HTC Desire HD - pros & cons

[liam_on_linux]

Repurposed comment I just left on El Reg.

I noticed today that RegHardware ran a review of the Desire HD, the device that finally swayed me into abandoning Symbian and going for Android. Here is my response

Comments

[perlmonger]

I take it there isn't a nipple for cursor movement like the Hero then? If not, that's a major failing; it's one of the nicest features of the Desire's older, smaller relative.

[liam_on_linux]

Nope. The only physical controls are:
- on/off;
- volume up/down.

Plus soft-screen "buttons" beneath the glass of the screen for:
- home;
- menu;
- back;
- search.

The latter 4 can't be felt - they are only visible, underneath the screen. No feedback, not backlit, useless for blind people or in the dark.

It's a victim of style over function in a number of places.

Even so, I am actually happy with it, and think it's the best of the current Android breed.

[bryangb]

So does my original Desire, but I think they dropped it from the HD for some weird reason.

[lovingboth]

I thought having one was part of the Android spec?

[bryangb]

It still has a cursor but it's a soft type under the surface, bot a physical button type of thing.

[andrewducker]

I'm quite happy I stuck with the normal Desire, precisely because it has the 4 physical buttons for home, menu, back and search (well, I use the first three all the time), and the scroller (which is laser rather than physical, but is still handy for moving the cursor left/right by a single character).

The battery life suxors, but I have a charger at work and home, so I don't worry about it too much.

[madmosh_uk]

Weird - I've got the original desire and my four "beneath-screen" buttons are all backlit, depending on ambient light!

And in case someone hasn't already mentioned, you can buy a higher-capacity battery for around a tenner (including a new snap-on back for the phone as it's thicker than the supplied one).

[liam_on_linux]

Alas, no snap-on back on the HD.

I did get it wrong in saying they're not backlit, though. They are. Sorry.