Looking at the HTC Dream, the question was always going to be whether or not Australia’s first Google Android-powered mobile phone could compete with the Apple iPhone 3GS. With a full-slide out QWERTY keyboard, trackball and touch-screen interface, many people will like the HTC Dream, but a couple of small hardware and software issues could mean it doesn’t beat its rival in a few categories.

Physically, you may have mixed feelings about the HTC Dream. It’s not a small phone, although you do have to consider it has a real keyboard. However, its display is rather small, and the handset’s matte black finish looks more like a business mobile than its glossy iPhone counterpart. The keyboard itself is accessed in an unusual fashion, as you have to slide the screen up and over in an arc movement, but its design is great.

Every button on the keyboard is raised up slightly and spread comfortably apart, so the keys are all simple and easy to access and press. However, this very useful keyboard doesn’t meld perfectly into the handset’s overall design. The trackball and other buttons are found on the bottom of the mobile, which tilts outwards. On occasion, this shape can impede your right hand when typing, which will be frustrating for some people, especially those who prefer to type with one-hand.

The HTC Dream originally didn’t include an on-screen keyboard, so you had to flip open the screen every time you wanted to put in text. Google Android's ‘cupcake’ software update fixes this problem easily. The Google Android interface is what will attract most people to this business smartphone. Its full touchscreen and trackball navigation are an awesome combination.

The Dream’s touchscreen is simple to use and responds well to touch, but it doesn’t have a multi-touch function, so you can’t use your fingers to pinch and zoom in. The screen orientation can be rotated when the keyboard is slid out, but not when turning the phone onto its side.

Underneath the display you have numerous controls such as answer call, home, back, end call and menu. The menu button proves to be a multi-task feature as it results in different functionality depending on which application you’re using at the time. For example, whilst writing text messages pushing menu gives you the option to compose, delete and change settings.

This HTC home screen is separated into three pages, all easily accessible when sliding your thumb sideways on the display. There are many options for customisation. You can drag and drop icons from the main menu onto your home screen, or you can add various widgets, but you can’t create your own yet. On-screen graphics are simple to use, although their cartoon-like design is a little strange for a mobile being marketed to business people.

One aspect of the interface to note is the notification and status bar, which is exceptionally useful. This bar has a clock on the right side, plus the usual mobile phone icons like reception indicator, battery percentage, and connectivity status for both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. On the left side of the screen, icons are shown for most open applications such as new incoming emails, text messages, voicemails and reminders from your calendar.

If you drag the status bar down the screen you can see a full list of your most recent notifications. These stay on the screen with all of their details until your clear them. Whenever you can see the status bar you can utilise this drop-down screen, making it the best notification system on any mobile phone around.

As expected, the HTC Dream has dreamy integration with all Google services. Android does an excellent job of synchronising all of your Google email, contacts and calendar data. If you add a meeting to your calendar on your computer, the new date is automatically transferred to your mobile phone, and vice versa. In the instance you don’t have an existing Google account, the HTC Dream lets you create one on the phone itself, plus contact lists from Microsoft Outlook or Apple address books can be imported.

One drawback to consider is when you don’t choose to use Gmail as your main email account. The other mail client, of which is not affiliated with Google, is fairly average.  A very limited system, you don’t have the ability to download attachments like Word or PDF files, and basic functions like marking email as read, or deleting numerous emails at one time aren’t available. Microsoft Exchange isn’t supported unless, as with other missing programs, you download it from the Android Market.

One of the strong points in the HTC Dream’s interface is the Android's mobile Web browser. This is an exceptionally intuitive browser, although admittedly the screen is smaller than that of the iPhone, and multi-touch functions aren’t included. To zoom in on particular areas you can double-tap the screen, plus you have access to on-screen controls, but the trackball is better than the touchscreen for surfing through website pages. Always needing to slide open the external keyboard can be a real hassle, but if you download Google's Android software update the on-screen keyboard makes this work easy.

The HTC Dream comes with Google Maps, and it looks awesome when you utilise the compass mode via Street View. This compass mode uses GPS and a built-in accelerometer, letting you see the address you’ve searched for in 360 degrees when you rotate the phone. It’s like you were standing on the street yourself. If you point the phone downwards you’ll see the road you’re on, and if you face the screen upwards you can see the tops of skyscrapers or clouds in the sky.

In terms of multimedia, HTC’s Dream could be construed as a little lacklustre when compared to its contemporaries. You can watch YouTube videos (and they play quite well), but besides that there’s no dedicated video player. Unlike the iPhone, you also have to live without A2DP Bluetooth, a 3.5mm headphone jack, graphic equaliser and Cover Flow. On the other side of the coin, you can turn any of your songs into ringtones, which is a cool feature. You do get a quite sizable 3.2-megapixel camera with the HTC Dream, but there’s no video recording, no flash, and no camera settings.

The HTC Dream has access to the Android Market, which is Google’s form of the Apple iPhone App Store. This is a boon for HTC Dream owners as you can add a lot more functionality to the mobile phone via a vast range of free applications. Downloading applications is simple and easy, and the number of free applications to download is considerable.

When using the device as a telephone, voice quality is quite good, but the speakerphone doesn’t quite reach a high enough volume for most people’s needs when found in loud background noise situations. Battery life is similar to that of the iPhone, so you could need to charge nightly if you’re using it heavily. There’s a 1GB microSD card preloaded with eleven songs, and the card’s expansion slot holds up to 8GB memory cards.

Pros:

-    Google’s Android interface is easy to use
-    Extremely responsive touchscreen
-    HSDPA
-    Wi-Fi and GPS
-    Full QWERTY keyboard
-    Potential for future upgrades and new applications
-    Notifications and status bar
-    Awesome Google service integration
-    Android Market application store
-    Great web browser

Cons:

-    Aesthetically understated appearance
-    No 3.5mm headphone jack
-    No video recording
-    No Bluetooth
-    No auto-rotate
-    Standard on-screen keyboard is missing
-    Mediocre non-Gmail e-mail support
-    No document editor