The one thing you'll never see on a stock Nexus One is a skinned interface like Sense or TouchWiz -- they're just not Google enough for a phone commissioned and sold directly by Mountain View. Thing is, Sense on Android has plenty of fans, and the mere thought of running it on something with as much oomph as a 1GHz Snapdragon brings tears to our eyes. The solution? The Desire, of course, featuring virtually all of the original Nexus One's mojo with a little less direct Google support, a little more Sense, and a trackpad in place of the old trackball. The 3.7-inch AMOLED display carries over, but things get interesting on the software side: not only do you get HTC's freshly-updated Sense with Friend Stream, you also get Flash 10.1 compatibility, which means you need every clock cycle of that 1GHz more than you ever thought you would. Unfortunately, North Americans, you're getting screwed on this one for the time being -- HTC is only announcing that it'll be "broadly available" throughout Europe and Asia in the early part of the second quarter, while it'll come to Australia via Telstra. Supersonic, care to save us?
Update: Promo video is now after the break (thanks, O'Neill!), and our hands-on with the device at MWC can be found here.
I'm sorry... this is better than Nexus, how? It's more of a matter of preference... I'd rather have the trackball instead of the touchpad... it's great for text selection or web surfing or gaming...
Nexus fits just snugly in most of my small pockets... so going from 3.5 to 3.7 inch screen may make it a bit more cumbersome for some of my pants... So if you got big pockets, I'd say go for 3.7 screen, but there are other factors involved as well.
Nexus is straight from google... it'll always get the newest updates faster than other phones... How many phones out there have Android 2.1 right now? Nexus has been out for a month already but there's only one phone out of at least a dozen with 2.1... and it's already been updated once. :-D
Plus I don't care for Sense UI. I'm going to get the TAT Cascade UI as soon as it's out for my nexus. :D I'm using the Slidescreen pro UI right now and it's pretty slick!
Every company whishing to release their phones on the american market has to bend to "1/2 of pi" for the pleasure of some US carrier. Nokia and Google refused to do it and HTC and some others do it sometimes but only if they have no other choice. With the HD2, the Desire and the legend they do have choices (EU and China mostly) so they are not in a hurry to pay the obscene tribute required by american telcos.
Why couldn't they put the most powerful of the 3 phones in the better aluminum case? HTC, you confuse me. You know what to do, you just never do it to one device
With the HD2 already on the market, and now the Desire already announced for the Australian market, it seems us Aussies are getting quite lucky lately with prompt releases of HTC smartphones (even if they are on our ultra expensive and highly loathed Telstra network).
@Insomnihack Telstra have done well to get some great handsets (Desire is exclusive for 6 months). And you get what you pay for (one of the best mobile networks in the world).
NO 720p recording??? say it aint so? theres no point in getting this phone then, the only benefit this has on the nexus one is Sense UI, nothing else really
Adobe will release flash player for android before you can buy this phone.... me thinks... there's been a video of nexus playing flash games for about a month and a half now before we even heard of htc legend having flash..
@nerdherd Arg...apparently if you type a comment with a bracket in it they assume it's HTML and cut it out...what I said after that last comment was that the whole point of this phone is the Sense UI. It's really nice on Android and makes the interface very nice. I'd buy this phone in a heartbeat over the Nexus One, just to get Sense. I'm sure a lot of other people would feel the same.
Hey, I certainly know that Australia misses out on a lot of handsets that the US takes for granted (Droid/Milestone, Nexus One, HTC Hero (until recently that is). It's just unfortunate that this is being shipped through Telstra...
Very unfortunate. It seems Telstra have negotiated a very good exclusive deal with HTC as I've been checking available handsets from the competition (Optus, Vodafone, Virgin & 3) and none of them are carrying HTC devices better than the Magic (and who wants that piece of crap?). All these new phones support 2100Mhz HSPA (as well as the 850mhz frequency Telstra operates on) so it's not a compatibility issue. Telstra must be getting exclusive rights to them, which as you know sux, given their laughable prices.
Looks like yet another area of telecommunications in Australia Telstra are set to monopolise.
@Insomnihack hopefully without some idiot yank running it they'll bring down the prices like they said they would, but i wouldn't bet on it, hong kong here i come
@jgp I have been waiting for a snapdragon droid. I have my G1 now, and I love android, but the HTC call quality is and always has been sub-par, especially compared to the stellar voice quality of Motorola. If Motorola made a phone with these specs, and a keyboard, i would be instantly sold. ROMs can take care of the interface for me (never really liked the idea of blur)
I completely agree... Engadget didn't show this much excitement when the same exact phone came out almost two months ago... I sense bias...
"The one thing you'll never see on a stock Nexus One is a skinned interface like Sense or TouchWiz"
This may just be the most... useless statement I read on engadget... Is there anyone with a nexus who still kept it stock? I already have two custom UIs... homescreen and slidescreen pro.... waiting on tat cascade and someone to make a winmo 7 like UI and sense like UI.
Why does anyone need 6 different UIs? It's not a matter of necessity, but more a matter of want... desire.... and/or lust. :-D
@hurda How is that possible a problem? HTC does the work of building one platform, then gets to reuse it in many different models, each with subtle tweaks to fit users needs. No, we don't all want exactly the same thing, no matter how many times some companies may try to tell us we do.
For instance I don't give a damn about Sense UI, but that extra noise canceling mic is a must have. I bet many readers around here are the exact opposite. Lucky us, we get to chose.
NO 720p OR dolby OR divx/xvid support of the box i thought this was suppose to be the TOP TIER device that HTC had in its slides in the december leak seriously this is a bummer
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posted February 16th 2010 5:30AM
God Damnit, If only America could get it. I would love a N1 but this is better....
@trealtp
By America, I meant North America
@trealtp
I'm sorry... this is better than Nexus, how? It's more of a matter of preference... I'd rather have the trackball instead of the touchpad... it's great for text selection or web surfing or gaming...
Nexus fits just snugly in most of my small pockets... so going from 3.5 to 3.7 inch screen may make it a bit more cumbersome for some of my pants... So if you got big pockets, I'd say go for 3.7 screen, but there are other factors involved as well.
Nexus is straight from google... it'll always get the newest updates faster than other phones... How many phones out there have Android 2.1 right now? Nexus has been out for a month already but there's only one phone out of at least a dozen with 2.1... and it's already been updated once. :-D
Plus I don't care for Sense UI. I'm going to get the TAT Cascade UI as soon as it's out for my nexus. :D I'm using the Slidescreen pro UI right now and it's pretty slick!
@nubbily Both phones have the same size screen - 3.7"
@trealtp
Every company whishing to release their phones on the american market has to bend to "1/2 of pi" for the pleasure of some US carrier.
Nokia and Google refused to do it and HTC and some others do it sometimes but only if they have no other choice.
With the HD2, the Desire and the legend they do have choices (EU and China mostly) so they are not in a hurry to pay the obscene tribute required by american telcos.
@bucwylde23
I'm sorry I got the size confused with iphone. I smoked too much hash....
@Plexus
Holy crap Plexus....................................................
I think you just described why iphone dominates US market whereas nokia dominates the worldwide smartphone market...
You should write a thesis paper on this... or I will!!!
@nubbily
Engadget readers buy pants to fit their phones, not the other way around!
"Supersonic, care to save us?"
my pleasure :D
@nubbily They both have 3.7 inch screens.... You should know everything about your phone if your gonna say its better than another also.
On topic, Sick phone
Wow. I'm impressed - and that's saying a lot. If this came out in N. America, I'd be all over it like white on rice.
Damn you, HTC and your obscene North American delays!!!
Why couldn't they put the most powerful of the 3 phones in the better aluminum case? HTC, you confuse me. You know what to do, you just never do it to one device
With the HD2 already on the market, and now the Desire already announced for the Australian market, it seems us Aussies are getting quite lucky lately with prompt releases of HTC smartphones (even if they are on our ultra expensive and highly loathed Telstra network).
@Insomnihack Telstra have done well to get some great handsets (Desire is exclusive for 6 months). And you get what you pay for (one of the best mobile networks in the world).
"it'll be "broadly available" throughout Europe and Asia"
Oh great. US is not getting the Legend nor the Desire. It's like HTC is not even trying.
@pika2000
Umm... why not just get a nexus? it's almost the same phone and you could've been playing with it a month ago like I have... :-D
Android is android... it'll have better UIs than sense. :-D
NO 720p recording???
say it aint so?
theres no point in getting this phone then, the only benefit this has on the nexus one is Sense UI, nothing else really
@hamzax7x And Adobe Flash bro..
@joshl
He ain't your bro, buddy!
@joshl
Adobe will release flash player for android before you can buy this phone.... me thinks... there's been a video of nexus playing flash games for about a month and a half now before we even heard of htc legend having flash..
@hamzax7x "the only benefit this has on the nexus one is Sense UI"
@nerdherd Arg...apparently if you type a comment with a bracket in it they assume it's HTML and cut it out...what I said after that last comment was that the whole point of this phone is the Sense UI. It's really nice on Android and makes the interface very nice. I'd buy this phone in a heartbeat over the Nexus One, just to get Sense. I'm sure a lot of other people would feel the same.
@Jack Bauer and he ain't your buddy, friend!
@ravissimo and he ain't your friend, son!
@ravissimo
and he ain't your friend, Pal!
@c0urtn3y
fail
@Jack Bauer
And I'm sure he ain't your buddy, mate.
@hamzax7x If you really want Sense UI, you can put the rom on your Nexus One. I have been trying out at MoDaCo. Here is the link Nexus One Desire rom
@Droider oops here it is http://android.modaco.com/content/google-nexus-one-nexusone-modaco-com/303009/24-feb-alpha-10-modaco-custom-rom-with-htc-sense-desire-rom-now-with-online-kitchen/
Hey, I certainly know that Australia misses out on a lot of handsets that the US takes for granted (Droid/Milestone, Nexus One, HTC Hero (until recently that is). It's just unfortunate that this is being shipped through Telstra...
@Benedict
Very unfortunate. It seems Telstra have negotiated a very good exclusive deal with HTC as I've been checking available handsets from the competition (Optus, Vodafone, Virgin & 3) and none of them are carrying HTC devices better than the Magic (and who wants that piece of crap?). All these new phones support 2100Mhz HSPA (as well as the 850mhz frequency Telstra operates on) so it's not a compatibility issue. Telstra must be getting exclusive rights to them, which as you know sux, given their laughable prices.
Looks like yet another area of telecommunications in Australia Telstra are set to monopolise.
@Insomnihack hopefully without some idiot yank running it they'll bring down the prices like they said they would, but i wouldn't bet on it, hong kong here i come
i like living in the UK
@oawalker me also, shame I imported the NOB (Nexus One Beta)
@oawalker
Which providers will this be on?
@misnomer what beta?
@Tes
Tmobile and Orange in UK.
@dansus and vodafone
Telstra? Looks like i'll be importing one from Hong Kong then!
Not interested.
No keyboard, no sale.
@jgp
I agree. Wheres the keyboard love htc?
@jgp I have been waiting for a snapdragon droid. I have my G1 now, and I love android, but the HTC call quality is and always has been sub-par, especially compared to the stellar voice quality of Motorola. If Motorola made a phone with these specs, and a keyboard, i would be instantly sold. ROMs can take care of the interface for me (never really liked the idea of blur)
This phone is nice. So it has Sense and Flash. And Sense will eventually be flashed to the Nexus. Flash is coming to the Nexus also.
So main difference is the hardbuttons and optical scroll ball?
Eh.
@NeonMonster
I completely agree... Engadget didn't show this much excitement when the same exact phone came out almost two months ago... I sense bias...
"The one thing you'll never see on a stock Nexus One is a skinned interface like Sense or TouchWiz"
This may just be the most... useless statement I read on engadget... Is there anyone with a nexus who still kept it stock? I already have two custom UIs... homescreen and slidescreen pro.... waiting on tat cascade and someone to make a winmo 7 like UI and sense like UI.
Why does anyone need 6 different UIs? It's not a matter of necessity, but more a matter of want... desire.... and/or lust. :-D
Is HTC falling prey to the Nokia-illness? Too many models with next to no differences.
@hurda Illness?
Look around Engadget, every time there's a new phone, someone says "It's almost perfect, if it only had x"
Nokia makes a shitton of models, so your chances of finding one that fits you goes up.
@hurda How is that possible a problem? HTC does the work of building one platform, then gets to reuse it in many different models, each with subtle tweaks to fit users needs. No, we don't all want exactly the same thing, no matter how many times some companies may try to tell us we do.
For instance I don't give a damn about Sense UI, but that extra noise canceling mic is a must have. I bet many readers around here are the exact opposite. Lucky us, we get to chose.
NO 720p OR dolby OR divx/xvid support of the box
i thought this was suppose to be the TOP TIER device that HTC had in its slides in the december leak
seriously this is a bummer
@hamzax7x How do you know it has no 720P???
I'm thinking this is going to be the upgrade to my Hero in a few months.