Later today, HTC Philippines will have announced local availability of the HTC Desire in the Philippines as well as revealing the suggested retail price. Before that happens, read on and check our full review of the handset below.
It is no secret that the HTC Desire was patterned from the Google Nexus One which it was also commissioned to do (more like a co-branded partnership of sorts) early this year. As such, the Desire looks like a fraternal twin of the NX1 with some minor cosmetic changes and added features. To give you a better perspective, read my review of the Google Nexus One first.
The rounded corners, the brown and dark gray color tones and the optical trackpad are all signature designs of HTC. The Desire has all that with an anodized aluminum front and (rubber-like) polymer back panel. The power button is on top, just across the 3.5mm headphone jack. The micro-USB port is at the bottom and the volume rocker is placed at the left side. The handset lacks a dedicated camera button normally found in most other smartphones. At the back is the 5MP camera and LED flash
At the bottom end of the front panel are the familiar buttons for an Android phone — Home, Menu, Back and Search. In the middle of the four is a nice optical trackpad which looks like a cross between the marble trackball of the HTC Hero/NX1 and the optical trackpad of the BlackBerry Bold 9700.
HTC was able to retain a design signature yet able to address the problem with regular trackballs getting dust and dirt on the sockets. One drawback to this approach is that you don’t have any sort of tactile feedback. The physical buttons are similar to that of the Hero, only this one is probably made of stainless steel, but way better than the touch panel on the Nexus One.
One of the most attractive feature of the HTC Desire is its 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen (480×800 pixels) that offers a very bright and ultra-crisp display. The screen is impressive, matched only by very few other handsets like the Omnia II, Galaxy S, Legend and Nexus One. Once you tried AMOLED, you’d look at all other screens differently with a little bit of longing.
The display size is just enough — not too big and not small either. Couple that with haptic feedback and multi-touch and you get a nice experience browsing websites, maps and watching videos.
Powered by QualComm’s SnapDragon 1GHz processor, the HTC Desire is one of the fastest smartphones around. Here’s a short video I recorded showing the UI, responsiveness of the device and how fast it loads some of the apps.
The virtual keyboard is always a challenge on all full touchscreen handsets and the Desire is no exception. With Android handsets like the Desire, you’ll need some time to get use to it, especially that you have to “train” the built-in dictionary when auto-correcting your spelling. This experience might vary from person to person depending on what language and texting style they use with the unit.
The HTC Sense UI adds a bit more eye-candy and usability to the device, along with 7 homescreen panels to boot. The Desire comes out of the box with Android 2.1 OS so you get the latest features including multi-touch, phone tethering, live wallpapers and voice controls among others.
The 5MP camera performs very well with average to good picture quality, thanks to a relatively fast shutter speed. However, the camera seems to find it hard to autofocus on subjects. Gets even harder indoors or in low light. Here are sample shots (cropped and resized).
Video capture is decent although maxes out at 15frames per second at 800×480 WVGA. The NX1 does a bit better at 20fps. Here’s a sample clip done at highest settings.
Battery performance is average (1400mAh) and depending on how heavy your usage is, it could last anywhere from one full day to two days. Like most other smartphones, connecting to 3G eats up the battery the fastest (in which case, portable battery packs like these helps).
The 3.7″ screen of the HTC Desire in the middle of Xperia X10’s 4″ and the Hero’s 3.2″.
The more obvious feature that the HTC Desire has that is missing from its Nexus One sibling would be the FM Tuner. Aside from that, the other differences are minor at best and both have almost identical DNA.
We’ve yet to get the final retail price of the HTC Desire but if the current prices in the gray market (Php31k) and the suggested retail price of the HTC Legend and Hero, we might see the Desire reach the Php35k range. It’s a bit pricey but the handset delivers in both the hardware and software department. The Desire is one of the top Android smartphones that can go head to head with the Galaxy S and the Xperia X10.
Update: Suggested retail price of the HTC Desire is Php34,900.
THanks for the comprehensive review. The comparsion photo between the Desire, Galaxy and Hero was quite telling – screen size is good, but not too large, which is how the Galaxy tends to feel.
Got my htc desire fr singapore for P24k. Sweet. Its pretty fast. Downside : its a struggle to input text, but i’ll try turning the predictive text off like some of you did. Also, the 576mb internal memory is way to small for app junkies like myself. You really cant have everything. having said that, im happy with the overall performance of the desire. Its a beauty and worth every cent.
@r12 neo
Official froyo from htc? Or the ones from xda?
Meron akong htc d2 P3650 i2 medyo luma na, pero ok nmn ang performance,Problema ko lang spanish ang OS nya..Mapapalitan ko pa ba i2 sa english?
Hi there r12_neo, my husband is in U.K too and i told him to get a phone there. How much to upgrade to froyo 2.2? I am planning to get this HTC desire so if he’ll buy it there he can upgrade. Which shop did u buy your HTC?
another thing, i already have the update for the desire. i now have the froyo 2.2 yesterday
hi to all of you guys. im a filipino who resides here in the uk. I have the desire for a few months now and i love it. it is fast and superb user interface and high specs. i just recently bought the iphone 4 when it was released here almost two weeks ago, i can say that it is still a good phone but having played with the iphone 4 for a couple of days now, i cant see any diffrence with the 3gs which i previously have. and having both the desire and the iphone 4, i can say that if you are up to a mobile that can do more than apps go for the desire. it has a lot more to offer than the iphone 4. but if you are after design, sophistication and better apps go for the iphone 4.
@calvin, posted this on your site too! desperate for a response. :)
(long time reader, first time to comment)
i have been willing to ask, since these phones are meant to be always online, what would be the average data consumption per month for us pinoys. just casual browsing, facebook/twitter updates, some email, and widget/system updates (clock sync, etc).
i am thinking of having this always on scheme for the full smartphone experience preferably opting for the per KB charging offered by Globe, but scared of the possible costs since i am on prepaid and have no intention of getting the unlimited data plans.
thanks!
@HTC Tech
Most of those problems are supposed to be resolved in Froyo 2.2. And HTC has already said that the Desire will get this update. Only question is when, but I’d guess July or August.
A good phone for those who hates windows mobile, a major problem though, if you guys are application junkies and loves getting applications from the market. This will be a hated phone. only has 576mb for internal memory. applications are installed through phone and not SDcard. Also, for those who are fond of Exchange Active Sync, beware if certificate issues and sync issues. Limitations with bluetooth car kit devices is something to be weary about. Overall one of the best android phones on the market, though 2.2 for android is unannounced for this phone. (will be waiting for ERIS and BREW)
@mon
oh? ok, but at least meron pa rin silang service center dito, meron ba silang mga casing ng htc desire dun sa sm annex? thanks
nagtanong na ko sa sm annex about sa warranty and they said to me.. sa makati pa rin dpat pumunta kc d daw cla htc care..
Maganda rin sa kimstore pero nagtanong kasi ako about the warranty. Kimstore has their own service warranty while CMK has Official HTC warranty. Eh since meron ng concept store sa SM North ang HTC eh I’ll go with the official HTC warranty na lang.
We now have HTC Desire units!
Authorized dealer kami, guys. Please feel free to contact HTC Service Center to verify. =)
Contact us if you’re interested: 0923.660.06.42
topelectroni****@****.***
@jake – Did Kimstore mention where she would be bringing her broken phones in for repairs? Nayari na ako ng ganyan sa Ghills. Naayos nga nila yung unang problema, napalitan naman ng iba because of poor workmanship. And they don’t even have original parts for repairs. I also found out that the equivalent value for a service warranty is only P500-P1,000. That’s not even 1% of any smartphone’s value!
Maybe it’s just me pero parang lugi pa yung buyer sa ganyang deal.
well, if you’re adventurous, you can root the nexus one (which google actually made easy to do) and install the sense UI on it. that’s what i like about android, it lets you do just about anything you want with your phone hehehe!
with that said, i do prefer the desire’s hardware buttons to the nexus one’s touch buttons.
btw, one downside of the desire compared to the nexus one is that nexus one, being a google-branded phone with stock android OS, will get the OS updates quicker. desire, on the other hand, will get the updates at a later time (weeks to months) since htc needs to port the sense UI to the new OS version.
@jake – I can wait as long as it has Sense UI.
i ordered one from kimstore for 27k. just search it sa google. based sa mga feedback ng buyers, pati na rin sa experience ko at ng mga kaibigan ko, kimstore is pretty reliable. and they have 1-week replacement warranty, 1-year service warranty.
why didn’t HTC just make a Legend with 1Ghz CPU, WVGA screen, and a higher RAM/ROM.
what lets me down with desire is the presence of the hardware buttons, curve corners, and D.O.M.-brown color.
Hi! Trusted ba ang CMK cellphones? Like, safe ba bumili sa kanila?