Overview
Android OS has already proved its street cred and the OS is getting deployed by most of the leading mobile handset makers. But which Android-sporting handset comes out at the top? The main competition is between Google's own Nexus One and HTC's Desire. These phones certainly share a lineage as both the handsets are manufactured by HTC. So, here we are going to pit Nexus One against HTC Desire and see which one comes out trump.
Comparison
Both Nexus One and Desire sport 3.7 inches WVGA AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 480×800 resolution. However, HTC Desire supports multitouch while Google decided to switch the functionality off for Nexus One. Nexus One is marginally thinner than Desire, but the difference is almost negligible. As for the UIs, Nexus One deploys Android Vanilla UI, which is good in itself but does not match Desire's enhanced Sense UI. With multitouch capabilities coupled with better UI, Desire outsmarts Nexus One.
On the inside, both the phones have 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU. But Desire has slightly bigger RAM at 576MB compared to Nexus's 512MB. It also carries 8GB of memory, whereas Nexus One lags behind with 4GB. HTC has certainly tweaked its phone for extra battery life. Although both the phones sport 1,400 mAh batteries, Desire is able to get more juice out of its battery. HTC offers up to 360 hours in 3G standby mode, whereas Nexus One's battery gives up at 250 hours. This round also goes in the favor of Desire.
As for navigation, HTC offer optical trackpad whereas Nexus has opted for trackball. Although, it is a matter of personal preference, but HTC trackpad gives an impeccable performance level. And although, Nexus's trackball is fairly efficient, it suffers from inherent drawback of being dirt and dust magnet. Over the time, such accumulation may affect trackball's performance. 1 Up for Desire again.
Although with its revamped UI, Desire is more user friendly. But on the downside, HTC needs to tinker it every time there is an Android update. If you are using Nexus One, Updating your OS is much easier and straightforward than it is if you own Desire. However, Desire's UI packs much punch as it comes equipped with a bunch of mini-apps customized for homescreen use. Among these apps are Twitter and animated weather clients. Desire is also more desirable for social networking since it combines various social networking updates into one Friend Stream feed.
However, not all is lost for Nexus. The phone features a noise cancellation feature, which is conspicuously absent in Desire. This functionality comes very handy if you are always on the go and need to carry on a conversation while you are out and about. The phone also supports docking which comes handy at times.
Winner: HTC Desire
Although it seems like Nexus has been one upped by HTC, which we think is the winner, it is no doubt the Google flagship phone certainly has created a niche market for itself, as is evident by its sales figure.
Do you agree that the HTC Desire is better than the Google Nexus One? Which one do you prefer and what are the features that did the trick for you?
Want to find out more about the winner? Check out a more detailed HTC Desire Review here or find more mobile phone reviews here.
4 thoughts on “HTC Desire vs Google Nexus One”
“However, HTC Desire supports multitouch while Google decided to switch the functionality off for Nexus One”
What are you talking about The Nexus One has multitouch and it’s turned on.
Like the above poster said, the nexus HAS multitouch. Also, you failed to include the TALK TIME for both phones. The nexus has 10 hours, and the desire only has about 6. additionally, htc sense has no real advantages over vanilla android. You really don’t mention anything specific when you say that it’s better than vanilla
Im using a nexus one now and mine supports multi touch. Its fairly well implemented too. Battery life is a bit crap though but it can be improved by turning off GPS and wifi
Thanks for pointing it out. What I meant to say was that HTC Desire provides native multitouch support whereas Android does it via firmware update. However, this is not true in the case of Nexus One launched in the EU. But in the US, Nexus One was not launched with multitouch support due to the fact that Apple owns patent of multitouch functionality. Although later pinch & Zoom facility aka multitouch was provided via firmware update.
But the interesting thing is that neither phone is multitouch in the real sense since their screens only support dual-touch. HTH