Hmmm, those two are some pretty different phones.
But then, everyone has their preferences, I guess.
Personally, were I buying a new phone right now, I'd probably be looking at a Desire S. Not through any particular insight into phone technology, just through preference. My phone preferences lead me to some balance between ergonomics and technology. I want the highest tech I can get in the most functionally pretty package--and a lot of phones are plain ugly to look at and uncomfortable to hold. (That's actually what made the difference back when I was choosing between a Desire and a Samsung Galaxy S--the Galaxy was better tech but plasticky and big.)
One thing about touchscreens is, yeah, the software keyboards are kinda crap. I really don't like the software qwertys. And even now, using a plain old T9 software keypad keyboard, it's hard to use the phone in, say, a moving car or a bus. Standing still it's fine though. But I still do kinda miss the ease of knowing with your fingers what you were typing. These days I have to look.
And the Desire S isn't rootable, and isn't likely to be either. HTC have announced that in the future they won't be locking their bootloaders, but I assume that means future phones, not the current crop that caused the complaints campaign against locking.
Pleco is in beta for Android now too.
http://www.pleco.com/androidbeta.htmlI shall be trying it out later today.