HTC Desire

So what are my impressions after just five days?
It is very nice. It is light and thin, with a large bright vibrant screen, with an excellent viewing angle. Most of the front is screen, with fairly small bezel, and just five buttons below the screen. The camera remains largely untested, but my one outdoor shot was frighteningly easy to post on facebook. Viewing pictures on screen is great, being able to zoom and pan.  It also plays music passably well, a  little tinny but passable through its own speakers, and fairly indistinguishable (to my ears) from the iPod played through speakers. Using the internet is a worthwhile experience, you would always reach for a laptop if one was available, but you can certainly read information quite adequately. Using Google maps is still to be experienced.
What about address book calendar texts and calls?  Well the good news is that the HTC Sync software works with Windows Mail address book and calendar, not just Outlook. (I am talking about the ones I have on Windows Vista, I am not sure about the Windows Live mail in Windows 7).  The other route to synchronise data is with Google mail address book and Google calendar, which happens when you sign into google mail from the phone.  The calendar seemed to cope with events appearing from both directions.  The address book ends up with duplicate entries, with an option to link between them. Linked address book entries retain their separate identity, so that when you edit, (or add) you have to chose to operate on the sim, the phone or the Google account.
The phone itself uses the HTC fast dial, which is great, as you can type a number or a name, and the screen offers the names that match as you type, although scrolling through the address book and dialling is also very easy.
Texting has been my biggest problem, not on account of the application, which shows both sides of the conversation very nicely, but on account of the keyboard, and clumsy fingers. I unwittingly invited two work colleagues to Sparklers (Sunday school) - attaching a calendar event to text message is easy, deleting an attachment is a skill I have yet to master.  What I do wish I had learned sooner was that the middle (scroll) button is a much easier way of moving the cursor than a finger on the screen.
There are annoyances that remain. The combination of hard buttons and on screen buttons can be less than intuitive, and the back button is inconsistent between back one or multiple steps. I am not sure whether switching away from an application leaves it running in the background or closes it. Certainly switching away from entering or editing an address book entry aborts the operation; you have to press save even if its is hidden by the keyboard or you have to scroll down to find it.
The market place is good. I found a very creditable bible reader and NIV bible for USD 5.99, and quite  a competent todo list that I will probably pay USD 2.95 for, to stop the adverts in the free version.
One important matter that it handles very well is switching on and off wi-fi and 3G mobile connection, nice to have no ambiguity there.
Emails? Yes. I logged into by pop3 account and google mail no problem. I have not explored push email, and have no great wish to. If I wanted to, I guess I would have got a Blackberry.

So, the first impression is of a phone that has a wonderful screen, is largely competent in most areas, has a lot of very nice features and a few annoyances that I can learn to live with.