HTC Touch Diamond

Hype breaths the lifeblood into a companies sales or destroys them. Apple is the chief culprit when it comes to hyping its products, but often it's worth putting up with because the end result so frequently delivers. The iPhone, for example, was so hotly expected you'd have forgiven the majority for being cold hearted on its arrival.

Incredibly, in most respects it really surpassed expectancies.

I can only apologise for delivering the decision so high up in the review right now, so sorry, but iPhone killer this ain't.

One of the most important reasons it's so underwhelming is its build quality, which is disappointingly plasticky. Flip the telephone over and the theme continues. I was expecting more, so much more, from a firm that during the past has delivered such superb handsets as the TyTn, TyTN II, S710, and the S730. But next to those telephones, the Touch Diamond feels much less expensive. But I am potentially being a little cruel ; in fact, there are masses of reasons to love this telephone. For starters, it's slimmer and more compact than an iPhone at 51 x 102 x 11mm vs 62 x 116 x 12mm.

Its 2.8in screen, though smaller, is sharper at 640 x 480, and lovely and bright too. So much so, that if you did not know its background, you'd at first think it seemed to be a pretty slick telephone.

It's certainly a large improvement on the first Touch's thin veneer.