I live in a rather heavily occupied region of Western Washington where all four of the major US wireless carriers typically have decent coverage. Thus, it is rare that I get the chance to think much about and experience those services provided by some of the larger regional carriers where you can see some fantastic plan offerings and decent hardware. We usually see more compelling plans and additional bonus offers, but the phone hardware generally lags behind what we see on the four major carriers. Lately though, the hardware available from these regional carriers is getting better and better and today we actually see the release of an HTC Android device that has not appeared on any of the four major carriers in the US. The HTC Desire is available in Europe and other areas of the world in GSM form so I actually was a bit surprised to see a CDMA variant of the device launch on a regional carrier here in the US. What's funny is that the HTC Desire's ROM is one of those I have loaded on my Google Nexus One so it was great to finally get some hands-on time with an actual HTC Desire device. Check out my image gallery with a few photos of the HTC Desire and Google Nexus One, my video below walking through a few aspects of the device, and my thoughts after using the HTC Desire for several days.
Image Gallery: Check out some photos of the HTC Desire on U.S. Cellular. | ![]() | |||||
If you are looking for something different than one of the four typical large US carriers, then I recommend you check out the U.S. Cellular Why Choose U.S. Cellular? page that lists several of the benefits of this carrier. These include free incoming calls, texts, and pictures, free battery swap for dead batteries, and free overage protection so you don't have to worry about getting hit with outlandish bills in the future.
The HTC Desire feels fantastic in your hand and reminds me a lot of the Google Nexus One. It is not too wide, is rock solid, has great hardware buttons, and a beautiful display. If you are a U.S. Cellular customer then I think there is no question this is a device you need to go check out now.
As you can see, these specifications are almost the same as the Google Nexus One with the dimensions almost the same as well. The LCD display is quite viewable outside and I personally like the physical hardware buttons much more than the capacitive touch ones on the Nexus One.
There is nothing on the right side while there is a large volume button on the left side. A microUSB port and microphone are found on the bottom while the power button and 3.5mm headset jack are located on the top. A 5 megapixel camera and light are placed on the upper center of the back.
The HTC Desire is mostly covered in soft touch material and I cannot get over how great the device feels in your hand.
In addition to all the great Android features such as Google Maps Navigation, social networking apps, Quickoffice viewer, and more you will find a few U.S. Cellular apps and services loaded up on the Desire. Unlike some other carriers, they do not load up a ton of junk and include My Contacts Backup, City ID, Tone Room Deluxe, and Your Navigation Deluxe. Tone Room Deluxe is their ringtone web service. Your Navigator Deluxe is a GPS navigation solution provided by TeleNav. This is the same as Sprint Navigation and AT&T Navigator and like Sprint's deal it is completely FREE on the HTC Desire on U.S. Cellular. In my experiences, the TeleNav solution is more powerful and capable than the Google Maps Navigation service and since it is available for free you cannot go wrong using whatever works best for you.