HTC Desire S Smartphone Reviews and Deals

HTC Desire S review

Pros

A bright screen and snappy processor make this an excellent all rounder

Cons

The Wi-Fi has a tendency to dropout, although your battery may not last long enough for this to be a problem

Overview

It would be fair to say the HTC Desire S has lofty expectations to live up to. Its big brother, the original HTC Desire, scooped up awards and plaudits wherever it went, taking home the gong at both the Mobile Industry Awards and T3 Gadget Awards – in both cases beating Apple’s iPhone 4 into second place.

Some naysayers (let’s be honest, mostly Apple fans) would say the original Desire’s success was down to it being the best of a bad bunch – that it only won because it was the best phone that wasn’t Apple. However, ultimately it was down to HTC hitting the sweet spot between price, specification and usability.

But can the HTC Desire S pull the same trick in a market now saturated with Android Smartphones? It’s not the cheapest handset available, nor the most powerful, and it uses a version of Android that is now a couple of iterations out of date. So what pray, would make anyone want to go for a HTC Desire S? Well, we got one in to find out.

Work

The HTC Desire S packs a 3.7-inch capacitive touch screen and, although it’s not the highest resolution screen on the market, still pumps out a very respectable 252 pixels per inch. The iPhone 4s, with its much lauded ‘Retina’ screen, has 330.

Behind the screen lies a speedy 1GHz Snapdragon processor, which when coupled with a fairly meaty 768MB of RAM , eats up pretty much anything you can throw at it. There are phones released since the Desire S that feature dual-core, or in some cases even quad-core processors, but the difference you’ll notice in load times between them and the HTC will be measured in milliseconds.

One of the biggest drawbacks of the original HTC Desire was its poxy internal memory- a measly 576MB (with only 128 of those free for the user to make use of). Luckily HTC have addressed this issue for this year’s model and included a more reasonable 1.1GB, although this still feels a bit tight when you consider Samsung is offering its Galaxy S II (released around the same time) in 16 or 32GB flavours. However, seeing as there’s a microSD card slot allowing you to expand the memory to as much as 32GB, it’s certainly not the end of the world.

If you’re going to be using your phone for work you’ll be pleased to hear the Desire S comes with a suite of everyday useful features, including Android standards such as maps (which uses the phone’s inbuilt GPS) and email, plus other goodies such as Quickoffice and Adobe Reader.

Play

Of course, if you’re not a businessman or spec-geek, the most important thing to consider when looking for your next smartphone is whether or not it’s fun to use. Fortunately the Desire S comes loaded with goodies to keep you attached to your phone for ever longer periods of time.
Beyond the growing catalogue of games available through Google Play (formerly Android Market), the Desire S features plenty of other ways to excite your senses. 

Photography is handled by a five-megapixel rear-facing and a VGA front-facing camera, the former of which is able to record HD video at 720p. And although HTC has a bit of a reputation for under-delivering on the camera side, the Desire S comes pre-loaded with high-end features such as autofocus, image stabilisation, real-time effects and geo-tagging. In favourable lighting conditions the camera performs admirably, however, even the LED flash doesn’t really help it with its below-par low-light photos.

Video is handled excellently on all fronts by the Desire S, making it the ideal companion on long trips. Most the major video types are compatible, meaning even videos procured from the less respectable video sites shouldn’t prove any problem. Video streaming is handled out-of-the-box by the standard YouTube app, however a whole range of alternatives, for instance BBC iPlayer, are available for download. The inclusion of Adobe Flash also means the Desire S in compatible with most web video, so you will have your favourite video sites in your hand whenever you need them.

The newest high-end HTC phones nowadays contain ‘Beats Audio’ technology to produce a higher quality of sound for your music collection, but sadly not the Desire S. However it still performs well as an everyday MP3 player, although the packaged headphones can most kindly be described as ‘cheap’. And if this new-fangled technology isn’t really your thing, then there’s always a good ol’ FM radio built in for you to keep up with the fishing forecast.

Connectivity

To keep you constantly connected the Desire S sports mobile connectivity up to HSDPA 21Mb and Wi-Fi ‘n’. This means, signal permitting, you should always have a speedy connection available.
There is however a few issues with the Wi-Fi, with it dropping out if you hold the phone towards the bottom. This isn’t an issue once you get used to how to hold it, although it can prove an unwelcome annoyance.

The Desire S, like most modern Android phones, also contains a Wi-Fi hotspot mode, meaning you can share your internet connection with those around you – if you’re feeling generous. You can share other things too, with the Desire S featuring a multitude of sharing options. Want to share your latest snap on Facebook? No problem. What about Bluetoothing your mate that really funny video? Easy-peasy. With the Desire S, sharing really is a breeze.

Performance

Whilst it might not be the highest spec phone on the market (heck, it’s not even HTC’s highest spec’d phone), the Desire S provides a quick and pleasurable experience. At present the Desire S uses Android 2.3 and HTC Sense 3.0, neither of which is the latest version in their respective software families. However the phone’s hardware makes light work of both and HTC has announced the Desire S will be updated to the latest versions of the software around mid-2012.

The battery life isn’t great, with the Li-Ion 1450 mAh battery providing barely a day’s worth of use between charges. That said, anyone who has previously owned a touchscreen smartphone will probably be used to this.

Verdict

It may not be the ground-breaker its older sibling was, but the Desire S is still a solid all-rounder in a market littered with also-rans. It may not have the superfast processor of the Galaxy S II or the super-bright screen of the iPhone 4S, but what HTC has delivered is an excellent phone pitched very much at the ‘everyday’ smartphone user. 

It doesn’t excel in any particular aspect, which is why we won’t be giving it the recommended tag, but at the same time it never feels underpowered or not up-to-the-job. This makes it perfect for those who want a decent smartphone but aren’t too bothered about having the very highest spec, or the very brightest screen, or the priciest tariff.

Review by: Tim Pilgrim

HTC Desire S specification and features

Model

HTC Desire S

Manufacturer

HTC

Operating system

Android

Colours

Black, grey, red, silver

Mobile internet

WiFi

Yes

3G

Yes

HSDPA

No

Size

Size

115mm x 60mm x 12mm

Weight

130g

Features

Talktime

10 hrs

Standby

430 hrs

Touchscreen

Yes

QWERTY keyboard

No

Camera

5 megapixel

Video

Yes

GPS

Yes

Bluetooth

Yes

Music Phone

No

FM Radio

Yes

Quad Band

No

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