Picture
The Desire was 1 of the 3 most recent phones launched by HTC ahead of their upcoming launch of the mammoth EVO 4G to be released June 4th. However the Desire is better compared to the Nexus One aka 'The Google Phone'. The Nexus One is renowned as one of the best android phones and the Desire manages to be even better...

Hardware


At first glance you'd think the Desire was practically identical to the Nexus One but there are some differences. Both phones feature the lightning fast 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 3.7 inch 800x480 AMOLED display, 5mp camera and 512mb of internal storage. Both phones also have the Android 2.1 operating system but the Nexus One is already upgrading which I will talk about later. However, the phones differ in that the Desire packs 64mb of more RAM (576mb over 512mb) but it lacks the noise cancellation feature of the Nexus One. The Desire also has the physical buttons rather than optical ones, and an optical trackpad over a physical one; both changes that I really welcome on the phone. Call quality was acceptable but at times the Desire sometimes has an issue connecting to wifi. It was simply fixed by just trying again but nevertheless, an annoyance I could do without. I was also disappointed in battery life. I often struggle to get through a day on the Desire which features the same 1400mah battery on the Nexus. The aesthetics of the device are very nice, but be warned the brown metal bezel around the screen appears a shade of purple in bright light! This annoys some people but I don't think it's a deal breaker. The soft touch, suede like feel on the case is really pleasing but would often make my hand sweat a bit. The 5mp camera is a welcome addition but the single LED flash was a bit hit and miss. Below is an image taken with flash disabled. Click to make bigger.
Picture
I was impressed with the camera quality for still images but not so much for video. However, we have been promised an update to unleash 720p recording (don't hold your breath!). Example video below.
Anything else I missed from the hardware...? Oh yes, of course, the screen! The screen measures an impressive 3.7 inches, trumping the iPhone by 0.2 inches and is a beautiful vibrant AMOLED display. Resolution is good at 800 x 480 but the colours don't look as real compared to a normal LCD display. It also proved difficult to read in direct sunlight and practically became a mirror.


Software

Like the Nexus One, The Desire runs on the Android operating system version 2.1 (Eclair). However HTC have put a custom UI over it which they call their 'Sense UI'. This gives the phone a more human feel as well 2 extra home screens and a 'helicopter mode' which is really useful for switching between home screens. Simply pinch the screen and all 7 home screen show up. Then just simply tap the one you're looking for, similar to expose on the mac. The advantages of Sense are also its downfall. With new updates to Android such the recent 2.2 Froyo announcement, Desire owners will have to wait for HTC to first skin the new update which could (and does) take months! Nexus one owners being a phone controlled by Google means they get almost immediate updates. Overall, I'd still pick sense but it's personal preference really. The OS always runs smoothly, even when multitasking a few apps or playing some flash content however the Desire is limited to the Flash Lite and this results in choppy, out of sync video playback which was a disappointment but at least the option is there if you need it in a pinch. As for the Android OS itself, it is a capable operating system and is second only to the iPhone and here's why...APPS! Once the initial 'hardware porn' wears off it really comes down to the software. The majority of applications on the Android marketplace were of a very poor quality when compared to iPhone apps. I think that's down to the big fragmentation problem Android has and the fact there's very little quality control in the Android marketplace approval process. 

NOTE: I've left this crappy review not completed for so long so I'm gonna go ahead and summarise.

This is my favourite android phone in the UK at the moment.
 
 
I feel I should start this post with a brief of explanation of what Flash actually is. Flash is a multimedia platform developed by Adobe (the folks who brought us photoshop). It's core purpose is to allow developers to create content on the web such as advertisements, web video and of course those fun flash games that are such great time killers (and productivity killers). It was widely adopted because of it's ease of use to deliver content to multiple platforms; PC, Mac or Linux.

Picture
Apple have long been criticised for the lack of Flash support on their mobile products; the iPhone, iPod Touch and especially the newly released iPad which was advertised as the "best way to experience the web". This claim left many of us puzzled as 75% of web video is Flash based and unable to be viewed on the device. So why has Apple refused to support this plugin and what does it mean for us, the consumer?

Picture
 Owners of a mobile Apple product will be familiar with the little blue box of doom pictured above. Otherwise know as the missing plugin icon, it is what we see when we try and view Flash content. Apple have recently published an open letter about Flash written by no other than Steve Jobs himself. In this post I will give you an overview of each reason and a brief opinion from me.
 
Samsung C9000 01/15/2010
 
I thought I'd kick this section of the site off with one of the coolest products that came from the consumer electronic show (CES) 2010; the Samsung C9000.

Picture
This is a massive LED TV coming in 46 or 55 inch models, with a brushed Aluminium casing that is just a few millimetres thick. It also supports 3D images which seems to be the future of home entertainment.
Picture
But perhaps the coolest thing about this TV is its remote. It isn't a normal remote, it's a 3-inch LCD touch screen device which means you can be watching two things at once. You could be watching a movie on the TV whilst checking sports results on the remote or change the channel during the commercial break and see when the show is about to come back on right from the remote!
Picture
No prices announced yet but it obviously won't be cheap!