Sometimes one picture can get taken out of context. Then the whole gadget news world runs with the wrong story. Take this picture for example. It’s dark, it has what looks like an optical trackpad at the bottom, it looks like the HTC Bravo/Desire, therefore it must be the Bravo/Desire for Verizon! One person reports it that way, then another, until you get this mess. I’ll admit I believed the buzz about it, and reported that we had photographic proof that the Desire was coming to Verizon. When challenged, I stuck to my guns, because at first glance it really looked like the Desire.
The problem? That photo of the “Desire” is actually a Droid Eris. But it’s also actually an HTC “Desire”. Before it’s official release, the Droid Eris was known internally as the Desire. The handset we now know as the Desire is totally different than Desire/Droid Eris. As one of our readers pointed out, and finally beat through my head, that chrome glint at the bottom is just the bezel around the trackball on the Droid Eris, and when you lighten the picture, it’s obvious. This is one instance where the groupthink and herd mentality of gadget news got carried away with something that’s simply not true. Check out the evidence after the jump. 
(Click the picture to enlarge)
So this is obviously the Droid Eris. So what now? Who will carry the HTC Desire, the 3.7″ Nexus One killer, formerly codenamed the Bravo? It could still be Verizon.
Look back to what Peter Chou (HTC CEO) said at Mobile World Congress:
The sales channels are very different. Google wanted to try the online sales opportunity, but our operators wants products too.
The Google Nexus One is available online only. It’s expensive and very limiting for existing T-Mobile subscribers to upgrade to it, there’s no support for family plans, and there’s nowhere you can try it in person before you buy it. The Nexus One WILL be available for Verizon this spring, but it will still only be available online, and again, families will likely be left out in the cold. Verizon may not be satisfied with this. Carriers know that the majority of their customers go to one of their flagship stores or shopping-mall kiosks to upgrade their phones. They know that non-smartphone users want something to try before they buy an expensive phone with an even more expensive data plan. Releasing the Desire as a Verizon-subsidized handset also allows big red to brand it as a DROID to fit with their lineup.
Would Google care if Verizon sold the Desire? Probably not. Google doesn’t seem to care which Android device you buy, just as long as you use Android. Their Nexus One site even encourages you to get a Droid if you don’t want to wait for the Verizon Nexus One. Google may even start selling the HTC Legend at their online store.
But honestly, the only “evidence” of a Verizon HTC Desire is that one picture. At Mobile World Congress, the Desire was specifically announced for Europe and Asia, with Australia and other countries to follow soon, but no mention of the United States.
So, let’s recap, what do we know? Not much:
- HTC has NOT announced a time frame for availability for the Bravo/Desire in the United States.
- The Bravo/Desire for Verizon is NOT CONFIRMED.
- AT&T has announced an “exclusive” HTC Android phone for the near future.
- The HTC Legend is a Europe-only release, and is unlikely to be AT&T’s exclusive handset.
Unless this exclusive HTC handset for AT&T is coming out of left field and has been kept completely secret, it makes the Desire a very good candidate for an AT&T release.
Update: One other rumor we’d like to dispel is that the Desire is actually the Verizon-branded Nexus One. There are a number of reasons why this is highly unlikely. First of all, the Desire has several important spec changes from the Nexus One. First of all, it eschews the soft buttons and trackball for hard buttons and an optical sensor. It’s also not using the Audience chip for audio processing as the Nexus One does; it does not have dual microphones for noise cancellation. It has more RAM (64MB more, to be precise), and no dock connector. HTC has said that this is to cut costs – which jibes with earlier rumors that the Desire would clock in at $100 less than the Nexus One. Additionally, the FCC filing for the Canadian/AT&T Nexus One shows the FCC ID as only one digit off from the original N1. Sweeping changes to the hardware, like found on the Desire, would likely generate a totally different FCC ID. And the final nail in the coffin for this rumor is Sense UI. With Sense UI, the Desire is no longer a “Google Experience” phone, which the Nexus One most certainly is. We discussed the difference here. So to repeat, if Verizon offers the HTC Bravo/Desire, it will be alongside the Nexus One.
So for the time being, it looks like the HTC Desire could appear in the United States on AT&T or Verizon, or it may not appear stateside at all.
