Test report
Test report: HTC Desire Z
by Peter Wolf, Trend Scout and Journalist for Ringier AG
And that’s exactly what we have here: the HTC Desire’s virtual keypad was already really easy to use, because the keys vibrate slightly when pressed, giving you haptic feedback with each entry. The new Desire Z
model, however, has a real Qwerty keyboard under its display, making writing even more user-friendly. So, the keypad slides out. More precisely, the display lifts up like the roof of a cabriolet and slides back to reveal the keypad.
Even with the keypad open, the mobile phone is easy to hold and does not tip backwards. This allows you to write smoothly using both thumbs. Or, you can place it on a table and type on the keypad with two to four fingers. It lies flat and does not tip backwards.
One very practical feature is that there are individual keys for comma and full stop. They are located to the left and right of the conveniently large space tab. There are two ways to type umlauts: either by using the dual function keys (for example, FN and then J to produce «ä») or by holding down the «a» and then selecting the required character from the pop-up menu. You can also produce «é», «è» and «ç» in the same way. The @ symbol and the question mark now also have their own keys.
Having such a good keypad naturally means that typing is now even more fun. Whether you are typing addresses, entering text in a search field or writing in office applications such as «DocumentsToGo», «ThinkFree Office» or «Quickoffice».The free «DB Text Editor» dropbox also allows you to create and edit text.
If I were setting up my equipment today, I would group everything around Desire Z. And I would obtain only WLAN versions of all other devices. The Android phone can also serve as a WLAN hotspot for up to eight users.
Despite the additional keypad, the HTC Desire Z is just 2.3mm thicker than the Desire without a hardware keypad, and only 45g heavier.
