As saw as we saw the announcement of the HTC Evo roll out in the US, we knew we wanted our big Android handset on this side of the pond. The HTC Desire HD however owes more to the HD2 - the seminal Windows Phone from HTC - both in terms of looks and specification. Fortunately Pocket-lint was at the global launch of the HTC Desire HD in London to bring you first impressions of the new superphone.
You get the same, lush, premium unibody design that came along with the Desire and theLegend, although it isn't seamless like those models, but this makes it look industrial. The build quality is excellent, as we've become accustomed to with HTC.
With a phone this big you'll want to know the measurements. It sits pretty at 123 x 68 x 11.8mm which, despite the 4.3-inch screen, isn't all that big, but noticeably wide. It will slip into your pocket fairly easily, but for some it might be a little large. It is larger all over that the Samsung Galaxy S, which we see as a natural rival, and the metal construction adds to a premium feel as well as the weight: the Desire HD weighs 164g, the Galaxy S just 118g, with its plastic body.
With a phone like the Desire HD, it is only fair to start with the display. It might strike some as odd that HTC hasn't changed the screen resolution on the Desire HD – it is no more HD in that sense than the Desire, the Legend or the Desire Z. It is an 800 x 480 pixel resolution display and whilst it looks good, you know that the iPhone crowd will be waving their high-res devices in your face.
That might not matter in real terms, as the size of the HTC Desire HD makes it a great device for browsing the Internet or watching movies on your travels, but it isn't as adept at rendering fine text as the iPhone is. We also examined the Desire HD with its Super LCD next to the Samsung Galaxy S and the Super AMOLED display: the Samsung device offers more punch, with deeper blacks and more vibrant colours. But this is just a first impression, and shouldn't be taken as a final damning judgement - the Desire HD does look fantastic in its own right.
The device may be capable of displaying "books" but the small size means it's something of a stopgap. You're not going to put it to any serious reading, but a bit here and there on the train might just work. We'd still pick an ebook reader for dedicated reading - and save the smartphone for more dynamic pastimes.
Another new feature of HTC Sense is the ability to block callers. If you are being plagued by a particularly annoying salesman, you can simply block their calls. We've had a look at some of the other new HTC Sense features over in our HTC Desire Z First Look, and as both devices run the same operating system, it is well worth taking a look at that too for comparison.
