All I know is I definitely notice the difference when I attempt to do much of anything online while outside of 3g coverage. Browsing WAP pages is decent enough but anything more data-intensive (browsing regular web pages, Google Maps, Live Search, tethering, wmwifirouter, Youtube and Fring) gets pretty dicey. Some to the point of not being usable.

The Touch Diamond 2 with US 3g will be out in the not-too-distant future. It has the same screen as the Touch HD and weighs less. Spending $739 on a Touch HD, all while knowing about the Diamond 2, seems pretty foolish to me.