HTC have announced two new Android handsets; Desire HD and Desire Z. Putting the names aside, for now, the new phones are a an evolutionary step up from the popular Desire original, and runs an improved version of the Sense UI; HTC’s flavour of Android.

The HD can shoot, wait for it, HD video, 720p to be precise, as well as have HD content uploaded to it. Both phones tout better loading times (12 seconds!) and a number of improvements in media and social networking. HTC have also launched a website that will allow users to manage information on their phone from their computer… not exactly new.

All in all, these are some pretty sweet looking handsets, and as I will be looking for a new phone in early 2011, the more pretty sweet phones that come out between now and then, the better. However, HTC are also gearing up to release a Windows Phone 7 handset, and I am really interested to see how that goes; if Windows Phone 7 is as good as it looks, and the hardware is as good as the Desire HD, I may just be tempted to go Microsoft with my next phone.

Sales figures have shown that the new, slimmer Xbox 360 is selling like hot cakes… whatever that means. Sales figures are up 34 percent year-to-date, and as the Xbox is in its fifth year of life, that’s impressive. Annalists are confident that this is not from consumers buying up older model Xbox’s that have had their prices slashed for clearance.

For a large portion of the Xbox 360′s life, it was thought that there would be an Xbox 720, or whatever they’d call it, coming out after about four or five years. Partly because that is how long the original Xbox ran for, and partly because it was felt that the superior hardware of the PS3 would eventually outsell Xbox. I think consumers (myself included) have only just recently began to accept that we may be stuck with the current generation for some time now, and existing Xbox owners, like myself, are finding it justifiable to buy the newer, slimmer, quieter model, as we reach the stage in the consoles life where developers have gotten all they can get from the hardware, and have to start being really creative.

Some other stuff

Sony have announced that the 3.50 update for the PlayStation 3 will bring 3D Blu-ray support… in Japan. There’s nothing particularly amazing about this story, Sony have been pushing 3D (and the hardware that plays it… their hardware) since it became a viable technology. I’m surprised it is not a world wide update; perhaps Japan consume more 3D movie’s than the rest of us.

Barely out of the plastic wrapping, Halo: Reach has broken the record for most concurrent unique Xbox Live users online. This shattered the previous record, set by Modern Warfare 2 last year. It’s not that much of a surprise; Microsoft have really been pushing this game, and there are more Xbox Live users now than when the previous record holders were released. It should be interesting to see what happens when the next Call of Duty game comes out, though.

For some time now, despite the unfettered success of the Wii and Nintendo’s love of making money, the web has been full of rumours of a ‘Wii HD.’ Basically, an evolutionary upgrade of the Wii; better graphics, improved controls, etc. Well, Take-Two CEO, Ben Feder, thinks that the new Sony Move is just that. There are arguments against this line of thought, but, personally, I think he has something. Move isn’t a Wii HD replacement, but in terms of innovation and new ideas, it is just a more powerful, more accurate Wii.

The Links