HTC Desire review

The HTC Desire appeared hot on the heels of the very well received HTC Legend. The two are closely related, sharing some key characteristics. Where they diverge, the Desire has the higher spec, and that is the reason for its higher price.

The HTC Desire has a vast screen and a fast processor, both factors which mark it out as an ideal smartphone for fans of multimedia rich activities like Web browsing and media viewing.

The 480 x 800 pixels on offer on the 3.7-inch screen are superbly bright and clear and our experiences of watching YouTube and working with the Web were among the most positive we’ve ever had from a smartphone.

The motion sensor means the screen reformats into wide mode as you turn the HTC Desire in your hand, and both pinch to zoom and double tap to zoom work quickly and efficiently when Web browsing.

There is a tap and hold feature in the browser that lets you copy and paste text as well as look up words and phrases in Wikipedia and shorten a URL to share it via Twitter using HTC’s own built in HTC Peep application. The little touches like these make the Desire a pleasure to use.

The large screen means the qwerty keyboard is big enough to use at a fair lick of speed in tall mode, and in wide mode we were tapping out emails at a similar speed to that we get with a good quality slide-out keyboard. The capacitive screen and good predictive text software both help here.

One potential downside of the large screen, though, is that people with smaller hands might find it difficult to stretch all the way across for one-handed use. This could be irritating if you want to use the new Leap feature. Pinch the screen to zoom in to see thumbnails of all seven panels of your home screen, then tap one to jump to it. This is quicker than finger sweeping. For one handed use you can double tap the home key for the same result.

Another issue could be the overall size of the HTC Desire. At 60mm wide by 119mm tall by 11.9mm thick and 135g this is not the handset to stuff into a tight pocket when you are travelling light.

Android 2.1 is present, and that means support for Microsoft Exchange email as well as for POP3/IMAP accounts, and the Desire supports remote data wipe, which is a great security measure. Those wanting to use the HTC Desire in a work context might also appreciate the PDF viewer and the QuickOffice viewer for Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents (although you will need to pay if you want to edit documents).

The 1Ghz processor zips along really nicely – coupled with the hugely responsive screen we never had any experience of having to wait for the HTC Desire to catch up with our actions.

HTC’s new FriendStream application is built in, making this a very handy smartphone for social networking. FriendStream brings together interactions with Facebook, Twitter and Flickr in one place. You can put a FriendStream window onto one of the HTC Desire home screens so that you can see at a glance what your chums are up to.

The usual high end goodies for any Android handset are here. Wi-Fi, GPS, HSPA with 7.2Mbps download and 2Mbps upload as well as quad band GSM with GPRS and EDGE. The 5 megapixel camera is much better than the average Android based shooter. It includes autofocus, flash and even face detection.

Photos shot outdoors are good enough to keep long term; indoors the quality is more noticeably in cameraphone territory. As soon as you’ve taken a photo you can share it over the air via Facebook, Flickr, MMS, HTC Peep (Twitter), Picasa or Bluetooth.

If only battery life were better. The device makes prodigious use of the Wi-Fi, HSDPA and GPS (regularly syncing, updating widgets and downloading location-aware data), meaning you will be looking at daily top ups just to keep the device running.

Add a selection of apps from the splendid Android Market, and make of use of the Flash video support in the web browser, and you’ve got a real power-hungry handset. Fortunately it is easy to toggle some of the features on and off as and when needed, and by cutting down on which apps auto-sync (and how often) you can achieve noticeable improvements in the battery, although you will still want to charge it overnight.

But overall, the Desire is a winner in every respect. Stylish, powerful, responsive, enjoyable to use: it’s as good as any smartphone currently available.

Price: £390
Web: www.htc.com

Essential Verdict
Performance: 9/10
A snappy performer. Response to finger presses and sweeps is almost instantaneous

Design: 9/10
Solid looking with a very responsive optical trackpad

Features: 9/10
Brimming with features, though using the more power hungry ones at length will challenge the battery

Value for Money: 9/10
Available on some good tariffs from most networks

Overall score: 9/10
A great smartphone that shows Android at its very best

Review written by Sandra Vogel. Originally published in Smartphone Essentials magazine.

Popularity: 3% [?]