HTC Desire

[red.]

How did you manage that?

Mine arrived at 7.05am today :D. It's a good phone, but it makes me want to buy an iPhone 3GS or 4G :pinch:

Good Points:

• The look
• Hardware - Speed, Camera and Screen
• Sense UI
• Widgets
• Multi-tasking
• Notifications bar

Bad Points:

• Marketplace - Dollars, Euros and GBPs?, lack of applications compared to iPhone.
• Google Mail application - I need to try a couple others.
• Keyboard - I'm sure I can change this too.
• Find the physical buttons uncomfortable to use

Just saw the deal on the internet. Bought it from mobilephonesdirect 100 mins and 100 texts but i should get 'unlimited' internet (i think it might be a 1GB FUP) and paid ?115 for the phone. I should get ?30 back through quidco as well. Basically just wanted a cheap monthly price because i don't phone/text too much, mainly email my friends and use the internet more.

There was a similar monthly deal with Beepy but with 300 mins/texts + ?94 but they haven't had stock in ages.

[acnpt]

^^ Nice.

The more I use this phone, the more I like it :D

[Hardcore Til I Die]

Marketplace - Dollars, Euros and GBPs?, lack of applications compared to iPhone.

I find the Android Market lacking only in number of apps. The Apple App Store can boast about the number of apps but there's a load of fart apps, beer apps, etc etc.. things that aren't really that useful.

So far every app I've wanted has been in the Android Market :D

[Chasethebase Reporter]

That tends to be a problem with the App Store, it's full of rubbish, only 20% odd of the available apps are any good.

[Singh400]

Can anyone attempt to extract the wallpapers from these phones and post them? That would be awesome!

They are in the ROM image (or so I have read). Use something like Astro to explore the contents of your phones memory then copy to SD card, connect to PC. Cope the image from you \sdcard folder and try to open it. Not sure what would read that file though.

[Bioran]

Wow, the Desire looks amazing.

Does anybody know whether there would be better models coming up near the end of the year? Would the Desire's price come that at that point?

[neo158]

Wow, the Desire looks amazing.

Does anybody know whether there would be better models coming up near the end of the year? Would the Desire's price come that at that point?

Possibly, but that's the problem, you could keep waiting for the next range of Android phones and never buy one!!!!

[Singh400]

Wow, the Desire looks amazing.

Does anybody know whether there would be better models coming up near the end of the year? Would the Desire's price come that at that point?

Nothing in the pipeline, certainly not a successor to the Desire anytime soon.

[neo158]

There is the HTC Wildfire, but that is a lower spec phone being touted as the HTC Desire Mini.

Interestingly the Wildfire has a new widget that allows App sharing!!!!

[Singh400]

There is the HTC Wildfire, but that is a lower spec phone being touted as the HTC Desire Mini.

Interestingly the Wildfire has a new widget that allows App sharing!!!!

Wildfire is more like the Hero than the Desire.

[shakey]

If you are finding your battery to run out quite quickly... try only using 5 pages instead of the 7. Even though you are not running the app, it is still there, slowly taking a little away of power, depending on what app it is.

[Robbie Khan Reviews]

Background apps not tasking away do not use the battery. Android will efficiently manage apps and homescreens without using much power.

Use the Battery usage meter to view what is causing the most battery loss.

Most people will find it's Cell Standby which you can't do anything about.

[Pong]

And make sure you turn wifi off if you're not using it, especially if you're not connected to a network, since it can eat your battery away very quickly.

[shakey]

Background apps not tasking away do not use the battery. Android will efficiently manage apps and homescreens without using much power.

Use the Battery usage meter to view what is causing the most battery loss.

Most people will find it's Cell Standby which you can't do anything about.

Ya, screw that cell stand by lol. Also, I keep getting google maps/friends process coming up, but I have yet to really even open up any map application.

Background apps wont, but widgets that you fill up your screen with will. If you have all 7 pages filled with email, facebook, and what else other widgets, it will drain the battery quickly. Best to just have icons if you can, and only put widgets up for what you really need. That is if your battery drains fast though, if not, do what you please lol. Those widgets though, even though you are not in them, have to load up a bit to show on screen.

[Bioran]

What's the retail price of this currently? Is it more expensive or less expensive than the Nexus One? Can we turn off Sense? Would Nexus One be available still in September online?

[Singh400]

Just installed Google Earth on my Orange HTC Desire. It has been flashed (NOT rooted!) to a slightly more newer and generic ROM from HTC.

1) Download and install Astro File Manager on your Desire

2) Download this

3) Connect your Desire to the computer, and drop the above APK file somewhere on your SD card.

4) Safely disconnect the Desire from the computer

5) Now on your Desire navigate to your SD Card using Astro File Manager

6) Find where you dropped the APK and tap it, then select open app manager, and then tap Install.

7) Google Earth is now installed, enjoy ;)

[tsupersonic]

Background apps not tasking away do not use the battery. Android will efficiently manage apps and homescreens without using much power.

Use the Battery usage meter to view what is causing the most battery loss.

Most people will find it's Cell Standby which you can't do anything about.

Not necessarily. If you have background widgets that are checking for mail, weather, etc, it's using CPU + modem (maybe 3G, EDGE, WiFi..), and that takes away from battery.

[Robbie Khan Reviews]

You do realise that this isn't my first venture into Android?

I've been an Android user for too long now as both a stock rom user and a custom rom user and I'm telling you from experience what I've observed.

Widgets/sync checkers and social integration doesn't use much battery. They check hourly or half hourly and take mere seconds to sync. That is not enough system draw to drain the battery to any noticeable amount.

[Ecion]

I really want one of these. I'm with Three at the moment. My contract has expired, and so I'm free to look around, but would like to remain with Three if possible.

They had the desire on their website for ?22 a month for 100mins with unlmited text and unlimited internet. But that has now been removed from website and store too. Now they only list the ?30 and ?35 tarrifs. :/ Plus no stock anywhere. Grr.

[Manish]

HTC Desire looks awesome in those photos and from what everyone in this thread is saying, it seems like it's an overall great phone. I think I'll wait until the new iPhone announcement and if it's nothing spectacular, I'll definitely be looking into the Desire more keenly. Hopefully there will be a Froyo update for it by then.

[Orange Battery]

Ive had my Desire (without any network branding) for a week now. Its a brilliant phone and I don't regret it at all. If I was to change it in any way then it would be to enhance the camera as its quality is below my old 3.2mp Nokia N73 that i got in 2006, and I would probably change the button configuration as I don't like the location of the power button.

Its a good phone, with a better camera it would be the best phone ever, I guess they never give you everything.

[aerowave]

I think I found something that might be of help to improve battery life: It appears that when connected to Wi-Fi the phone remains connected even when the display is off.

If you go to Settings -> Wireless & Networks -> Wi-Fi Settings and press Menu, then choose Advanced, there is a 'Wi-Fi Sleep Policy" option that lets you control if the Wi-Fi should switch off as 15 mins of sleep, not when plugged in or not at all.

I've changed this on my Desire and it appears the battery isn't going down so fast.

[Orange Battery]

I think I found something that might be of help to improve battery life: It appears that when connected to Wi-Fi the phone remains connected even when the display is off.

If you go to Settings -> Wireless & Networks -> Wi-Fi Settings and press Menu, then choose Advanced, there is a 'Wi-Fi Sleep Policy" option that lets you control if the Wi-Fi should switch off as 15 mins of sleep, not when plugged in or not at all.

I've changed this on my Desire and it appears the battery isn't going down so fast.

Just gave it a go and it says it will switch it to Mobile Data, which might waste mobile data allowances. Don't know for sure though. :)

[aerowave]

Just gave it a go and it says it will switch it to Mobile Data, which might waste mobile data allowances. Don't know for sure though. :)

I never got that when I changed it - Perhaps it is because I set it up saying I had unlimited data?

[tsupersonic]

You do realise that this isn't my first venture into Android?

I've been an Android user for too long now as both a stock rom user and a custom rom user and I'm telling you from experience what I've observed.

Widgets/sync checkers and social integration doesn't use much battery. They check hourly or half hourly and take mere seconds to sync. That is not enough system draw to drain the battery to any noticeable amount.

Don't care if you're a 1st time android user or if this is your 45th android phone. My point is that background tasks can and do use CPU, radio and thus will drain battery. By your logic, if I just left my phone idle, the battery would last forever. Battery life varies from device to device, and on some phones like the Droid Incredible, little things that use battery like this matter.