HTC Desire S gets priced by Amazon for April release in the UK
Amazon UK has made the new HTC Desire S Android smart phone available to pre-order on its site, with a SIM-free price of £420, and an expected release date of 18 April.
HTC's Desire S was unveiled at Mobile World Congress last week, with a planned release in the second quarter of this year. Amazon UK has got more specific though, making the Android-based smart phone available to pre-order with an expected release date of 18 April, and a SIM-free price tag of £419.99.
Good value? What you'll be getting for your money is a phone with a 1GHz processor, 768MB RAM, 1GB of storage and a 5-megapixel camera, not to mention a 3.7-inch 480x800-pixel screen, and the very latest Android 2.4 Gingerbread software.
We were big fans of the original HTC Desire, which won an Editors' Choice award last year. When we played with the Desire S at MWC, however, we were concerned about its use of the same 1GHz processor, rather than the dual-core processors popping up in rivals such as the Samsung Galaxy S 2.
That said, the Desire S sports a sleek aluminium case, and has the latest version of HTC's Sense Android user interface, which is shaping up very nicely. Meanwhile, that £420 SIM-free price tag from Amazon may indicate that the Desire S will be more affordable, especially once operators get their hands on it.
Which will be when? Vodafone, T-Mobile and Orange all confirmed last week that they will be selling the Desire S in the second quarter of this year, and if Amazon has it by mid-April, it's reasonable to assume they will to -- or at least soon after.
For more info on the HTC Desire S, check out our full preview here and a gallery of hands-on photos here.