HTC Desire S

Just finished trialling the new HTC Desire S and I must say I'm quite impressed. I'm sort of tempted to get one myself, however I'm still not fully won over with the capacitive buttons.

Thus far on the ++ side;
- Much better battery life, I'm getting about 30 hours of battery life with WiFi, Mobile data always-on, Live wallpapers, Vibrate, Widgets updating etc...all enabled.
I had the GPS turned on from 7am until 2pm and I still had about 80% charge.
- Screen is much brighter and the images are 'crisp', colours and contrasts are a lot sharper.
- GPS seems to connect much quicker than the Desire
- I get better network connection compared to the Desire also, where my Desire got 1-2 bars, the Desire S would get about 3-4 bars
- Over 1GB of internal memory is really great, I installed all my apps and still didn't drop below 1GB
- Many apps, widgets and functions seem to load and process much quicker than the Desire, such as web browsing.
- Rear 5MP Camera seems to take much better photos that the Desire and there's a front camera too.
- 5g lighter than the Desire and it's noticeable

Then on the -- side;
- Speakers aren't as good as the Desire, sounds are "tinny" and extremely soft even at maximum volume
- Battery disconnects from contacts easily when you attempt to remove/swap the microSD and/or SIM, feels like a step back from the Desire HD
- Bluetooth connection to my GPS handsfree seems to have some sound issues which doesn't happen on the Desire (then again it could be my GPS is too old)
- The plastic/rubber cover to access the battery, SIM and microSD can sometimes be difficult to slide out & slide back in
- The side charger socket is novel to begin with and is a good idea but it can be awkward when attempting to connect to a car charger whilst in a phone cradle, as most of the phone cradles tend to have deep sides which block the socket.

There were reports about the grip of death on this phone which disconnected your WiFi connection but I haven't had that happen to me.

So seeing the Desire S is running Gingerbread by default, has the new 1GHz Snapdragon MSM8255 processor and packs 1.1GB of internal memory it's pretty worthwhile considering it's cheaper than the Telstra Desire available in OZ and it's also cheaper than the Desire HD with much better battery life. (Posted on 31/05/11)

My iPhone 3G contract was up and seemed a mugs game to sign up for another 24 month contract with an iPhone 4 that every second person seems to own already for ages and a million rumours when the next one will be out. This hardware is almost as good with a software OS that has more potential.

Took 5 days to arrive from MobiCity over a weekend so delivery time was reasonable and the phone worked straight away with my Optus sim.

I've been using it for 5 days now and no complaints so far.
What I like best about Android is I can replace the apps I use the most, like the browser, music player. And my favourite, it works well with the free official Swype beta keyboard.

It's a mid range phone but I don't need all the features of flagship models.

And as I've no contract I can switch to a mobile plan bundled with my ISP and save with a bundle discount.
(Posted on 27/05/11)

Bought this phone from mobicity a month ago and am throughly enjoying it. It is my first smartphone and although I was hesitant to move on to touchscreens, the fact that you can download Swype on this android is a blessing!
At first it was a bit confusing figuring out how to do basic stuff like setting alarms and changing settings, but now it all seems natural and have had no troubles whatsover :) (Posted on 25/05/11)