3G, I’d recommend this phone in a heartbeat, right along with an additional battery as well, finances willing.

Quick Specs:

• Processor: Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 MHz
• Operating system: Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• Memory: ROM: 256MB, RAM: 192MB DDR SDRAM, Internal storage: 4GB
• Display: 2.8-in TFT-LCD VGA touchscreen
• Networks: HSDPA/WCDMA, Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Device control: TouchFLO 3D, Touch-sensitive navigation
• Connectivity: GPS, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, Wi-Fi b/g, 11-pin mini-USB-and-audio
• Camera: Main camera: 3.2 MP auto-focus camera, secondary VGA CMOS camera
• Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-ion, 900 mAh
• Standby/Talk time: 285 hours / 330 minutes (GSM)
• Dimensions: 102mm (L) X 51mm (W) X 11.35mm (T)
• Weight: 110gm (with battery)
• Rating: 9/10
• Price: Available through Airtel for Rs 27,500
• URL: http://www.htc.com/www/product.aspx?id=46278

Sound act

Holy smoke Batman, it’s a Discman from the 80s! Not really Robin, but the CD-RE1AT from Sanwa Japan can help with the CDs and DVDs your Discman (or PC)

refuses to recognise. No more tumbler coasters these, the CD-RE1AT targets dust, fingerprints, and oily spots from the surface of the disc —

basically stuff that makes discs skip and all-round unreadable. What’s more, after the cleaning process, the device also builds a protective layer on the disc to prevent future corruption.

URL: http://www.sanwa.co.jp/
Price: $70

Dive to the beat

Swimming is an amazing sport for exercise, but lap after lap after lap does tend to border on boring. Banish that boredom with the Speedo Aquabeat, brought to you by the same folks who produce swimwear — kinda makes sense, right?

The MP3 player, made by iRiver, has 1GB of storage, plays for nine hours on one charge, come in three colours, and weighs just 35gm. Average specs, but throw them into a swimming pool, and they’re good for upto 3m below the surface. Best of all, they float, so there’s no need to go diving frantically to the bottom if they come undone.

URL: http://www.speedousa.com/
Price: $144.99