The HTC Desire S, like the Incredible S before it, feels like a bit of a rush job – it’s using HTC’s cookie cutter Android smartphone specs in a slightly different shell, and the company’s clearly got something massive up its sleeve for next week. So is it worthy of your attention? Its metal unibody shell certainly begs for it – get the lowdown right here in our HTC Desire S review.
Design and build
We’ll be honest: we were taken aback by the success of the original HTC Desire last year. We expected the far more attractive HTC Legend to grab eyeballs and wallets, but for some reason the cheap, purple plastic Desire proved the real hit.
While the Desire S is clearly its relative, we’re happy to say that HTC has infused it with the HTC Legend’s unibody design skills this time around, and as a result it looks stunning, with smooth curves and a cool to the touch surface that’s surprisingly resistant to fingerprints.
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It’s not the thinnest phone on the block at 11.63mm thick, but it’s certainly the sturdiest: since it’s been carved out of aluminium, MacBook Pro style, there’s absolutely no give or creaking no matter how tight you squeeze it.
And HTC’s design hasn’t required any compromises on port placement: the headphone socket is on the top along with an easy to press screen lock button, while a micro USB charger sits on the left hand side.
HTC Desire S: The Metal Android phone with super strength
There’s even a front facing camera you can use for video chats or taking snaps. In fact, our only issue is that pulling the back plate off to get at the battery is an enormous struggle – it’s a good thing you won’t need to do it often.
To be clear, we don’t think the HTC Desire S will stand the same tests as the invincible Motorola Defy – we suspect it could chip with a hard enough knock – but in day to day use it feels reassuringly polished.
Screen
It’s remarkable how HTC has moved from a leader in screen technology to lagging behind rivals. Samsung yanking the plug on its AMOLED screen supply is the reason, and we’re still feeling the loss of it here, gazing at a plain old LCD screen that’s plenty sharp (800×480 pixels spread over 3.7-inches) but simply nowhere near as vibrant as the panel on the original Desire. Samsung and Apple continue to lead the way in this area, but we’d certainly still give the Desire S due consideration, because its Android modification is so impressive.
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What really surprises us though is that the HTC Desire S feels too small now, if anything. It won’t be an issue for anyone coming from an iPhone, but for those who’ve used a four-inch smartphone over the last year, we’re sure they’ll miss the real estate for reading, gaming, video viewing and typing. As a result, it’s hard to recommend the Desire S over its equally specced bigger brother, the HTC Incredible S.
HTC Sense
The HTC Desire S is one of the first phones out of the blocks running Android 2.3, along with the Google Nexus S, Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc and Xperia Play, and the core experience is similar to these phones: Google’s killer apps like Gmail and Maps, as well as awesome extra features such as the ability to stream Flash video, and turn your phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot free of charge. In other words, you’re in for a treat.
Truth be told though, the Android 2.3 update offers very little to the table that HTC Sense on Android 2.2 on the Incredible S doesn’t – bar an ability to reorganise your apps in various ways, they’re almost identical, in fact. Of course, it’s no bad thing to be future proofed with the latest build of Android: you can read about HTC’s custom apps and redesigned UI in detail over on our HTC Incredible S review. In short, it won’t please Android purists – especially HTC’s worse for wear keyboard – but for your man on the street after an easy to use iPhone alternative, it’s superb.
HTC Desire S: Unibody strength explained
Power and performance
HTC’s used almost identical innards to its recent triumphs, the HTC Desire HD and Incredible S, inside the Desire S. We’ve noted before that HTC’s line up is starting to look increasingly blurred, but it’s no bad thing at the top end of the line up, we suppose: it just means they’re all blazingly fast.
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The Desire S’ second generation 1GHz Snapdragon CPU keeps things ticking over very nicely thank you, and its healthy 768MB of RAM helps you multitask without too much st-stutter. Battery life could be better though: we’re not sure why but the larger HTC Incredible S seems to run for slightly longer on a charge. It’s enough to get you through a day of moderate use, calling, surfing and sucking in email continuously, but it’s nothing to write home about.
Camera
HTC’s now traditional five megapixel camera makes another appearance in the Desire S, for better or worse. Performance in daylight is satisfactory, though as ever you shouldn’t put much faith in the LED flash in low light. Video recording meanwhile tops out at 720p resolution, though in reality footage didn’t appear quite so crisp, and not so smooth either.
Verdict
There’s a lot to love about the HTC Desire S: it’s beautiful inside and out, with a solid software experience. We must admit however that we’re not sure who it’s for: original Desire owners will prefer the raw power, potential and screen size of HTC’s larger phones, while the Wildfire S handles things on the affordable end – and then of course there’s the HTC Sensation/Pyramid right around the corner.
If you’re after a smaller phone with the same experience however, you’ll absolutely love it – just know that small digits would be the only reason to downgrade.
