HTC Desire Review
The HTC Desire is one of the best Android smartphones you can get right now. It ships with Android v2.1 (but is 2.2 compatible, so keep an eye out for that update) and sports a sleek and sexy design that definitely outshines many of its contemporaries.
The Desire’s 1GHz Snapdragon processor makes the whole navigating experience very smooth, moving from screen to screen with ease. Coupled with HTC’s intuitive Sense user interface (UI), the high-powered device completes its tasks with relative aplomb.
The Sense UI is still going strong. Sense is easily one of the smoothest ways any manufacturer has designed to interact with the Android operating system (OS). As part of this your organiser is easy to access and social media app notifications are all aggregated in to one stream. The programs/applications folder also runs really smoothly, even when it’s bursting at the seams with apps.
Unfortunately for Australians, the phone only ships with Android 2.1, so Aussies will have a lot of trouble upgrading to v2.2 if they’re not with Telstra. This mightn’t sound like a big deal to the average buyer but believe us, it is. The Froyo update (v2.2) for Android increases the speed of your phone significantly, ironing out many of the wrinkles with the operating system. Froyo also brings Flash support to the picture, meaning you can now load embedded videos in web pages. It’s a shame the Aussie carriers are being so slow to release this update which is one of the biggest reasons to get an Android device over an iPhone 4 right now.
The 5MP camera sports a LED flash which, while good, is becoming pretty standard these days. The 3.7 inch, 480x800 AMOLED display isn’t the best on the market, but is still clear and crisp. We had no issues with the pixel density and found viewing videos to be quite enjoyable .
If you’re looking for a great Android smartphone then the HTC Desire is definitely one of the best. Aside from being restricted to Android 2.1 (unless you’re with Telstra) it really is a great phone. However, it is important to note that its successor, the HTC Desire HD has hit the shelves, so it’s definitely worth comparing the two before you make a decision.