At last, I have my HTC Desire Z review to post. It's my only phone, I don't switch at all, so I use it 24/7 and it takes a lot of use...
First things first, whoa! Spec wise, it's not the greatest thing going, in the ever growing selection of HTCs, but it's not the worst, by a long shot. It looks the part too, it could be up there in the top ten for smartphone looks.
Hit the read on for the full review:
Hardware
I know what your thinking, it is not 1GHz; therefore behind the times. But the 800MHz clock speed is still quick, and the 1/2GB RAM is impressive enough to boot in under 10 seconds. The 1.5GB of built in flash storage is pretty handy too, but install the "DoubleTwist" app; add a 32GB flash memory card and you've got yourself an iPod too.
This new version of the G1 sports a very fetching physical, QWERTY; LED back-lit keyboard and a 3.7" capacitive touch screen with a very satisfying resolution, of WVGA 800x480.
Although you do pay in the overall weight of the phone, weighing in at 180g - That's including the 1300mAh battery, which lasts just over a day with heavy usage; 3G, WiFi, GPS all enabled - full brightness. Although the weight is in part due to the aluminium casing, which gels nicely with the rubberised finish on some other parts.
With the rear facing camera you can record 720p HD videos and snap 5MP stills - with the added bonus of saving, and sharing instantly from the palm of your hand.
Software
The current un-rooted handset sports Android 2.2 with HTC Sense, resulting in a smooth UI which runs quickly and is exceptionally user friendly. With the added bonus being you can hit the Marketplace and install the latest apps, or even, head to the net on your PC, and download and install apps from there straight to your Android handset.
Another great bonus is one that Sense provides, the remote locking, wiping, and calling of your smartphone from any PC hooked up to the internet.
A few other cool features are those which come with rooting your device, principally, removing Sense...
Although, there are some bad points, since nothing is perfect - for example, you can't use the home screen in landscape mode with the keyboard tucked away, it has to be flicked out. Sometimes it can be a bit slow to reorientate the home screen when flicking out the keyboard. And the battery life needs to be increased, but nobody in the smartphone industry really cares about that right now; beefier batteries only coming with beefier "superphones" which will use those bigger powerpacks just as fast.
Final points
Overall, the device is brilliant to use, it feels nice your hand and is a good size, the weight seems to add some sturdiness to the feel. The camera works really well, and the OS means that sharing is incredibly easy. The CPU is brilliantly fast and you can multitask as much as you like without feeling any performance hit. There are a few bad points but overall the device is exceptional and I cannot wait to review the next generation of HTC devices, G3, perhaps.
A must buy.
For more info visit the HTC site.
Another great bonus is one that Sense provides, the remote locking, wiping, and calling of your smartphone from any PC hooked up to the internet.
A few other cool features are those which come with rooting your device, principally, removing Sense...
Although, there are some bad points, since nothing is perfect - for example, you can't use the home screen in landscape mode with the keyboard tucked away, it has to be flicked out. Sometimes it can be a bit slow to reorientate the home screen when flicking out the keyboard. And the battery life needs to be increased, but nobody in the smartphone industry really cares about that right now; beefier batteries only coming with beefier "superphones" which will use those bigger powerpacks just as fast.
Final points
Overall, the device is brilliant to use, it feels nice your hand and is a good size, the weight seems to add some sturdiness to the feel. The camera works really well, and the OS means that sharing is incredibly easy. The CPU is brilliantly fast and you can multitask as much as you like without feeling any performance hit. There are a few bad points but overall the device is exceptional and I cannot wait to review the next generation of HTC devices, G3, perhaps.
A must buy.
For more info visit the HTC site.
Note:
To answer the rumours about the keyboard slipping when using lying down, it does happen and it requires some magnets to hold it, but fingers can be positioned easily so that it is comfortable to hold and doesn't happen. However, the keyboard is sturdy and attached well using metals not plastic.
