HTC Desire: Is the HD worth the extra cash?

The_B_Man

Is the Desire HD worth an extra €100 over the Desire?

I'm probably gonna get one or the other over the weekend and I'm looking at the different prices on the bill phones.

Meteor
HTC Desire: €170 over both 12(€25) and 18(€20) month plans
HTC Desire HD: €250 over both 12 and 18 month plans.

Both are cheapest on the Bill Pay Connect and Smart Plans (difference??)

O2
HTC Desire: €99 over 18 months (€45 per month, 500mb monthly allowance)

These also have the HD7 for €89 on the same plan as above. Is the Windows Phone 7 any good?


I suppose my real question is:
Is the HTC Desire HD worth the extra €100 euro or so just for a nicer screen? Is the battery better or worst than the regular Desire?

Thanks for the help.

demac

Hi,

I'm in a similar position at the moment but have decided to go for the Desire.

Check out the Desire HD review on Techradar and they reckon the battery was a big let down.

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/htc-desire-hd-717295/review

Probably best to pop into one of their shop and get an idea of the size of both of them.

The_B_Man

wow!! Does the Desire only get 24 hours out of the battery??? Thats insane!

Professey Chin

Wait a week if you can.
The Mobile World Congress is next week and HTC have about 6 devices to reveal at it

PogMoThoin

The_B_Man wrote: »

wow!! Does the Desire only get 24 hours out of the battery??? Thats insane!

Par for the course for any smartphone

SQ2

Switched to the HD from N97 in November and delighted with switch, Battery isn't great but really would struggle to find fault with it otherwise. If I was being picky I'd compalain about the volume buttons being too soft not having a "click", and the lock button position. Quick machine, games with great graphics zip on it too.
No problem with size, will probably find it hard to downsize after it actually

super_furry

I went from a 3GS to a Galaxy S to a Desire HD and I've never looked back. It fulfils the promise of a geniune brilliant smart phone that the Galaxy S never really delivered on. It's a genuine pleasure to use, totally stable, and the best handheld internet device I've ever used. If you can get one, you need to.

As for the battery, I find it better than the iphones and Galaxy S. I've been using it all day and it's still two thirds full.

The_B_Man

Ultimate Chin wrote: »

Wait a week if you can.
The Mobile World Congress is next week and HTC have about 6 devices to reveal at it

What affect will this have on prices, if any?

Its my birthday on Friday and my girlfriend wants to get me one of these phones. I have no bother waitin another week or two for this, but will the conference have that much of an affect?

Thanks.

Oafley Jones

The_B_Man wrote: »

What affect will this have on prices, if any?

Its my birthday on Friday and my girlfriend wants to get me one of these phones. I have no bother waitin another week or two for this, but will the conference have that much of an affect?

Thanks.

If you're buying from an Irish operator absolutely none.

DRice

Oafley Jones wrote: »

If you're buying from an Irish operator absolutely none.

you mean cause none of them will have any of the new ones for ages?

MaceFace

DRice wrote: »

you mean cause none of them will have any of the new ones for ages?

Yeah - I think people are expecting a bit too much.
All that will probably happen is a number of new handsets will be announced, they will then go into production and be released on a phased basis.
I would think it could be late summer or the end of the year before we see anything here.

Who is to even say that these will be better in reality - just because they look good on paper doesn't mean they will perform all that well.

The way I see it is that if you are going to wait for the next great handset, you will never buy one.

As a DHD owner, the only thing I want is a better battery and a front facing camera.

The_B_Man

MaceFace wrote: »

As a DHD owner, the only thing I want is a better battery and a front facing camera.

Do you think the DHD is worth an extra €80 over the regular Desire? OR have you only used the HD?

MaceFace

The_B_Man wrote: »

Do you think the DHD is worth an extra €80 over the regular Desire? OR have you only used the HD?

The Mrs has a normal Desire and I am so glad I got the HD.
A couple of things that I noticed between the two:

Normal Desire:

• Rumour that they are phasing out the non-HD version
• I love the Cast Mate Commuter for this phone. Lovely!
• The battery lasts about 2 days with minimal to normal use
• The new Google Maps behaves differently on this than the HD (the HD you can rotate the map with two fingers but you can't on the normal Desire)
• It looks the size of a normal phone but when you put it side by side with the HD, it is nearly as big

Desire HD

• Lovely big screen
• Easily fits in jeans pockets
• Otterbox case is okay
• Newer phone - newer technology?
• Battery lasts up to 30 hours if used minimally
• What difference does 80 quid really make when you are spending 30 quid a month for 18 months?
• Now that you can watch TV (live, RTE Player, iPlayer) on a phone, you may regret not having a bigger screen.

If 80 quid was a *lot* of money to me, I would not be buying a smartphone, so I would never buy a non-HD over a HD just to save 80 quid.

Overall though, it really is subjective.

patmac

The_B_Man wrote: »

Is the Desire HD worth an extra €100 over the Desire?

I'm probably gonna get one or the other over the weekend and I'm looking at the different prices on the bill phones.

Meteor
HTC Desire: €170 over both 12(€25) and 18(€20) month plans
HTC Desire HD: €250 over both 12 and 18 month plans.

Both are cheapest on the Bill Pay Connect and Smart Plans (difference??)

O2
HTC Desire: €99 over 18 months (€45 per month, 500mb monthly allowance)

These also have the HD7 for €89 on the same plan as above. Is the Windows Phone 7 any good?


I suppose my real question is:
Is the HTC Desire HD worth the extra €100 euro or so just for a nicer screen? Is the battery better or worst than the regular Desire?

Thanks for the help.

I recently purchased the Desire as my first smartphone and think it's brilliant! Emobile are doing excellent deals at the moment. I bought mine for €89, 100 minutes and 100 texts and 1GB for €24 on an 18 month contract.
Maybe better deal going here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056158480

CreepingDeath

I'm not that impressed with the 8mp camera at the moment.
The pictures seem blurry.

Will have to experiment.
I'm trying the sugggested fix of increasing the default ISO level to eg. 100.

But apart from that, yep impressed with the phone.
I ordered two extra batteries and a mains battery charger from eBay.

I like the Wifi analyser app (free).

Dermighty

I bought the Desire the other day and I'm very impressed, The HD was out of the question as it's just too big, and as big as my hands are I didn't feel comfortable holding it.

DRice

ooooh but wot about all the fancy new HTCs on the way out..and you stuck on android 2.1?

The_B_Man

can u not upgrade the desire to android 2.2?

holdfast

has anyone bought the extra capacity battery by Mugen HTC Desire HD Battery Extended Battery - 1300mAh? and if you how much extra life do you get

Kenny_D

CreepingDeath wrote: »

I'm not that impressed with the 8mp camera at the moment.
The pictures seem blurry.

Will have to experiment.
I'm trying the sugggested fix of increasing the default ISO level to eg. 100.

But apart from that, yep impressed with the phone.
I ordered two extra batteries and a mains battery charger from eBay.

I like the Wifi analyser app (free).

Pics a little blurry but they look great on the phone. Here's two I took on the HD this morning out in dun laoighaire:

Dermighty

CreepingDeath wrote: »

I'm not that impressed with the 8mp camera at the moment.
The pictures seem blurry.

Thus far, the 5MP camera on my Desire (not HD) is crap, way worse than my Nokia E52 with a 3.2MP camera.

CreepingDeath

I've previously had a Sony Ericsson C902 (5mp camera) and a Sony Ericsson K810i (3.2Mp camera).

And they both had sharper clearer pictures.

I've been experimenting with the ISO settings, and custom image settings (sharpness vs smoothness), exposure etc.

But so far, it's my biggest disappointment with the phone.

I'm not sure if a different android camera app will do any better yet.

DRice

CreepingDeath wrote: »

I've previously had a Sony Ericsson C902 (5mp camera) and a Sony Ericsson K810i (3.2Mp camera).

And they both had sharper clearer pictures.

I've been experimenting with the ISO settings, and custom image settings (sharpness vs smoothness), exposure etc.

But so far, it's my biggest disappointment with the phone.

I'm not sure if a different android camera app will do any better yet.

i guess you are talking about low light shots? the sony cybershot overachieved in terms of phone cameras, even for their time, the current range of nokias, HTCs , samsungs and iphones have not matched those cameras and i even wager the only phones with decent cameras these days are still the sonys.

..btw they all take decent shots in sunshine, its when the light gets a bit low it sorts out the men from the boys

Dermighty

Sony make excellent cameras on their phones.

I was in the pub last night with the lads and one of them was taking photos with his iPhone 4, pictures were clear and sharp, mine were blurry and looked like 2MP photos. Ah well, didn't want a camera anyway! :P

CreepingDeath

I was reading an article about the HTC Desire... the predecessor of the HD.

The lens protector built into the case was poor/plastic, and that caused a lot of the bluriness.
A good few people achieved a great improvement by taking out the lens protector which was somewhat redundant as the actual glass lens was recessed into the case.

Alternatively, they replaced the plastic protector with a glass one.
They required buying a suitable sized glass protector lens and potentially grind the lens depth down by 0.5mm using a dremel/multi-tool sander.
(The lens they were able to source was 0.5mm too deep)

Note : I'm not sure if this problem applies to the HTC Desire HD also...

Scratched Lens

_Kaiser_

This might be unpopular, but if I am that bothered about my pictures, I'll buy a camera!

AS for the DHD.. I had a regular Desire since april and found it great, but the DHD I've upgraded to in the last 2 weeks is better in every way - save one.. the battery life!

It's much faster, the screen is fantastic and it makes it easier for someone with me (with fat fingers ) to use. As someone else said though, it'll be hard going back to a smaller phone if/when the time comes.

If you can afford it, DHD all the way.

DRice

its such a pity that the camera is useless. the iphone camera is actually quite good now in comparison to the competition..apart from sonys

Gerard McDonald

Love my HD, only problem as some people have pointed out is the battery life, I always carry my usb charger now and its not too bad. New HTC s look quite nice so Id wait a few months for the new ones.

MaceFace

Gerard McDonald wrote: »

Love my HD, only problem as some people have pointed out is the battery life, I always carry my usb charger now and its not too bad. New HTC s look quite nice so Id wait a few months for the new ones.

Okay, admittedly I haven not really used it that much, but currently:
Unplugged for 1d 3h 42m
Battery level: 43%

Main improvement: callibrating battery. Doubled in use.

seanybiker

I find the camera is very good on it. I'm no photographer so I don't take pics of a leaf but the picture quality is great for what I use it for.

DRice

should i upgrade to a desire now or wait for the desire s (given the desire s will be 3 times more expensive to start with)

Squeeonline

DRice wrote: »

should i upgrade to a desire now or wait for the desire s (given the desire s will be 3 times more expensive to start with)

I saw the specs for the Ds and I was quite unimpressed. HTC themselves claim it to only be an evolution not a revolution. Modest at least.

I'd go with a DHD, or a samung variant, SGS or NS (NS being the google dev phone for now.)

Nothingbetter2d

The_B_Man wrote: »

Is the Desire HD worth an extra €100 over the Desire?

I'm probably gonna get one or the other over the weekend and I'm looking at the different prices on the bill phones.

Meteor
HTC Desire: €170 over both 12(€25) and 18(€20) month plans
HTC Desire HD: €250 over both 12 and 18 month plans.

Both are cheapest on the Bill Pay Connect and Smart Plans (difference??)

O2
HTC Desire: €99 over 18 months (€45 per month, 500mb monthly allowance)

These also have the HD7 for €89 on the same plan as above. Is the Windows Phone 7 any good?


I suppose my real question is:
Is the HTC Desire HD worth the extra €100 euro or so just for a nicer screen? Is the battery better or worst than the regular Desire?

Thanks for the help.

Three
HTC Wildfire free over 18 (€40) and €119 over 12(€25) month plans.
HTC Desire HD: €19 over 24(€40) and €89(€40) over 18 month plans.