Just recently, my friend Usman asked me to help him decide which smartphone to buy. The choices were iPhone 4 and HTC Desire. Being an Android fanboy myself and knowing Usman’s love for the iPhone, I was  baffled and found it hard to make a suggestion.

Both the phones are feature packed as Apple tried to add the long awaited features in the iPhone 4 and it became the most successful product of all time for Apple. On the other hand, Desire is the best smartphone HTC have produced so far.

Then I came across this smartphone face off at T3 that sums everything up beautifully and making the right choice easier. At the end of the day, of course, it’s your choice.

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Build and design

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iPhone 4

At 9.3mm thick, the new iPhone is 24 per cent slimmer than the iPhone 3GS, and Apple claim it’s the “slimmest smartphone on the planet.” It’s built with stainless steel and glass for strength and scratch-resistance.

HTC Desire

A simple, understated but ultimately classy design, built with a rubberised plastic back to be reasonably tough. The new optical trackpad eschews the trackball for slimness and aesthetics, while tactile buttons at the bottom feel better than the Nexus One’s touch-sensitive ones.

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Processor

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iPhone 4

Apple’s bespoke A4 processor nestles within the new iPhone’s innards. It’s the same as is found in the iPad and provides super speedy operation and quick multi-tasking.

HTC Desire

The increasingly popular Qualcomm SnapDragon processor gifts the Desire 1 GHz of power, making it extremely swift.

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Operating system

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iPhone 4

The recently renamed iOS 4 brings much sought-after multi-tasking, the ability to organise apps into folders, the iBooks store, threaded email and the new iAds in-app advertising platform to the phone. iOS4.1 which has just been launched, adds uploading hi-def video over Wi-Fi, High Dynamic Range photos, and a Game Centre for multiplayer gaming.

HTC Desire

The Desire ships with Android 2.1, but is soon to get the ‘Froyo’ 2.2 update. According to reports, this will make it 450% quicker, allow you to store apps on the MicroSD and gift support for Flash 10.1 during web browsing.

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Multi-tasking

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iPhone 4

Double tap the home button to see a list of recently used apps and switch between them. Crucially this means you can listen to third-party music apps (like Spotify) or receive VoIP calls while using other programs.

HTC Desire

The Android platform supports multi-tasking like a champ, letting you easily switch between several running apps. Heavy multi-tasking does take its toll on the battery life, though.

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Display

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iPhone 4

Apple calls it the ‘Retina Display’- it’s 3.5 inches and has a resolution of 960×640 pixels, four times more pixels than the iPhone 3GS. With 326px per inch and an 800:1 contrast ratio, it’s been lauded as better than OLED.

HTC Desire

A 3.7-inch AMOLED screen that provides pin-sharp detail while not being too power hungry. Being OLED, it can prove hard to read in bright daylight.

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Battery life

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iPhone 4

A bigger battery, coupled with the Apple A4 processor’s efficiency, make for claims of 7 hours 3G talktime, 6 hours 3G browsing, 10 hours WiFi browsing, 10 hours music, 40 hours of music, and 300 hours of standby.

HTC Desire

400 minutes of GSM talk time, 390 over 3G. HTC claim the Desire has 390 hours standby time.

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Connectivity

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iPhone 4

Connectivity is Quad band hspda/hsupa, giving a potential 7.2mbps down, 5.8 up. An 802.11n Wi-Fi chip will provide blistering speeds when in range.

HTC Desire

Near identical. HTC say the Desire boasts a 7.2 Mbps download speed and 2 Mbps upload speed over 3G. The Wi-Fi chip is the same as the iPhone: 802.11 b/g.

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Camera(s)

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iPhone 4

The camera’s had a major beefing. This time there’s a 5-Megapixel cam on the back with a backside illumination sensor and LED flash, plus a VGA cam on the front for the new ‘FaceTime’ video calling feature. It’ll also shoot 720p HD video at 30fps.

HTC Desire

The Desire sports a very impressive 5-Megapixel camera with LED flash. Video and images aren’t HD, but it’s certainly up there with the best smartphones around.

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Data storage

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iPhone 4

16 and 32GB models are available

HTC Desire

Comes with 512mb (built in) and a 4GB MicroSD card, which is upgradeable to 32GB.

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Apps

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iPhone 4

You know the drill; paid and free apps from all and sundry on the App Store. At the time of writing there are around 225,000 apps. Apple tightly controls what makes it in.

HTC Desire

Around 70,000 apps at the time of writing, increasing at a rate of around 10,000 per month. Android is open source, meaning anyone can build and publish any kind of app – some of which can be used to change the look and UI of the phone. There’s also a short-term refund policy.

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Special features?

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iPhone 4

The new iPhone benefits from the iMovie app ($4.99) that lets you extensively edit and upload videos on the phone. There’s also a built in Gyro, for 6-axis motion-controlled gaming, plus a dual mic with noise suppression tech built in. Apple thinks its FaceTime video calling feature will “change everything.”

HTC Desire

The Desire’s Android 2.2 update will give it one major advantage over the iPhone; Flash 10.1 support for web browsing. Given that a huge amount of the web uses the Flash standard, that’s a big bonus. You can also download certain apps to completely customise specific functions such as the keyboard or homescreen layout. The Desire also mutes ringing and vibrating once you’ve picked the phone up.