The new HTC Android 2.2 full-QWERTY "SuperPhone" is now available to order from Brightpoint. Featuring support for multiple email accounts, a unified email inbox, DLNA-certification, Adobe Flash 10.1, HTC Sense as well as a free online device tracking and security management system, the Desire Z is literally bursting with functionality, striking the balance between work and fun.

Highlights

• The Best of both worlds. Touch screens are brilliant for surfing the web and watching videos. Keyboards are brilliant for typing. Now you get the best of both wrapped into one phone - the Desire Z with a 3.7-inch screen and Qwerty keyboard.
• Your emails, prioritised. Busy people have busy inboxes, but the Desire Z makes sure nothing slips through the net by prioritising your emails for you. Like your personal PA, it puts all the important emails at the top of your inbox - keeping you on top of business.
• All your email accounts in one inbox. We all have different email accounts - work, home, social - but now you don't have to keep jumping between them. The Desire Z grabs emails from each of your different accounts and puts them all into one inbox. So you can sit back and let the Desire Z do all of the running around.
• Your business partner. When you have to do lots of things at once, you want a phone that can do the same. With its quick processor, the Desire Z lets you access work emails and calendars with Microsoft Exchange, view Microsoft Office documents and research online, all at the same time.
  When used with applications such as Dropbox you can extend your device's storage capabilities and synchronise your important documents and files across all your devices, ensuring that you always have the latest versions of all your stuff. Dataviz Documents To Go provides you with the ability to not only view Office documents, but also create and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.
• A phone that's good for your brain. Of course, the Desire Z brings you whatever you're looking for on the web in seconds. But on top of that, you can add tonnes of apps to make expanding your grey matter quicker and more fun than ever.
  The built-in Quick Lookup tool satisfies your thirst for knowledge by letting you highlight any text you're reading on the Desire Z and search that selection in Wikipedia, Google, YouTube or the dictionary.
  With Google Goggles, if you want to know more about a logo, landmark or word, just take a photo using the Desire Z's on-board camera and Google instantly gives you results based on that image. It's just like Google, only with pictures.
• You don't have to call to talk. Calling and texting are great, but with the Desire Z there are so many other ways to stay in touch. Chat on Google Buzz, Facebook and Twitter. Update your blog wherever you are. Or if you are feeling adventurous, video yourself in HD, upload it to YouTube and send your friends the link.
  Foursquare provides a new way to explore your city, wherever in the world you may be. Using the Desire Z's built-in GPS capability, you can see all the cool recommended locations in your area and even see where your friends have been.
  With HTC Peep, HTC's own Twitter application, you can find out what is happening right now and let the world know what you're up to, no matter where you are.
• Explore you world and beyond. The Desire Z is made for exploration. With built-in GPS and awe-inspiring apps that keep track of everything from the stars in outer space to the route you took to the local park, there's no limit to what you can discover.
  With Google Sky Map your Desire Z becomes a window into outer space. Day or night, simply point it up to see a map of the exact stars, constellations and planets in that part of the sky.
  Wherever you run, cycle, hike or just explore, record the route you took with My Tracks. With live speed, time, distance and elevation statistics, you can see exactly how healthy you've been too.
• Never get lost again. With maps you can download for free, there's no more waiting for sections to load. The Desire Z even turns the map to face the same way you're facing. But if you still can't find your way, the friendly voice in Google Maps Navigation will give you turn-by-turn directions.
  Use the built-in locations widget to find places to eat, things to see and how to get around the area. Leave the guidebooks at home - the Desire Z is your ideal travelling companion.
  Been to a great place and want to remember it for next time? Seen an interesting location while browsing the web and want to visit it soon? Footprints is your answer. You can easily manage your Footprints using either the widget on your phone or htcsense.com
• Keep a cinema in your pocket. With its vivid 3.7-inch screen, the Desire Z makes every day epic. Watch a Hollywood blockbuster on the bus. Premiere your home movies on your lunch break. Because with the Desire Z, wherever you are, you're at the movies.
  With YouTube Player, the word's favourite video site is available at the touch of a button. You'll never be short of something to watch again.
• htcsense.com. HTCSense is the first place to turn if you lose your phone: whether you've misplaced it at home and simply wish to make it ring loudly, or whether you've lost it while out and about and wish to remotely lock the device and display contact information on the screen - all of this is possible directly from your web browser by browsing to htcsense.com
  You can even see where your phone is in real time on a map using the automatic tracking capability of htcsense and your device's GPS feature. In the worst case scenario you can also remotely erase all personal information from the device and restore it to an out-of-the-box state, keeping your data safe from prying eyes.
  Besides providing security for your device itself, HTCSense also provides security for your memories by automatically backing up all of your contacts, text messages and footprints making them accessible online from any web browser.
  With HTCSense you can also access a wealth of applications, wallpapers, sounds as well as recommend stuff to friends and colleagues.

Contact Brightpoint GB today on +44 (0)870 879 0225 to order yours.

Specifications

• CPU Speed - 800MHz
• Platform - Android 2.2 (Froyo) with HTC Sense
• Memory
  • Internal Phone Storage - 1.5GB
  • RAM: 512MB
    (The actual available internal phone storage may differ depending on the software configuration of your phone)
• Dimensions (LxWxT) - 119 x 60.4 x 14.16 mm (4.69 x 2.38 x 0.56 inches)
• Weight - 180 grams (6.35 ounces) with battery
• Display - 3.7-inch touch screen with 480 x 800 resolution
• Network
  • HSPA / WCDMA:
    Europe/Asia - 900 / 2100 MHz
    Upload speed of up to 5.76 Mbps and download speed of up to 14.4 Mbps
  • Quad-band GSM / GPRS / EDGE:
    850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz

  (Band frequency, HSPA availability, and data speed are operator dependent)

• Onscreen navigation - Trackpad
• Keyboard - Z slider QWERTY keyboard
• GPS - Internal GPS antenna
• Sensors
  • G-Sensor
  • Digitial compass
  • Proximity sensor
  • Ambient light sensor
• Connectivity
  • Bluetooth 2.1 with FTP/OPP for file transfer, A2DP for wireless stereo headsets, and PBAP for phonebook access from the car kit
  • WiFi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
  • 3.5mm stereo audio jack
  • Standard microUSB (5-pin micro USB 2.0)
• Camera - 5.0 megapixel colour camera with auto focus and flash. 720p HD video recording
• Audio supported formats - Playback: AAC, AMR, OGG, M4A, MID, MP3, WAV, WMA / Recording: AMR
• Video supported formats - Playback: 3GP, 3G2, MP4, WMV / Recording: 3GP
• Battery - Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
  • Capacity: 1300 mAh
  • Talk Time: Up to 400 minutes for WCDMA / Up to 590 minutes for GSM
  • Standby Time: Up to 430 hours for WCDMA / Up to 430 hours for GSM

  The above are subject to network and phone usage

• Expansion Slot - microSD memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
• AC Adapter - Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240 V AC, 50/60 Hz. DC Output: 5V and 1A
• Special Feature - Support sharing pictures, video or music to your big screen TV or PC display via DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance)

You can read more on the official HTC product page here - http://www.htc.com/www/product/desirez/overview.html

Home Screen

As with all HTC Android devices before it, the Desire Z offers not 1 but 7 home screens, accessible by swiping your finger to the left or right of the main landing screen:

Home Screens can be customised to your preference by adding shortcuts to applications as well as a range of Internet-enabled widgets providing at a glance access to Facebook, Twitter, Stocks, email, text messages, you name it:

Also available in the Notification area at the top of screen is an application task switcher, enabling you to quickly access running programs:

You can also quickly switch between home screens by pinching on any home screen to see a representation of all screens, similar to Expose on the Mac:

Applications

The complete list of applications on the HTC Desire Z is as follows:

• Adobe Reader
• Amazon MP3
• Blocked Callers
• Calculator
• Calendar
• Call History
• Camcorder
• Camera
• Car Panel
• Clock
• Connected Media
• Desk Clock
• Facebook
• Flashlight
• FM Radio
• Friend Stream
• Gallery
• Google Mail
• Google Search
• HTC Hub
• HTC Likes
• Internet
• Java
• Latitude
• Learn More
• Locations
• Mail
• Maps
• Market
• Messages
• Music
• Navigation
• News
• News and Weather
• Peep
• People
• Phone
• Places
• Quick Lookup
• Quickoffice
• Search Anywhere
• Search People
• Settings
• Setup
• Soundhorn
• Stocks
• Talk
• Teeter
• Transfer Data
• Twitter
• Videos
• Voice Recorder
• Voice Search
• Weather
• WiFi Hotspot
• YouTube

But naturally a whole world of applications is at your fingertips within the Android Market and HTCSense.com
For a selection of some of the applications I have used and enjoyed in the past visit the Android section of the blog.

Email

The email client on the Desire Z has had a number of new features added not present on the Desire before it (also available on the Desire HD).
Unlimited email accounts can be added, be they IMAP, POP or even Microsoft Exchange accounts. Also included is a unified Inbox, meaning that no matter how many different email accounts you configure on the device, you only need to access one Inbox to view and manage your messages from all accounts. Messages can also be displayed based on priority, so that work emails will always appear above personal messages if desired.

For full instructions on how to configure an Exchange email account on the Desire Z read this article - http://blog.brightpointuk.co.uk/setting-exchange-email-htc-desire-hd

The Exchange email client on the Desire Z (and Desire HD) offers the ability to set peak and off-peak synchronisation schedules as well as edit out of office status, as well as providing support for remote device wipe and password usage enforcement from the Exchange server.

Subfolders can also be accessed.

A separate Google Mail client is also available for access to GMail accounts, although it is possible to access GMail via Exchange ActiveSync if desired by entering in an Exchange server address of "m.google.com" meaning that you can use the HTC unified email client.

Camera

The Desire Z features the same 5 Megapixel camera as found on the Desire, including autofocus and flash. The Desire Z does feature, however, a dedicated shutter button making the device that bit easier to use. The optical navigation key and the on-screen keys can also be used. A number of image effects are available to help give your snaps that extra something, including (yes, I really should have cleaned my mug first!):

• Distortion

  

• Vignette

  

• Depth of field

  

• Vintage

  

• Vintage warm

  

• Vintage cold

  

• Grayscale

  

• Sepia

  

• Negative

  

• Solarize

  

• Posterize

  

• Aqua

  

The same features are also available in the Camcorder application, which supports 720p HD video recording.

Web Browsing

Boasting a WebKit 3.1-based browser, the Desire Z supports common web standards including Flash 10.1
Pop-up windows can be blocked, multiple browsing windows can be opened simultaneously and web sites offering a mobile view can be viewed in either the mobile or the full version.

Content and links can be shared quickly and easily via Twitter, Facebook, SMS, Email and more:

Web sites that offer an RSS feed can be added automatically to the Desire Z's built-in RSS feed reader simply by tapping on the RSS icon next to the address bar:

News and Weather

Included with the Desire Z is HTC's own RSS aggregator and weather application:

Distinct from the News application which allows you to add and manage your own RSS feeds, this application downloads content from a wide variety of news sources for you and displays them on swipeable tabs grouped by subject: Top Stories, World, UK, Sport, Entertainment, Science, etc. You can select which areas you are interested in and have content delivered automatically:

And move between tabs by swiping to the left or right:

Custom areas of interest can be added by defining new keywords, which will be searched for on your behalf:

Navigation

Satellite navigation and GPS location-based services are closely integrated throughout the Desire Z, enabling you to quickly locate nearby services and facilities from any application.
Featuring Google's own turn-by-turn navigation solution, the Desire Z is your perfect travelling companion providing spoken and written directions as well as the ability to compare multiple routes and avoid tolls and traffic works:

A number of views are also available, including simple road layout or full satellite imagery:

The Google Places application allows you to quickly locate nearby services based on your GPS location, as well as compare prices:

HTC's own Locations application performs a similar function, which is also integrated with the HTC Footprints application:

Footprints is HTC's own application that enables you to record moments and store GPS location information as well as images and notes into a single "footprint" - similar to starring a location in Google Maps, but with the added benefit of attaching media files to the location as well as syncing that footprint to your online account with HTCSense, enabling you to view that footprint from any web browser.

The Car Panel application provides access to all of this functionality from one handy, large-icon interface, ideal for when your device is attached to its car stand:

HTC Sense

HTCSense.com is HTC's free-to-use cloud-based app store, storage and security management system, and is arguably worth purchasing the Desire Z for alone.

Once your account is created, which is free to do online and takes a few moments, and you have logged in from your phone, the solution provides the ability to remotely lock or wipe your phone in the event that it is lost or stolen, and also display a message on the lock screen with your contact information should the phone be found by a good samaritan

The site also backs up your Text Messages, Contacts and Footprints, enabling you to manage your data online via your web browser and also compose new text messages directly from the browser and have them sent from your phone

You can also track your phone's location online using the phone's GPS capability:

HTC Sense also provides access to a collection of useful applications, wallpaper images and sound files to help you further customise your device's look and feel

The Desire Z is configured within the HTC Hub application on the device, which will prompt you to sign in with the same account details you used to create the account online, or you can create an account directly from the device itself when run for the first time:

Multimedia

The Desire Z features a Music Player, access to the Amazon MP3 store, a Video player as well as an FM Radio

Featuring DLNA certification, the Desire Z can also stream media (images, music, video) via its WiFi connection to any suitable PC or media server connected to the same network.

For details on how to connect the Desire Z and Desire HD to both Windows and MacOS, read these articles:

Windows - http://blog.brightpointuk.co.uk/sharing-media-dlna-htc-desire-z-and-desi...
MacOS - http://blog.brightpointuk.co.uk/sharing-media-dlna-mac-os-x-htc-desire-h...

SoundHorn is a bundled application, similar to Shazam, which enables you to use the device's microphone to recognise pieces of music and provide information on the track you've been wracking your brain for the last few minutes to remember the name for:

Also included is a YouTube application providing access to video clips as well as the ability to upload your own recordings:

Reference

The Desire Z has a number of search utilities built-in. Using Google's own search application you can verbally issue phrases to search for or type entries in manually to have search results returned in the browser.
HTC's own Quick Lookup utility allows you to search for entries in Wikipedia, Google Translate or an online Dictionary from an easy-to-use interface:

This feature is also available in all applications - from within an email or the browser, highlight text to be searched and access the lookup menu.

The Desire Z also features an in-built utility to allow you to search for data on the device itself:

Connectivity

Featuring Bluetooth file transfer capability, as well as the ability to use the Desire Z as a wireless access point, your PDA can become the centre of a mobile office quickly and easily, enabling laptop users to share your Desire Z's high-speed connection to the 3G Internet via WiFi

Should you be upgrading to the Desire Z from an older phone, you can also quickly and easily transfer your contacts from your old phone via Bluetooth to the Desire Z using the Data Transfer tool:

The Desire Z can also be used as a cellular modem via USB, or alternately can share your PCs connection to the Internet via USB to save on 3G data costs if desired:

Miscellaneous

Included on the Desire Z is an application process monitor, enabling you to keep track of the device's memory usage and close down unwanted or unneeded applications:

Not to mention a Flashlight utility that uses the device's camera flash bulb to act as an adjustable torch:

And finally, the Desire Z also includes the ability to assign keyboard shortcuts to launch commonly-accessed applications and operations:

Summary

The HTC Desire Z is arguably HTC's most impressive Android offering to date. Featuring the best of both worlds in terms of touch-screen access as well as a full-Qwerty hardware keyboard all in a lightweight, robust and attractive package, the Desire Z combines superior Enterprise messaging and calendaring access with social networking, multimedia and lifestyle applications.

Contact Brightpoint GB today on +44 (0)870 849 0225 to order yours!