Like the rest of HTC's 2012 smartphones, the HTC Desire C comes pre-loaded with Google Android 4.0.3 and HTC Sense 4.0.

HTC has blended Ice Cream Sandwich and its overlay very well. It's neither confusingly foreign nor bog-standard and plain.

Unlike the One S and One X, HTC hasn't unnecessarily put the recent apps multi-tasking part of Android into a separate window. Instead it appears over the top of the app or menu being shown, as Google designed.

There's plenty of widgets to customise the home screen and the lock screen can display information, as well as shortcuts for up to four apps. The HTC Desire C has a mix of the usual pre-loaded Google apps and some third-party ones like SoundHound, 7digital and Dropbox.