HTC Desire

The Desire is HTC's flagship Android phone, and closely resembles Google's own handset, the Nexus One, in both specification and appearance.

The main differences are that the Desire runs HTC's Sense user interface, and it can already be purchased in the UK on a contract, while the Nexus One is currently only available on import.

As with its smaller brother, the Legend, the 3.7in multi-touch screen is particularly bright, but has a higher resolution. The Desire lacks the Legend's lovely metal casing and is considerably larger, but very thin, so it still fits into a pocket. It has a power button at the top, volume controls at the side, and at the bottom, four navigation buttons, along with an optical sensor for sliding through screens. It has a standard 3.5in headphone socket at the top, and a micro-USB connector at the bottom for charging.

It handles calls and text messages well, with the phonebook contacts automatically linking to Facebook profiles if available. The Sense interface is really worth having, as it allows the phone to be customised with a set of widgets, or small applications, such as a clock, news feed and calendar, which are better looking than Android's own versions. These can be arranged anywhere within the phone's seven screens, which are reached by flicking a finger over the display. The display's graphics updated smoothly, although there were occasional pauses when installing software.

The appearance and layout can be completely customised, using Scenes. Some backgrounds are both animated and interactive. You can set the maps application as the background for example, and see your whereabouts without having to open the full application.

As with other HTC smartphones, the Desire closely integrates with social-networking sites. There's a Friendfeed widget, which combines the latest posts from sites such as Twitter and Facebook. One of the handset's most empowering as pects is how you can also use it to update pages. For example, you can snap a photo using the phone's five-megapixel camera, publish it on Facebook using a simple widget, and friends can immediately see it and add comments.

The HTC Desire, Legend and Google Nexus One are excellent showcases for Android's capabilies. They're all similar though, so choosing one depends on cosmetic, rather than functional preferences. Our favourite is the HTC Desire, thanks to its bright screen, performance and software, since the Nexus One doesn't have Sense, although the Legend is more easily pocketable.