Disqus
Today Telus announced that they’ll be carrying the HTC Desire, which amounts roughly to a Nexus One with the Sense UI slapped on top. Not that we didn’t see it coming, or anything. It’s no Droid X, but it’ll be the best Android phone we have up north. Those on AT&T who have been interested in it, but unwilling to go to US Cellular or import a European version which would only give them 2G will now be able to consider importing one from Canada.
Just to blast through the specs really quick, the HTC Desire runs Android 2.1, has a 3.7″ 800 x 480 display, 5 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi b/g/n, 3G, GPS, and a 1 GHz processor. There’s also Sense, which is HTC’s custom tweaks made to Android, which includes more home screens, a fresh set of widgets, hot-swappable layouts depending if you’re at work or play, and a variety of usability improvements. By and large, Sense is considered a much more favourable alternative to the vanilla Android layout.
I got some time to play with the HTC Desire at a Telus shindig today in Toronto, and though it will easily be the most impressive Android phone available in Canada subsidized on a plan, I found the Flash performance offered by Android 2.1 somewhat lacking. It’s there, sure, but its stability is spotty. Sense is still freakin’ sweet, and the single thing really missing from the Nexus One. I found the build quality exceptional; parts were tight, the metallic feel felt sharp and classy, while it had curves in all the right place.
There’s no official mention of a launch date, but everything Telus was showing off today is part of their back-to-school batch of handsets, so expect it before the end of August. Be sure to take a look at our hands-on video and impressions for a general overview of the device.
[via Telus]
About The Author
Simon Sage
Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.
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