HTC Desire Review Thread

boc121

Thanks for the tip aliocroc, just got 50% nice one:D
Cheers.

lafors

Just for anyone getting brutal battery life, looks like it could be an issue with the flickr sync keeping the phone from going into sleep mode (previously believed to be a calendar sync problem).

Tried it myself (by removing my flickr account from the sync menu in settings), seems to be working so far, been out using my gps earlier with data connection active. Been on wifi all evening, playing some gem mine...quality game, and I've still got well over half my battery left.
Looks like I'll get 2 days out of it with some to spare!
Will update in a couple of days, hopefully with good news.

EdgarAllenPoo

Been using the phone pretty much non stop since I got it and while the battery has taken some pounding it's not actually that bad. Still finding my way around the phone, especially since I only got a french user manual. There's a few things I'd like to completely remove since I'll never use them like Flickr and stuff. Can they be completely removed from the phone?

partyatmygaff

GDM wrote: »

Been using the phone pretty much non stop since I got it and while the battery has taken some pounding it's not actually that bad. Still finding my way around the phone, especially since I only got a french user manual. There's a few things I'd like to completely remove since I'll never use them like Flickr and stuff. Can they be completely removed from the phone?

Only if you root it and install a custom rom.

EdgarAllenPoo

Well in that case speaking as someone who wouldn't know an android from a hemroid I think I'll leave it as it is.

cormie

hehe

Me too, I'm scared of these kinda things. The phone works fine, except for the F($*"%£ contact list issue with the desire!

boc121

Quick for ye, does anyone know how to set a music track as a ringtone??
Cheers.

boc121

Just figured it out

partyatmygaff

GDM wrote: »

Well in that case speaking as someone who wouldn't know an android from a hemroid I think I'll leave it as it is.

cormie wrote: »

hehe

Me too, I'm scared of these kinda things. The phone works fine, except for the F($*"%£ contact list issue with the desire!

Heh, it's not that scary

At the moment you need a windows pc and any form of unix based computer aswell (Mac OS X or Any flavour of linux) to root a Desire. If you give it time there may be a one click rooting tool like there was for the hero.

cormie

Well if it turns out to fix the "Sync groups" issue, I'll come to the party at your gaf and you can have a go :P

youcancallmeal

Sorry if this has been asked but can you use any micro usb cable to charge?

partyatmygaff

youcancallme>al wrote: »

Sorry if this has been asked but can you use any micro usb cable to charge?

Yup

Gargled

Whats the best way to import contacts from a nokia? Have a N78 and a Desire in the post (as soon as VF get some that is!)

partyatmygaff

Gargled wrote: »

Whats the best way to import contacts from a nokia? Have a N78 and a Desire in the post (as soon as VF get some that is!)

I just used Nokia pc suite to export my contacts to a CSV then I uploaded that to Google Contacts and the moment I logged in to my google account on the Desire the contacts were there.

youcancallmeal

Okay only got this 2 days ago and I'm still trying to get my head around it, loads to do and learn! Its my first touch screen phone and I'm starting to get to grips with it. I had played around with a friends HD2 before and i found the keyboard to be very hard to use even on that huge screen, with the desire I am having no problems at all! The screen is indeed amazing like everyone said, havent tried it out in direct sunlight yet though. Battery seems to be great on mine, I went to bed last night at midnight and battery was at 70% and when I woke up 8 hours later it was at 56%, seems like a reasonable amount of use for 8 hours stand by. I'm not mad about the power button, it seems a little too flush with the case and because its at an angle its not easy to find just by touch. I'll probably just get used to it though. I was wondering if any one could answer any of these questions?


- How do I get the weather on the front screen to show me as in Dublin, it just says Ireland? Also how is it keeping itself up to date if I have 3G, Wifi etc turned off?
- I have installed a load of apps and now I'm afraid to turn 3G on(I havent got a data plan yet). Will all these apps start auto updating(and facebook profiles) or will I have to go in and set them all to 'Prompt to connect' or something?
- Is there any other way to snooze the alarm besides press the snooze button on the touch screen, it would be handy if you could change it to one of the tactile buttons. Fumbling half asleep for the touch screen is no fun
- Is it possible to re-arrange the home screens or maybe even change what it is on each home screen?
- How do you uninstall apps?

lafors

partyatmygaff wrote: »

I just used Nokia pc suite to export my contacts to a CSV then I uploaded that to Google Contacts and the moment I logged in to my google account on the Desire the contacts were there.

Thats similar to the way I did it too.
Only difference is that I imported the csv into outlook and tidied them up before uploading to google.

Zapp Brannigan

youcancallme>al wrote: »

- How do I get the weather on the front screen to show me as in Dublin, it just says Ireland? Also how is it keeping itself up to date if I have 3G, Wifi etc turned off?
- I have installed a load of apps and now I'm afraid to turn 3G on(I havent got a data plan yet). Will all these apps start auto updating(and facebook profiles) or will I have to go in and set them all to 'Prompt to connect' or something?
- Is there any other way to snooze the alarm besides press the snooze button on the touch screen, it would be handy if you could change it to one of the tactile buttons. Fumbling half asleep for the touch screen is no fun
- Is it possible to re-arrange the home screens or maybe even change what it is on each home screen?
- How do you uninstall apps?

For the snooze thing, try the volume rocker on the side of the phone. Works on my Hero.

Uninstall apps through the Market under My Downloads.

youcancallmeal

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

For the snooze thing, try the volume rocker on the side of the phone. Works on my Hero.

Yeah I tried that this morning but it didnt seem to be working? There is even an option in the alarm clock menu for side button behaviour and I have it set to 'snooze'. I'll try it again later and see what happens

elderlemon

Weather needs either 3G or GPS enabled to get more granularity.

apps that use the network will use wifi (if enabled and connected) first and then 3g data. If you don't have a plan then make sure you keep 3g off. They will then only use the wifi is its connected.

rearranging the home screens is easy. Press and hold any widget and then drag around or bin to remove. Hit the plus button to add the widget back (or another widget). Do this on any screen.

To remove an app you can use market (if installed via the market) , downloads , click on app and then remove. Other way is settings/application/remove.

youcancallme>al wrote: »

...
- How do I get the weather on the front screen to show me as in Dublin, it just says Ireland? Also how is it keeping itself up to date if I have 3G, Wifi etc turned off?
- I have installed a load of apps and now I'm afraid to turn 3G on(I havent got a data plan yet). Will all these apps start auto updating(and facebook profiles) or will I have to go in and set them all to 'Prompt to connect' or something?
- Is there any other way to snooze the alarm besides press the snooze button on the touch screen, it would be handy if you could change it to one of the tactile buttons. Fumbling half asleep for the touch screen is no fun
- Is it possible to re-arrange the home screens or maybe even change what it is on each home screen?
- How do you uninstall apps?

youcancallmeal

elderlemon wrote: »

Weather needs either 3G or GPS enabled to get more granularity.

apps that use the network will use wifi (if enabled and connected) first and then 3g data. If you don't have a plan then make sure you keep 3g off. They will then only use the wifi is its connected.

rearranging the home screens is easy. Press and hold any widget and then drag around or bin to remove. Hit the plus button to add the widget back (or another widget). Do this on any screen.

To remove an app you can use market (if installed via the market) , downloads , click on app and then remove. Other way is settings/application/remove.

The thing about the weather that confuses me is that I havent had 3g or wifi on since yesterday evening but it has todays weather on the screen. I think maybe that it gets a forecast for the next 3 days and uses that if there is not up to date info?

When I said rearrange the home screens I meant actually the order of the screens, at the moment for example when I slide to the right the first screen is favourites then news and then a blank screen for more widgets,programs etc. I'd like to change it so that the first screen I get when I scroll to the right the first screen is say news?

johnny_adidas

youcancallme>al wrote: »

When I said rearrange the home screens I meant actually the order of the screens, at the moment for example when I slide to the right the first screen is favourites then news and then a blank screen for more widgets,programs etc. I'd like to change it so that the first screen I get when I scroll to the right the first screen is say news?

hold the favourites widget and drag it to the blank screen, then do the same with the news to get it to the now free first screen on the right of home

as for the weather you are prob correct as it always has 3 days preloaded, but doesnt update if the weather deviates from these unless connected to data

youcancallmeal

johnny_adidas wrote: »

hold the favourites widget and drag it to the blank screen, then do the same with the news to get it to the now free first screen on the right of home

Yep that did the trick thanks

cormie

Hmm, I'm online now using the Desire to connect through tethering, it's fine when it works, but twice in the last 2 hours of using it, it's just dropped the connection and I'd look at the phone and it would have a big "no service" sign on it. When I'd try to select network on the phone again, it would just give a sim card error. If I turn it off and on again it's fine. As it is now, however, this time when I turned it back on, the clock has been reset

I don't know if anything else was reset, hopefully not.

Has anyone else had or heard of this tethering issue?

cormie

Just as I was going to bed last night I realised that the "clock reset" was simply me turning the phone back on at exactly midnight

Not sure what was happening with the tethering, "no service" issue though.

MagicMarker

youcancallme>al wrote: »

- How do I get the weather on the front screen to show me as in Dublin, it just says Ireland? Also how is it keeping itself up to date if I have 3G, Wifi etc turned off?

Just tap on the weather cloud/sun and press the plus sign to add a city, in this case, Dublin.

youcancallme>al wrote: »

- I have installed a load of apps and now I'm afraid to turn 3G on(I havent got a data plan yet). Will all these apps start auto updating(and facebook profiles) or will I have to go in and set them all to 'Prompt to connect' or something?

You can turn off background data, so most of your apps won't update automatically. Go to settings > accounts & sync

youcancallme>al wrote: »

- Is there any other way to snooze the alarm besides press the snooze button on the touch screen, it would be handy if you could change it to one of the tactile buttons. Fumbling half asleep for the touch screen is no fun

Don't know but it would be nice, the screen is so responsive I'm afraid I'm going to disable it rather than snooze

youcancallme>al wrote: »

- Is it possible to re-arrange the home screens or maybe even change what it is on each home screen?

If there's an app on a screen you don't won't, tap and hold it for a second and you'll be able to drag it down to remove it. Likewise if you want an app on a particular screen, you can press the + sign or alternatively tap and hold the screen to add.

If you want to start from scratch go to settings>personalize>scenes

youcancallme>al wrote: »

- How do you uninstall apps?

Settings > Applications > Manage Applications

dawidnowak2005

hi phone is great but bt is crap, recive files normaly but when try send apk file or even mp3 (using astro file manager) is doing nothing. Is write "sending file" on notification bar but not sent at all and when try off bt after this phone crashing!!! and was try sent between 2 desires both phones crashed!! not all time crashing but crashing sry about english:)

hidinginthebush

Hey,

I'm in the market for a smartphone and am considering either a desire or a hd2. What do you recommend I should get? I'll be going pay as you go, so there's only a €20 difference on vodafone, so the price difference doesn't matter.

What is the operating system like, I've heard the windows mobile on the hd2 can be dodgy, any issues like that on a desire?

I assume that since the desire runs on android, which is open source, that updates for the OS and the likes will be free along the line?

Does the camera have a flash?

How is it for connecting to the internet?

How is the screen output, I know the hd2 seems to have a very good screen on it, what's the desire's like?

That's all I can think of for the moment, I figured this was a better place to ask rather than clutter up the forum with another thread.

Thanks for any help.

MagicMarker

The desire is just awesome in every way. I regularly just close my laptop and use the desire for browsing, including now.

Abelloid

dawidnowak2005 wrote: »

hi phone is great but bt is crap, recive files normaly but when try send apk file or even mp3 (using astro file manager) is doing nothing. Is write "sending file" on notification bar but not sent at all and when try off bt after this phone crashing!!! and was try sent between 2 desires both phones crashed!! not all time crashing but crashing sry about english:)

I hate Bluetooth, I've never had it working reliably with any phone and PC.

Try this Wifi/browser file manager -

http://android.nextapp.com/

Keano

MagicMarker wrote: »

The desire is just awesome in every way. I regularly just close my laptop and use the desire for browsing, including now.

I hate you and all you other Desire owners in this thread :P

Before I get banned I should say I got to play with one yesterday in the Carphone Warehouse and I WANT one now!

Sadly, I wont be able to get on until the end of June by then ye'll be bored with it

partyatmygaff

hidinginthebush wrote: »

Hey,

I'm in the market for a smartphone and am considering either a desire or a hd2. What do you recommend I should get? I'll be going pay as you go, so there's only a €20 difference on vodafone, so the price difference doesn't matter.

What is the operating system like, I've heard the windows mobile on the hd2 can be dodgy, any issues like that on a desire?

I assume that since the desire runs on android, which is open source, that updates for the OS and the likes will be free along the line?

Does the camera have a flash?

How is it for connecting to the internet?

How is the screen output, I know the hd2 seems to have a very good screen on it, what's the desire's like?

That's all I can think of for the moment, I figured this was a better place to ask rather than clutter up the forum with another thread.

Thanks for any help.

Desire all the way. WinMO 6.5 is being phased out by september and by then will be an extinct OS as WPS 7 won't have backwards compatibility.

Inquitus

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Desire all the way. WinMO 6.5 is being phased out by september and by then will be an extinct OS as WPS 7 won't have backwards compatibility.

I find Win Mo 6.5 to be shockingly bad, but its worth noting that the HD2 will likely have official HTC Supported Win7 and even if it doesnt the xda community will certainly offer Win7 on the HD2. I'd still recommend the Desire over the HD2 even if it was a cert the HD2 would get HTC Supported Win7.

5starpool

I ordered mine a couple of days ago online, and really wish I actually went into a shop to get it now. I can't wait, and reading this thread only excited me even more.

cormie

Am I the only one here who thinks a number pad sleeve would be a good invention? It's for touch texting without looking at the phone. It would use the oul 2=abc 3=def keys and you'd be able to feel what key your hand is so could text away with the phone in your pocket or when your eyes are elsewhere Obviously a 2=abc app would need to be made but it would definitely be handy, or fingery!

killbillvol2

I see a lot of issues here with contacts. Can I just import my contacts from Outlook or is it more complicated?

Oafley Jones

Inquitus wrote: »

I find Win Mo 6.5 to be shockingly bad, but its worth noting that the HD2 will likely have official HTC Supported Win7 and even if it doesnt the xda community will certainly offer Win7 on the HD2. I'd still recommend the Desire over the HD2 even if it was a cert the HD2 would get HTC Supported Win7.

HTC have already confirmed that the HD2 won't be getting 7, you're right about XDA though.

tm2204

thegoth wrote: »

I would not consider using a phone like this on meteor because of the 3G issues.

Could you elaborate on these 3G problems as I was going to get a Desire on one of Meteor's new tariffs; €30 a month for 1GB plus calls & texts.

rugbyman

piece of info.

got a desire last week, Meteor wanted 130 euro on an upgrade. The car phone warehouse gave me one ,on a meteor upgrade for 100!

This Desire is said to be the bees knees, but i am not all that keen to know the temperature inside the arctic circle, though it probably is essential to many.

Rugbyman

cormie

Has anyone any idea how much data every day updates/standby activities use? So if I don't browse any sites or look at any youtube videos, but it updates the weather, calendar, gmail, other email, how much would this use? Also, is there any way to "Fetch headers only" on emails without downloading the full mail so you would then be able to delete it (if it's spam or just a newsletter or notification email) or download and read it if it was important?

Also, if you use "peep" (I use it for AA roadwatch updates) what kind of data would that use?

Also, if you simply press the "back" button when on a program like peep, does it stay open and keep updating, or does the back button close the program? If not, how do you close this or any other program?

partyatmygaff

cormie wrote: »

Has anyone any idea how much data every day updates/standby activities use? So if I don't browse any sites or look at any youtube videos, but it updates the weather, calendar, gmail, other email, how much would this use? Also, is there any way to "Fetch headers only" on emails without downloading the full mail so you would then be able to delete it (if it's spam or just a newsletter or notification email) or download and read it if it was important?

Also, if you use "peep" (I use it for AA roadwatch updates) what kind of data would that use?

Also, if you simply press the "back" button when on a program like peep, does it stay open and keep updating, or does the back button close the program? If not, how do you close this or any other program?

If you want to only get the email headers set max size to 1kb in the mail widget then if there if you get an important email you can just tap get remaining. If you want to monitor your data usage get 3g watchdog. Pressing back does not end a task, it's the equivalent to minimizing in Windows. If you want to close an app you need a task manager. Personally, I use advanced task killer.

cormie

Thanks again PAMG, set the limit to 1k Just another question, when I was in the mail options, I saw "sync options" with the choice of by days or by number of mails, but this was separate to sync frequency, which I have set to every 30 minutes. What's the "sync options" about I wonder?

partyatmygaff

cormie wrote: »

Thanks again PAMG, set the limit to 1k Just another question, when I was in the mail options, I saw "sync options" with the choice of by days or by number of mails, but this was separate to sync frequency, which I have set to every 30 minutes. What's the "sync options" about I wonder?

That just sets how long you want to keep mail on the phone. I.e. if you set it to 3 days, old mail gets deleted after 3 days. If you set it 50 emails, the mailbox will only accept 50 emails before it starts deleting the old emails.

cormie

Ah ok, thanks I delete mails as I reply/read them on the phone so I've no need for that option but good to know anyway

EdgarAllenPoo

The only issue I have with the phone is that the battery really does suck donkey b@%£s. I have stuff like task killer and juicedefender but they really don't make a difference.

cormie

My battery seems fine. Haven't charged it since yesterday morning and the green battery bar is more than half way full (I don't know how to check it % wise?). That's pretty much just been on standby the whole time, have checked my email but haven't made any calls or sent texts (because my bleedin usual sim still isn't in it because the contact list issue :mad::P)

Yi Harr

Finally caved and got one from cpw yesterday. Amazing phone, though coming from a SE K800i that wouldn't be hard. Have already charged it twice it's been used so much.

With regards to task-killers stumbled across this article

amdaley28

I heard it mentioned that the desire is also available from O2 but nothing on their site.
Also has Vodafone or Meteor done anything to the software. Some people on the O2 forum were afraid that O2 were going to do something to cripple or brand the software.

Keith186

cormie wrote: »

My battery seems fine. Haven't charged it since yesterday morning and the green battery bar is more than half way full (I don't know how to check it % wise?). That's pretty much just been on standby the whole time, have checked my email but haven't made any calls or sent texts (because my bleedin usual sim still isn't in it because the contact list issue :mad::P)

Heya cormie,
FYI you can see your % if you are charging your phone and you go to the unlock screen or.else just get an app for battery usage on the Android marketplace which will have a widget showing the % which I find essential.

Change over to the desire for full use, seen you going on about contacts for ages but if you just make the switch you'll sort it.out quick sharp ! I know I did!
Best phone ever

lafors

cormie wrote: »

My battery seems fine. Haven't charged it since yesterday morning and the green battery bar is more than half way full (I don't know how to check it % wise?). That's pretty much just been on standby the whole time, have checked my email but haven't made any calls or sent texts (because my bleedin usual sim still isn't in it because the contact list issue :mad::P)

To get detailed battery info type this
*#*#4636#*#*

cormie

Thanks for that, it's on 19/100 at the moment anyway and it's been 48 hours since a full charge. Although do bear in mind that no phone calls have been made and it's been used very lightly.

I'd say it'll be fine for general use once you're not playing with it every few minutes. Will be interesting to see how it will handle getting a few calls, o2 said my average minutes a month was 430, that's 15 a day on average of me calling people. So if people are calling me too that's probably 30 a day or so, plus I'll be texting and everything too.