HTC Desire S: The Experience

Experience the HTC Sense

Thank you very much to Maxis!

I have great experience with HTC Desire S

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HTC Desire S: Overall

Coming to the overall personal experience and opinions after calling this phone mine for a certain period, I seriously had turn into a gadget dummy into someone who tend to use up my time make full use of what I was given – HTC Desire S.

It is going to be an honest personal view about HTC Desire S who has been my very important companion that drives me through ups and downs these days. In this era of  ‘you-must-have-a-mobile-with-you-no-matter-how-old-are-you’, everyone starts to live with phone, eat with phone and sleep with phone. Even World Cup couldn’t beat them, when everyone is tweeting about the score and the losses, damn even you watch World Cup with your phone. HTC Desire S has keep my life being like one of those, guess after this life would be much miserable when HTC Desire S no longer serving me. Having this opportunity, all thanks to Maxis for having Maxis10 Reviewers Programme :)

Honestly, I have tiny palms, which lots of nowadays phone with super sleek design and big screen could hardly fits in comfortably. I would really want to the thank the designer of HTC Desire S that makes me fall in love in gripping it here and there, swinging it hard without having it slip off my hand and cause me embarrassment in the public. The curvy part of its body has given me a steady hold on it when I’m lying on my bed texting. I wouldn’t want to mention which phone I’m using before this here, but I would say that phone always slip off my hand when I’m lying on my bed texting and end up I have to close my eyes hard enough when it started to fall towards my face!

DESIGN: FITS ME WELL, FINALLY

I don’t really have a comment about the display and the screen, which comes with the function of multi touch, auto rotate which I pretty sure it has apply to most of the smart phones out there as the basics.

Speaking about HTC Sense UI, frankly this is my 1^st attempt on HTC phone which did make me wonder of what so special about HTC Sense. HTC Desire S isn’t the earliest phone with the HTC Sense UI, so this isn’t something that new in the community but it does give me a new impression on how this works. Very convenient, I would say and yeah, it really makes sense. No more awkward moment in the meeting or in class, forget all the frustration of missing calls here and there, as well as turning myself into a well-organized person with Friends Stream and my contacts are nicely arranged together with their Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp profile. A direction dumber like me would really love how the map works with compass, a lot of thanks for giving me hope in finding a place that I had never been there without feel like crying.

HTC SENSE: I WOULD SAY IT GIVES ADDITIONAL SPARKS TO THE PHONE

What’s make HTC Desire S special? Who is the best HTC Desire S user?

After experiencing it, I would say to every multi taskers, this is your phone, go get it! It never fail to help me multitask! Play the music, read a text, search a word online and get your Angry Birds strike a 3-star game. Not a problem at all! Easy, smooth (not a single lag) and fast!

One thing I had been talking was the camera, both primary and secondary. Refer my post HTC Desire S: Camera to know more about how the photos turn out to be snapped by the primary 5MP color camera and secondary VGA front camera.

Overall, from having a great design, running on the most advance Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) for now, camera, HTC Sense to the price, I would say this is one phone to be considered. Signing package from Maxis now, HTC Desire S will be yours for RM 1,299, an affordable price compared to its Desire siblings. It may not provide the 8MP camera with dual flash, not having the biggest internal storage or being the phone that everyone is talking about, I would say for the price coming with Gingerbread that could help you to run apps faster with wider apps market is worth.

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HTC Desire S: In comparison

It is somehow a tough job to decide which phone is better than the other one and it is never easy to decide which is the top smartphone that stands out beating any other phone in this world. This is especially when our technology world is expanding faster than growing mushroom that one phone doesn't stay in the lead for a period of time. Once the trend is over and the discovery of technology is getting eager, things change in an extreme way that people tend to find themselves getting confuse in picking the right product for them. This tell that it is a very subjective and personal matter in choosing a smartphone that suits one. What one likes wouldn't be the other favorite, that brings a better and healthier competition among the mobile company in order to lead a more convenient and one step ahead the future.

HTC Desire was the favourite among the HTC family and it comes with siblings with its own function that suits different people with its advantages and disadvantages. The most recent release of the HTC Desire sibling, HTC Desire S was born to give better improvement in the HTC Desire line.

I pretty sure there are a lot of questions pertaining how much HTC Desire S has improved from its siblings. I'm only here to go through the comparison briefly among HTC Desire S and the other Desire(s).

I may not be a very good reviewer that can do comparison, but I hope this could help a little. Or if not, I'm sorry and check out more reviews and comparisons out there.

HTC Desire S vs HTC Desire
Similarities: Weighing around 130g, the screen size of 3.7 inches with resolution of 800X480. Running on 1GHz snapdragon Qualcomm processor. Both have HTC Sense UI, virtual keyboard and 5MP color camera.
Differences: HTC Desire is running on Android 2.2 (Froyo) while HTC Desire S is on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). HTC Desire has no secondary camera, which is available in HTC Desire S a VGA secondary front camera. HTC Desire comes with 512MB internal storage + 4GB microSD while HTC Desire S comes with 1.1GB internal storage + up to 32GB external storage.

HTC Desire S vs HTC Desire Z
Similarities: Both has a 5MP camera with singel LED flash, video 720p HD and HTC Sense UI. Standing together with the same screen size of 3.7 inches.
Differences: HTC Desire Z is running on Android 2.2 (Froyo) platform with 800 MHz Qualcomm processor, 512MB RAM and 1.5GB of internal storage while HTC Desire S has a platform of Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) with 1GHz snapdragon processor, 768MB of RAM and 1.1GB internal storage. HTC Desire Z has no secondary camera. It also comes with a physical keyboard. Speaking of the the design, HTC Desire Z is thicker.

HTC Desire S vs HTC Desire HD
Similarities: Having the same RAM of 768MB, supports microSD & microSDHC of 8GB and running on 1GHz Qualcomm snapdragon processor. Both with HTC Sense UI and a virtual keyboard.
Differences: HTC Desire HD running on Android 2.2 (Froyo) platform. Its display is a 4.3 inches (BIGGER) touchscreen S-LCD (Sony's own technology) while HTC Desire S has a 3.7 inches (SMALLER) 480X800 resolution touchscreen with multitouch and proximity sensor for auto rotate. HTC Desire HD has bigger internal storage of 1.5GB vs HTC Desire S internal storage of 1.1 GB. HTC Desire HD has a camera of 8MP with dual flash. It is seen that HTC Desire HD has a shorter battery lifespan compared to HTC Desire S especially using the Apps.

That's all I have for now

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HTC Desire S: Camera

So, what's so special about HTC Desire S?

This post is only about the cameras!

HTC Desire S has a 5MP color camera with auto focus and power LED flash

AND

a front facing VGA color camera with fixed focus

#1 Let's compare picture by the 5MP camera with and without flash

5MP color camera without flash

5MP color camera with flash

#2 5MP camera vs VGA front camera

5MP camera

VGA front camera

#3 Effects that offer by the HTC Desire S camera

No effect

Distortion

Vignette

Depth of field

Dots

Vintage

Vintage cold

Vintage warm

Grayscale

Sepia

Negative

Solarize

Posterize

Aqua

I like the choice of auto focus as well as manual focus of the camera, but there isn't function to take photos like text, fireworks etc. The effects available was quite limited. To expand the variation of effects, you can try download Little Photo apps from the Android market

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HTC Desire S: What I like & dislike

What I LIKE about HTC Desire S?

#1 Calendar

The green bar on the left of the date means that there are events on that day, press on any date, they will show the event from Facebook or any event created by yourself

 #2 The BIG clock

Even my Mom said she loves the clock because she can see it without having to look for her glasses

#3 Weather

Finally I get to know the weather beforehand

You know our drastic change of weather, I get to know the weather outside when I'm inside my house

So that I can plan whether to jog or not in the evening

#4 Sound settings

You can choose to active or deactivate these:

Quiet ring on pickup

Pocket mode

Flip for speaker

Hope it reduces my missed calls after activating the pocket mode

AND
never feel awkward again searching for the button to silent the phone when it rings in class or meeting!

Just flip the phone!

#5 Transfer stuff

As presented on this picture, everyone can easily transfer important stuff from their other phone to this HTC easily in just a few minutes. Never worry about losing any stuff or to key in everything all over again. Just on the Bluetooth!

#6 Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot

Make your phone a modem for your PC!

#7 Word prediction and auto correct

(I LOVE THIS THE MOST!)

Even before I finish the word, the word I want to type is predicted!

This is super accurate I tell you

Press & hold on the screen, this bar will pop out

Press "Select Word" and drag on the word that you want to choose

AND copy!

Go to "Search" (the most right bottom button on the phone) & Google homepage will be displayed on the phone screen

Press on the tab & "Paste"

There you go and you are on your way to know one more word or more!

A quick way to search and gain more knowledge

2 things I DISLIKE about HTC Desire S

#1 Alarm

I didn't get to choose how long is my snooze

HTC Desire S already set it 10 minutes per snooze

I prefer to set my own snooze timing according to importance of the event that I have to wake up for

#2 Scheduled message

I didn't get to set a message to be delivered on the time that I want to when I am not free on that time

I always set scheduled text to remind my Mom in some of the stuff as she tends to forget when I am busy with my studies

I was kinda disappointed when I found that I couldn't do that

That's all for now.. More about HTC Desire S posts will be up

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HTC Desire S

It is all started with Desire, when HTC taking the first futuristic step to come up with HTC Desire. It is very much improved now with the newly launched

HTC Desire S

This is a very serious post!

All thanks to Maxis for selecting me as part of the HTC Desire S, The 11th Maxis10 Reviewers Programme

UNBOXING

The most excited ever moment when the fully equipped box lands in my hand and sparks the first bond together, towards a new level of the whole, a quietly brilliant product

A very dainty looking box, with its usual white and simple design. Unlike those box last time that was usually very bulky with lots of casing inside. A nicely displayed picture of HTC Desire S, which I really like the rocket drawing with HTC webpage address

With the back of the box, there are list of highlights of the phone and specifications

Very simple, no hesitation on how to open the box

Just give it a slide and there you go

Laid perfectly in the box, nicely wrapped with a see-through plastic

The very first important message before undressing the phone

To prevent damage, do not apply excessive pressure to the screen or device case. Please remove the phone from your trouser pockets before sitting down. For more details, see the Quick Start Guide

A very friendly reminder for those wearing skinny and tight jeans that may cracked the screen of the phone

Towards the back, a very quick pictorial step-to-step guide in taking off the case and where to slot the sim card

Inside the box

There is a USB cable, power adaptor, 3.5mm stereo headset

Other than that, there will be Quick Start Guide, Safety & Regulatory Guide, Call Center Card and Warranty Card

The battery and microSD card were already neatly installed inside the phone

Lets take a look around and appreciate the design of HTC Desire S

The front panel of the phone

Back panel

Left panel

Top panel

Presenting to you the tech specification of HTC Desire S!

#1 SIZE

130 grams with battery

3.7-inch touch screen with 480 x 800 resolution

#2 It comes with the CPU speed of 1GHz (Qualcomm snapdragon processor)

#3 PLATFORM : Android with HTC Sense

Yeah, very much of the newest ever for now, Android 2.3!

#4 MEMORY 

The internal phone storage has 1.1GB with RAM of 768MB, it may differ depending on software configuration of each phone

Expansion slot : 8GB microSD memory card 

#5 CONNECTIVITY

As we can see from the pictures above, there is a 3.5mm stereo audiojack and a standard micro-USB

Connectivity available here are Bluetooth 2.1, A2DP, FTP, OPP and PBAP (for more advanced understanding of the device)

A2DP for wireless stereo headsets

PBAP for phonebook access from car kit

While for the wireless connection, Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n

#6 BATTERY

A rechargeable Lithium-ion battery with the capacity of 1450mAh

Talk time up to 435 minutes (7 hours plus) & standby time of 455 hours for WCDMA

Talk time up to 590 minutes (9 hours plus) & standby time of 430 hours for GSM

#7 CAMERA

5MP color camera comes with auto focus and power LED flash

720p HD video recording

AND

VGA color fixed focus front camera

#8 SENSORS

G-sensor - with it you can orientate the phone screen on how you hold it either in potrait or landscape, but not all applications come with the control of G-sensor

 Digital compass - integrates with Google Maps mobile to find your way!

 Proximity sensor - very useful for power saving, it deactivates the display of the screen when you bring the phone near your ear and to deactivate the ringing sound when you flip the phone

 Ambient light sensor - to detect the brightness of your surrounding so that your phone can adjust its display brightness too, to suit you!

#9 GPS

An internal GPS antenna

#10 NETWORK

HSPA/ WCDMA (900/2100 MHz)

GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)

Eli's first impression on HTC Desire S

I'm someone very easily excited about new stuff, especially about phone but here is my honest first impression when I have my first sight on this phone

1. From the box, it gives a very professional and well presented impression

2. I heart the sleek unibody design of the phone

3. I have a small palm, HTC Desire S fits nicely and the material of the case makes it easy for me to grap it. I found it pretty good for people that sweat easily on their palm

4. BIG SCREEN, BIG SCREEN!

5. The very first thing that I am not really get used to it when I first have it is there is no button for Call, End Call and Back like those phone I own before. I'm adapting to it now.

6. Very user friendly during the setup, everything can be done in just less than 5 minutes or less

7. I like the clarity of the screen display and I face no problem with the touch screen

8. It is good to see that the USB cable can be use to connect the PC as well as to connect it with the power adapter to charge the phone

9. What I don't like about the USB connector is, it is too short for charging when it comes to plugging on high socket (like the one in my bedroom, I have to look for a table or chair to place my phone. If not, my phone will left hanging)

More posts about me and HTC Desire S will be up!

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