HTC Desire S

A high-end phone despite its small form factor, the HTC Desire S is the follow-up to the earlier Desire, which is now available for a bargain from many networks.  It's (another) new smartphone running Android Gingerbread, version 2.3.2, and its spec makes us think it's clearly aiming to be your mobile multimedia device of choice.  Let's take a closer look and see if it's worthy of the excellent reputation enjoyed by its predecessor.

Well balanced—or almost

You can keep a perfect grip on the Desire S even after several minutes of calling, gaming or surfing thanks to a decent size-weight ratio and a wise choice of materials, with good quality matte plastics and Teflon trim at the edges.  We're big fans of the slightly curvy shape and simple, clean look.

The 3.7'', 480 x 800 pixel Super LCD screen is very responsive: all you have to do activate it is brush your finger across the surface.  It's accurate too, and also good at reproducing colours.  The contrast is excellent with blacks, though whites have a slightly grey look.  There's no contest with the Desire HD's more muted colours: the Desire S has a much better screen.


Unlike the original Desire, interaction with the Desire S is now entirely touch-sensitive.  Disappointingly, the optical trackball, which was very handy and a big favourite of Desire users, has disappeared.

Using the phone itself is pretty standard, but we're still not really sure why HTC decided to go and put the Micro USB port on the side rather than at the bottom.  It's an odd decision, but at least the headphone jack is at the top of the handset, which is good for when you have it in your pocket.

As we've come to expect from HTC, the smartphone has an excellent quality finish, with a range of well-chosen materials and careful assembly.

Android + Sense + Snapdragon: triple play

We've said it plenty of times before but we'll say it again: one of the biggest strengths of HTC's Android-based smartphones is their HTC Sense interface.  We're currently at version 2.1 and we looked at it in more detail when we reviewed the Desire HD and the Incredible S.  It's powerful, practical and well-designed and has two big benefits: it allows HTC to stand out from the crowd of other Android phones and gives its customers the chance to use an intuitive, and, well, sensible interface.


There's a lot on offer, including multiple homescreens, widgets and exclusive apps to download from the HTC Hub platform, handy shortcuts and direct access to your contacts' social networking activity.  The Sense interface almost entirely obscures Android itself and adds a whole new layer of usability that no other manufacturer has yet to beat, even if Samsung has made considerable progress with its TouchWiz software. 


The Desire S doesn't have a dual-core processor—but so what?  It really isn't that big a deal.  Just like the Incredible S, which has a 4'' screen, the Desire S is based on a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor.  The two words that most easily come to mind when you think of the Desire S are 'fast' and 'powerful'.  It always reacts quickly, even when you're already running several apps at once.  Even the most demanding users are likely to be satisfied by how fast it is at every stage, with no lag creeping in anywhere.  But for the latest games that demand a lot of extra power, the latest generation of dual-core smartphones—the LG Optimux 2x and its Nvidia Tegra 2 or the HTC Sensation and its Qualcomm chip—will probably be a better choice.

Great multimedia

The Desire S has the full range of multimedia features you'd expect from a smartphone in this segment.

It's a much safer bet as a standby camera than the less impressive Incredible S.  Both focusing and taking photos is fast, making it quick and easy to take snapshots of everyday life that you can share online.  The quality isn't at all bad, with reasonably accurate colour reproduction, despite a slight red tinge and a decent level of detail for this type of camera.  The LED flash will help you out if the conditions aren't great but has a tendency to leave your photos looking over-exposed.




You can shoot video in 720p HD, and although it isn't always smooth, the quality is still acceptable.  Playing video isn't a problem, but, of course, phones with a larger screen are better.  The Desire S can play DivX and Xvid files.

The audio quality is better than usual, but we still detected a little crackling.  The speaker still isn't powerful enough and soon becomes saturated when you turn the volume up. 


The browser, which supports Flash, will satisfy anybody addicted to getting online while they're on the move.  It does a great job of storing your favourites and history, and also loads pages quickly with a fast, accurate zoom making the text easy to read.  Even though some of its rivals might have a bigger screen, browsing the web on the Desire S is a perfectly workable experience.  Given how responsive it is, there's no problem scrolling up and down very long pages.

You can expect the battery to last a good day and a half before you have to recharge it.  That's a reasonable result for a smartphone, and longer than you get from the Desire HD.

The Desire S doesn't make that many improvements on the incredibly successful original, and it isn't as lightning fast as new phones like the LG Optimus 2x or upcoming handsets like the HTC Evolution or the Samsung Galaxy SII.  It's still an excellent smartphone with a great range of multimedia features that will win it a lot of fans.