We've had the HTC Desire, complete with Android 2.2 Froyo upgrade, on test for a while now and there are a few new features that have been pleasing.
Better battery? Check. Improved stability? Yup. But HTC also added 720p video recording into the mix, in a bid to improve the shaky camcording on the HTC Desire.
We've tested both handsets with our...erm... dancing guinea pig to see how the camera handles quick moving scenes in averagely-lit areas.
HTC Desire Android 2.1 (Éclair)
Here's the original Android 2.1 video:
As you can see, it's a bit grainy and low-resolution, with a lot of motion blur, and brightness levels flickering all over the place.
HTC Desire Android 2.2 (Froyo)
Compare that now with the Android 2.2 video recording, which is sadly still compressed into the 3GP video container, despite the ability of the Desire to playback MP4 files:
As you can see, the motion blur and detail perception is awful, with bright flickers of light reflecting off even normal surfaces. You can't really see it as HD either, as the mess of blur ruins any perception of sharpness.
We tried dialling down the brightness, but the effect was minimal:
So to summarise - while the HTC Desire Android 2.2 upgrade is a great thing overall, the HD video isn't that much of an improvement. We'd like to see some better overall image stability, as this would help in fast moving situations.
