Gizmodo is reporting on a problem that was spotted over at XDA-Developers for the Touch Diamond that makes the backlight go permanently dim after several months of use. The issue seems to be firmware-related and not due to hardware, which means that it could be addressed in a bug fix in the future. How long in the future? Who knows. Gizmodo is reporting that HTC has been unresponsive. It seems that hard resetting or flashing to a different ROM does not help either at this time.

The sad part is that HTC is not being customer-friendly; they are directing calls to this problem to the carriers. Unlocked GSM Diamond owners are told to buy a new one. While, understandably, development takes time and can take unpredictable courses, HTC should acknowledge the problem and communicate its timeline for a bug fix, if any.

If you have a Touch Diamond and/or Touch Pro (Fuze) on the carriers, you may want to invest in the insurance surcharges on a monthly basis until this is all fixed.