The Desire Z seems a bit of an oddball in these Labs. It’s a big touchscreen phone, along the same lines as the Desire, but it also includes a keyboard that emerges from underneath and an optical touchpad for general navigation. That hybridization means it’s a bulky device: it’s the second-thickest phone here and, at 180g, the heaviest too. But where the BlackBerry Torch stumbles in its attempt to combine keyboard and touchscreen, the Desire Z succeeds.
If you don’t get on with touchscreen keyboards, this is the phone for you. The keys are large, well-spaced and responsive. That, combined with the glorious 3.7in screen, means the Desire Z is just at home tapping out texts, tweets and Facebook updates as it is browsing complex websites.
The presence of Android 2.2 as standard boosts that browsing no end. There’s Flash 10.1 support, so you get the entire web, including games, embedded video and rich content, and performance is nothing short of superb. Panning and zooming complex websites is an experience as smooth as silk, as is navigating the Ul. The BBC homepage appeared in eight seconds and the SunSpider benchmark completed in seven seconds. Battery life is superb, too, with 70% remaining after our 24-hour test.
It isn’t just about the hardware, however. HTC’s Sense Ul is present here along with its excellent social-networking tools and dialer app, and there are a few improvements over the version on the standard Desire. Drag the status bar down from the top of the screen and you’ll see shortcuts to recently used apps. Plus, Wi-Fi tethering means you can hook up non-3G devices to the net via the data connection.
Also installed is Route 66 satnav, but we’re not big fans. Yes, it stores maps on your SD card, giving it an advantage over Google Maps Navigation in areas of weak signal, but you have to pay for the privilege and it has possibly the world’s worst address search. Other than that, the Desire Z is an excellent phone. It’s worth the premium over the Desire if you’ll take advantage of that keyboard.
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