The HTC Desire has been somewhat overshadowed by its design-led sibling the HTC Legend. But in many ways this is a far sharper, cleverer smartphone than its aluminium-hued stablemate. Speedier, thanks to a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and larger, thanks to a 3.7-inch high-res AMOLED panel, it has everything to sate the most fastidious of gadget fans.

First impressions

There’s no escaping the HTC Desire’s similarities to the HTC built Google Nexus One. The screen’s the same, it packs the same processor and uses Android 2.1 as its basis. But there are some key differences.

There’s an optical trackpad instead of an ugly analogue trackball, the body has a more sleek design and, of course, HTC Sense, gives everything a slick, realtime feel once you fire it up.

8/10

Design

The HTC Legend is undoubtedly the most gorgeous handset out in the wild right now. And that leaves the HTC Desire in a bit of a bind. Because while it’s better specced, it just doesn’t look as good. The teflon coating is great for stopping nasty smudges appearing across the back of the body, but ultimately this is a well-made yet plastic smartphone, which can’t compare to the metal marvellousness of the Legend.

That said, it’s remarkably slim at 11.9mm and feels incredibly slinky in the hand despite having a 3.7-inch screen. The latter is a real stunner. 480x800 pixels and AMOLED to boot, it’s huge and more than ideal for watching back clips on the web and zipping between the myriad homescreens.

8/10

Features

The biggest deal with the HTC Desire is its Snapdragon processor. This feature may not be immediately apparent to the average user, but it means everything rattles along faster than Jenson Button. The huge, high res screen would normally mean noticeable lag, but tapping into apps, or using the social networking aggregation tool Friend Stream, couldn’t be speedier. You don’t really appreciate just how good Snapdragon is until you use the Desire.

Apple has got a lot to do to bring its so called speedy iPhone 3GS up to scratch with this. Elsewhere, the five megapixel snapper is pretty much the same as the HTC Legend’s offering. It takes ample pics, that take on a new sheen thanks to the panel. But most key features with the HTC Desire owe their existence to the Android software.

9/10

Software

HTC Sense is the order of the day with the HTC Desire and as such gives it a leading edge over the Nexus One. While the latter runs on vanilla Android 2.1, the Desire uses the HTC Sense overlay to full effect. In truth, everything is just the same as on the Legend, with Friend Stream pulling together tweets, Facebook statuses and Flickr pics into one homescreen offering live updates. Leap is also present, the Apple Expose-like feature accessible just by pinching the screen, multitouch style.

Cool add-ons include Google Translate built right into the browser. Tap in a search term, press down on it and you can get it worked up into a different language or simply have it looked up in Wikipedia wherever you are. It also has business cojones, thanks to the inclusion of Microsoft Exchange, letting you tap into work mail, calendars and address books.

9/10

Ease of use

The HTC Desire is, like all of HTC’s top end line, an absolute doddle to get on with. HTC Sense is so easy to get on with and Google integration means you can easily load up multiple mail accounts. The touchscreen is pitch perfect and being larger than the Legend’s, even easier to use. The onscreen keyboard is gorgeous: even the most QWERTY-shy of phone fanatics couldn’t help but be smitten.

9/10

Specifications

• 3.7-inch, 480x800, AMOLED screen
• HTC Sense running on Android 2.1
• 3.5mm audio input 135g
• 11.9x60x119mm
• SD up to 32GB
• 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
• HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1

Overall mark: 9/10

Compare HTC Desire deals at Top10: HTC Desire