The Touch Diamond by HTC was my first encounter with a touch-screen phone, and the first few days were a bit awkward. I struggled with the stylus, and the technological aspects were a bit over my head.

But the phone component worked quite well, as I was able to call and answer fairly easily. In that sense, it was near flawless. But some of the operations, from adding someone to a contact list to checking out the network connections, were a bit complex.

The camera was probably the best part of the device, taking good photos and video. It even included an auto-focus feature, which was a nice touch. It was also fairly simple to send and receive images.

The Internet connection and applications were enjoyable. Again, once getting over the initial troubles with the touch-screen and the stylus-tapping methods (two taps to zoom), I really enjoyed it. Being able to check my Quinnipiac e-mail on my phone was something very beneficial, and the browser for Internet surfing was pretty easy to use. There were a couple hiccups in the Internet connection, and I had to go digging through the network settings to fix it up, however.

The battery was also an issue. It ran out of life pretty quickly, and needed to be charged every 30 hours or so for quite a while. The annoying low battery signs came up far too often, and I often found myself going back to my old phone for efficiency purposes.

All in all, it is indeed a working touch-screen phone, and while it may have the occasional quirk, it does allow for internet and e-mail access, better than average phone-quality photos, and the ability to make and receive phone calls. Not sure if the price tag suits the product at $200, but my first experience with a touch-screen phone was not particularly scarring.