HTC Desire S Android smartphone

Sound performance

Movies look fine, with DivX and Xvid supported along with MP4 and AVI formats, and there’s the option to stretch them to fit the screen. The supplied headphones are rather tinny and could do with an upgrade but there’s an equaliser to help you get the sound you like and an FM radio too, with SoundHound to identify mystery tracks.

Nifty and capable – what's not to Desire like?

There’s no HDMI link like you’ll find on Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Arc or Samsung’s Galaxy S II, but you can transmit video and pics to your DLNA-certified networked TV using Wi-Fi. Indeed, the Desire S now supports 802.11n.

Battery life held up reasonably well with a good day’s worth of solid use, and you’ll get more if you’re careful with your apps and connections, but it didn’t particularly distinguish itself. There were no issues with call quality – it seemed perfectly adept at picking up a network signal and voices sounded full and clear through the speaker.

Verdict

The Desire S is a worthwhile improvement to the original, with the latest Android offering video calling, faster working and better keyboards. That may not be quite enough to justify an upgrade if you’re already using Desire père, but if you’re thinking of switching to Android, this is certainly one of the leaders. ®

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