Woohoo, HTC have announced another phone – the HTC Desire! This is always a cause for celebration in my book, ‘cos I love HTC to bits. I mean real love, like I’d put a ring on their finger if I could, although I’m aware that analogy is possibly quite (and by ‘quite’, I mean ‘viscerally, horrifically’) disturbing, so don’t think about it too hard. Ever since they launched the HTC HD2, they’ve been my new favourite manufacturer, becoming the first company to knock Sony Ericsson from the top spot in my mind since, well, ever.
Sorry about that, the preamble kinda got away from me, there…
According to Engadget Mobile, the new phone they’ve announced is the HTC EVO 4G, and it can best be described as an HD2 with Android on it. And a new 8MP camera. And HD video. And HDMI output. And WiMAX. And brilliantly, Engadget have done a comparison with the HTC Desire, so I can now just swan in, look all clever, write something of my own and call it a day.
Well, I could do that, if I was unprincipled and lazy. And although I clearly am unprincipled and lazy, I’m not doing that, because it’d be, well, boring. No sirree, you won’t find me just saying the same things as it says in the original content, not when I can write my own and make it eminently more silly than the source story!
So, EVO 4G, then. What’s it all about? Well, apart from being named after a rally car and a data standard that’s not even been finalised yet, it’s the first HTC phone in the colonies to have WiMAX, theoretically giving it super fast internet speeds. SO, it looks to have all the benefits of the HD2, while being even more powerful, and although I famously prefer Windows Mobile to Android, I can’t deny the HTC EVO 4G is a beast of a phone. But is it the definitive Android superphone?
The HTC Desire would like to answer that question by doing a big no. Y’see, its screen is only half an inch smaller than the EVO 4G, and it’s a better screen, because it’s rocking AMOLED tech. Granted, the camera’s not as good, coming in at 5MP, but in every other area, the HTC Desire is on a par with the EVO 4G. Except for WiMAX. Obviously.
There’s one massive, HUGE reason why the HTC Desire is a better phone from the point of view of us Brits, though. The EVO 4G, over in America, is on Sprint. And Sprint uses that CDMA/EvdoRev-whatever broadcast standard, not GSM. So, in short, the EVO 4G cannot make or receive calls, or do anything other than be a shiny doorstop, in the UK. In Blighty, that phone, as good as it is, will not work, so in no way can it be considered a phone, if you brought one over here.
So, until HTC do make a version that’ll work over here, the HTC Desire is the undisputed holder of the “Android superphone” title. Until, of course, HTC do make a version of the EVO 4G that’ll work over here, then it’ll kick every Android phone’s bottom…
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Read: HTC – two new phones and an online backup-y type thing
Read: HTC Desire and Samsung Galaxy S Android 2.2 latest
Read: Step-by-step guide to updating your HTC Desire to Froyo
Read: All MobileShop.com’s news and blog posts on the HTC Desire
June 9th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Thanks for clarifying that th EVO is not of much use to us UK folk.. I’ve been trawling tinternet for ages to find out the diff between the EVO and the Desire! This is the first explanation I’ve found!
June 9th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
You’re very welcome! However, I’ll bet a million squillion quid that the EVO 4G eventually does get converted and released in the UKmainly because I think every UK Android fan would storm HTC’s headquarters if they didn’t…
Well, unless they release an even better phone over here, that is…
June 16th, 2010 at 11:49 am
Thanks for the explanation dude! I too have been scouring the worldy webby thingy for some info on using the Evo on GSM. Pure pants that HTC haven’t made one for us lovely people on the Queen’s Island! Get your finger out HTC!
July 1st, 2010 at 1:34 pm
i’m wondering if the evo 4g can call and recieve them in The Netherlands?
and if so, is the evo 4g better then the htc desire.
and witch one do you recommand then.
Thanks,
July 8th, 2010 at 4:55 am
NL is in Europe, so is part of the GSM network. You know the way that you can have a phone and buy a new chip in each country as you travel – Spain, France, India etc, and you can roam there too? That’s GSM.
The yanks aren’t part of it. They’ve got their own system. Bit like football. You know the way that, if you say the word football, most of the planet thinks of ball to feet and the World Cup, well Americans think of ball to hands and the Superbowl.
Their mobile networks are like that. I’ve lost track of the country’s I’ve owned a GSM simcard in, but the USA ain’t one of them. They’ve got their own thing.
So it’s yank only for the mo, but I’d imagine a GSM version for the rest of the world will be along pretty shortly.
August 3rd, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Sounds like the new HTC Ace / Desire HD to me…!
August 20th, 2010 at 12:50 am
@Paul
Me too, I think it will be the HTC Ace also know as the Desire HD… They say end of this month it will be released :S I hope so.
August 26th, 2010 at 2:04 am
Is the HTC EVO better than the Samsung Galaxy S ??
August 30th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Just a comment if i may, here in US, we have both CDMA and GSM networks for cellular traffic. as well as IDEN, which is Nextel only.
i just got the Desire, and mine is CDMA through USCellular.
September 3rd, 2010 at 6:54 pm
Will it be called Desire or Evo here in Europe? I believe it will be available here in europe this month. I guy i know in my local phone network told me to hold of as I have been waiting for my desire for 3 months, delay due to supply problem, which brings me to the point, will there be a supply problem with this one?
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:05 pm
Basically, it seems that the HTC Desire HD is going to be, more or less, the European equivalent of the EVO 4G.
As for the delays, I believe it’s down to the fact HTC are switching the Desire over from AMOLED to S-LCD screens (‘cos they can’t get hold of enough AMOLED units). My friend in Germany is in the same boat, since she’s waiting to get her hands on the Desire, as well.