HTC Desire Z review

Software upgrades are also part of the package, with HTC’s Sense modification for Android continuing to produce genuinely useful tools. The most notable is the addition of Locations. Developed with satnav company TomTom, it gives you a familiar turn-by-turn satnav alternative to Google Maps. Best of all, you can save maps to your SD card, and access them even when you don’t have an internet connection. Another favourite is the inclusion of HTC’s Fast Boot – this works like resume on a desktop PC, and allows the handset to boot from being powered down in just 2-3 seconds.

As you’ll be using the screen sideways a lot, HTC have modified Android 2.2 so that the home screens work in this orientation. Widgets and icons have to be resized and repositioned to make this work, but we saw no problems with how this is dealt with. The screen itself still measures 3.7in and has the same 480×800 resolution. It looks brilliant in either orientation, with bright and vibrant colours.

The battery has reduced in size marginally, from 1400mAh to 1300mAh. However, this is balanced out by the slower processor, with a battery score in our continuous light usage test of almost 27 hours. It’s not bad, but the 1GHz Samsung Galaxy S is capable of going for almost 30 hours. While we’re making comparisons, we also think the Galaxy S produced sharper photos and videos than the Desire Z. Photos in particular looked noisy and lacked detail, with colours looking washed out and a marked lack of contrast.

The Desire Z is worthy of the name, it’s a lovely piece of portable kit and those looking for an Android handset with a proper keyboard should buy it without hesitation. However, we feel that the Samsung Galaxy S outperforms it in so many key areas – processor speed, screen brightness, picture quality and battery life – that we can’t recommend this handset to everyone – and especially not to those who like to take snaps with their phone.