My friend and I have mobile phone contract renewals 6 months apart of which his is before mine. It pains me to see him shopping around for a new phone in the summer while I know I have to wait until the winter to get mine. Fortunately this time the wait paid off - he purchased the HTC Desire and then I got the HTC Desire HD and revelled in the glory of having a superior phone! (Sad yes, but sometimes it's the little things in life).

So, the big difference between the Desire and the HD version is the screen size. Desire is 3.7inches and the HD is 4.3 which is perfect for me as my big fingers don't seem to mash all of the icons displaying on the touch screen at once. The resolution of the screen is 480x800 pixels which is the same as the Desire, but the quality of the HD still seems to look better. With increased processor speed and RAM it also means that my phone has yet to freeze or go slow whereas his always hangs when flicking between apps.

The build of the phone is solid and has a nice metal casing which gives it a bit of weight and an edge of masculinity. Not saying that a female would look out of place having this phone, just that I think that it's been aimed more at the male market. The SIM and battery covers sit tightly into the casing so no clips or buttons are visible and keeps the phone feeling smooth and helps it slide in and out of those jeans that are probably a little too tight really for me to be wearing. Another design feature I like is the touch screen buttons on the front whereas on the Desire there are actual buttons.

The phone comes with Android software which as a first time Android user I'm impressed with. All the apps and tools that you expect are provided and searching around on the market place when waiting for the kettle to boil or the bath to run is a norm for me. I try to keep on top of my apps though to prevent clogging the phone up with junk and using up processor speed and memory - if I don't use it, it comes off.
Battery life could be better, but to run a phone with this size of screen and power requires a lot of juice. My top tip is you take a lot of pictures and videos or listen to music, buy a second battery off of eBay and keep it in your pocket if you go out for the day. Also get a battery saving app from the market place (I use Juice Defender).

I really do like this phone, I use it for everything - from an encyclopaedia to a torch; wi-fi hotspot to book reader. This is certainly the best phone I've owned to date and unlike most of my previous phones, I'm not getting the itch to upgrade it yet. Yes the HTC Sensation is out, but from what I've seen there isn't too much difference between that and the Desire HD except more CPU and RAM performance, but like I said I haven't had an issue with either.

Get it for £30 or less a month with unlimited minutes/data and you've got yourself a bargin!