- Conclusion Get the lowdown
- Features How it compares
- Performance Real world benchmarks
- Differences Technical showdown
- Reviews Word on the street
- Competition Others to consider
- Discussion Answers and opinions
HTC Desire S
- Android 2.3 Gingerbread
- 3.5G
- 3.7"
- 1 GHz
Announced February, 2011
Rated 80% by by TrustedReviews (Aug, 2012)The touch sensing of the display is also excellent with the glass providing an effortlessly smooth surface for your fingers to glide over.
Features Key features of the HTC Desire S
1 GHz
Android 2.3 Gingerbread 3.5G
by GSM Arena (Apr, 2011)The Desire S is also equipped with an FM radio, which has a pretty simple interface.
screen size
3.7"
5.5"
4.7"
Desire S by GSM Arena (Apr, 2011)While it’s still not as good as a hardware one, it’s the next best thing – the 3.7” screen has enough real estate for big, well-spaced keys, which are easy to hit.
Desire S by TrustedReviews (Aug, 2012)We also like how, when you zoom in, text is re-wrapped so that it fits to the width of your screen, along you to read a large block of text without need to scroll left and right.
screen resolution
Desire S by nick88msn (Mar, 2012)Display resolution is 800x480 and is really good for a 3,7" display, color are vivid and angle view are great (I think this display is IPS).
Desire S by GSM Arena (Apr, 2011)The screen falls short of the Retinas and Super AMOLEDs of the world, but it’s among the best in its class.
memory
| 0 GB | 2 GB | 2 GB |
processor
Desire S by TrustedReviews (Aug, 2012)Its latest offering is the HTC Desire S that doesn't pack in a headline grabbing dual-core processor, fancy camera, or ginormous screen but is a beautifully made, classy smartphone that should be high on your wish list.
Desire S by RedWolf (Jul, 2011)This one runs very smoothly, even though it is not a dual core processor.
camera resolution
| 0 MP | 8 MP | 20 MP |
Desire S by GSM Arena (Apr, 2011)The HTC Desire S packs a 5MP camera for stills of up to 2592x1952 pixel resolution.
Desire S by GSM Arena (Apr, 2011)The HTC Desire S rear features the 5 megapixel camera lens and the small loudspeaker grill.
Performance Real world tests of HTC Desire S
cpu speed
Desire S by Omar-Garcia (Mar, 2012)After rooting my phone, I installed an app to control the CPU frequency and I have used the phone at 400 MHz and it runs flawlessly.
Desire S by TrustedReviews (Aug, 2012)That said, we'd still recommend you wait and get our full verdict on the dual-core wonders before deciding.
browser benchmark
Desire S by TrustedReviews (Aug, 2012)As with the rest of the interface, it feels really snappy, though flash content can slow it down somewhat.
Desire S by GSM Arena (Apr, 2011)The fast boot feature is enabled in the HTC Desire but it won’t work if you have removed the battery – in that case it will do a regular slow boot.
download speed
talk time
589 min
900 min
750 min
Desire S by GSM Arena (Apr, 2011)The 1450mAh battery inside the HTC Desire S is quoted at up to 455 hours of stand-by or up to 9 hours and 50 minutes of talk time.
Desire S by MAURICIO-VANEGAS-GUERRERO (Aug, 2011)AwesomenessAnd as usual in this type of devices, we would like to get longlasting batteries, when I use this phone at it's full capacity the battery just runs for about 6 hours and needs to be recharged again, so I always take with me a spare microUSB cable and the car charger to keep it running for the whole day.
Our analysis How does it stack up against its top 10 competitors
pros
-
3.5 mm -
Android Market (Android) -
Capacitive -
5 MP -
850,000 apps (Android Market) -
Listen to music and news from local radio stations -
Share your cellphone's data plan with other devices
cons
-
1280 x 720 @ Unknown -
None -
Single core -
Android 2.3 Gingerbread -
1.1 GB -
Some newer payment by phone methods require NFC -
Doesn't support the fastest, most reliable networks -
-
Cannot detect when the tablet is rotated
Reviews Word on the street
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 |  Rated by 17 users at amazon.com Rated 100% by by RedWolf (Jul, 2011) Rated 100% by by RedWolf (Jul, 2011) |
Screen
HTC Desire S | by GSM Arena (Apr, 2011)And there are only a few problems in terms of pure ergonomics too – the lack of a dedicated camera key and the sub-par sunlight legibility are probably the biggest issues, but the rest of it seems fine.
HTC Desire S | by GSM Arena (Apr, 2011)You can play the Flash content in full screen and landscape mode, which makes the most out of the display.
HTC Desire S | by GSM Arena (Apr, 2011)The reader formats the book to best fit the screen and you can adjust the font.
Video
HTC Desire S | by GSM Arena (Apr, 2011)Video files can be accessed in the All videos subfolder in the Gallery or from the Videos shortcut in the menu, they launch the same thing.
HTC Desire S | by GSM Arena (Apr, 2011)The video player interface on the HTC Desire S offers a full screen toggle (stretch / crop video to fit the screen) and you can scrub through the video too.
HTC Desire S | Rated 100% by by RedWolf (Jul, 2011)The HD has an 8 MP camera which seems to be really good, and much better than the Desire S MP.
Apps
HTC Desire S | Rated 80% by by TrustedReviews (Aug, 2012)There's also GoogleTalk on hand for instant messaging while you get the standard Gmail interface as well as a customised email inbox for any other accounts.
HTC Desire S | by GSM Arena (Apr, 2011)When you plug in the microUSB cable you’re presented with a long list of options - Charge only, Disk drive (mass storage), HTC Sync, USB tethering (use the phone as a modem) and Internet pass-through (the phone uses the computers Internet connection).
HTC Desire S | by GSM Arena (Apr, 2011)The Desire S browser also supports double tap zooming and text reflow, which makes it extremely easy to read even longer texts on the phone display.
Operating system
HTC Desire S | Rated 100% by by nick88msn (Mar, 2012)This phone has 768MB of ram that let you have a good multitasking.
HTC Desire S | Rated 60% by by Eugen (Dec, 2012)This particular device I got has quite an old software installed.
HTC Desire S | by GSM Arena (Apr, 2011)We now move to the software part of this review.
Type
HTC Desire S | Rated 100% by by nick88msn (Mar, 2012)You can update to the latest android 2.3.5 and Sense 3.0 that is a good rom and Everything is fine (but not excellent).
HTC Desire S | Rated 100% by by nick88msn (Mar, 2012)If you're a power user I suggest you to install a custom rom with Android 4.0.3, believe me it makes the boost to your phone, excellent performance and low power consumption.
HTC Desire S | by GSM Arena (Apr, 2011)The Desire S is the first phone HTC release with Android 2.3 Gingerbread out of the box.
Competition What else you should consider
 | 1 | LG Nexus 4 Rated the best by consumers LG Nexus 4 vs HTC Desire S |
 | 2 | Sony Xperia J 6-way tie: Supports Flash Sony Xperia J vs HTC Desire S |
 | 3 | Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 Long standby time Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 vs HTC Desire S |
 | 4 | HTC Desire X 6-way tie: Supports Flash Desire X vs Desire S |
 | 5 | Motorola DROID RAZR Screen uses OLED technology Motorola DROID RAZR vs HTC Desire S |
 | 6 | LG Optimus G Pro Most built-in storage LG Optimus G Pro vs HTC Desire S |
 | 7 | HTC One V Lightest One V vs Desire S |
 | 8 | Samsung Galaxy S Duos 4-way tie: Has a gyroscope Samsung Galaxy S Duos vs HTC Desire S |
New duel?
Let the battle continue or dare to compare.
Popular Questions
December 3, 2012
Can either one of the phones get instagram?
I was wondering, can either one of the htc phones (desire c or desire s) get instagram?
Visitor
3
Answers 