One of the Mighty phones from HTC’s stable the HTC Desire needed a real makeover to take on the market. With a big mass audience to please and some really big shoes to fill, does the Desire S really actually replace the original HTC Desire? Our Review looks into the mass appeal Desire S and tells you what it brings to the table.
BUILD QUALITY AND HARDWARE
The HTC Desire S is the best form factor of smart-phone from HTC with a perfect size and quality styling and brilliant form factor. The device fits easily in all hand sizes and is convenient to pocket around. This is by far the best representation of form factor from HTC. That being said the paint or the exterior finish was not up to standards, we saw the paint fade from several places with just regular use, within a week. We are not too happy with this fact and are unsure whether or not people can claim warranty on such units.
In terms of specs we have the following
| Frequency | Quad Band |
| Phone Style | Touchscreen |
| OS | Android 2.3 Gingerbread |
| Thickness | 11.63mm |
| Length | 115mm |
| Width | 59.8mm |
| Weight | 130g |
| Built-in Memory | 1.1GB |
| Additional Memory | MicroSD support (up to 32GB) |
| High-speed Data | GPRS, HSDPA,Wi-Fi, |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth, USB |
| Screen Size | 3.7-inch touch screen with 480 x 800 resolution |
| Camera Resolution | 5 megapixels |
| Flash | power LED flash |
| Battery | 1450 mAh |
We are calling it the Lightweight Champion because of the simple fact that it bring most high end features at a much reasonable price than one would expect from an HTC Phone
PHONE AND MESSAGING
The phone dialer is as great as any other HTC phone we have tested in the past, the earpiece and mic make us wonder if anyone can become any better with the voice quality. Network connections are smooth, we did face the “Death grip” issues in some case where the network dropped significantly when the device was held too tight.
Messaging is simple and easy with the HTC keyboard and even better with keyboard replacements from the Marketplace, the touch screen is accurate and responsive hence there is no problem with the accuracy of the keyboard.
we simple love the fact that HTC devotes a huge chunk of its time in fixing the phone inside the Smartphone, to make it work seamlessly. As is the case with every thing man-made problems are there in devices, But we have seen a huge uptrend where HTC and constantly improved their products over-time, focusing on past issues.
SCREEN AND MULTIMEDIA
We don’t see how this is an improvement over the past Desire, we were actually lucky enough to get the original Desire with an AMOLED screen, which basically trumped all other screens including the sLCD offered by HTC these days, the resolution is also somewhat similar at 480×800 pixels and the screen size is small compared to competition. Although touchscreen technology has improved significantly we can see that the device is more responsive and accurate at receiving inputs. Which makes the overall experience worthwhile.
Video playback quality is simply great on this device, we tested a huge array of video files, buffer sizes and audio syncs they all played great and the device just scored a ten in our books in terms of multimedia. The screen is still great and watching videos on it is still a lot of fun. Speakerphone on the device is actually the only thing we can complain about, because it is poor for a device that is so great. Low volumes make utilization of this device in public places a horrid experience.
CAMERAS
The device has 2 cameras a rear 5 MP snapper which can also take 720p video and a front facing VGA cam that not only looks far better than any other VGA cam that we have tested but records great video.
The rear 5 MP sensor has great color depth and a large view field, we also saw that the camera was much snappier at taking pictures and the rest of the HTC devices tested by US. Pictures were clear and crisp and low light performance was quite surprisingly good. Video is the standard 720p Lossless format, with little or no jitter. We love the added picture and video effects, makes the camera app a much more complete app, and you wont find yourself searching for a marketplace camera app replacement.
The front camera is great for portrait pictures and even great for video logging, without needed the mention of Video calling over skype fring etc which works natively and brilliantly.
CONCLUSION
The device packs a lot of features at a price bracket of 22,000/- to 24,000/- Indian Rupees. Possibly the best device in the market at that price, Comes with Android 2.3 right out the box, a front and rear camera and simply great form and construction. You cant beat that at a price of 22K . The fact that you can add a couple of thousand and get the Incredible S, makes us kinda jiggly on our own decision, Incredible S gives a Better Performance CPU-GPU, an sLCD, an 8 Mega Pixel camera and Better sound output.
[xrr rating=4/5 label=”We Rate The Desire S” imageset=shiny_yellow_star display_as=fraction_stars]
Full Video UNBOXING
FULL REVIEW VIDEO
VIDEO CAMERA SAMPLE
