So I just got back from the HTC event. It was awesome. Open bar, free food, etc. Truth be told I'm a little tipsy, I definitely took advantage of the open bar.
I probably got about 20 minutes total playing with a Desire Z/G2 and the same with the Desire HD. Verdict - holy fuck these phones are good. Super fast. Handled multitasking with a bunch of apps like champs. Full FroYo with no restricted features or anything like that.
Here's what impressed me the most:
1) Boot-up time. I honestly don't know how they did this. Both devices booted from completely off, to fully powered on and usable, in less than 5 seconds.
Comparatively - G1 takes about 40 seconds to boot. Hero takes about 30 seconds. Desire, about 15-20 seconds. Galaxy S - 10-15 seconds.
Literally everybody at the event was completely amazed by this.
2) Speed/response. THE most responsive home screens and touch screens of any device. Any previous HTC device, any Samsung device, even the iPhone 4 and iPad. the G2 and Desire HD are shitting on them. Incredibly smooth. Even with a shitload of widgets and heavy live wallpapers, these things aren't phased in the slightest.
3) The keyboard mechanism on the Desire Z/G2 is FOR THE MOTHERFUCKING WIN. The best physical keyboard of any device. Without question. Even with the supposed "added bulk" of having a physical keyboard, it is still thinner than the original Desire and the Nexus One.
The keyboard use was comfortable - a little awkward at first for me since I'm used to the G1 keyboard which is a 5-row and has much smaller keys, but nothing I wouldn't get used to very quickly.
4) Dual LED flash combined with 8 megapixel camera on the Desire HD is just insanity. The pictures we took with it are amazing. I thought the single LED flash on the original Desire was plenty bright enough - this takes it to the next level.
They gave away a Wildfire, a Desire, and a Legend in a raffle. Didn't win, but the person who won the Desire had a ticket number which was 4 or 5 digits away from mine, so I came close lol. I thought they might be giving away some of the new devices, but apparently they aren't final production models, there may still be minor OS tweaks before they start selling them next month.
I did get some HTC swag though - some lanyards and HTC branded mints lol. More importantly, I had a good conversation with the head of PR in the UK for HTC. He gave me his business card and asked me to email him which I will do tomorrow and perhaps I can get an endorsement deal with him they way that I had one with T-Mobile/Danger a couple of years ago when I was promoting the Sidekick.
HTC are really pushing these two new devices hard. More so than converting existing smartphone users, they want these devices to be the first smartphones for all the people still using dumbphones. I would honestly have difficulty picking any flaws in these two devices so they might just pull it off.
I took a bunch of photos and video but frankly none of it is better than stuff you can find elsewhere, like the links I posted earlier so there's no real point me uploading them.
I grilled the HTC guys on a bunch of stuff to do with Android, so if there's anything you guys want to know about these two devices, holla and I'll try to help.
Overall conclusion - once these two devices hit next month, they are EASILY the best two Android phones on the market. Even the Galaxy S with it's SAMOLED screen and front-facing camera is not comparing to the Desire HD for speed, responsiveness, power, and brilliance.
Right now - I'd have a hard time picking which one I want. I'm leaning towards the Z cos of the QWERTY, but the bigger screen and better camera of the DesireHD are incredibly impressive.
. I have no idea how, it has to be in my car somewhere but I searched it completely. I'm hoping tomorrow it magically appears and I find it with the help of daylight. If not I'm going to be phoneless until Oct. 6th rolls around or whatever they're saying the release date for the G2 is