hile the whole world Android eyes were turned towards the Nexus One when it was announced in January, HTC few weeks later quietly released another model, the HTC Desire, which ultimately was the first out (officially) in France . The HTC Desire resembles in many respects to the Nexus One, so we called them twins, but we will see in this comparison there are some significant differences between the two models and thus help you make your choice . Let's start with a quick overview of the two protagonists, and a comparison in detail, point by point.
Nexus One
Also called Google Phone, the Nexus One was manufactured by HTC under the direction of Google, and aims to be the spearhead of Android and demonstrate the capabilities of the platform. Available initially only on Google's online store and only in some countries, the Nexus One will land officially in France during May, almost five months after its announcement.
HTC Desire
Although the Nexus One was manufactured by HTC, Google is so appropriate that we talk about Google Phone.Conversely, the HTC Desire, is a purely branded HTC phone. This is THE superphone brand, which purported to show the expertise of the manufacturer and the capabilities of its popular HTC custom interface Sense.
Appearance, design and finishing
Both aircraft are very similar form factor, while fine even if the HTC Desire is slightly (0.4 mm) thicker than its big brother.
The difference lies in the bottom of the heater, which is now a bent chin for the Desire, while the Nexus has a line while rounding.
Materials used are quite similar and quality, we feel that the devices do not slam us in the fingers after a few months. For information, I have a Nexus One that I use for five months without a cover and no scratches is deplorable, whether on screen or on other parts of the apparatus. Lightweight flat for Desire and its removable cap, which unlike the Nexus One covers the entire surface of the phone, which gives an impression of fragility, but nothing dramatic.
The Nexus One are in a unique color and it will not change. The HTC Desire is meanwhile available in a brown version (it's the prettiest that suggests) but there is also a silver version, unfortunately unavailable in France at the time of this test.
Note that the HTC branded HTC Desire is (and Orange if any) while the Nexus One provides a simple entry "Google" on the back, much more class.
Verdict: I would tend to point to the Nexus One because of its thinner design and sleek, but the HTC Desire demerit does not mean, and catches up with the different colors in which it is available (but not yet France at the time or writing). But ultimately, that's always a matter of taste!
Ergonomics
The Nexus One features a navigation pad composed of tactile keys and a trackball where the HTC Desire meanwhile has 4 physical buttons and a joystick optics.
Where membrane keys Nexus One are imprecise, the hardware buttons of HTC Desire ensure accuracy and responsiveness without fault. Moreover, they always respond even if an application crashes, a point sometimes useful Android ...
The optical joystick HTC Desire require a little adjustment period, but then he reacts perfectly in all situations, and is less likely to clog the trackball Nexus One.
The navigation keys HTC Desire
We note in passing that the order of buttons has been changed, and back buttons have been swapped parameters on both devices, but in one case as in the other used to it quickly.
The touchpad Nexus One
On the grip, the two devices have a similar pattern but the HTC Desire is slightly thicker and heavier, it gives point to the Nexus even if both devices are handled easily with one hand.
Other controls such as volume buttons and the standby button are located at identical locations.
Verdict: Slight advantage to HTC Desire, with its physical buttons, although in practice the Nexus One has almost nothing to reproach himself.
Autonomy
Both cameras feature both of the same 1400 mAh battery which provides a range of about a day in typical usage.However, the interface of the HTC HTC Sense Desire is more energy intensive and it shows slightly on automation.
Verdict: The Nexus One is slightly better, thanks to its lighter system.
Specifications
Logically, the HTC Desire and the Nexus One are almost similar technical characteristics. The only difference being the side of the onboard RAM, 576 MB for the Desire, and 512 for the Nexus One. Note that the RAM Nexus is currently constrained to 256 MW, something that will be corrected in a future update.
The extra RAM Desire is probably done to compensate for the overload made by HTC Sense, and in practice the two devices are very fluid, both when navigating in the interface or in applications. Remember they are both equipped QSD8250 Qualcomm Snapdragon processor running at 1 GHz, the current reference.
Note that the pins used to connect to the dock of the Nexus One are absent on the Desire, it can be assumed that he will make a cross on it.
From the audio side, the Nexus One is equipped with a mechanism to mitigate ambient sound, supposed to improve sound quality, which is absent on the HTC Desire, but the real difference is negligible.
Verdict: Draw between these two beasts of race.
Camera
The Nexus One Desire and HTC has both a 5 megapixel camera and nothing suggests that they are not exactly the same components.
A test of the camera in conditions of "extreme" (do not ask me what this robot on my desk ...)
Nexus One:
HTC Desire:
You see a difference? The picture seems clearer for the Desire, and the color rendering a bit better.
Performance videos are similar and of good quality if conditions are good.
Verdict: The HTC Desire is a bit better after my tests, but both fared respectably and allow you to take pictures and video quality quite good.
HTC Android vs Sense
This is THE major difference between the HTC and the Nexus One Desire. The HTC Desire embeds a customized interface created by HTC and based on Android 2.1: HTC Sense, which brings many changes, both aesthetic manner or in terms of functionality. The Nexus One has for its Android 2.1 Flash without any customization, straight out of the offices of Google.
The HTC Desire embeds interface based on Android HTC Sense 2.1 Lightning, which has improved compared to what we know about the HTC Hero.
