Review: HTC Desire

There has been no shortage of Android phones hitting the Canadian marketplace as of late. Some stellar handsets have popped up like the Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant this past month, and now we have yet another. Telus has released the highly anticipated HTC Desire with its sharp 3.7 inch touchscreen and 1Ghz Snapdragon processor. But does it hold its own in the flooded Android market? Read on to find out.

The Design
The HTC Desire has a very pleasant design. At 119 x 60 x 11.9 mm (roughly the size of an iPhone) it fits nicely in your hand, not feeling to big or too small. Although the case is made from a plastic, it has a rubber finish that gives it a nice textured feel. Although the HTC Desire is a touchscreen phone you’ll find 4 physical buttons along the front face which include home, menu, back and search.

Nestled in between the buttons you’ll find the optical trackball which can be used to help navigate menus rather than relying solely on the touchscreen. Although it’s called a trackball, it doesn’t move. A small hole is cut from the middle which can sense your fingers movements. The “trackball” also clicks allowing you to enter sub-menus, but pushing it is a bit awkward when navigating with one hand as it’s quite stiff.

The Screen
The HTC Desire sports a 3.7″ WVGA Super LCD screen with a resolution of 800 x 480. While it is a nice screen, it doesn’t compare to Apple’s new retina display. The resolution just isn’t there. That being said, it’s still a very nice screen. It shows off videos and photos remarkably well as long as you’re viewing them in the right light.

Although the screen is bright it does have some serious reflection issues. Trying to use the phone in direct sunlight can be botheresome. You could pull off tasks like dialing or searching a contact, but you can forget about showing photos to your friends your photos because it’s just too reflective in the sunlight.

The Camera The HTC Desire has a built-in 5 megapixel camera which is quite standard for cell phones these days. Over all, it does a decent job snapping some quality photos although some photos did appear washed out. It really depends on the light. The camera features auto focus which adds some delay in taking your shots, but at the same time it makes sure your photos are in focus.

The built-in flash is very bright allowing for nighttime photos. Of course your subject still has to be standing quite close to get a decent picture in dark conditions.

Other camera features include a digital zoom, geotagging, face detection and a few effects such as sepia, negative, solarize and greyscale to make picture taking a bit more fun. Unlike Samsung’s Galaxy S Vibrant, there is no front facing camera for video chat.

Tomato on a table with no flash

Tomato on a table with flash (taken from further away)

Video can be taken on the HTC Desire. While in camcorder mode, you can make use of the fun filters like sepia and greyscale. Unfortunately the HTC Desire only shoots in standard definition, not HD like some of the other Android phones on the market.

Features

The HTC Desire has a ton of bells and whistles. 3G and Wi-Fi internet connections, built-in GPS and digital compass, Bluetooth support for stereo headsets and file transfers, accelerometer, light and proximity sensors, FM Radio, full web browsing and–of course–apps. Internet tethering is also possible through USB.

One of my favourite features on this phone has to be HTC sense UI, which is exclusive to HTC (as the name would suggest). It allows you to customize your phone with tweaks and apps, making it more useful. Take Friend Stream for example. This widget streams your favourite social networks together into one continuous stream right on your desktop. You can view your Twitter feed, Facebook, Flicker and even comment without having to enter each individual service. Great for those who love to “tweet” and monitor their Facebook account while on the move.

The Performance
The 1Ghz Snapdragon processor in the HTC Desire really provides outstanding performance on Android 2.1. Whether you’re navigating menus or running apps, it’s very rare to run into slowdowns or lag. Google Maps loads up quickly as do the apps. Many apps take a mere 2 to 3 seconds to load. If only other phones ran as smoothly as the HTC Desire.

The Bottom Line
The HTC Desire is a solid addition to Canada’s Android lineup. The blazing fast processor makes for an enjoyable user experience as does HTC’s Sense UI. The phone fits comfortably in your hand and feels like a quality handset. If there was one disappointment it has to be the camera. While 5 megapixels is adequate, the end results were often washed out under certain lighting conditions.

The phone also only shoots video in SD–a downer when you see what’s being done with some of the other handsets appearing on the market. As long as you’re not intending to replace your camera with this phone, the HTC Desire is a great handset for those who like to support the Android platform.

The Good
Feels good
Speedy processor
HTC Sense UI

The Bad
Reflective screen makes it difficult to see in sunlight
Photos may appear washed out if conditions not perfect
No HD video

HTC Desire is available through Telus in Canada for $79.99 on a 3 year contract or $449.99 with no contract