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Our HTC Desire S Review

Desiring the HTC Desire S

The HTC Desire S Android smartphone scores high in most categories including design, multimedia, usability and price. It has a 3.7 inch screen set in an aluminum unibody meaning the metal piece works as both frame and case. It’s lighter than the original Desire weighing in at 125 grams. It’s slightly but not noticeably narrower and shorter; however, you may appreciate the fact it’s thinner than its predecessor. Loaded with features, the Desire S is a great phone that’s easy to set-up and operate.

Featuring the Hardware

The aluminum unibody has rear compartments with plastic covers that conceal a number of features. Under the covers you’ll find a 5 megapixel camera, loudspeaker, LED flash, battery, and MicroSD and SIM card slots. Included in one of the plastic covers is the antenna.

The HTC Desire S has a curved back making it easy to hold in the hand. The casing holds 768MB RAM which is actually more than what some of its competitors offer. Inside you’ll also find the Snapdragon MSM8255 system-on-chip that works well with the HTC Sense UI. In addition, there’s a loudspeaker that gets good reviews for quality though its top volume leaves something to be desired.

Battery Life Improved!

The battery life in most smartphones usually leaves something to be desired. However, smartphone makers are working on the problem from different angles as reflected in the HTC Desire S. The Snapdragon hardware is an efficient energy user. The HTC Desire S has a 1450Ah battery which easily lasts all day. You will have to recharge every day or two depending on the amount of usage the phone gets.

Multimedia

The HTC Desire S has a high quality 5 megapixel camera unit on the back with an LED flash. There is also a front-facing camera that doesn’t take nearly as good pictures. Other multimedia options include video that is recorded in .3gp format and the ability to play music via front and back speakers. As a matter of fact, you can use Connected Media and play phone music on a separate music system without much or any setup.

Performance Ready to Go!

The HTC Desire S comes with Android and Sense UI as mentioned. It also has Gingerbread. You can get the latest Facebook update; Twitter friends; connect on Google; use the Quick Settings feature for instant access to GPS, mobile network, Wi-Fi Bluetooth and more; and enjoy the preloaded ebook reader called Kobo.

What We Liked

The display is now closer to the glass than it was in the predecessor Desire phone. The images are crisp and have vibrant colors. The display is covered by the indestructible Gorilla glass. We like the fact the phone has excellent messaging integration and that you can get to specific people text conversations and email using the People app or use the general dedicated apps.

What We Disliked

Like many smartphones, the display may be difficult to read in bright sunlight. Also, the camera takes good pictures for web posting or personal viewing, but pictures are not sharp when printed in full size. In addition, the video image quality could be higher, but it’s quite good.

Our Final Verdict

The HTC Desire S has 7 customizable panels that let you set the phone up to suit your lifestyle. It’s a rugged smart looking phone giving excellent all around performance. You can set up your social media accounts too and get quick connectivity. It’s easy to setup and use, has a great design and will serve its owner quite well. It’s not the most powerful phone on the market, but its out-of-the-box performance has a lot of appeal to those who don’t want to spend days setting up complicated phones. This unit is revved up and ready to get to work.

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	Read Review
	HTC Desire S
General
Form Factor	Candybar
Dimensions	115 x 59.8 x 11.63 (mm)
Talk Time	590 mins
Standby Time	455 hours
Weight	130 g
Quad Band	Yes
Photo and Video
Integrated Camera	Yes
Camera	5.00 megapixels
Camera Flash	Yes
Video Player	Yes
Phone
Polyphonic Ringtones	Yes
Smart Phone	Yes
Internal Memory	1.1GB
Memory Card Type	microSD
Messaging
Instant Messaging (IM)	Yes
Video Messaging	Yes
Screen
Colour Screen	Yes
Touch Screen	Yes
Connectivity
EDGE	Yes
Bluetooth	Yes
Email	Yes
GPRS	Yes
HSDPA	Yes
Web Browser	Yes
Wi-Fi	Yes
Music and Radio
FM Radio	Yes
MP3 Player	Yes
MP3 Ringtones	Yes
Additional Content
Downloadable Content	Yes
Downloadable Games	Yes
Downloadable Ringtones	Yes

HTC Desire S Full Specification

General

Photo and Video

Phone

Messaging

Screen

Connectivity

Music and Radio

Additional Content