HTC Desire HD vs HTC Incredible S
HTC has a well-deserved reputation for producing great smartphones, and with every device released standards are raised. But with new devices being debuted every few months, is it worth replacing what you have with newer hardware? Well, we've taken HTC's media giant the Desire HD and pitched it against its successor the Incredible S, to see whether an update necessarily means an upgrade.
Operating System -The Desire HD runs on Android 2.2 (Froyo) and disappointingly so does its younger sibling. However, the Incredible S is upgradeable to Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), making it rather more appealing, and the rather more future-proof of the two devices.
Winner - Incredible S
Camera - It’s important to note that, in terms of hardware, the cameras offered by the Desire HD and the Incredible S are almost identical. Each has an 8-megapixel snapper, capable of capturing 3264x2448 pixels, with autofocus and a dual-LED flash. Each captures 720P video and supports geo-tagging. The Incredible S grabs this category though, as it not only has a 1.3-megapixel secondary camera which the Desire HD lacks, but when you upgrade your OS to Android 2.3, you’ll enjoy better camera functionality from your software.
Winner - Incredible S
Display - Another category that’s almost impossible to judge, the displays offered by each device vary only slightly. Whilst the Desire HD boasts a 4.3-inch LCD capacitive touchscreen capable of displaying 480 x 800 pixels and the Incredible S a 4-inch S-LCD capacitive touchscreen with an identical pixel count. While we were undoubtedly impressed by the quality of the Incredible S display we are rather accustomed to the larger screen of its predecessor and although it's only a gnats larger we feel it gives a more pleasant viewing experience.
Winner - Desire HD
Internals - This is the first category where we feel that there’s a clear difference between the devices, though it’s still a fairly small one. The Desire HD is a powerful device, packing an impressive 1.5 GB ROM, 768 MB RAM and a 1 GHz Scorpion processor with dedicated Adreno 205 GPU. The Incredible S sports, you’ve guessed it, an identical processor, chipset and RAM, though bafflingly, HTC has chosen to give it less ROM, but a still fairly impressive 1.1GB.
Winner - Desire HD
Battery - According to the blurb, HTC has given the Desire HD an Li-Ion 1230 mAh battery, which will give you up to 420 hours of 3G stand-by time, and up to 5 and a half hours of 3G talk time. The Incredible S has a larger Li-Ion 1450 mAh battery, which offers less stand by time, at 370 hours using 3G, but more talk-time of 6 hours and 20 minutes.
Winner - Incredible S
So there you have it, the winner is the Incredible S, but we’d be lying if we said it was a whitewash. There’s so little difference between the devices that it was a tough one to call, but in each category, the Incredible S managed to push ahead by a minute amount. So on paper, the Incredible S is the winner, but you should by no means feel inadequate with a Desire HD in your pocket. Either way, you’ll be getting a good quality, top-tier device from a manufacturer whose stock is on the up-and-up.
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