HTC Desire Smartphone Reviews and Deals

HTC Desire review

Good

Fabulous screen, user-friendly, fast and efficient

Bad

Battery needs a regular recharge

Overview

HTC has become one of the leading lights in the burgeoning smartphone marketplace and they’ve assembled an impressive roster of handsets that deliver something for all levels of user.

The HTC Desire is, in effect, the Google Nexus One phone but under another name, although that's certainly no bad thing. In fact, it's the Android operating system that this device runs on that makes it one of the nicest phones in this packed sector.

Removing it from the minimalist packaging, the HTC Desire is, perhaps, just a little less ostentatious than, say, the HTC Legend and so instead of an aluminum style casing you're presented with a sort of brushed-brown case with a rubberized feel to the button surround and back battery cover.

It feels great in the hand though, and instantly comes across as well built having enough weight to feel substantial without being unwieldy. It weighs in at just 135 grams with the battery loaded, while dimensions come in at a very reasonable 60x119x11.9mm.

Fire up the Desire and you're immediately rewarded with a superb 3.7-inch OLED capacitive touchscreen to explore; it really is excellent on the eyes and the colour and clarity is something else. Startup time is also very decent, so there was no hanging around waiting to get to work on ours using the Virgin Media network, who supplied the device.

Work

A hard days toil is certainly something that the Desire seems more than happy to take on. This is a smartphone that bristles with the sort of usability that business people will find invaluable. Add to that the functionality of the email, internet and messaging tools on board and it’s a fabulous all-rounder.

The touchscreen makes for an ideal working area, while there are three buttons along the bottom that allow fingertip control of core tasks. Added to that there is an optical trackpad button that, with practice, can give you all the one-digit control that makes many Blackberry handsets the success that they are. This replaces the trackball that was present on the Nexus One edition.

Backing up the usability is the power behind the phone, and running Android via a 1GHz processor this is currently one of the fastest in its field. If you're piling on the working tasks via the touchscreen then the Desire seems to cope admirably.

It’s likely you'll do most of your work in this way too as the button count on the chassis is pretty minimal. The touchscreen keyboard is pretty good though, and the orientation changes seamlessly depending on which way you’re holding the phone.

The HTC Sense interface has won over a lot of people and it's not hard to see why. Day-to-day tasks are easy enough while another highpoint is that it’s really intuitive when setting up email accounts and the like, which can sometimes prove irritating in the extreme on some lesser phones.

Play

While the HTC Desire is perfectly happy to take on any of your business-related tasks, the other highpoint of this smartphone is it’s ability to deliver fun in liberal doses.

Much of this is down to the Sense interface. It's gloriously simple to use, and you can become acquainted with it in no time. The screen layout is super cool with a selection of seven home screens and adding flourish to these are numerous widgets, apps and icons that you can place as you see fit.

Running Android alongside that processor means that everything hums along really nicely, and we found it hard to take the device down. What’s more, everything works, with little in the way of fuss, while the options for customizing the look and feel of the Desire are seemingly limitless and very straightforward.

Social networking addicts will find it a perfect handset for coping with multiple accounts with ease too.

Connectivity

There are plenty of ways for getting connected with this handset, both over the airwaves via 3G, GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and also through cables. In addition, 3.5mm headphone socket comes as a must for music fans keen to plug in their own headsets, and you’ll find that next to the sensibly located power button atop the device.

Down at the other end, meanwhile, you'll find the microUSB slot for plugging in the charger that comes supplied. There's no rubber or plastic cover on this though, so it could be susceptible to the ravages of time, dust and moisture, but that's a minor aside.

Getting the back off the phone can be a bit of a challenge, but once you’ve flipped the lid there's the battery, a SIM card slot and also a microSD card slot for bumping up the memory quota, with 32GB being the maximum.

Getting online with the Desire is a breeze, thanks to the really user-friendly Wi-Fi capabilities. Our model searched out the available networks and we were connected in no time. The browser proves to be fast and efficient, while email and messaging is similarly stress free.

Performance

The HTC Desire is hard to fault when you’re looking at its performance characteristics. The 1GHz processor does an excellent job, aided and abetted by 576MB of onboard RAM.

It's got all the toys, including G-Sensor, digital compass, a proximity sensor and ambient light sensor. The five-megapixel camera is hugely impressive as there’s face detection, auto focus and flash. You'll also find widescreen photo capture and Geotagging, all of which can be done without any hiccups.

While some phones fall down badly when using GPS and mapping features we found the Google Maps application on the Desire really impressive too. It's all made that little bit more enjoyable thanks to the colour and clarity of that screen. Multimedia is more than adequately covered, with a photos application for picture work, there's a music player and FM radio while all regular file formats are supported.

All in all, we found little that the Desire didn’t want to do, although you have to keep an eye on battery levels as these are susceptible to slipping down, particularly when pushing that processor and associated tasks to the max.

Verdict

The HTC Desire is a great phone and, aside from the need to recharge it on a regular basis, does everything that most users want from a smartphone. It feels like a quality handset and matches that with performance and delicious looks.

HTC Desire specification and features

Model

HTC Desire

Manufacturer

HTC

Operating system

Android OS v2.1

Colours

Black, white, silver, brown

Mobile internet

WiFi

Yes

3G

Yes

HSDPA

Yes

Size

Size

119mm x 60mm x 11mm

Screen size

3.7"

Screen Resolution

480x854

Weight

130g

Features

Talktime

10 hrs

Standby

290 hrs

Touchscreen

Yes

QWERTY keyboard

No

Camera

5 megapixel

Video

Yes

GPS

Yes

Bluetooth

Yes

Music Phone

No

FM Radio

Yes

Quad Band

Yes

Videos featuring HTC Desire

HTC Desire smartphone reviews by real users

• 

  by Toola at 17:11 on 30 May 2011Report abuse

  Fast and fun but beware of the battery ! Does not last long and thats a fact. Download an app for killing live apps and this will then help. Dont go on the 3 Network though as these two dont mix and you dont hardly get a signal

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