The Desire is HTC's latest Android offering, which they themselves have modestly dubbed a "SuperPhone" rather than a regular "SmartPhone", and even after only a few hours with the device I have to say it is worthy of the title.
Running the latest version of the Android operating system (version 2.1, or "Eclair"), the Desire packs a number of new features over older HTC Android models including an updated Exchange email client, support for Bluetooth file transfer, support for VPN connections, Version 3.1 of the WebKit browser as well as HTC's new "Friend Stream" social networking client. I will look at all of these features in more detail.

HTC's own marketing blurb summarises the key features of the Desire as follows:

Highlights

• Enjoy a vivid visual experience on the large 3.7 inch AMOLED display
• Surf the web in style with pinch to zoom controls and Adobe flash support that opens up the vast world of video and games of the Internet
• Experience super-fast response when jumping between applications, enjoying multimedia or playing games with the 1GHz Snapdragon processor
• Keep in tune with all your friends across multiple social networks with all of their updates, shared photos, links and tweets in a single, easy to view flow with Friend Stream.
• Tap into an online library of content-rich widgets that help you personalise your phone experience.

Specifications

• Model - A8181
• CPU Speed - 1GHz
• Platform - Android 2.1 (Eclair) with HTC Sense
• Memory - 512 MB ROM and 576 MB RAM
• Size and Weight - 119 x 60 x 11.9mm, 135 grams
• Display - 3.7-inch AMOLED touch-sensitive screen
• Network
  • HSPA/WCDMA (900/2100 MHz)
  • GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• GPS - Internal GPS antenna
• Connectivity
  • Bluetooth 2.1, A2DP, FTP, OPP and PBAP
  • WiFi IEEE 802.11b/g
  • 3.5mm stereo audio jack
  • Standard Micro-USB
• Camera - 5 megapixel colour camera with auto focus and flash
• Expansion Slot - microSD card

More detailed specifications can be found on the HTC web site - http://www.htc.com/uk/product/desire/specification.html

But what is the phone really like to use?

Setting up the phone initially was characteristically simple of the Android platform - the unit correctly detected what mobile network I was on from my SIM card and automatically configured the appropriate 3G connection settings to use without any further interaction. I was prompted to set up my WiFi, Email and Social Networking accounts (Facebook, Twitter and Flickr) and then I was in.

Home Screen

Like the Hero and the Tattoo before it, the Desire offers 7 home screens, all of which can be accessed simply by sliding your finger to the left or right, and all of which can be customised to your preference to contain shortcuts to applications, or any of the wide range of HTC "Widgets" to conveniently and quickly provide access to email, text and picture messages as well as updates to "Friend Stream", not to mention weather updates, stock reports, RSS feeds and more.

Similar to "Expose" on Mac OS X, all home screens can be viewed at a glance by 'pinching' whichever home screen you're on, enabling you to jump to the screen you want.

On the subject of the screen itself, at 480 x 800 pixels (WVGA), the 3.7-inch AMOLED screen looks superb both inside and outdoors (although to prolong the battery life you may consider adjusting the brightness manually). Combined with the metal navigation buttons and metal optical navigation key, the overall build quality of the Desire is of a very high standard and the device feels robust in the hand without being overly heavy or chunky. The lack of the Android 'chin' is also a welcome omission for me personally.

Applications

The complete list of application menu items on the Desire is as follows:

• Calculator
• Calendar
• Call History
• Camcorder
• Camera
• Clock
• Desk Clock
• Facebook
• FM Radio
• Footprints
• Friend Stream
• Google Mail
• Internet
• Learn More
• Mail
• Maps
• Market
• Messages
• Music
• News
• PDF Viewer
• Peep
• People
• Phone
• Photos
• Quickoffice
• Search People
• Settings
• Setup
• SIM Toolkit
• Stocks
• Google Talk
• Teeter
• Voice Recorder
• Weather
• You Tube

But naturally a whole universe of applications is at your fingertips within the Android Market! For a selection of some of the applications I have used and enjoyed in the past visit the Android section of the blog.
If you're new to Android and the Android Market and are unsure how applications can be installed, this article is a good starting point - http://blog.brightpointuk.co.uk/what-applications-will-you-install-your-...

Some applications you might want to look at include Dropbox, Shazam, GDocs, DataViz Documents To Go and Layar

Email

The Desire can host an unlimited number of email accounts - provided that they're POP or IMAP-based. Only one Microsoft Exchange email account can be configured on the Desire, but HTC's Exchange ActiveSync client is updated on the Desire providing the ability to set and edit out of office status and message and specify mail delivery peak and off-peak delivery schedules, as well as providing support for remote device wipe from the Exchange server and the ability to enforce password usage via ActiveSync mailbox policy.

The Desire also has a separate Google Mail client for use with a GMail service.

Setting up an Exchange email account is relatively painless provided that you know the settings to enter: the Desire can attempt to determine the settings to use automatically but this requires that the AutoDiscovery service is configured correctly on the Exchange Server by the administrator. Exchange 2003 SP2 or later is supported (older versions of Exchange can still be accessed via POP or IMAP).

When launching the Mail application for the first time, you will be prompted to select what type of email account you want to configure:

Selecting Exchange will allow you to enter your email address and password for automatic detection, or you can tap on Manual Setup to enter the required information by hand:

As with all Exchange ActiveSync clients, you will need to know the address of the Exchange server to use, your username, password and domain.

The Exchange Server address will be the same address used to access WebMail (Outlook Web Access), if this feature is available in your company, normally in the form 'mail.company.com'
The username will be in the same form used to log into your Windows PC, and the domain will also be the same used to access your Windows PC (normally the contents of the third field when logging in, below the password field).
Specify whether your mail server uses SSL (one way to tell is whether your WebMail address has 'https' at the beginning rather than just 'http').

Once all of the fields have been completed, the wizard will then attempt to authenticate against the Exchange server. Provided that all has gone well, you will be prompted to select which mailbox folders you want to synchronise - note that the HTC Exchange client DOES support Exchange calendar synchronisation:

Your mailbox data will then be synchronised to the device automatically (by default the last 3 days' worth of email will be synced, which can be adjusted).
All mailbox folders can be accessed:

And your OOF status can be set:

Mail and Event notification settings can be configured, and mail delivery schedules and times can also be set - this is a new feature to the Desire: previous Android models allowed you to define a mail delivery delivery (ie 'as items arrive', every 15 minutes, etc) but that setting was either on or off; it was not possible to say 'as items arrive' BETWEEN 9am and 6pm Monday to Friday - now you can.

Calendar entries will be synced (if this option was selected) and can then be added to the Home Screen as a Widget for quick 'at a glance' access:

Contacts will be synced to the device (again if this option was selected), and contacts can be searched in the company Global Address List:

Camera

The Desire features a 5 Megapixel auto focus camera with flash. There is no dedicated shutter button on the device, rather the auto focus is operated by touching the optical navigation key once lightly, then again to take the picture. Alternatively there is also an on-screen button to take the picture.
A number of image processing effects are available:

Images can be quickly and easily shared with others, either by uploading them to Facebook or Flickr, via Email or now via Bluetooth.

Web Browser

The Browser works well, rendering the blog faithfully and providing support for JavaScript and Flash plugins:

Pop-up windows can be blocked, web sites offering a 'mobile view' can be viewed in either mobile or full versions, and links can be shared quickly and easily via email, facebook, twitter, or SMS text message.
Multiple web pages can be opened simultaneously and jumped between using the Windows feature.

Productivity

The Desire comes bundled with QuickOffice, a Microsoft Office document viewer supporting Word, Excel and PowerPoint formats. To edit and create documents a separate application will need to be purchased, such as DataViz's Documents To Go application.
A PDF viewer is also included as standard.
The Desire can be synchronised with Microsoft Outlook on the desktop (if you're not using an Exchange email account) as with the Hero and Tattoo before it (http://blog.brightpointuk.co.uk/synchronise-htc-hero-microsoft-outlook).
Using a free utility such as Dropbox or GDocs you can keep your device synchronised with your online documents quickly and easily so you need never be without that crucial presentation ever again.

Other Stuff

The Desire also ships with HTC's own Music Player application which provides playlist and shuffle functionality as you'd expect as well as the ability to set tracks as your ringtone at the touch of a button:

With its built-in GPS antenna, the Desire can be sued with the excellent Google Maps software providing satellite navigation (with voice assistance) in a variety of views:

Tethering

The Desire can be used as a USB modem with both Windows and Mac platforms (ie it can be "tethered" as its sometimes referred to). Windows "Internet Sharing" is built in, for Mac users a third party application will need to be downloaded, free:

Windows instructions
Mac instructions

Summary

This has only been a cursory examination of the Desire - I've only had it for a couple of hours! I'll be sure to post new features as I discover (and swoon) over them. On a personal note I've always maintained that I'm not the best person to review Android devices - huge a geek as I am I prefer working from a laptop and consider my phone a tool rather than a toy. But I must admit that even after an hour I do like the Desire: with its enhanced Exchange email capabilities, fast processor, impressive screen resolution, 'one-click' system-wide integration with online services and the sheer wealth of applications available in the Android Market (over 70% of which are free, even if they do come with adverts) I think it could strike the "life / work" balance just right.....ask me gain in a week if I'm still using it....I strongly suspect I will be!

Do let us know what applications you'll be installing on your new HTC Desire!

Addendum

I have previously asked the question Is Android ready for the Enterprise. The updated Exchange ActiveSync client on the HTC Desire should satisfy IT admins' requirement that devices have the ability to be remotely 'killed' directly from the Exchange server, and the announcement that leading device management solution providers are now offering Android as part of their supported client range means that the Android platform is rapidly 'growing up'. Watch this space for more information or use the Contact Form to discuss specific requirements.