According to a recent Amazon advertisement, the HTC Desire S handset – the new version of the HTC Desire handset that received rave reviews at the MWC last year - will likely be released on April 18; and the cost of the phone will be $419.99.

The key features of the HTC Desire S, which comes with a new aluminium unibody, include a 3.7-inch Sony SuperTFT display; the upgraded Qualcomm 1GHz processor; 1.1 GB storage with 768 MB of RAM; and 720p HD video recording.

The handset will be powered by Google Android 2.3 ‘Gingerbread’ version; and will enable users to wirelessly stream photos and video directly to their TV via a DLNA connection. In addition, it will also facilitate easier application downloads and tighter social networking integration.

While the Desire S handset looks fairly akin to Desire, some of the other enhancements that the refreshed version boasts include a front facing camera for video chatting – though it will be a low resolution VGA option.

Furthermore, the upgraded version of the UI of the HTC Desire S will essentially bring another option on the notifications bar in the form of ‘quick connections’ to control things like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. The handset also does away with the physical buttons in favor of the sleeker touch-sensitive panel.