HTC Desire

HTC Desire
Brand HTC
Manufacturer HTC Corporation
Carriers Singtel, MobileOne, Starhub, Maxis, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange, O2, 3, Virgin Mobile, Meteor, Telstra, SK Telecom, Softbank, Telus, U.S. Cellular, cellcom, Vip Mobile, Cellular South, nTelos, Cox Wireless
Compatible networks Europe/Asia Pacific: HSPA/WCDMA
900/2100 MHz [Model A8181]
850/1900 (Telus Mobility Canada) [Model A8182]
850/2100 MHz (Telstra Australia) [Model A8183]
GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
First released February 16, 2010; 2 years ago (2010-02-16)
Availability by country South Korea May 2010 (2010-05)
Predecessor HTC Legend
Successor HTC Desire S
Related HTC Desire HD, HTC Desire Z
Type Smartphone
Form factor Slate
Dimensions 119 mm (4.7 in) H
60 mm (2.4 in) W
11.9 mm (0.47 in) D
Weight 135 g (4.8 oz)
Operating system Android 2.1 Eclair
Upgradeable to Android 2.2 Froyo, and Gingerbread 2.3
CPU 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon
GPU Adreno 200 (AMD Z430)
Memory 576 MB RAM
Storage 512 MB flash (150 MB user accessible)
Removable storage microSDHC supports up to 32 GB
Battery 1400 mAh
Internal Rechargeable Li-ion
User replaceable
Data inputs Dual-Touch screen, 3-axis accelerometer, digital compass, proximity and ambient light sensors, FM Radio, compass, A-GPS
Display 3.7-inch 480×800 (0.38 Megapixels) WVGA AMOLED or Super LCD capacitive touchscreen covered by Gorilla Glass[1]
Rear camera 5 Megapixel
Autofocus
LED flash
face detection, Geotagging
Connectivity Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
Micro USB
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
Other HTC Sense 1.9 interface
Flash 10.1 enabled (update to Flash 11 available in Android Market)
References [2]

The HTC Desire (codenamed Bravo)[3] is a smartphone developed by the HTC Corporation, announced on 16 February 2010 and released in Europe and Australia in the second quarter of the same year. The HTC Desire runs the Android operating system, version 2.2 "Froyo". Internally it bears a strong resemblance to the Nexus One, but differs in some features.

Contents

Availability

In the United States, the device is available from, Alltel, U.S. Cellular,[4] Cellular South,[5] Cox Wireless, nTelos Wireless, Cellcom,[6] and United Wireless in southwest Kansas. In Canada, the device was released by Telus Mobility on 6 August 2010.[7]

In Europe, the carriers are Elisa in Finland, Vodafone UK, Vodafone Ireland, Meteor Irl, BT Broadband Anywhere, T-Mobile UK, O2, Orange UK, 3, and Virgin Mobile UK. In Australia, it is exclusive to Telstra. In Japan, Softbank Mobile started sales in April.[8] In Turkey, Vodafone started sales in late November 2010.

In South Korea, SK Telecom began sales in May 2010.

In Singapore, the official launch date was 14 May 2010, and the phone has been for sale by all carriers subsequently.

In mainland China, HTC launched its four flagship smartphones including the Desire on 27 July 2010. Unlike in other markets, the device will be shipped with Android 2.2 ("Froyo").[9]

Many of the UK mobile networks have been unable to keep up with demand; Virgin Mobile UK, Vodafone UK, 3, T-Mobile UK and Orange UK are some of the networks experiencing very high demand.[10][11][12][13] The ash produced by the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull led to some customers waiting a month getting their HTC Desires due to much of European airspace being closed.

In India, HTC and TATA DOCOMO, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices Limited, announced a partnership to launch HTC Desire in India on 16 August 2010. However, as of mid 2011 onwards, the availability has dropped sharply. This decline in availability is not unusual in India where it becomes extremely hard (close to impossible) to find older model of electronic and computer devices once a newer model enters the market.

Hardware

The phone uses a 1 GHz ARMv7 "Snapdragon" processor, includes a 5 megapixel auto-focus camera and an optical trackpad, and was among the first consumer devices to feature a large, full-color active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) display.[14]

During late Q2 2010, HTC made the decision to switch the Desire's display to a S-LCD panel, manufactured by the company S-LCD a co-operative between Sony and Samsung. Although this was brought on by a severe AMOLED panel supply shortfall[15], the new display greatly enhances text readability because of its improved effective resolution, one of the few complaints people had with the original Desire model.[16][17] Compared to the original AMOLED display, the SLCD display has more accurate color reproduction, far less susceptibility to burn-in, similar peak brightness and optimal viewing angles, but a lower contrast ratio. The new SLCD display was claimed to have similar or better power efficiency compared with the original AMOLED display; however, this has proved to not always be the case because with AMOLED pixels' ability to completely turn off, black or dark pixels use very little power.[18] However, in situations when the screen is predominantly bright (such as when viewing many web pages), the AMOLED display uses more power.

The hardware is capable of high-definition (720p) video recording and playback; the 720p video recording feature has been added to the HTC Desire when updating to the official HTC modified Android 2.2 firmware.[19]

Software

The Desire was shipped with Android 2.1. HTC made an update to Android 2.2 (codenamed "Froyo") available on the following dates:

HTC has released a software update to upgrade the Desire to Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). Originally, they planned to do this in June 2011.[26][27] However, on 14 June 2011, HTC announced via Facebook that there would be no Gingerbread update for the HTC Desire, citing memory constraints. This is because HTC had been unable to fit both Gingerbread and HTC Sense together in the phone's 250 MB system partition.[28] However, on the 15th of June, less than 24 hours after stating they would not update to gingerbread, they released a statement saying the Desire would receive the gingerbread update after all with the possibility of some apps being cut.[29] The update was finally released for download from HTC's developer website[30] on the 1st August 2011, and is not available as an over-the-air update.

Comparison with Nexus One

The Desire internally bears a strong resemblance to the Nexus One. The differences found in the Desire are:[31][32][33][34][35][36]

Because of the strong similarity to the Nexus One "developer phone", the Desire enjoys a highly active third-party developer community. The Desire subforum is one of the most active at xda-developers, and notably CyanogenMod and MIUI are available for the device.

Reception

The HTC Desire has received extremely positive reviews. CNET UK reviewed the phone on 29 March 2010 and awarded the phone 9.2/10.[38] TechRadar awarded the phone 5 out of 5 stars and stated "In short, this is a phenomenal phone—one of the best we've ever had."[39]

From TechRadar's 'Top 15 best mobile phones in the world', the HTC Desire is simply the best so far: "It's like a Nexus One only better. For this reason, the HTC Desire has entered our top 10 at number 1, and the Google Nexus One has dropped out completely. It's tough at the top."[40]

MobileTechWorld found the HTC Desire to be a fairly capable product that "manages to please casual users with HTC’s flashy Sense UI and geeks who love to tweak their handsets on a daily basis thanks to the Google’s Android OS."[41]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Products with Gorilla". Featured products. Corning Incorporated. http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/featured-products. 
  2. ^ Ziegler, Chris (2010-02-16). "HTC press conferens MWC 2010". http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/16/htc-desire-your-nexus-one-with-sense-and-flash-has-arrived. Retrieved 16 February 2010. 
  3. ^ "HTC Bravo becomes HTC Desire". Techdigest. http://www.techdigest.tv/2010/02/mwc_2010_htc_br.html. 
  4. ^ "Niet compatibele browser". Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/USCellular/posts/109582565746792. Retrieved 2010-07-09. 
  5. ^ "Twitter / Cellular South: The summer of Android cont". Twitter.com. http://twitter.com/cellularsouth/status/16327446124. Retrieved 2010-07-09. 
  6. ^ "Cellcom HTC Desire 6275". cellcom.com. http://www.cellcom.com/device.html?id=138. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 
  7. ^ "HTC Desire on Telus Mobility". telusmobility.com. http://www.telusmobility.com/en/QC/htc_desire/index.shtml. Retrieved 2010-08-06. 
  8. ^
  9. ^ Savov, Vlad (29 July 2010). "HTC will ship all Android phones in China with Froyo on board, fuels fire for immediate update closer to home". Engadget. http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/29/htc-will-ship-all-android-phones-in-china-with-froyo-on-board-f/. Retrieved 30 July 2010. 
  10. ^ by Gary C (2010-04-17). "Three UK runs out of HTC Desire stock – upgrades for existing customers stopped". EuroDroid. http://www.eurodroid.com/2010/04/three-uk-runs-out-of-htc-desire-stock-upgrades-for-existing-customers-stopped/. Retrieved 2010-07-09. 
  11. ^ by Gary C (2010-04-16). "Vodafone: HTC Desire still out of stock, online and offline". EuroDroid. http://www.eurodroid.com/2010/04/vodafone-htc-desire-still-out-of-stock-online-and-offline/. Retrieved 2010-07-09. 
  12. ^ by Gary C (2010-04-15). "Orange: "High demand" for HTC Desire leading to delays". EuroDroid. http://www.eurodroid.com/2010/04/orange-high-demand-for-htc-desire-leading-to-delays/. Retrieved 2010-07-09. 
  13. ^ by Gary C (2010-04-09). "T-Mobile expecting "10,000″ more HTC Desire phones next week". EuroDroid. http://www.eurodroid.com/2010/04/t-mobile-expecting-10000-more-htc-desire-phones-next-week/. Retrieved 2010-07-09. 
  14. ^ "HTC Desire Specifications". GSMarena. http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_desire-3077.php. Retrieved September 20, 2011. 
  15. ^ GARY CUTLACK (JUL 26, 2010). "HTC Swapping AMOLED For Super LCD". Gizmodo. http://gizmodo.com/5596262/htc-swapping-amoled-for-super-lcd. Retrieved September 20, 2011. 
  16. ^ "AMOLED vs. S-LCD HTC Desire screens fight it out". GSMarena. 14 September, 2010. http://www.gsmarena.com/amoled_vs_slcd_htc_desire_screens_fight_it_out-news-1932.php. Retrieved September 20, 2011. 
  17. ^ Richard Lai (Sep 13th 2010). "Spot the difference: HTC Desire's SLCD versus AMOLED". Gizmodo. http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/13/spot-the-difference-htc-desires-slcd-versus-amoled/. Retrieved September 20, 2011. 
  18. ^ Lai, Richard (13 September 2010). "Spot the difference: HTC Desire's SLCD versus AMOLED". Engadget. http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/13/spot-the-difference-htc-desires-slcd-versus-amoled/. Retrieved 21 September 2010. 
  19. ^ "Install Android 2.2 Froyo On HTC Desire And Enable 720p HD Video Recording". addictivetips. Jul 08 2010. http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/install-android-2-2-froyo-on-htc-desire-and-enable-720p-hd-video-recording/. Retrieved September 20, 2011. 
  20. ^ "HTC Desire Android 2.2 update coming this weekend". techradar.com. 2010-07-31. http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/htc-desire-android-2-2-update-coming-this-weekend-706700. Retrieved 2010-08-04. 
  21. ^ "Status of Android 2.2 Froyo update in Asia". asia.cnet.com. 2010-08-17. http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39050603,62202135,00.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-19. 
  22. ^ "HTC releases Android 2.2 update for ‘HTC Desire’ in India". androidos. August 31, 2010. http://androidos.in/2010/08/htc-releases-android-2-2-update-for-htc-desire-in-india/. Retrieved September 20, 2011. 
  23. ^ "HTC Desire Android 2.2 FroYo Update now available in India". fonearena. September 1, 2010. http://www.fonearena.com/blog/22263/htc-desire-android-2-2-froyo-update-now-available-in-india.html. Retrieved September 20, 2011. 
  24. ^ "Android(TM) 2.2 アップデート". mb.softbank.jp. 2010. http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/smartphone/product/x06ht2/feature_1.html. Retrieved 2011-03-09. 
  25. ^ "How To Upgrade HTC Desire On U.S. Cellular To Official Android 2.2 Froyo". dks ZONE. February 9, 2011. http://www.dkszone.net/update-htc-desire-android-2.2-froyo-u.s.-cellular-official-upgrade. Retrieved September 20, 2011. 
  26. ^ SlashGear
  27. ^ MyBroadband.co.za
  28. ^ Sin, Gloria (14 June 2011). "No Android Gingerbread update for HTC Desire". ZD Net. CBS Interactive. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/gadgetreviews/no-android-gingerbread-update-for-htc-desire/25557. Retrieved 14 June 2011. 
  29. ^ http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/htc-desire-to-get-android-gingerbread-after-all-as-htc-backtracks-50004139/
  30. ^ "HTC developer center". HTC. http://developer.htc.com/. 
  31. ^ "HTC Desire vs. Google Nexus One". Slashgear. http://www.slashgear.com/htc-desire-vs-google-nexus-one-2074966/. 
  32. ^ "HTC Desire: Nexus One with Flash and Sense". Icrontic. http://tech.icrontic.com/news/htc-desire-nexus-one-with-flash-and-sense/. 
  33. ^ Slashgear
  34. ^ androidboss
  35. ^ androidguys
  36. ^ iHelplounge
  37. ^ "HTC Desire Specifications - Smartphones & PDA Phones". Cnet.com.au. 2010-04-06. http://www.cnet.com.au/htc-desire_specs-339301153.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-09. 
  38. ^ "HTC Desire Review". Flora Graham (CNET UK). 29 March 2010. http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39030106,49305369,00.htm. 
  39. ^ "HTC Desire Review". Gareth Beavis (TechRadar.com). 31 March 2010. http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/htc-desire-679515/review?artc_pg=13. 
  40. ^ "15 best mobile phones in the world today. Android takes over, a new phone goes top". James Rivington (TechRadar.com). 26 March 2010. http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/15-best-mobile-phones-in-the-world-today-645440?artc_pg=16. 
  41. ^ "HTC Desire Review". MobileTechWorld. http://www.mobiletechworld.com/2010/05/17/htc-desire-review/. 

External links