HTC Desire coming to Telstra in April

HTC's Desire is the first Android phone to be released on the Telstra network in Australia.

Telstra has announced it will be selling HTC’s latest Android smartphone, the HTC Desire.

The first Google Android smartphone to be sold through Telstra, the HTC Desire was officially unveiled this morning at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and will be exclusive to Telstra for the first three months after it hits the Australian market.

Featuring a 3.7in AMOLED display, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and an updated version of HTC’s Sense user interface, the HTC Desire looks similar to Google’s own Nexus One smartphone, which was launched globally last year but is not yet available in Australia.

Speaking at a special press announcement at Mobile World Congress, Telstra’s Ross Fielding said the HTC Desire would be priced “aggressively,” but didn’t reveal specific details.

“It will be priced aggressively, that’s all we can share at this stage. We’ve had lots of interest and excitement around HTC and combined with the Next G network’s speed and coverage, you can’t get a better combination.”

Fielding also said it was a “conscious call” to offer an Android phone to Australian consumers and was a decision driven by pricing and demographics.

“The pricing and demographics opened up a gap in that particular space for us," he said. We didn’t want to dive into Android too soon ... as a telco we would like to see all operating systems succeed.”

Telstra confirmed the HTC Desire will have the full range of Telstra services available, including Mobile Foxtel. However, both the telco and HTC refused to confirm the Australian availability of the other two smartphones launched this morning — the HTC Legend and the HTC HD Mini.

Ross Catanzariti travelled to Mobile World Congress 2010 as a guest of Samsung.

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