The arrival of the HTC Touch Diamond shows that new- generation smartphones are losing their bulk

Surprisingly slim and stylish, the HTC Touch Diamond seems more like a simple mobile phone than a multi-purpose finger-touch responsive PDA.

It's positively skinny at 11.35 millimetres and even though it's only 102mm long and 51mm wide, the screen's an impressive 2.8 inches, meaning you can read it.

The Diamond doesn't need many physical buttons either, as the phone can be navigated and controlled using HTC's innovative TouchFLO 3d interface, which takes over from the conventional Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system, on which HTC's phones run

TouchFLO 3D interface divides the Home screen into different sub-menus. The first screen shows the clock, call history and upcoming appointments from the calendar.

By navigating through to the right, you can access other commonly used items like quick dial, messages and the MP3 player.

Another nice feature is the orientation sensor, which knows how you are holding the device relative to gravity.

This sensor orientates your display when in the browser and in some games. You can see wider web pages in the oriental view, making them much easier to read.

Diamond also comes with a customised browser, which renders HTML pages in their entirety, allowing you to zoom in to specific areas when you want to read them. Diamond comes with all necessary data connectivity functions, including 3.5G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth as well as GPS navigation feature.

It has plenty of memory - 192 megabytes of RAM and 4 gigabytes of storage memory so there's no slot for external memory card.

It's in shops now and is retailing for Bt29,900.

Key specs:

Processor: Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 MHz

Operating System: Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional

Memory: 256 MB ROM, 192 MB RAM, 4 GB internal storage

Display: 2.8-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with VGA resolution

Networks: HSDPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz; Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 900/1800/1900 MHz

Camera: 3.2 megapixel

Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g, 11-pin mini-USB 2.0

Battery: 900 mAh Rechargeable Lithium-ion

Dimensions 102 mm (L) X 51 mm (W) X 11.35 mm (T)

Weight 110 g (with battery)