Images
Video review
HTC has taken its Android-powered Desire smartphone – one of the finest smarties money can buy – and pumped it up to monster proportions. The HD model now has a giant 4.3in widescreen, extra firepower in the camera department and the latest Android 2.2 OS out of the box. Not to mention some cool new treats from HTC.
Although the Desire’s sleek frame, subtle curves and well made all-in-one metallic body remain intact, its mechanised soft keys and optical trackpad have been ditched in favour of four touch-sensitive keys.
HTC has once again dressed the core Android 2.2 OS with its ultra-customisable Sense UI and an array of apps. Users can run riot personalising the seven sliding homescreens with HTC-tailored widgets, the most useful being Friend Stream for aggregating social networking feeds in one panel.
Hi-def screen?
Although not as razor-sharp as the iPhone 4’s retina display or as vivid as the 3.7in AMOLED screen on the Desire, the HD’s WVGA-quality 4.3in LED panel is still bright and striking. Perhaps with its HD moniker we expected an improved resolution but movies and web pages nevertheless appear detailed and lucid onscreen.
Of course, the near tablet-sized display is just made for internet surfing and the HD delivers a top class experience over its WebKit browser. The pinch-to-zoom action is incredibly elastic with text automatically realigning to fill the screen when prowling in and out.
However, it’s the support for Flash 10.1 that gives the HD an edge over the iPhone 4 and WP7 phones and although we found videos initially slow to kick-in over both Wi-Fi and 3G, once streaming it worked well.
Nippy start-up
The same 1GHz processor that directs proceedings on the Desire again proves a nippy customer. Web browsing and general performance is snappy with little sign of lag. The new Smart Boot feature is also blazingly fast, with the phone firing up in a couple of seconds after the initial power on.
Review continues after the break...
HTC has boosted the megapixel camera count from 5MP to 8MP and upgraded the flash to a dual LED. The lack of a dedicated camera key is annoying but its quick continuous autofocus makes up for this, automatically adjusting when the handset moves.
Shutter speed is impressively fast and picture quality, although clearly over-processed when viewed close up, is good enough for casual papping. Find good light outdoors and photos are colourful with some sharp levels of details, while the dual LED flash proved consistently effective indoors.
Video streaming
Video is captured in 720p at 25fps, and like the still photos results are OK rather than spectacular. There’s no HDMI port but you can wirelessly stream your videos and photos to your DLNA supporting laptop and TV. You can also tether the phone to your laptop and use it as a 3G modem – data tariff permitting.
The Desire HD is another first-class Android handset from HTC but the feature boost is probably too minimal for Desire owners to consider an upgrade so soon. But if newcomers can handle its XL chassis and need a cutting edge multimedia smartphone, then the Desire HD is the killer choice.
The First Hour
-
1
The HD is big. Must reinforce that trouser pocket
-
2
The 4.3-inch screen is bright, but we were expecting an AMOLED
-
15
Sense UI is very flexible and designed for homescreen personalisation
-
22
Full-fat web browsing is amazing on its big screen…
-
39
…and after a sluggish start Flash video works like a dream
-
51
No dedicated camera key. At least shutter speed is fast
Comments
annjanet254
19 weeks ago
If you think Annie`s story is incredible,, one week ago my girlfriend's half brother basically actually earnt $5862 grafting an eleven hour week from their apartment and there best friend's mother`s neighbour done this for 3 months and actually earnt more than $5862 parttime on their mac. the guidelines at this website, http://www.bit90.com
hooman78
1 year ago
Battery life was a jooooooke!!! I sold mine as was well past the 14 days return time thinking that if I did what the web forums said about killing backround apps dimming the screen etc would work. it did not. even htc support couldnt help. i now have the htc desire and as brilliant as it is the rubbish internal memory means there are a lot of apps i have to delete as they do not have the move to SD option. Never again will i buy a phone with at least 2 gigs of internal memory. Guys, HTC sense is ok, nothing special. believe me, a lot of what you are liking on your HTC's are standard google android stock and nothing to do with HTC.
danmux
2 years ago
Awesome, shit battery life tho
yopo
2 years ago
kind of agree my sis has a htc wildfire not much of a difference that doesnt stay on long either although im happy cause shes always on facebook
sarah harris
2 years ago
Great phone but the battery life is a joke , it needs charging all the time even with an app killer
Heinrichdsf
2 years ago
What do mean you're looking forward to a 4.3" screen? It already has one! :P
Heinrichdsf
2 years ago
Just thought I should add that the Google satnav navigation software provided is just simply superb! It works really really well!
I did a three hour journey this weekend (phone battery under 95%) and the batter lasted all three hours with GPS enabled. I arrived at my destination with 13% battery remaining. I did switch of any unnecessary widgets and turned down screen brightness to help battery life.
Google and HTC are a match made in heaven.
yorkypud
2 years ago
Ok, well having decided to leave the Apple fold i plumped for the HTC Desire HD, upgrading from an Iphone 3gs. My initial reaction from unboxing was definitely a wow, gorgeous looking phone and screen, easy to set up and sync with accounts like facebook and twitter.
However the first day i had to recharge the phone 3 times, understandable as i was like a kid with a new toy, the following 3 days the battery life seemed to last a tiny bit longer.
I had problems with HTC sense as their system was down and not going to be up and running until end of March, phone was locating me in places like Nigeria and somewhere in South America.
The GPS does not seem to be as accurate as the iphone either, locating me through google maps either a few streets away or even a few miles away, at times it got close and placed me pretty close to where i was within a few hundred metres. This was using the GPS outside on a bright sunny day.
The pictures which the 8mp camera took where bright and vibrant and the HD video recording was a joy to behold.
However the battery just did not have the guts to cope with what this phone is actually capable of.
I actually loved this phone but returned it back to T-mobile today with heavy heart as i don't think HTC have quite got it right with the battery life or their gps interface. Or indeed their services which support the phone.
I realise that a phone of this size is going use more battery and HTC should use some of that "sense" and provide a battery fit for purpose.
On a final note i would still migrate away from Apple once HTC sort out these little but important niggles.
Heinrichdsf
2 years ago
I've had mine for a month now and I'm glad I chose Android over Windows phone 7, it really is such amazing phone. HTC's sense really adds so much more ontop of Android and makes this phone so intuitive to use.
The huge screen is awesome for web browsing and gaming etc, wouldn't want anything smaller now :)
It's powerful, fast, intuitive and built very well.
I love it!
rhys
2 years ago
Only Just started useing HTC'S as people said they was the best on the market. Bought this for the first to try and beats any phone i have had. Love it
Ricardo
2 years ago
Chose this over iphone 4 for upgrade. Should
arrive in a couple of days, can't wait!
britrock2k07
2 years ago
Had htc hero then desire now got desire hd. Heard alot about its size being 'too big' but for me i think its perfect. Large screen great for web browsing, games etc cant wait for the next htc hope it has 4'3 screen or slighly larger with 1080p video recording.
Targett
2 years ago
Have been a loyal HTC customer for a few years now: Touch HD, Touch HD2,and now this... It's an amazing piece of kit! Great screen - bright and sharp colour detail. It's responsive to the gentlest of touches. Android and HTC have pulled this one out of the bag, even my iPhone wielding friends are jealous.
ArthurSmith
2 years ago
A nice looking phone with excellent specs which would be an excellent proposition if it was taken out with one of the many great <a rel="follow" target="_new" href="http://www.simonlydeals.mobi/">sim only deals</a> available on the market today.