Having been in the spotlight these past two weeks for getting in bed with Microsoft, Nokia faced some hard questions on its product roadmap yesterday in Singapore, where it launched a business smartphone that sported the now-unfavoured Symbian operating system.

Just how would Nokia position the new E7, now that newer Windows Phone devices would be out in the coming months? Would the software onboard be updated over time? Just how good is the phone itself? …

Okay, I wasn’t at the HTC launch in London yesterday, where rival Nokia childishly gave out a HTC (Ham, Tomato and Cheese) sandwich to journalists going to the HTC event.

But back in Singapore, I managed to get a quick hands-on with the two HTC phones – Desire HD and Desire Z – that are built on the basic touch-screen Desire (and its earlier variant the Google Nexus One) that came out earlier this year.

First, I have to say both phones look solidly built and the industrial design (ID) is really up there with the best. It reminds me a little of Nokia at its zenith, like their 8250 “butterfly” phone. …