HTC Desire Z photo gallery: Several sultry slider snaps

We thought HTC had abandoned the humble physical keyboard, but it seems we were mistaken -- yesterday the Taiwanese company rocked the mobile world (well, wobbled a little anyway) by unveiling the sensational looking HTC Desire Z, an Android smart phone with a rather special pull-out keyboard.

We already blew your minds wide open with our hands-on preview, but if that was the Sunday roast, these photos are the delicious raspberry tart we're serving up for dessert.

The HTC Desire Z sports a pull-out keyboard, which rather than sliding out, like most mobiles, swivels out on two wonderfully complex hinges.

The design is really interesting, and although we have our concerns that it might be a shade too delicate to withstand a tumble from a late-night taxi, it has a real form factor advantage, because it means the mobile as a whole is slim, and fits together very pleasingly. Additionally, once flipped out, the keyboard is flush with the main body of the phone, and allows for a little extra space to manoeuvre.

But this phone isn't all keyboard -- inside it's running on Android 2.2, the newest and slickest version of Google's mobile operating system. HTC has also packed in a bunch of neat extra features courtesy of its Sense UI. You can read more about that in our proper preview, but trust us -- some of it looks really neat.

The HTC Desire Z will hit the shelves next month, and until then we'll be dissecting every single nanometre of it and its handsome new brother, the Desire HD. For now though, sit back, grab a carbonated beverage (maybe Irish it up a little, eh?) and enjoy those lovely photos.