Well it was upgrade time for me on my O2 contract and like every other person I wanted either a Blackberry or an iPhone. After much thought and a talking to with my uncle the Blackberry was swiftly removed from this and so the iPhone was the target. So off I went to try and haggle with the people at O2 for it. So I went in store and to other phone shops and I bumped into this. What is it? I asked, 'It's the HTC Desire' was the reply I got from the sales assistant. I asked if I could play around with the real one as the dummy was no doing it any justice and I was immediately converted.
After about 20 phone calls to O2 to try and give me a good deal for the iPhone and finally the Desire I told them to stuff it (in a nice way) and that I was heading over to T-mobile as it gave me a much better deal (more details about that at the end).
Check Me Out
At first sight it's obvious that it is a fully functional full screen phone. It has three buttons on the bottom (from left to right; Home, Menu and back and search) and a scroll wheel located in the middle which allows you to manoeuvre up, down, left or right. The phone is quite big, just slightly bigger than an iPhone 3GS it's hardly noticeable. There is also a volume control on the top left hand side of the handset which allows you to adjust the ring volume, loudspeaker and speaker volume when on the phone and media volume when playing games, listening to music or watching videos. The phone feels very well made and structured and makes you feel quite confident that if you was to drop this it would not smash into millions of pieces. For this review I will not test this!
The power button located on the top left of the phone also gives you more options apart from just switching the phone off. It allows to switch to silent mode, vibration mode, Airplane mode and also to take the mobile network off.
The back on the phone has a full length case which to me feels like suede plastic. Inside this is the 5MP camera with flash, the battery, sim and memory card.
Honey Can you hear?? I'll call you back!
Making calls on this phone is a piece of cake. On the main screen of the phone, phone will be easier seen on the bottom of the screen, all you do is touch it and then you either enter the number or spell the person you want to call and HTC will find similar names. Then press call.
Now can you hear the other person on the line. From what I have read from other reviews and statistics apparently sound quality was one of the least important factors on a phone. Does that mean we want everything in a phone but don't really want to talk to anyone? Anyway when in a phone call the sound is crisp and I have no problem hearing the earful I get from my lovely girlfriend :-). Whilst in phone call mode the screen automatically shuts down as soon as it's on your ear so your not pressing and uploading your facebook page. As you remove it off your ear the screen will light up and gives you the option to put it on loudspeaker or mute (very tempted to use which getting an earful) or end the call.
Cnt talk, tx me or fone me l8a xx
Now I've text on a few touch screen phones and the iPhone was the daddy of them and this is just as good as. You can text vertically or horizontally which makes the buttons easier to use. It is very responsive and it also has a predictive text spellchecker on it as well which in a way makes texting quicker for me. If you use a word which is not in its dictionary the word will be highlighted in orange and all you do is touch it and it will be added and so next time it will be on the list of predicted words. Simples. The text format is also on a chat format like MSN messenger and will have all your chats from the first time you text them to the present. It also lists the people you have text, the most recent at the top and how many texts you receive. So finding the person you need is even easier and you won't have to go through your phonebook to find them.
My unique HTC
This is were I think in my opinion the HTC begins to go past the iPhone. The HTC has 1 homepage and then another 6 for you to personalise. iPhone hasn't got a homepage. 1-0 HTC!!
The homepage presents you with time, location and sometimes the weather forecast for that location. It comes defaulted programmed with messages, mail, internet and camera. If you don't like what is there, simple hold on to it and drag into the delete box at the bottom of the screen. Then simply look for what you want and locate it there. So your HTC is different to everyone else's. Doesn't that make you feel special?
Like stated above it also has another 6 for you. You get three when you scroll left and 3 when you scroll right. By default is has (from left to right) weather, friendstream (for all your facebook and twitter needs), email, the homepage, favourites (contacts), RSS feed (which is the news) and a blank page. Again you can personalise this the way you see fit. I currently have (from left to right) weather, messages, emails home page, then favourites (contacts), calendar and the news.
It's what's inside that count
The phone comes with usual applications like all mobile phones. Calculator, calendar, call history, camera, clock, internet, messages, photos, settings and setup. However the HTC is so much more and gives you a bundle more applications already pre loaded. It comes with a FM radio (most do have this but some surprisingly don't). It also has an app called footprint. I haven't really used this much but it allows you input a location you have been to and put photos and a brief bit about it. Its like a virtual postcard that you can look back on and see where you have been.
Maps which are exactly like Google maps on the net. Simply input the detail of where you want to go and it will pan out a route for you.
Market is the place where you can download a huge amount of applications and games for free and also at a price.
Peep is a portal to you twitters out there as I am not one of them.
Quick office which allows you to view Microsoft office files which can come in handy for some.
Teeter is a great little game that's pre loaded in, lots of fun and sometimes frustration.
And finally Youtube which to me and everyone else is self explanatory.
The world at your fingertips
Now we all know that the iPhone has great internet with its own safari web program already on it. The HTC internet is absolutely great. Pretty much the best I have seen and used. It has a 1GHZ snapdragon processor which is quick and gets those web pages loaded real quick. It also allows to watch embedded videos, be it on Quicktime or even on a flash player format. I haven't had one single problem watching a clip on this phone whereas on the iPhone I was getting a bit frustrated with it. Some pages load up in the mobile version like Facebook but you can easily load up the proper site with ease. You can use the phone horizontally and vertically and zooming in and out is exactly like the iPhone. Pinch both fingers and move apart to zoom in. You can also zoom in by double tapping the screen which zooms in automatically to an extent. You can also load up to 5 windows in one go as well which is really good but might affect the speed. So be careful folks.
This HTC went to the market
With a phone like this you are bound to want to download games and applications for it and the place for this is the market. There are loads to choose from and most are free but most do not restrict you using all of the functions unlike istore which most of the time gives you lite version and so can only play 5 minutes until you are asked to pay up for a full version.
My favourite FREE applications and downloads are:
Aldiko: Allow you to access books online for free and some paid for. I currently have downloaded the Jungle Book, Alice and Wonderland for free.
Advanced Task Killer: This I found is a very useful application. This phone basically runs like a PC so it will have a how load of app's running in the background. This will find all of them and you get to choose to close them proper, hence improving the speed of the phone and also saving a bit of battery life.
Barcode Scanner: Scan any item and it will find you prices for it and then you can decide where to buy from.
Thinkfast: Very good adding up game under a time limit.
Urbanspoon: Can't decide where to eat? This little application randomly picks out what to eat and where. Please note not all locations are currently available but a great app none the less.
Smile for the HTC
Now my previous phone was a Sony Ericsson C902 which had a 5MP cyber shot camera on it and it was amazing. As you can see it's the same here. Now many phones go up to around 12.1MP I don't really see the point in that. The picture quality for this phone is very clear and the photos are taken in an instant and do not take ages to load it up. Video recording is also the same and depending on the size of you memory card can record for as long as you like.
HTC security, can you leave the phone please?
Do you have a nosey brother or sister, nosey friends who like to go through your phone and prank call people or send silly texts to your friends.
Well that will be no more with the security feature on this phone. Like the iPhone you have to slide to open the keypad. With this phone you slide the phone down then a sequence pattern security lock is shown. Your friends will think they look like buttons but will not be able to get through. If they fail numerous times the phone will lock for 30 seconds before you get to have anther go in unlocking the code. Ah nosey people no more!
Where's my charger?!?!
Here is probably the one and only problem I have with this phone. If you use the phone quite a lot doing all the above this will last you a day. If like me I occasionally use it online I have found it to last around 3 days with the help of the Advanced Task Killer as well. That being said the speed of the charge is very good so you probably wont really be bothered with that.
I can't see!!
This is something that I had come across when it was a bright day. I have the brightness down to the minimum (to save battery) and I can not see a thing on this, only when I put it to the highest brightness do I get to see anything. I think they should of checked out Apples anti glares screens on this one. Also some say the screen is hard to get a scratch on. I have 3 already, I don't know how, they are just there. So I would recommend a case for this guys and if you can some sort of anti glare screen protector if it exists. It also isn't Mac friendly (the two fingers up to them maybe) from what I have been told.
I have to admit the phone took me a little bit to get used to but the more and more you play around with it, the more you will learn and the more you will love this phone. The way you can personalise it, the amount of applications and games you can download, you have pretty much everything you want here. Who said the iPhone was irreplaceable? This phone is quietly taking over. This I highly recommend people. Even to plipplop who loves his Apples.
I currently have this on T-Mobile 18month contract £30 on the following terms:
600mins, 500 texts, unlimited internet and also have a T-Mobile booster which I chose to be unlimited T-Mobile to T-Mobile calls.
The best O2 could offer me was 200 minutes more and no extra bolt on for £40 a month on a 24 month contract.
Please scope around when looking for a new contract or upgrade people, there's always a better deal elsewhere.
Thanks for reading and hope you found this useful.Can also be found on dooyoo.
Silently taking over! 
E. x