When HTC launched the Desire in 2010 we were pleasantly surprised by a handset which provided a good budget phone at a good price, even though it was low-end for this particular manufacturer.

The Desire C is the latest re-incarnation of this model which was quite a hit with Maltese users who wanted something smaller and more affordable than the Wildfire.

Our Desire C had a 600 MHz processor, 512MB of RAM, a 3.5 HVGA display, a 5megapixel camera, a micro-SD slot, Android 4.0.3 and HTC Sense 4.

The handset is small and comfortable to hold. It feels well-built and stylish.

That a mid-range HTC would sport the latest Android 4.03 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system is proof that the manufacturer means business. But does the phone have enough power to run it?

It has, but don’t expect miracles. The HTC Desire C does its job well. You cannot expect to do a lot of multi-tasking but using the different apps and internet was good. This is definitely not a smartphone to watch videos on all day long.

The display was good although we needed to do a lot of scrolling and zooming in and out. It is acceptable in bright conditions.

The battery did last for about a day but we expected it to perform better. Maybe the phone’s good performance sucks the battery at a fast rate.

The verdict? If you want a mid-range phone with HTC quality and good specs, this is one of the models to go for.

The HTC Desire C was made available for review by Go.