5 things you need to know about the HTC Desire

There's a bit of a debate going on in the Stuff offices at the moment – which do we want more, the HTC Legend or the HTC Desire? While we battle it out, decide which side you're on by checking out our HTC Legend review, and checking our our 5 things you need to know on the Desire below.

It's a Nexus One doppelganger – but better
HTC put so much effort into making the popular Nexus One for Google, it obviously decided it wanted a bit of the pie, and the HTC Desire is certainly very similar in both specs and appearance.

With Android 2.1, a 1GHz Snapdragon processsor, 3.7-inch AMOLED screen, 5-megapixel camera and same 11.9-inch thin shell, you'd be forgiven for thinking they are identical. However, the Desire packs an optical trackpad in place of a prone-to-failing trackball, and three hard keys instead of the Nexus One's occasionally unresponsive touch-sensitive buttons.

It packs the updated HTC Sense UI
We've been a fan of the HTC Sense UI since it first cropped up on HTC Hero, and its now been tweaked to include some rather nice new features.

First up there is the new FriendStream widget, that brings all your friends' activity on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr to one place for easy viewing, and the Helicopter View which allows you to pinch the screen to see up to 7 homescreens at once in mini versions. You can then choose which one to go to from there, rather than scrolling through to get to it.

You can also expect improved People, Calendar and Weather widgets, and an improved experience with Exchange email.

It's a true multimedia phone
On top of improvements made to the Android music player with the Sense skin, online video looks stunning on the 3.7-inch AMOLED screen, and with Flash Lite 4 support, you won't be limited to what you can and can't watch as you are with the iPhone.

Everyone wants in
When we got hands on with the Desire at MWC in February, HTC told us that all key retailers and networks have taken on the handset, meaning there'll be no pesky exclusivity deals when it launches.

There's not long to wait
HTC isn't teasing us too much with the HTC Desire – it's expected to launch in April so it won't be long before you can get your mitts on it. We've had no solid dates as yet, but Amazon UK does have a release date of 1 April listed on its site. Will it beat the Nexus One to shelves?

We'll be putting the Desire through its paces in a full review shortly, but in the meantime check out our hands on picture gallery and let us know what you think to it below. Will you be buying one?