Telstra to launch HTC Desire S on 31 May

Telstra and HTC joined forces last night to announce the carrier will range the HTC Desire S Android smartphone from 31 May. Telstra will also be the exclusive supplier of the Wildfire S, which will launch later on 16 July.

Compatible with the Next G network, the Desire S will be available for AU$5 per month on a AU$59 Freedom Connect plan or outright for AU$649.

The Desire S will follow in the footsteps of last year's HTC Desire, which was also a Telstra exclusive and the telco's most successful Android device to date, according to Andrew Volard, director of Telstra Mobile Products. The updated model will also be the first Android phone on the Telstra network to run on the Gingerbread version of the Android platform, though it will be closely followed by other handsets running the same system from Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

Compared with its predecessor, the new Desire sports an improved processor chipset. Although the clock speed remains the same at 1GHz, the Desire S includes a dedicated graphics processor and more RAM than the original. It is also capable of faster downlink speeds, with a peak connection of 14.4Mbps.