Mobile Phone News:

According to The Register a glitzy London hotel was the setting for the launch of HTC’s new handset, The Diamond. It’s the latest phone in a long line of heavyweight contenders to try and grab the crown from the iPhone - following a recent announcement from HTC, it seems as though Apple will have quite a fight on its hands.

The Diamond is roughly the same size as Apple’s iPhone, the display’s resolution is a much larger (480 x 640), although the HTC device has a smaller, 2.8in touchscreen. Again, similar to the iPhone, users can view the album covers of their music and flick across from image to image - the phone’s internal accelerometer (I feel like I should say that in a deep manly voice!) allows images to be viewed either horizontally or vertically with a flick of the wrist (sound familiar….?). Other features to mention are the built in A-GPS that you can use with your choice of satnav software and 3.5G data allowing speeds up to 7.2MBps accompanying high upload speeds via HSUPA (where’s Technical Markus when you need him hey?). There’s also built in WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, an FM radio and 3.2MP camera.

In addition to this impressive range of specifications we think it looks great as well. The back of The Diamond is very much like another big seller; Nokia’s 7900 Prism, but you could argue that this is simply a “coincidence”, call it a play on a theme - the zigzag effect is similar to that of a diamond… but then I am a girl so possibly looking in to this a little too much! Haha.

Now, I don’t get excited about a new handset very often, but the vid below shows that it IS a goooorgeous phone!! As is very similar to the Apple model, and after playing around with friends iPhones and having endless fun just flicking through the album covers, I have to say I’m rather impressed with this phone. Although, that being said, as marvellous as this all sounds, what I reeeeeeeally want to know is; will the HTC Diamond come with a real diamond to boot? We offer gifts with our deals, granted they’re along the lines of a free wii etc but the ultimate gift with this little beauty would be a diamond necklace… or diamond earrings…. or a diamond ring…. or….

HTC have said that The Diamond will be available in the UK next month; however a price has not yet been decided. They also confirmed that all five major UK networks will be selling the phone - shame they can’t confirm that you could get a REAL diamond as a free gift though….

Check out the vid and let us know your thoughts. What d’ya think of the handset? And what would be your ultimate free gift?