HTC Desire Z review: Desires A-to-Z

Introduction

A few months ago, the original Desire was teaching younger Droids the ropes. Though it's no time to retire just yet, the next generation is ready to take over. And we're talking no rookie here - the new Desire Z means business with a great QWERTY keyboard and Froyo. The two phones don't even look distantly related but the Desire genes and the bumped up specs bode well for the droid messenger.

HTC Desire Z official photos

Androids are friendly creatures in general but you might want to be careful with a metal-clad QWERTY messenger. We've come to expect solid build quality and premium finish from HTC and the Desire Z is ready to deliver. Another thing to watch for is new S-LCD screen. Froyo is a promise for a major performance boost and the latest Sense is also in the mix.

Key features:

• Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support
• 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 3.7" 16M-color capacitive S-LCD touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480x 800 pixel)
• Android OS v2.2 Froyo with HTC Sense UI
• Comfortable 4-row QWERTY keyboard
• 800 MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM7230 processor
• 512 MB RAM and 1.5 GB ROM
• 5 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
• Optical trackpad with confirm action
• Quick boot
• Metal finish
• Smart dialing
• DivX/XviD support
• Very good audio reproduction quality

Main disadvantages:

• The S-LCD screen is average (in terms of contrast, reflectiveness and sunlight legibility)
• Non hot-swappable memory card
• No front facing camera
• Loose hinge
• Quite heavy at 180 g

HTC have quite a flair for Android phones. Another thing they're good at is QWERTY messengers. Not that we've seen much proof lately but let's hope it's like riding a bike. If they're good at Android and if they haven't completely lost the messenger knack, a win should be in the bag for the HTC Desire Z.

HTC Desire Z live shots

It's been over a year since we had the pleasure of an HTC QWERTY messenger. You probably remember that the first of the droids came with a QWERTY keyboard. We guess it was only a matter of time for HTC to eventually get back to phones such as the G1, or even the the TyTN and the Touch Pro. Well, it's finally time for the new droid generation to get its own Pro. The HTC Desire Z is reporting for duty.

Looks like we're ready to get to business too. Our tour starts right after the break with unboxing and hardware inspection.