As a successor to the popular HTC Desire, the Desire HD brings with it most of the desirable features of its predecessor then wrapped it with a huge 4.3 inch screen (see our review of the HTC Desire here to get a better perspective). With such a huge screen real estate, the handset makes for a very good first impression very few smartphones ever get. The 4.3? LCD display is already bordering on the tablet category, just right under other 4 and 5-inchers like the Archos 43 and the Dell Streak.

The build and form factor is nothing new to us as we’ve already seen it over a year ago with the HTC HD2, although that one was running on WinMo 6.5 (there’s a hack to install Android on that one too) so it’s not a surprise that people are eager to see the marriage of the HD2?s hardware and Android OS.

What we missed with the Desire HD that we really liked with the older Desire is the inclusion of an AMOLED screen. While the LCD on the Desire HD still brings in that bright and clear display, the crispness and depth of contrast we get from AMOLED is very noticeable.

Because of the 4.3-inch screen, the footprint of the Desire HD is quite large at 123 x 68mm. HTC has kept it slim though, with a thickness of just 11.8mm. These dimensions are only slightly larger than the HD2′s 120.5 x 67 x 11mm. We liked the aluminum material, which has a matte finish. This is used throughout the device except for the screen and plastic cutouts on the back, which hide the battery and SIM/memory expansion card slots.

The bigger size of the Desire HD means it’s not for everyone. It will fit into most pockets, but those who are smaller in stature or like to wear tight jeans may not feel too comfortable with it, especially when trying to sit down. As with the HD2, this product is meant for those who want the latest and greatest in a smartphone, and such users generally accept the tradeoff of having a larger device.

The HTC Desire is, in effect, the second in the new Android range from HTC, with its much larger brother, the HTC Desire HD, taking most of the limelight. But it’s more than ‘spare a thought’ for the HTC Desire Z, as this phone is designed to encompass the best Android has to offer with HTC’s sublime Sense overlay – and a QWERTY keyboard to boot.

The first thing you’ll notice about the HTC Desire Z when you pick it up is the sheer heft, as we’re seeing a phone with a 3.7-inch screen coupled with a not-insubstantial QWERTY keyboard and hinge underneath.

The display half is mostly occupied by the 3.7” Super LCD screen with 480×800 pixels of resolution. It has very good color gamut, improved contrast and viewing angles, and, at maximum brightness, is very usable in direct sunlight, compared to previous generation LCDs. Only Motorola’s DROID army, and, of course, the iPhone 4, are trumping it in terms of resolution, but the technology used there is the same.

Embedded in the black frame underneath the screen are four tiny touch keys for the typical Android functions – home, menu, back and search. The other element below the screen is an optical trackpad, which allows you to swipe through the homescreens, navigate around in menus and websites, and press it to execute the desired action. It’s a good way to lessen contact, hence smudges on your touchscreen, but its functionality in the homescreens is somewhat limited to just scrolling them left and right, so you’ll have to inevitably use your fingers on the display there. When the alarm goes off, it lights up the area around the optical trackpad for some visual stimulation as well. The screen half also hosts the two-stage camera key at the right side, which needs to be held for a split second at full press to enter the camera interface.

As the original LG Cookie, the phone that foreshadowed the era of the budget touchscreen, proved to be quite a success, the manufacturer naturally seeks to keep this trend alive. The appearance of the LG Cookie Fresh GS290 is a proof of this. It is part of the newly-formed Cookie family. However, what place does it take among the rest of the family members is a tough question, as the Cookie Fresh takes some of the newer features found on the Cookie Plus, but sacrifices others that were initially found on the original. In short, it replaces the 3MP camera found on the first Cookie with a weaker 2MP one, and it lacks 3G, but sports a 3.5mm jack. So, in the final analysis, we can say the LG Cookie Fresh GS290 will be the handset of choice for those who enjoy listening to music while on the move, but would pay as little as possible.

The Cookie Fresh keeps the slim, matte black finish (it’s also available with pink, blue or white colour accents) that we liked on the original Cookie KP500. Despite its slender measurements, this phone fits a 76mm (3-inch), WQVGA touchscreen into its sleek frame. It retains the three buttons along the bottom of the screen that we saw on its predecessor — a call, call-end and shortcut button.

On the back, you’ll find a 2-megapixel camera. Around the edges, there are buttons to control the volume, initiate the camera mode and lock the handset. There’s also a microSD card slot, and a micro-USB port for connecting the Cookie Fresh to a PC.

The Cookie Fresh has a lower-spec camera than its predecessor, which sported a 3-megapixel snapper. It doesn’t make much difference to the quality of your photos, though. The Cookie Fresh’s 2-megapixel camera will perform ably if you’re more concerned with just capturing the moment than getting top-quality images, and it also features a camcorder mode. There’s no flash, but we weren’t expecting one at this price.

You’ve got six colour options for the rest of the edging – black, red, blue, pink, light green and silver. Our review sample was the rather dull black, but the others all add a strip of brightness to what is otherwise a bog-standard design. The Cookie Fresh GS290 is small and light at 108mm tall, 52.9mm wide and 12.5mm thick and it weighs, according to our scales, a mere 92g. So it is very light for the bag, small for the pocket, and neat in the hand.

The LG KM555e is a mid range handset, and seems to be aimed at the budget conscious user. The LG KM555e delivers with a large, 3.0 inch TFT touchscreen, with a pixel resolution of 240 x 400, supporting up to 356,000 colours. It is interesting to note the increase in touchscreen devices during 2009, and as more and more devices come to market with touchscreens, the cost of the technology will get even lower. Early touchscreen devices suffered with the quality of the displays doing little to credit the manufacturers, but in recent months touchscreen technology has improved immensely, with touch devices now available from all the leading manufacturers of mobile devices.

The 3” resistive touch screen dominates the front face of the device. There are 3 buttons along the bottom of the screen. They neither are physical buttons nor are they capacitive buttons. They appear to be an extension of the resistive touch screen, so they do require pressure to be applied. The buttons are for call, end, and one that brings up a task manager/favorites popup.
On the side there’s a volume rocker and a flap that covers the microUSB slot for charging. On the other side, there’s a camera button and a button that takes you do the media player. On the back is a 3MP fixed focus camera with no flash. Nothing on the bottom other than the mic. On top, there’s the power/standby button and a 3.5mm audio jack (a very welcomed addition).
LG includes a stylus, but there’s no way to store it in the device nor is there a way to dangle it externally. This is an odd decision. Does LG want you to carry it around in your pocket where it’s bound to get lost? Luckily, you won’t be needing the stylus much unless you use Asian text recognition.

The LG KM555e has a proprietary connector for headphones, but thanks to the inclusion of Bluetooth 2.1, you can also listen to music in stereo with a suitable wireless headset. Bluetooth 2.1 also makes it easier to connect to other compatible Bluetooth devices, as it improves the connection process to enable fast and simple connectivity for file sharing and general data transfer. For those moments when you want to be able to catch up with live music or news from your local radio station, the KM555e also brings a stereo FM radio, with RDS support, which allows certain pieces of information to be broadcast along the FM transmission, such as channel name, time updates and basic programme information.

Messaging elements on the handset are well covered; as well as the expected SMS and MMS picture messaging, the KM555e also has a built in email client with multi account support, which also offers the option to poll automatically for email and have it delivered directly to the phone.

The U900 is Samsung’s flagship phone of 2008. It’s a super-sexy super-slim slide phone that looks very “2008″ with its dual-screen touch-sensitive controls and metal casing. With a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, 3G video calling, MP3 player, FM radio and plenty of memory it should tick most people’s boxes. The only reason we haven’t awarded it 5 stars is because some people think that the ringtone and call volume are too quiet. Available in Graphite, Silver, Pink or Black.

At first glance, you can tell that the Soul is something different from the usual Samsung slide design. We’ve watched the slide phone evolve over the past 4 years from the compact but definitely-not-thin D500 to the superslim D900 to the wow-that-really-is-thin U600 with its touchscreen controls that left some users unimpressed. More recently the Samsung G600 has been top of the bestseller lists. The reason why we’re waffling on about the history of the slide phone is because it’s obvious that the Soul is something quite different. Let’s call it the next-generation slide phone.

Key features:

• 5 megapixel camera (autofocus, face detection, wide dynamic range and image stabilization)
• 2.2″ 16M-color TFT LCD display of QVGA resolution
• 3G with HSDPA (7.2Mbps) support
• Touchpad navigation
• Cool looks
• FM radio with RDS
• 128MB of shared memory and microSD slot
• Bluetooth and USB v2.0
• Wide dynamic range and image stabilization in camera
• User-friendly keypad