HTC Desire HD - A Worthy Upsize?

A Desire for Everyone

Everyone knows that HTC is on the roll these days, churning one Android phone after another, there's practically a HTC Android phone for almost every kind of consumer. Recently, the Taiwanese company has taken a breather from high-end Android devices like HTC Legend and HTC Desire, and instead, concentrated on the likes of entry-level Android phones like the and . However with coming of the HTC Desire HD (along with the ), the spotlight is back on everyone's favorite Android phone manufacturer, upping the ante that was achieved with the . Why do we say so?

When the Desire was first released, it gained traction for being one of the few with the Android 2.1 OS and an improved HTC Sense UI. The new Desire smartphones will bring more to the lineup. In addition to showcasing unique hardware specifications (for e.g., the Desire HD comes with a 4.3-inch screen and 8-megapixel camera), HTC also unveiled a new and improved Sense UI and a complementary suite of free mobile security services on HTCSense.com. Read on as we give you a detailed breakdown of why the Desire HD might be one to look out for if you are looking to upgrade.

 What Makes the Desire HD?

The Desire HD takes a rather large departure from the original Desire in terms of design, but we aren't complaining. Bearing a closer resemblance to the and taking a leaf out of unibody design, the smartphone sports a less curvy, more rectangular body, and a missing chin but sports the welcomed matte surface that was also found on the Desire. However, the most obvious physical difference, which might be a significant reason for an upgrade, is the Desire HD's humongous 4.3-inch screen - a clear physical upgrade over the Desire's 3.7-inch. Nonetheless, it adheres closely to HTC's emphasis on simplicity as the screen takes up much of the real estate on the front, alongside four touch buttons. Yes, HTC has not only done away with physical buttons this time, but has also removed the optical trackball.

With regards to its input ports, the Desire HD sports the usual suspects, namely the 3.5mm audio jack and a microUSB port. However, instead of placing them separately, the ports have been lumped together at the bottom. On the other hand, turning to its back, we realized that the battery, microSD and SIM cards have been separated. Unlike the Desire, the back cannot be peeled or pried off entirely; instead, the Desire HD sports two separate compartments, one for the battery, and the other for the important cards. While the cards are easily accessible as you are only required to slide the cover down, getting to the battery is a tricky affair as you have to pry it open for access. Fitting it back is an equally annoying affair, given that the cap is a tad small and flimsy. However, the upside is that you won't require to access the battery most of the time as it's not a shared compartment.

More Sense in HD

So, what's in it for the Desire HD? As mentioned earlier, an updated HTC Sense UI as well as the HTCSense.com. The HTC Sense UI remains relatively similar to the one found in the Desire, with a couple of notable changes that makes it easier to customize your phone or to get from one place to another. 

HTCSense.com

The more major add-on would be the HTCSense.com. For those who have no clue what the HTCSense.com is about, it is a suite of free complementary smartphone services that syncs and backups your data onto a server while providing mobile security and details on a misplaced or lost phone - and in a worst case scenario when it cannot be found, you can remotely lock or wipe the phone from HTCSense.com. Right now, these services are exclusive to both HTC Desire HD and Z, with no official word on its compatibility with older phones like Desire or Legend.

This is easy to set-up; on switching on the HTC Desire HD for the first time, you will be prompted to set up an account on HTCSense.com with your email account and mobile phone number. We encountered minor troubleshooting and had problems connecting to the server, so we would suggest that you head down to the website instead to sign up if the problem persists. After setting up the account and syncing it with your phone (you can further configure it under settings > accounts & sync), you can now fully make use of the new services at HTCSense.com. These can be accessed mostly though the website and partially through the HTC Hub and HTC Likes apps that are available on your phone. 

Facing the HD

Those anxiously waiting to upgrade to the new Desire HD will be glad to know that there are some improvements over the Android smartphones of the 'older generation'. Of course, for contextual reasons, we will be comparing it closely to the Desire. The Desire HD is powered by a newer Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8255 1GHz processor, which, according to HTC, allows the phone to start up in less than ten seconds (we did not time it ourselves, but it was extremely snappy). The Desire HD gets a rather significant bump in its RAM capacity to 768MB, up from the Desire's 576MB. The Desire itself was speedy enough with no slow down in performance during multitasking, and likewise, we found that the additional RAM capacity made the experience on the Desire HD a similar one. We experienced no lags in interface transition and Internet surfing is blazingly fast. Another major improvement is that the Desire HD comes pumped with much more internal storage space - a hefty 1.5GB compared to Desire's 576MB. The HTC Android phones have generally been limited by their miniscule storage capacity and while Froyo 2.2 allows apps to be saved in the SD cards (but the bad news is not many apps have been developed to do so), the generous space allowed on the Desire HD means less restriction and more freedom for users to download and install apps. This is made even more relevant with the recent introduction of paid apps in the Android Market in Singapore. 

While there has been no significant improvements in text messaging, typing on the Desire HD's larger screen is definitely less error-prone compared to its smaller counterparts. The virtual keyboard looks almost the same, save for an additional strip of directional arrow keys, presumably added to fill in the role of a now missing optical trackball. 

So how does the huge 4.3-inch screen perform? Sure, we liked that it was much easier for us to view text and videos. Running a video yielded smooth and clear playback. The smartphone also comes with DLNA connectivity, allowing users to pair up with DLNA-ready devices.

The only lament that we had was that its S-LCD screen pales in comparison with the Desire's AMOLED screen, producing rather washed out and bland colors. With both phones side-by-side, the color disparity is obvious, with the Desire's rich color output more pleasant to look at. The trade-off is small for those upgrading from phones without AMOLED screens, but the same cannot be said for those upgrading from the Desire, or Legend. Audio has been improved with the options to enhance your sound experience with Dolby Mobile, SRS enhancement and the option to choose from a large selection of equalizer modes. 

The HTC devices have been well-known for underperforming in the camera department, which explains our apprehension despite its impressive-sounding specs. The Desire HD has been pumped with an impressive 8-megapixel camera, and dual flash capabilities, a class above the usual 5-megapixel cameras that appear on current high-end smartphones. 

As per usual, we put the Desire HD to a series of resolution and color chart tests, with a mock display image shot to test its actual performance. Results for the resolution chart show up to 900 for vertical LPH  and 1000 for horizontal LPH. Colors are slightly saturated but turned out pretty well. The overall performance is still average given the lack of sharpness, and discoloration for our test shot.

Last but not least, we compare the HTC Desire HD's battery performance with a selected group of devices chosen based on their similarities across operating systems, battery capacities, display sizes, resolution and processing power. This standard battery test consists of looping a 240 x 320 pixels resolution video clip at 100% volume and screen brightness, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth active with push email or data being pulled at regular intervals. For the Desire HD, we compared it against similar Android devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S, HTC Desire and Nexus One. Results after the specs comparison list below:-

Overall, the Desire HD fared rather poorly in terms of battery life, trailing behind the rest of its competitors - naturally, having the biggest screen size at 4.3-inches, the phone uses the most power compared to the rest. With that said, the other phones come with smaller AMOLED screens that use less power than a LCD display. For the Portability Index where we factor in the battery life which is then divided by the product of a device's weight and volume, we see that the HTC Desire HD scored the lowest. The newcomer's large dimensions and heavy weight of 164g were both disadvantageous for it in this comparison. Of course, we expect this to be typical of larger devices.

In addition to these strict tests and comparisons, we've also used the Desire HD as our main phone to test out how its battery would fare on an average day-to-day usage scenario. This included 3G connectivity while partaking in heavy mobile usage throughout the day (e.g. occasional browsing on the web, internet messaging, and taking photos). On a single charge, the phone managed to last us less than a day which is bad unless you are planning to head home straight after work. Perhaps having an extra charger at work would help.

So to HD or not to HD?

There's plenty to like about the HTC Desire as it sports some cool features that aren't available on the previous Android models like the HTC Desire, HTC Legend or Nexus One: namely, a large 4.3-inch screen, DLNA support, large storage space of 1.5GB and better camera output. With the well functioning and updated HTC Sense and a complimentary suite of web services, the HTC Desire HD looks set to be a rather worthy upgrade option.

However, if you don't mind a phone that comes without the HTC Sense UI and HTCSense.com, there are phones, like the Samsung Galaxy S, which might be a better choice over the HTC Desire HD. Why so? The HTC Desire HD might be an impressive phone, but there are certain aspects where we weren't too pleased about. The HTC Desire HD comes with an S-LCD screen that pales in comparison to the former's SUPER AMOLED screen. The HTC Desire HD is a hefty and heavy phone that might not be everyone's liking. These aspects also affect its battery life, and thus it's certainly not the best among the other contenders. Not to mention, the Android OS now has new competition with the Windows Phone 7, so if you already have an earlier-gen Android phone like the HTC Desire, you might want to hold on and give the other options a try first. However, for those new to the Android OS, the HTC Desire HD is definitely a good phone to start off with, especially if one's aware of the ups and downs of having a phone with a large screen.

Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.