Ever since the T3 award-winning HTC Hero waltzed into our lives with its ultra-sleek design, sumptuous UI and Google's mobile OS, the Taiwanese mobile manufacturer had set the benchmark for making all-round impressive Android phones.

A year on and those cutting-edge minds at HTC have served up a smartphone many (including a number of the T3 team) argue is better than the iPhone.

iPhone 4 vs HTC Desire: Which smartphone is best?

So, if the iPhone 4 has failed to get the juices flowing, and you yearn for something a little different to the Apple smartphone, look no further than the HTC Desire.

See below for our 10 reasons why you should buy T3's hottest gadget on the planet, the HTC Desire

1/ Processor

The 1GHz Snapdragon processor lives up to its potential, making every action fast and judder-free; every transition smooth.

2/ Sense UI

The HTC Sense user interface adds extra gloss to Android, with more home screens, widgets and simplified navigation.

3/ Flash support

The HTC Desire is capable of playing Flash video, meaning you can view any treat from YouTube.

4/ Web wonder

Browsing the web is speedy and the mix of Flash and 3.7-inch screen means websites render well.

5/ Camera

The five-megapixel camera is the best yet from HTC, capturing reasonably sharp images. It throws in a decent LED flash too.

6/ Video

The Desire features excellent video capture at 800x480 pixels and a superb screen to view it on. The bundled 4GB microSD provides adequate storage.

7/ Social networking

Facebook is integrated with HTC Sense, meaning you can sync your Facebook buddies with their phone book entries, giving a very easy way to check their status updates.

8/ Messaging

Push email over Exchange as well as Gmail and other webmail accounts is supported. You’ll never be out of touch again.

9/ VFM

The Desire is better equipped and cheaper than the iPhone 3GS or Nexus One, whether bought SIM-free or on a contract.

10/ OLED screen

The OLED serves up vivid colours, helps make the Desire a little slimmer and may save battery. It suffers a tad outdoors, though.