Fair play for HTC hitting back at apple over their ridiculous lawsuit a while back trying to get the import of all HTC phones banned in the US due to patent infringement.

But this just goes even further to show how ridiculous patents have become, at least in the US.

This is just a Flow Chart! How can you patent a flow chart?

This is just how a phone works! Come on.

You can't blame HTC, they didn't start this whole thing.  Apple has way more ridiculous patents, but seriously something is wrong here.

I am going to get the HTC Desire.

I used to have an iPhone, but it was not as baileys-proof as you might hope for.  This will sort of replace it after 6 months or so without a decent phone.  Will talk more about the phone another time, but it is awesome.

Giant sceen, fantastic resolution, 1GHz snapdragon, removable memory, replaceable battery, no iTunes dependence, and well priced.  I want 5 hours or so in mins a month (I usually use between 3 and 4) and a few hundred texts.

So just a quick price comparison to the iPhone:

iPhone 3GS:  18 months @£35 a month + £189 to buy the phone.  [600 min, 500 texts]

or:  18 months @£45 a month + £89 to buy the phone.  [1200 min, 500 texts]

Desire:  18 months @ £35 a month + £60 to buy the phone [ 900 min, 500 texts]

or:  18 months @ £30 a month + £60 to buy the phone [ 600 min, 500 texts]         {probably going to go for this one}

or: 18 months @£25 a month + £129 to buy the phone.  [600 min, 500 texts]

So, all in all considerable cheaper than the iPhone, which I also notice has not dropped in price.  I paid £100 for my 3G nearly 2 years ago, and they are still £100, on the same contract I had.

I loved my iPhone, when I lost it I felt like I had lost a limb, occasionally reaching for it and being disappointed when it was not there.  I hope the Desire will be a good replacement.

Referances:  http://shop.orange.co.uk/iphone/

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/phones/pay-monthly/htc/desire/price-plans/

I will probably go Vodafone who are launching the Desire next month, unless T-mobile are cheaper.

FFS Apple.

The whole patent system really needs fixing at some point.