HTC Touch Diamond2: Director’s cut (PDA, Phone, Review, David, Lim)

HTC Touch Diamond2 is next on our roll call of MWC debuts but this time it's less about the brand spanking novelty and more about balanced and sensible upgrades. People tend to have second thoughts about sequels but this one here is signed by HTC and may as well be the director's cut of a blockbuster.

It is only recently that Windows Mobile fans are receiving the treatment they deserve after years of undeserved exile. The WinMo devices are no longer stigmatized as ugly bricks with awkward handling and HTC are one of the main agents of this change. The HTC Touch Diamond was one of the most complete devices and its stand-out styling earned it well deserved popularity.

We now welcome its successor, somewhat insipidly named HTC Touch Diamond2. Improving the functionality of the original Diamond, the Diamond2 comes with rather different design that is certain to raise some degree of discussion. But it's the performance that will make the difference between a mere Number 2 and a real gem.
Key features:

* 3.2" 65K-color WVGA display
* Latest TouchFLO 3D
* Qualcomm MSM7200A 528 Mhz CPU and 288 MB RAM
* Dedicated graphics chip (64MB RAM reserved for graphics)
* Quad-band GSM support
* 3G with HSDPA 7.2Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps
* Wi-Fi and built-in GPS receiver
* Stereo FM radio with RDS
* 5 MP auto focus camera with excellent image quality
* microSD card slot
* Touch-sensitive zoom bar
* MS Office Mobile document editor
* Opera 9.5 web browser
* Standard miniUSB slot and Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
* Teeter game
* Great audio quality
* YouTube client
* Excellent video playback

Main disadvantages:

* Fingerprint nightmare
* Average sunlight legibility
* Questionable build quality
* No TV out port
* No standard 3.5mm audio jack
* No magnetic stylus

The HTC Touch Diamond2 outdoes its predecessor with a larger and higher-res screen, a vastly superior camera and more RAM. The TouchFLO 3D UI has also been improved and now covers the underlying Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS from tip to toe. Sounds like a decent update with a keen eye on the competition too, which is getting stiffer by the day.

While the original Diamond had only the Samsung i900 Omnia to tackle, the HTC Touch Diamond2 faces a tougher battle. With a few new arrivals on the touchscreen market (Symbian S60, Android and BlackBerry OS have all jumped in) the Diamond2 will need spotless performance to match its predecessor's success.

There is quite a lot to test so let's not waste any more time. On the next page we open the box and meet the contender. Will it be diamond hard or will it crumble under the lightest of touches?

SuperMonkey Ball download for 3G Apple iPhone Game (David Lim, Auckland)

I have played SuperMonkey Ball on my Nokia N95 in the past and it was a really cool/addictive game. Now you can play this game on your Apple iPhone. Note: You need to have your iTouch/iPhone jailbreak first befoe you can install this game on your device. For download and instruction, you can click on this site.

Minor car accident, New Lynn, Auckland, New Zealand 28-April-2009.

A driver drove into my lane during late evening hour on 28/4/2009. Luckily he is covered with Third Party insurance and all the damages will be covered on the company car I was driving. This little mishap created a traffic jam well over 2 km! It is handy to have a camera phone around during that time (I took all the photo with my Nokia N71 during low-light setting). Incident took place on 28-April, 2009. No one was injured.

How Swine Flue Outbreak Emerged? (Mexico, Auckland, New Zealand)

Flu viruses mutate over time causing small changes to proteins on their surface called antigens. If the immune system has met a particular strain of the virus before, it is likely to have some immunity; but if the antigens are new to the immune system, it will be weakened.

The influenza A virus can mutate in two different ways; antigenic drift, in which existing antigens are subtly altered, and antigenic shift, in which two or more strains combine. Antigenic drift causes slight flu mutations year on year, from which humans have partial, but not complete, immunity. By contrast, the new strain of H1N1 appears to have originated via antigenic shift in Mexican pigs

The name "swine flu" is a slight misnomer as it is believed pigs acted as a mixing pot for several flu strains, containing genetic material from pigs, birds and humans. Most humans have never been exposed to some of the antigens involved in the new strain of flu, giving it the potential to cause a pandemic.

The new virus has made the jump from pigs to humans and has demonstrated it can also pass from human to human. This is why it is demanding so much attention from health authorities. The virus passes from human to human like other types of flu, either through coughing, sneezing, or by touching infected surfaces, although little is known about how the virus acts on humans.