HTC Desire Review Thread

discombobulate

Tora Bora wrote: »

Have the Desire over a week now. Getting used to it slowly, as I have come all the way from a 5 year old Nokia something or other, so smart phone stuff takes getting used to.

One thing baffeled me this morning, when I tried to use the € symbol when sending an SMS!

Couldn't for the life of me see it on the virtual key pad. Anyone care to show me where it resides:pac:

T

Bottom left on the number section theres a 1/2. Hit that and you'll be on 2/2 with euro sign etc.

Theta

discombobulate wrote: »

Bottom left on the number section theres a 1/2. Hit that and you'll be on 2/2 with euro sign etc.

I had posted the same thing but my mail is so damn slow I thought id be first to reply!

Tora Bora

discombobulate wrote: »

Bottom left on the number section theres a 1/2. Hit that and you'll be on 2/2 with euro sign etc.

Thanks for that. One more question. Usually my phone is in some pocket or other buried in with 10 more things. As a result, I find it difficult to hear it ringing at times if there is any amount of background noise, which there generally is, in my line of work. I have ringer up to highest volume, but it is meek to say the least compared to the old Nokia brick I had. I don't want to use the vibrate function as battery is bad as it is.
Any ideas on how I could overcome this issue, or am I stuck with it. Is there an app?

TB

cormie

Tora, I had the same problem, I changed the ringtone to "Standard 3" and it's got a more piercing sound than the other "softer" tones and it's a lot easier to hear

conor.hogan.2

Unless I am blind or it is only an in store offer - carphone warehouse does not sell the desire unlocked and not for 349.


Where did you get that offer?

TheDoc

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Unless I am blind or it is only an in store offer - carphone warehouse does not sell the desire unlocked and not for 349.


Where did you get that offer?

I just picked mine up today from there for €249 unlocked.

They sell it through meteor for €500 sim free, but on O2 it was €349. Traded in my nokia n95 and got it for €249 and a free o2 simcard.



By the way I got this deal in the Carphone warehouse Swords, they had about 13 left on O2 unlocked and said the next few batches should be the same

Can scan and upload the receipt if you dont believe me


Question though, it wont connect to my wireless network and cant find any settings to set it up a static ip address like you can on an ipod/iphone.. any ideas?

It just gets stuck on obtaining ip address, so I need to assign it some static ips and dns etc, but I dont see an option menu for it

conor.hogan.2

i got told 500 euro for the phone unlocked in that carphone warehouse - few shops up from the sushi place.

worth a try again i spose.

TheDoc

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

i got told 500 euro for the phone unlocked in that carphone warehouse - few shops up from the sushi place.

worth a try again i spose.

500 on meteor, ask for o2 prepay

Mr Bloat

For wifi static ip press menu/Settings/Wireless & Networks/Wi-Fi Settings/Menu/Advanced.

conor.hogan.2

And is it fully unlocked - they say anything bout voiding the warranty if switching to another network or anything like that.

349 seems to low for a prepay no strings attached phone like that.

partyatmygaff

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

And is it fully unlocked - they say anything bout voiding the warranty if switching to another network or anything like that.

349 seems to low for a prepay no strings attached phone like that.

That doesn't happen on any phone. Switching network provider has nothing to do with warranty.

conor.hogan.2

That is what they said - which makes sense.

They buy straight off htc, they sell at a lower cost because you need to be with prepay for 100 odd euro credit worth to make the difference.

If you unlock the phone without paying that - they loose money and all the warranty is gone.

I thought it was BS at the start but when you think of it, makes sense for them.

Professey Chin

No it doesnt. They can lock it to their network & brand it because of their subsidy but if you just unlock it the warrenty is still there since you've not done anything to the phone itself. Youd only void the warrently by physically opening the phone up yourself & stuff like that

TheDoc

I asked pretty blatantly that I was buying the O2 package to use with meteor, girl said " course, sure its like €200 cheaper"

Thanks for the reply there about the wifi got all sorted, this phone is immense.

The app thread was fantastic got me sorted with alot of cool stuff.

Data plan on the way from meteor starting today at some point ( or next bill date)

The customisation options are absolutely fantastic. Truely wonderful. This phone is a joy to behold. Funny enough I came into work with a lad beside me offering an iphone 16gb 3gs for €350. I didnt even give it two thoughts when I said " No thanks, I think I'm onto the next big thing"

Coming from a symbian phone this is jsut amssive, cant get over the quality of the music player aswell its tremendous.

BTW the O2 package I got came with a 4gb micro card, girl in store tried selling me one saying they dont come with one.

I think I must have got the accidental deal of the year , but seriously give them a ring in swords if you want one, they will tell you over the phone. Just to re-iterate, they said the o2 package was €399 unlocked sim free so €299 with trade in. However in store they just charged me €249. Girl seemed smart enough explaining some stuff to me bout the phone so I doubt it was her individual mistake and probably a system error, grab em while there hot I'd say, 13 left as of yesterday 3pm.

Might aswell take the chance to thank all the contributors to the forum. It was the deciding factor in me picknig this over the iphone, and hopefully this forum continues to flourish and get even more informative.


Sticky on operating systems and all this "rom" talk is definitely needed

Tora Bora

My weather app on my desire has gone on strike today. Is this a general problem or is it specific to my phone?

TB

TheDoc

Its some change getting a "smart phone" the amount fos etup is overwhelming at times and theres so much stuff i havnt even touched yet, love it.

Having a horrid time getting my network 3g network working, meteor data plan, put in the correct settings as per the sticky thread, but it just says failed to connect, error in settings or some ****.

Hopefully when im home on wireless and run the setup wizard on it, it picks it up automatically.

TheIrishGrover

It does seem to be a bit of a data hog. I'm in my last month of my current plan with 250 MB addon with Meteor (I start the Smart plan with 1 Gig next month) and the phone seems to be pulling down around 20 MB a day in the background. Now, I'm not talking about when I use the browser, or installing apps or whatever but just when it's sitting there. The only thing I'm syncing automatically is my hotmail. Any ideas on what might be causing this? I have Advanced App Killer but, tbh, I'm not sure which apps are safe to kill or what.
.
.
Having said that, it's a bit of a change for those used to Symbian phones etc (Layout, setting up etc) but, once you're used to it, and with the right apps, it's a fantastic phone

mickoneill30

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

It does seem to be a bit of a data hog. I'm in my last month of my current plan with 250 MB addon with Meteor (I start the Smart plan with 1 Gig next month) and the phone seems to be pulling down around 20 MB a day in the background. Now, I'm not talking about when I use the browser, or installing apps or whatever but just when it's sitting there. The only thing I'm syncing automatically is my hotmail. Any ideas on what might be causing this? I have Advanced App Killer but, tbh, I'm not sure which apps are safe to kill or what.

Dunno about what apps are pulling the data but something that might be worth looking into is Locale. I haven't bought it myself but plan to (my phone is off for replacement as the GPS is fubard). You may be able to set it so that when you're home or near certain Wifi networks to turn off the mobile internet and just turn on the Wifi every so often for updates. Then when you're out of range to turn the mobile network back on. That would save your data plan and probably some battery too.

Edit: I'm not 100% sure that it can do that so don't spend the money based just on my word. When I get my new phone back I'll buy it and post here.

mickoneill30

A handy app is 3Banana notes.

https://snaptic.com/index.html

Make notes on the web or on the phone. Then when the app syncs the notes are in both locations. Some of my notes are long so I prefer to type them in at the PC.

TheIrishGrover

mickoneill30 wrote: »

Dunno about what apps are pulling the data but something that might be worth looking into is Locale. I haven't bought it myself but plan to (my phone is off for replacement as the GPS is fubard). You may be able to set it so that when you're home or near certain Wifi networks to turn off the mobile internet and just turn on the Wifi every so often for updates. Then when you're out of range to turn the mobile network back on. That would save your data plan and probably some battery too.

Oh God yeah, I have it paired with my own WiFi at home alright and do all my heavy downloads through my wifi. I just averaged out the data over a 24 hour period. (It pulled down about 800K-1MB an hour in work before I turned off the Mobile Network). Ah, I'll keep looking into it.

Recommended phone anyway

TheDoc

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

Oh God yeah, I have it paired with my own WiFi at home alright and do all my heavy downloads through my wifi. I just averaged out the data over a 24 hour period. (It pulled down about 800K-1MB an hour in work before I turned off the Mobile Network). Ah, I'll keep looking into it.

Recommended phone anyway

I've turned off all auto syncing, its also a bit of a battery hog.

At the end of the day if you get a few mins and you want to check facebook or twitter, just open the relevant app and have a look, if you want to check mail open your app and check.

Its the way I used my previous internet enabled phones and I never outdid the 250mb a month although this phone might change that. I still havnt been able to get the 3g network running yet, but sur ei guess we will see when I do

Bit mad how the only data addons are €5 for 250mb and €15 for 10gb

Youd think theyd throw 1gb at the fiver tarrif.

youcancallmeal

TheDoc wrote: »

Bit mad how the only data addons are €5 for 250mb and €15 for 10gb

Youd think theyd throw 1gb at the fiver tarrif.

Yeah the price of data usage is fairly insane these days. I'd say by the end of this year though things will even out and €5 will probably get you 1GB

TheIrishGrover

TheDoc wrote: »

I've turned off all auto syncing, its also a bit of a battery hog.

At the end of the day if you get a few mins and you want to check facebook or twitter, just open the relevant app and have a look, if you want to check mail open your app and check.

Its the way I used my previous internet enabled phones and I never outdid the 250mb a month although this phone might change that. I still havnt been able to get the 3g network running yet, but sur ei guess we will see when I do

Bit mad how the only data addons are €5 for 250mb and €15 for 10gb

Youd think theyd throw 1gb at the fiver tarrif.

Yeah, was hoping to not have to turn off auto-updates. The email alert was handy with my previous Nokia with meteor. Ah well, will just have to update the old fashioned way

conor.hogan.2

Surely there is an app that lets you set it to check every 30 mins or let you ''check now'' and only check when click that check button.

You can then easily switch it when on wifi to check more frequently.

Professey Chin

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Surely there is an app that lets you set it to check every 30 mins or let you ''check now'' and only check when click that check button.

You can then easily switch it when on wifi to check more frequently.

You can turn sync off then only do it manually from the settings menu.
Besides that the sync is needed for gmail,contacts & calender.
Youd need to use the Mail application for polling at set intervals instead of push

conor.hogan.2

ye - many ways to set it up.

advantages to open-ness.

EHB

Three questions.

How do you have your screens set up I have two free and not sure I'm happy with how they are laid out so would like to hear what other people have done.

Which is better the gmail app or the htc mail app?

Also I had the htc mail and a favorites group talking up to full screens but when I move the htc mail app back it just shows the icon rather than the full screen mail window how do I get this back?

TheDoc

EHB wrote: »

How do you have your screens set up I have two free and not sure I'm happy with how they are laid out so would like to hear what other people have done.

My first screen has a small clock centred, and my most used apps around it.

So it looks like this

Goggles --- Market --- Astro --- Task killer

Facebook --- Fouraquare --- seesmic --- cabbage

nimbuzz --- clock --- music

messages --- gmail --- dolphin hd --- fx camera

My first screen left is friendnews,

Second screen left has my " utilities" I have the widget that lets me one click turn off on wifi.bluetooth etc. I have the little widget to turn my 3g on and off, also have the sync all widget there. Also displayed is sweet dreams icon , google search box and weather .

Last screen left is empty

First screen right is my online contacts. Email and facebook peeps.

Second right is a full blown calendar

Third right is news

If I find a method to take screenshots ill upload later.

Which is better the gmail app or the htc mail app?

I just use the Gmail app. I have the icon on main screen and just click it open when i want to check mail.

Also I had the htc mail and a favorites group talking up to full screens but when I move the htc mail app back it just shows the icon rather than the full screen mail window how do I get this back?

Make sure you are selecting the HTC Mail Widget, and not the programme

Yelnahs

Doc. Quick question for you. Did you get 3G working yet? I'm going to the CPW in a week or so to get mine and I'm just making sure there are no issues with it. Thanks.

TheDoc

Yelnahs wrote: »

Doc. Quick question for you. Did you get 3G working yet? I'm going to the CPW in a week or so to get mine and I'm just making sure there are no issues with it. Thanks.

Yup working fine.

I had internet blocked on my last phone since there was so many incorrect billing issues, so I agreed to their recommendation of blocking my internet so they could be sure.

I didnt realise it was sim locked, thought it was just phone, so I jsut rang them up yesterday and they un barred it.

The guy on the phone was very helpful ,got chatting to me about my desire ( he could tell oddly enough I was using one) and said to be careful using Data mintoring apps, that alreayd alot of people have been calling in saying they got charged extra when their app said they were eunder, but it goes on meteors systems, website and text service, not the your phone app, which is fair enough.

3g watchdog he recommended ( was using anyway) as its the best in sync one, but theres one out there that are seriously rubbish and not in sync at all with your actual limit,


one minor note, I bought a data plan like two days ago, the 250mb one. You dont get the 250mb straight away, you get a small portion. I was giving 20mb, until my next bill date when it goes 250mb onwards.

Just a word of note to all, cause it doesnt state it on the site when you buy the addon or anywhere, i found out from your man yesterday who just said it on the phone

Yelnahs

Glad to hear it was all sorted.

Did you go for the Meteor Bill Pay lite? I think its the best plan because I wouldn't say I'll go under the 1 gig limit per month. Can't stand waiting for pay day...

TheDoc

i was on billpay lite already and threw the 250mb addon into it

used 20mb since yesterday morning :O

blacknight83

Hi guys thinking of getting a desire, could anyone with one do me a favour and try access this site www.footytube.com
and let me know if it will playback the video clips
cheers

elderlemon

Nope. Just a blank (black) screen where the video should show.

blacknight83 wrote: »

Hi guys thinking of getting a desire, could anyone with one do me a favour and try access this site www.footytube.com
and let me know if it will playback the video clips
cheers

partyatmygaff

elderlemon wrote: »

Nope. Just a blank (black) screen where the video should show.

It needs Flash 10.1. Which will be coming in Android 2.2

blacknight83

Cheers guys, any idea when 2.2 will be released? Thanks again

conor.hogan.2

Its out now - but its up to 02, voda and meteor to update it for your phone or you could install it yourself.

partyatmygaff

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Its out now - but its up to 02, voda and meteor to update it for your phone or you could install it yourself.

Not really, it's up to HTC to port HTC Sense on to Android 2.2.

conor.hogan.2

Htc have not done that yet?

''We expect to release all updates in the second half of this year but can’t be more specific yet.” HTC''

Ah I expected better from HTC - Android is a huge huge part of their business now.

cormie

Ahh, what's this.. help Partyatmygaff, helllp :P

a notice has popped up on my desire "A system update is available"

System upgrade 1.21.405.2 (27.07MB)

blah blah blah

- Update: HTC Application improvement.

Then I just have options to choose Wifi or use mobile network too.

Is it safe for me to update my rooted desire this way do you know? Is this froyo it's trying to give me? Would appreciate any help on this!

partyatmygaff

cormie wrote: »

Ahh, what's this.. help Partyatmygaff, helllp :P

a notice has popped up on my desire "A system update is available"

System upgrade 1.21.405.2 (27.07MB)

blah blah blah

- Update: HTC Application improvement.

Then I just have options to choose Wifi or use mobile network too.

Is it safe for me to update my rooted desire this way do you know? Is this froyo it's trying to give me? Would appreciate any help on this!

That's weird

It shouldn't be allowing you to install anything but no you shouldn't update. If you do you will lose root and your stock contacts app.

cormie

Thanks for the reply, haven't touched the phone since it's been there

Good job I asked anyway, of course I was tempted by Froyo, guess I'll just have to wait till I get the green light on that though for now

partyatmygaff

cormie wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, haven't touched the phone since it's been there

Good job I asked anyway, of course I was tempted by Froyo, guess I'll just have to wait till I get the green light on that though for now

FroYo is pretty usable at the moment.

The main issue with it right now is video recording but besides all of that it's very stable.

cormie

Cool, think I'll still just wait though till there's a "cormie compatible" froyo out, if that will ever happen

rugbyman

Sorry if this has been covered, but have not had time to read through all thread.
My desire keeps switching itself off.
yesterday after many such events I put my sim into an old phone and all is well.
I put a foreign sim that I had into the Desire and it now is on 12 hours( though not used).
have I a faulty phone or faulty sim card.
My friend has a desire(dont we all) and it has never switched off.

Regards Rugbyman

BeciMester

@rugbyman: my ol' N95-8GB used to reset itself if I got an incoming call while using an active 3G data connection. Turned out to be the SIM card as I tested with other SIMs and they were OK. Walked in to O2, they swapped it for a new one no questions asked, and it's fine since then. So it very much may be that your SIM is screwed.

ooter

for the last couple of days for some reason every time i open gmail on my desire it's saying "no connection,retry."
i can compose email(s) but i tried to send 1 there to my hotmail address and it didn't go through.i can't access my inbox at all.
does anyone know the reason for this?

kesey

ooter wrote: »

for the last couple of days for some reason every time i open gmail on my desire it's saying "no connection,retry."
i can compose email(s) but i tried to send 1 there to my hotmail address and it didn't go through.i can't access my inbox at all.
does anyone know the reason for this?

Try going in via your Desire "Internet" route, i.e click on "Internet" on the front page of the Desire.

Use the URL: https://mail.google.com

and see if you can get in that way.

ooter

kesey wrote: »

Try going in via your Desire "Internet" route, i.e click on "Internet" on the front page of the Desire.

Use the URL: https://mail.google.com

and see if you can get in that way.

yeah it works when i do that,but why wont it work the way it has always done since i got it?
i switched to wi fi about an hour ago and when i did that the email i tried to send to my hotmail address earlier went through.i can also access my inbox through wifi.
i'm lost....:eek:

kesey

gmail problem: The recommended way to solve this is pretty technical,and involves a no of methods.

Method (i) is pretty intense and requires a percussion instrument known as a hammer. Having employed it, the problem will undoubtedly not recur.

Method (ii) turn off the phone and re-start. If necessary, remove the battery and re-install to ensure a proper reboot.

Give it a go, it very well might work.