My introduction to the Android platform came through the original HTC Desire. One of my bosses walked up to me knowing my love for phones and showed me his brand spanking new piece of kit, complete with scrolling widgets and all shiny and new. My search for a new phone was over. I left work that day, headed to the nearest phone store and ordered my own HTC Desire.
Fast forward a couple of years and the Desire is no longer the flagship device in HTC’s range and there are now a few different versions to choose from.
So here, courtesy of HTC we have a review of the newly released HTC Desire X.
Hardware
The HTC Desire X is firmly a mid range handset with a specification set as follows:
- 1GHz Dual-Core Qualcomm MSM8225 Snapdragon processor
- 768mb ram
- 4” 800 x 480 (WVGA) Super LCD Display
- Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
- 4GB Onboard Storage
- MicroSD slot (accepts up to 32gb cards)
- GPS / Wi-Fi / Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity
- Stereo sound with Beats Audio
- 5MP Rear Camera
- 1650mAh battery
Right, now that’s out of the way, how does it look?
In my opinion the Desire range has always looked the part. The original desire was hewn from a block of aluminium and whilst the Desire X isn’t quite the same, it is still a desirable (see what I did there!) handset to look at. It feels solid to hold and isn’t the slightest bit creaky or plasticky. The case feels almost rubbery and is most certainly will not slip out of your hand.
The front has a slightly raised screen and the 3 ice cream sandwich buttons (back, home and recent apps), the HTC logo at the top along with a barely discernable speaker. The mic is tucked away nicely on the bottom. On the right is the volume up/down rocker whilst on the left is the usb port.
The on/off switch is located on the top of the device in the middle, a somewhat strange location however it soon becomes natural to use. Also located along the top is the 3.5mm headphone jack. On the back is the HTC logo, the Beats Audio logo and the all important camera complete with LED flash. The bundled earphones are standard HTC fare and not the beats version, the sound produced is adequate but as with most handsets an upgrade would be recommended. The 4gb of on-board storage is the norm for a mid-range handset however a memory card is a must if you are going to be watching movies or have any quantity of music stored.
Software
The Desire X ships with the love it or hate it HTC Sense version 4.1. The one thing that Sense offers is a plethora of visually excellent widgets from the clock widget to the weather and calendar widgets. The lockscreen provides 4 changeable short-cuts thus enabling you to unlock the handset directly into the app you require. The launcher has 4 customisable icons that are set to a default Phone, e-mail, sms and browser. The standard Google options are included being Gmail, Google +, Maps, Play Movies and Play Books. The one disappointment for me is that HTC have not included Google Music but instead included the excellent 7 Digital and Soundhound as well as their own custom music player. In general operation the phone feels slick and smooth with little to no lag when firing up applications or in general use.
Camera
As previously mentioned the camera is a middle of the road 5 mega pixel offering however it is one of the stand-out features of the Desire X. Press to enter the camera app and almost instantly you are able to take a picture. There are plenty of customisation options to choose from including Panorama mode, portrait mode, group portrait, landscape mode, whiteboard and the standard macro modes. Low light mode is certainly worth a mention for its quality and the overall picture quality is rather good, especially for a mid-range handset. I have included a selection of shots at the bottom to demonstrate the quality produced.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the HTC Desire X is actually a rather good handset. There are two main selling points, one being the excellent sound quality produced by the Beats Audio and the other being the camera quality. The Desire X is an attractive handset that flies through whichever task it is given and is complimented by the good quality screen. HTC confirmed at IFA this year the the Desire X will be getting an upgrade to Android 4.1 Jellybean very soon which combined with a sim only price of between £228 and £240 means that this an attractive prospect for anyone looking for a mid-range device with high end performance.
Thanks once again go to HTC for the providing the review handset.
The HTC Desire X is now available Sim free from Clove and Expansys.
Hmm, a rather short ‘review’. For example how long lasts the battery?