HTC Desire X review

The HTC Desire X comes 3G enabled as well as packing Wi-Fi b/g/n compatibility, allowing you to get online at home, in the office or while on the move.

You are treated to two internet browsers out of the box on the Desire X, with the stock Android offering making its regular appearance alongside the emerging Chrome browser which is starting to make its way onto more and more handsets by default.

There isn't a lot between the two, with both loading the mobile version of TechRadar in around five seconds over 3G, while the full-fat version of TechRadar took around 15 seconds.

Over Wi-Fi the load times were slightly quicker - you can probably knock a couple of seconds off the 3G times - but still the Desire X isn't the slickest web operator that we've witnessed, with the Orange San Diego giving an impressive showing during our full review.

Text reflows automatically in both browsers, which is darn useful as it makes reading articles easy as you zoom in to a readable level.

Zooming itself isn't the smoothest affair, with pages stuttering and images taking a couple of seconds to reload at the new level – the lag wasn't enough to become an issue, but we have seen better performance on other handsets – Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 take a bow.

The 4-inch display provides enough space to comfortably view websites, while the 480 x 800 resolution means text and images are sharp enough for your eyes, without having to strain them or question why everything looks so blocky.

Both web clients also offer up tabbed browsing, allowing you to have multiple windows open at any one time and you can sync both with your Google account, which brings in all your bookmarks from the cloud – pretty handy.

Flash comes pre-installed on the Desire X, allowing you to access all those lovely Flash-built sites, however Adobe has stopped supporting this technology so expect it to fade away over the coming years.

When it comes down to which browser you should use it really all depends on which icon you'd rather look at on your homescreen and whether you prefer the dark skin of the Internet app over the lighter offering in Chrome.