HTC Desire HD review: Most wanted

Introduction

Proceed with caution, big Snapdroids ahead. We guess that sign is due wherever someone mentions Desire HD. It’s big and bad and it takes no prisoners. HTC certainly took their time with releasing a bad-ass Android handset on our side of the pond but their timing is perfect now. We’re about to enter the holiday shopping spree and HTC Desire HD is in for the kill.

HTC Desire HD official photos

Powered by the latest Android 2.2 Froyo hand in hand with the latest HTC Sense, the HTC Desire HD is what the HD2 was to HTC Windows Mobile portfolio. With an 8-megapixel camera and HD video it may as well unsettle quite a few of the top smartphones out there. The innovative fast boot, the complete connectivity set and solid multimedia capabilities round off a great package. HTC might just have a natural bestseller on their hands.

You might want to have a closer look:

Key features:

• Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support
• 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 4.3" 16M-color capacitive LCD touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
• Android OS v2.2 Froyo with HTC Sense UI
• Unibody design
• Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8255 1 GHz processor
• 768 MB RAM and 1.5 GB ROM
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geotagging
• 720p video recording @ 25fps
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• microSD slot up to 32GB (8GB card included)
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• Smart dialing, voice dialing
• DivX/XviD video support
• Dolby Mobile and SRS sound enhancement
• HTC Locations app
• HTCSense.com integration
• Ultra-fast boot times (if you don’t remove battery)

Main disadvantages:

• LCD isn’t quite as impressive as Retina or Super AMOLED (lower contrast, more reflective)
• No dedicated camera key and no lens cover
• No front facing camera
• Quite heavy at 164 g (not that we mind)
• The two lids at the rear have questionable aesthetics and usability
• Disappointing audio reproduction quality

But there’s more to it. The HTC Desire HD is a mongrel. It doesn’t even warrant a name of its own. Desire is cheesy and HD is worn-out. And they both are OLD phones’ names. Alright, don’t take it literally. It’s not as simple as saying HTC got themselves a brand new phone out of two older ones. The HTC Desire HD goes beyond the massive screen and powerful hardware that we’ve already seen elsewhere.

HTC Desire HD live shots

But whatever the name – bad Snapdroids get all the attention. And we have one at our hands and no time to lose. Unboxing and hardware follow right after the jump.