HTC Desire Sim Free Unlocked Mobile Phone

Have had this excellent phone for almost 3 weeks now - after reading indepth critical reviews & it consistantly came out on Top! It's slim & sexy, superb build quality, & feels very comfortable in the hand - Its 'Teflon' coated back is elegant & refined. It simply does everything very well & super fast, due to its inbuilt 1Gz Snapdraggon Processor. Surfing the net is sublime & Movies from the inbuilt 'Flixter' Movie app look detailed, crisp, colourful & stunning quality. Texting is a dream on the Highly responsive, Capacative 3.7" AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) touchscreen. The 5MP onboard Camera takes very good pics with Face Detection & Auto Focus & an array of Picture options - have not at this point tried the Video camera - but am sure it will be equally impressive. Call Quality is also crystal clear & there are a plethora of options to customise your Contacts, Emails etc. The HTC 'Live' Wallpapers are also really cool & the Weather 'Widget' on the homescreen is both fun & very accurate. HTC have paid a great deal of attention to getting the smallest detail just right & have produced the Definitive Android 2.1 handset on the market. It is a beautiful piece of technology for all those 'Geek-Anoids' out there, like me & far superior than the iphone in every way. It is everything you could possibly 'Desire' in a phone - its the World in your pocket! Its remarkably 'bug free', extremely stable, superfact & efficient, aswell as being easy & pleasing on the eye. I debated long & hard before making my choice & have zero regrets or disappointments. This baby delivers! Having previously considered The 'Sony Ericsson Xperia 10', 'Vivaz', and the Nokia N900 - the HTC 'Desire' won - no contest! Highly Recommended!!!

Upgraded from a Sony Ericsson P1i which was a great phone, but I needed a good camera and access to apps. For me it was either the Desire, Nexus One or the white iPhone - but as the iPhone doesn't have a 5mpx camera or a flash, it had to be the Desire droid! The N1 is essentially the same phone with a few components missing - for one is 'noise cancelation', but unless you spend all day on the phone - I can't see this as an issue. I also prefer the optical mouse on the Desire to the 'track-ball' on the N1. Adding something so mechanical to an already fairly fragile device doesn't seem like a good idea. This isn't in the sense of how you use the mouse - because you don't really, you rely on the touch screen, but more so for wear and tare - imagine that track-ball going in and out of your pocket a few thousand times!

I have access to both the iPhone and now the Desire. I find the iPhone ridget compared to what you can do on the Desire - it is much more like having a whole computer in your hand. The iPhone seems 'locked-down' in comparison. The Desire also has a slightly bigger screen!

The phone build quality is good with a very vibrant screen. It is light and responds quickly - but you would expect that with the snapdragon processor in there...!

You get so many devices in just one with this and one of them is sat-nav. The Turn By Turn navigation by Google is brilliant - what a bonus. I have found you access it from the Short-Cut '+' on the desktop rather than through the usual programs menu - not sure if it is because right now it is still technically in beta development. ( '+' - Shortcut - Directions and Navigation).

Get yourself a case and screen protectors though, I don't think it would hold up well against keys in your pocket.

I've been looking into contracts (18-24 months) vs rolling sim card contracts and buying a phone outright. Needless to say with the saving I will be getting over a 2 year period I've opted to buy the Desire Unlocked/Sim-Free and drop to a 30 day rolling contract.

As it stands I've had the phone 2 days and am absolutely blown away. Delivery was reasonably quick from Play (probably felt longer as I wanted so bad). Once it arrived I had done my research and decided to do a full charge BEFORE turning it on and having a play.

PROS
Fantastic screen and ability to customize a lot of aspects of the phone. the interface is absolutely user friendly and having never played with a touchscreen phone or even an Android interface I just found it so easy to play with.

The phone is a perfect size, taking full advantage of the screen size by filling it and not feeling too bulky or fat like some alternatives (such as the X10).

CONS
Battery does drain but as I'm playing with settings and adding useful apps from the Android Market I'm having a nice steady battery consumption.
The internal memory size if tiny and you can't save apps to the SD card (you get 4GB provided) but that said you still only use small amounts if you don't populate the phone with rubbish!

I've already had iPhone owners sneak a peek then ask for a play. For me I'm not an iPhone fan but to each his own. To describe this as an iPhone challenger is nonsenical to me. If you want a touchscreen smartphone then the choice is yours. This simply adds another aspect of choice whereas the iPhone was the best choice up until now.

Weigh it all up, do your homework and if you choose to go for the Desire I would say you will NOT be disappointed.

I could say more but the phone speaks for itself, if you get the chance have a play with one and you'll soon be sold............

I sell phones for a living, sales of this dwarf the iPhone now. The screen is bright and crystal clear.

The 1Ghz processor shines through brilliantly showing speed even with a few apps running in the background.

Messaging is perfect because HTC's dictionary is absolutely packed & you can have QWERTY, Mini-QWERTY or Alphanumeric keypads at your choice.

Some people don't like the looks but in real life it looks great and feels brilliant in your hand with a good weight and smooth feel with a mixture of aluminium and high-grade plastics.

Granted the Android Market isn't as packed as the Apple App Store but any iPhone user can tell you how much CRAP there is in the App Store. Android apps are a different breed and serve a purpose. And there's a higher percentage of free apps.

The camera takes a crystal snap, it's not on par with a Pixon or N86 or even the X10 but it will still impress your mates with the touch focus, face detection and direct web uploads.

The HTC invented Sense Interface is impressive and unbelievably customisable. You can put any app or widget on the home screen and use it instantly. Tons of wallpapers, brilliant colours, responsiveness and intuition on the phone make the user experience second to none.

I'm an iPhone user, but payday is next week and mine is in the back of my shop with my name on it.

My advice is this: if you want a brilliant smartphone and don't want the constrictions of an iPhone or the complicated interface of a BBerry then the Desire is you're next phone.

Simple, elegant & FAST.

I've had my Desire for little over two weeks now. It is quite simply the best phone I have ever owned. The screen is beautiful, the colours are so rich and vibrant. The User Interface is so intuitive (HTC did a great job adding HTC Sense over Android, Kudos!) The Camera is great in daylight however can get a bit fuzzy in low light environments. The call quality is excellent, the speaker is clear. However with a 1Ghz processor it can be quite a drain on the battery. If you use this phone constantly with everything turned on, 3G, Wifi, Mail Retrieval, Facebook/Twitter Updates. Then your battery time won't be all that long, I'd say about 8 hours. However, despite that, it really is a great phone and if you have to be a 'power user' with this phone you can purchase an extra battery for like 14.99 here on play.com.

I would recommend this phone to anyone who is looking for a cheaper version of the Nexus one or even an iPhone, sure the Android Market Place doesnt have as many apps but it does the Android platform proud.