HTC Diamond 4-Week Review - Telus

It’s been a wild ride! 

Being privy to release dates and other fantastic information about all-things-electronic, I found myself torn between purchasing the iPhone or the Diamond. For sanity sake, I waited and went with Telus and the HTC Diamond - Victor. Not to be confused with the GSM version that is available in the United States. The CDMA version is missing such amenities as:

1. VGA front-facing camera for video calling…oooh bird
2. The cool & slick diamond backing…ooooh bird
3. A SIM card…oooh bird

Other than that the functionality of the phone remains pretty much the same.

At first, the HTC Diamond was a treat, attached to my hand 24/7. I could not put it down and I found myself less productive for the past 3 weeks. This all changed when the problems started showing their evil presence. Literally, the phone seemed possessed and still does to this day.

Technical Issues:

Week One - Zero Issues - No time to setup Telus Mobile Email

Week Two - Minor Telus Mobile Email syncing problems w/Gmail, The phone required random restarts in order to remain a functional part of my daily life.

Week Three - More serious Telus Mobile Email issues w/Gmail,  more frequent restarts, consistent crashing and the occasional missing Touch-Flo 3D interface.

Week Four - All is lost…Absolutely no Telus Email w/Gmail can be received using the Telus connection (only Wifi and even when set to Auto-connect w/ “TELUS”). Emails can occasionally be sent using the Telus connection, but it is so rare that I do not even bother.  The Touch-Flo 3d interface is gone (only a blank and icon-absent screen remains), and I am guessing that a hard reset is the only remedy for the problem.

Overall:

In the end, the phone was a pleasure to use during the honeymoon phase! However, I will not be sticking with the HTC and being on a 3-year contract this means that I will be paying Telus $20/month for the remaining months in the contract when I breach it. And by the power of gray skull I will be switching providers and moving to an iPhone. IMO, this is well worth my money as I will not use Telus, trust their soft-technologies (lack there of), use their very shotty-loop-inducing website until it all has received a serious rebuild.

Telus, understand that I was a very loyal Telus customer during your early years but I refuse to be trumped by a now faceless corporation only interested in charging a premium for services & products that are not fully tested. Some products (your software & website) should not even be publicly available. Adding new features on-top of an already flawed system is never a good idea.

Plus, I smell Omniture…really???

The worst part of my story is that I dislike the iPhone and the false sense of superiority it gives its users, but I am being forced to enter the realm of Apple and the “MAN” aka. Rogers…

Update1:

The Hard Reset worked and the phone is functional once again. However, it’s a question of how long it will remain in this state. Considering that the only application that I run is Telus Mobile Email, I can bet that it was written by 1,000 monkeys locked in a room filled with computers.

Update2:

The YouTube app crashed and caused the device to need a soft-reset. Maybe I bought a lemon or maybe Telus and HTC need to go back to the drawing board. Android anyone?

Update 3: A new problem

Apps Running:
Activesync
Telus Mobile Email

Active Communications:
Phone - On
Wifi - On

About 20-minutes ago (7:20pm), I received two emails through TME which caused the phone to vibrate & flash the center ring of death constantly. It’s still going, vibrating and flashing, even though the messages are read. This has been happening for the entire 20-minutes.

Will try a soft-reset.

Update 4:

Soft-reset worked and the phone has now stopped vibrating and flashing.

Update 5: The slow move to Apple

Still running into the occasional issue with the diamond that requires a soft-reset. Now, the YouTube app is causing as many problems as Telus Mobile Email.

***The HTC has it’s obvious flaws but these should not be blamed on HTC itself. It’s not their fault Telus has no idea what their doing…***

The VP of my company allowed me to take a look at his iPhone and it was a pleasure to see in action. Really! The apps alone make the phone worth the money.

Here’s to jumping on the bandwagon!

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Unboxing a Lamborghini Reventon - 1 of 20

It is currently the most powerful and expensive Lamborghini road car to date, costing one million euros.The official press release states that only 20 examples will be released to the public, with a single car (0/20) produced for the Lamborghini Museum. Although early rumours indicated the total number would actually be 100, each Reventón is clearly stamped with its number in the sequence of 20 between the drivers and passengers seats.

Although the exterior is all new, almost all the mechanical elements (including the engine) are taken directly from the Murciélago LP640. According to the official press release, the exterior styling was inspired by “the fastest airplanes”. To emphasize this, Lamborghini staged a race between a Reventón and a Panavia Tornado fighter plane.

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