The HTC Desire and Google Nexus One are two of the most popular Android phones on the market at the moment. Like all good modern smartphones, this model is powerful and versatile enough to make a netbook almost redundant. There are many nice features included with the HTC Desire and in this article we will have a look at what makes it similar and what makes it unique when compared to the Nexus One.

Similarities:

Both phones have an AMOLED capacitive touchscreen capable of displaying up to 16 million colors. This provides really great color detail and very vivid graphics both to the phone’s own interface and to any content you view. Also aiding the detail is the high resolution of 480 by 800 pixels over 3.7 diagonal inches. While not quite a match for Apple’s iPhone and the Retina display, this is still plenty high-res for almost any purpose. Even text shows up quite cleanly and can be read easily.

Similarly, you can expect a similar Android OS v2.1, a fast and powerful Snapdragon processor clocked at 1GHz, and a 5 megapixel autofocus camera. The HTC Desire has plenty of power to run all the apps you want and enough photographic detail to be a genuinely useful alternative to a standard camera.

Differences:

The HTC Desire is different to its Nexus One progenitor with the inclusion of hardware push-buttons instead of capacitive keys, and an optical trackpad instead of the original trackball. Some people felt that the capacitive keys of the Nexus One were not very responsive, so the real buttons are a nice addition, but the trackpad could go either way – in either case it is not very important, as the multi-touch screen works so well that this extra control is not really needed.

Conclusion:

Unlike the Nexus One, whose availability is limited to certain countries, the HTC Desire is out for sale worldwide, making it much easier to get your hands on one from overseas. It is a great choice for a smartphone as it combines all the good points of the Nexus One with a couple of neat improvements.