14 DAY TRIAL // HTC Touch Diamond, one of the hottest Pocket PCs unveiled this year, has been approved by FCC in a CDMA version suited for the North American networks (850 / 1900 MHz). This means that, from now on, any of the CDMA carriers from the US can, theoretically, release the Diamond.
Of course, there's no word yet on when exactly the Diamond will be available in the US, but I'm sure both Verizon and Sprint (the largest CDMA operators from the States) are already working on their advertising campaigns for the new Pocket PC.
Telus, the second largest Canadian operator, has already announced the upcoming release of Touch Diamond as well as its prices - which start at $149.99 with a contract agreement for three years. It's said that Telus will launch the Diamond by the end of the summer so, with a little bit of luck, US users will also get the handset by then.
At the moment, HTC Touch Diamond can be bought in Europe, in its GSM/HSDPA version. The North American CDMA version is a bit thicker (15 millimeters) and it doesn't come with the fashionable diamond-like pattern on its back case. But besides these aspects, the Pocket PC is the same high-end Windows Mobile 6.1 device that packs features like: a 2.8 inch TFT VGA touchscreen display, the innovative TouchFlo 3D interface, built-in GPS, Wi-Fi, email, Opera Mobile, easy access to popular websites like YouTube and Facebook, Music and Video players, stereo FM radio with RDS, Bluetooth 2.0 and a 3.15 Megapixel camera (with autofocus and video recording but without flash).
The Diamond comes with 4GB of internal memory, which is pretty cool. The uncool thing is that there is no microSD card slot, so users will have to limit to those 4GBs.
In conclusion, HTC Touch Diamond is surely a good alternative to the iPhone 3G, which is on sale as of today, offered to the US consumers by AT&T. Too bad that the Diamond is not available yet.