Johan Sanneblad

The last week three people have asked me: What phone should I buy? The Touch Diamond, the Touch Pro or the iPhone?

Since I use both the Touch Diamond and the iPhone myself, I believe I have a fairly good overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the two phones. And in my opinion they differ quite a lot, despite being marketed similarly. So the choice is actually quite easy depending on your needs.

Touch Diamond / Touch Pro

THE GOOD (compared to the iPhone)

• Excellent calendar
• Excellent contact register
• Excellent Exchange synchronization
• Good camera
• Small footprint
• Easy to work with. Multitasking between many applications, copy & paste, working with stylus is very good for selecting text, etc.

THE BAD (compared to the iPhone)

• Web browser often has a “slow feel” to it. The iPhone is much more responsive.
• Limited storage space of 4 gb on Touch Diamond (note: Touch Pro can be expanded with memory cards)
• Installing third party applications is not as straightforward as on the iPhone. Purchasing third party applications is complicated to do from the phone.
• No way to easily browse and purchase music as on the iPhone
• Sub-par games compared to the iPhone due to the advanced Power VR 3D chip in the iPhone.

iPhone

THE GOOD (compared to the Touch Diamond / Touch Pro)

• Excellent web browser
• Excellent media player
• App store. A very easy way to browse and install applications such as Internet radio, games, etc.
• iTunes music store. Very excellent way to browse, listen to and purchase music.
• Large display

THE BAD (compared to the Touch Diamond / Touch Pro)

• iTunes music store. It doesn’t work over 3G. Why? I don’t know. 3.6 Mbit connection should be enough, so it must be due to some policy decision.
• Poor Exchange synchronization ( see this page for some of the things it lacks). Major drawbacks include lack of meeting status (free/busy), today-events always stored as Busy, lack of Exchange categories, no way to invite colleagues to appointments using the phone, and much more.
• Poor contact management. Phone numbers are always formatted according to US standards. This cannot be changed and makes all phone numbers added using the iPhone look bad in Europe.
• Poor calendar. No support for ISO week numbers that are used by many major European companies, no todo integration like iCal and Outlook, poor support for recurring events compared to Windows Mobile.
• Often awkward to work with. Can only run one application at the time. Cannot select text. Cannot copy and paste. This device is definitely not a working tool like the Touch Pro. This might be fixed in a future update, but now a year after it’s first release it is still not in there. So don’t count on it.
• No built-in file system browser. The entire file system is by default hidden from the user.
• No expansion slot like on the Touch Pro.
• Poor camera

Recommendation

My current recommendation is as follows:

If you want a phone to use as a daily work phone, and if you have an Exchange server at your work, buy the Touch Diamond or the Touch Pro. You won’t regret it. They are both excellent work tools and they are also a joy to use. Get the Touch Pro if you are prepared to wear it in your belt or purse, get the Touch Diamond if you want something light to slip into your pocket.

If you want a phone to use mostly in your spare time or to complement that low-end phone paid by your company - get the iPhone. Just remember to get a mobile data subscription to go with it - otherwise you won’t be able to use all those services that makes it a better choice than the Touch devices!