HTC, the world's No. 4 maker of smartphones, turned up the heat on Google on Tuesday when it unveiled a new handset with many of the same features as the Internet giant's Nexus One but with a potentially lower price tag and wider distribution.

The Android-based phone, called Desire, was part of a line-up of three phones that HTC unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the wireless telecoms industry's largest annual gathering.

Its most striking feature is a 3.7-inch screen that is brighter and crisper than that of even the best PCs thanks to a display technology called AMOLED, or Active-matrix OLED, which doesn't require a back light to shine through the screen.