My Desire for something else!
24 hours ago, I walked into the local Carphone Warehouseon a whim. My iPhone 3G contract had expired in January and because I had bought the 3GS last summer, on 'Pay As You Go', I knocked my contract down to the iPhone Simplicity.
This suited me and I was willing to fair for the new iPhone (HD?).
So getting back to yesterday, I had a look at the HTC Desire and the Motorola Milestone, both have large screens, 3.7" compared to the iPhones 3.5", both have higher resolution displays and cameras.
They also both happen to run this OS called Android.
Meandering up to the counter I enquire as to what my upgrade possibilities may be, anything is the reply. So I go for the Desire, faster processor, and while it would be nice to try the Moto and it's hardware keyboard, I decide that I will be fine with the latest and greatest from Taiwan.
Upgrading my contract back to £35 per month, for which £30 buys me 600 mins and unlimited texts + the £5 for data. I'm cool with this, why wouldn't I be it's more than I ever got on the proper iPhone tariffs. Nb iPhone £35 gives you just 500 texts.
Better thank that the Desire if Free, all I must do is sign my soul over for another 24 months. No biggie.
By now I guess I should start to talk about the Desire.
The build quality is nice, better than a lot of phones I have owned, but not a tight and tidy as the iphone. The removable back panel is not flush and the whole feel is not as premium as the iPhone, even the 3GS.
The screen has a slightly more tacky, not the cheap sense, feel it isn't as smooth as the iPhone's.
I turn it on and am greeted by a small green HTC logo on that glorious OLED display, there the logo stays for what feels like eternity, probably no longer than my iPhone, then I hear little jingle, sounds polyphonic but it isn't then slowly as though drawn by a child the words 'quietly brilliant' appear. Might I add that this is painfully slow, it really does feel as if the phone is lagging.
Ok I see what you might be thinking, another person bashing of a device he hasn't actually used. Hey I bought one didn't I, that's a step in some direction. Not the right one but, well you get the idea.
Now the phone is fully booted and I see the screen that's on the box, the generic HTC sense over the top of Android. This screen is beautiful, really really rich, almost over saturated colours. The resolution is great, I cannot see individual pixels like I can on the iPhone.
I start to play around with the Desire, speed in opening apps is comparable with the 3GS, but bear in mind that the processor in this thing is a Snapdragon running at 1GHz and it has twice as much RAM, 512MB for you number crunchers.
It handles nicely, the browser is WebKit based like Safari and so it renders websites in much the same way as that other phone I have. My what a difference 800x480 pixels is to 480x320, you can see the whole of a website in portrait. Wanting to see more I double tap and the screen zooms, no lag here, wait has the type just moved around on where I zoomed? Yes, the area is the same as before but the words on the page have moved around, I would show you but alas Android doesn't natively offer a screenshot capability. Ok so I guess I could live with movement of text, no much of an issue.
Entering text in the browser is grande and I'm sure that I can type quicker on this keyboard than I can with my iPhone.
Loading of websites is slower, much slower on the Desire. Scrolling is not kinetic and so feels a tad jerky if trying to find something quickly.
Photos:
Full page in browser
Zooming on an article
So moving on, I play around with the home screen options, you get a total of seven screens, which I might add are there whether or not you have stuff on them, within which you can place widgets these range from facebook, twitter and stocks through to a quick access to any setting or application. Apps appear much like they do on the iPhone, a 4x4 grid with ability to move to where ever you wish on any of the screens. On moving, you push and hold like the iPhone, but you can only move to a space that is unoccupied by something else, it does not push the other apps/widgets out of the way like the Cupertino software. A slight inconvenience but something that bugs non-the-less.
It's quite nice to have one+ flick access to a few apps and widgets, almost like the Palm Pre WebOS.
E-mail is a doodle to set up, that is if you use Gmail and the android based email client as apposed to the HTC client. I have found this experience pleasant enough, not as visually sublime as Mail, but still very workable.
Nothing much else to say other than the fact that sending an email from the phone using the Gmail client is very similar to using Gmail online, you reply and it turns up in your Mail on the Mac inbox, a small gripe, as all it means is that I must delete it. I guess it's the way that Gmail deals with it's email threading.
The music player. While I could not load directly from iTunes, I did try Double Twist and this works much the same way. Playing audio from the device is a horrible experience. I'm no audiophile, I listen to music through my iPhone speaker, but the single solitary speaker pumps out the most horrendous abomination to music, I can only liken it to mobile phones of tester year. Loud, yes, but so much distortion it is to me useless. Through the headphone port, the Desire has a built in 3.5mm jack, is much better but whatever sound chip they are using is surpassed by the iPhone.
I have tried to love this phone, it might not seem like it but I have.
The 5 megapixel camera, oh how I love the MP war. I have a couple of comparison shots here.
As you can see the HTC shoots pictures with a large blue persuasion, not natural at all, the iPhone not natural either is less a shock. Night time shots, where higher ISO is necessary, the Desire is actually better, delivering a much nicer photo.
Videos are recorded at the screens native res and look much the same as the 3GS there really isn't anything in it in that regard.
Oh and it has an LED on the back, some call it a flash.
Photos:
iPhone on left, Desire on right
Walking down the street
Inside night shot
Out of window
Using the Desire as an actual phone. According to the person I phoned much better clarity, louder and a much more pleasant experience when compared once more with an iPhone. On my end I could discern no difference, so there is passes with a tie.
Ok so to summarise, I like the screen and the widgets
and that's about it. I would like to love this phone honest I would, it should be great, but the iPhone does the same in a much better and cohesive manner.
If you like Android and are looking to upgrade then the Desire is a fine phone. If you are deciding what to do and you are upgrade eligible please I implore you, wait and see what happens next month.
Some comparison shots:
