I've upgraded from a Windows phone (HTC Tytn II) and switched from Orange to T-Mobile (been some issues with the unlimited Internet from T-Mobile, but that's for another thread!).
Basically I'm thrilled with the phone, but there have been some surprises which I'd like to share with people who are considering this phone (and similar Android models).
My old Windows phone was brilliant at synchronising mail, calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes from Outlook 2007 on my PC. The Desire does sync Contacts and Calendar with Outlook, but not mail, notes, or tasks. Finding a solution for the missing functionality is driving me mad! Any suggestions (MyLink Access for Outlook comes close, but is an imperfect solution).
The old phone was also brilliant at synchronising my Windows Media Player MP3 music and playlists. I have star-rated all my songs, and while the HTC player on the Desire is nice enough, it ignores all my ratings and the syncing process is far from simple. Suggestions for a solution to this will be gratefully received.
I realised that battery life would always be challenging, I think I have a reasonable system in place to manage the power - basically I use on widget to switch wifi off when I don't need it, and another to switch mobile data off as appropriate. I was wondering if there was a way (if not already active) of making the wifi off by default and only firing up when an app needed it. Then it would time out until the next time it was needed?
Google Maps Navigation is a big lure since it was activated a month ago here in the UK. It works, but there are many things not quite right. The text to speech synthetic voice is not very pleasant, but I can live with it. But the frequency of mutterings and repetition is very annoying. You can switch the narration off, but what I'd like to see is a middle setting. There is no lane guidance - not a big deal for me, but the inability to add your own Points of Interest (like camera alerts) is a major disappointment. Concerns about the need for data connection while you're driving are present, although (assuming I really do have 3GB fair use from T-Mobile - still to be confirmed) I'm not as worried as I was. You can load most of the map data for your journey from your local internet lan/wifi of course. It's when you make detour off your planned route that your data connection is required and of course you might be out of range in some locations. I urge Google to do what Nokia did and make the entire country downloadable. As a previous TomTom Navigator 6 user on my Windows phone, the general 3D as you drive view is not as slick, either. I don't rule out buying a dedicated satnav app (Sygic or CoPilot, for example) in the end. But let's see how Google evolves its navigation offering; it's in beta only after all.
There have been some moans about the Amoled screen - I think it's excellent, even for tiny text sizes. Maybe TFT is better, but I think we're talking marginal here. Amoled has no reflective capability (which some TFTs do) so visibility in bright conditions outdoors is relatively poor, but not impossible.
These are my primary thoughts on the Desire - I have no regrets in getting the Desire, it's a great piece of technology and I thoroughly recommended it as long as you don't expect it to be entirely free of imperfections.
Ian
Basically I'm thrilled with the phone, but there have been some surprises which I'd like to share with people who are considering this phone (and similar Android models).
My old Windows phone was brilliant at synchronising mail, calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes from Outlook 2007 on my PC. The Desire does sync Contacts and Calendar with Outlook, but not mail, notes, or tasks. Finding a solution for the missing functionality is driving me mad! Any suggestions (MyLink Access for Outlook comes close, but is an imperfect solution).
The old phone was also brilliant at synchronising my Windows Media Player MP3 music and playlists. I have star-rated all my songs, and while the HTC player on the Desire is nice enough, it ignores all my ratings and the syncing process is far from simple. Suggestions for a solution to this will be gratefully received.
I realised that battery life would always be challenging, I think I have a reasonable system in place to manage the power - basically I use on widget to switch wifi off when I don't need it, and another to switch mobile data off as appropriate. I was wondering if there was a way (if not already active) of making the wifi off by default and only firing up when an app needed it. Then it would time out until the next time it was needed?
Google Maps Navigation is a big lure since it was activated a month ago here in the UK. It works, but there are many things not quite right. The text to speech synthetic voice is not very pleasant, but I can live with it. But the frequency of mutterings and repetition is very annoying. You can switch the narration off, but what I'd like to see is a middle setting. There is no lane guidance - not a big deal for me, but the inability to add your own Points of Interest (like camera alerts) is a major disappointment. Concerns about the need for data connection while you're driving are present, although (assuming I really do have 3GB fair use from T-Mobile - still to be confirmed) I'm not as worried as I was. You can load most of the map data for your journey from your local internet lan/wifi of course. It's when you make detour off your planned route that your data connection is required and of course you might be out of range in some locations. I urge Google to do what Nokia did and make the entire country downloadable. As a previous TomTom Navigator 6 user on my Windows phone, the general 3D as you drive view is not as slick, either. I don't rule out buying a dedicated satnav app (Sygic or CoPilot, for example) in the end. But let's see how Google evolves its navigation offering; it's in beta only after all.
There have been some moans about the Amoled screen - I think it's excellent, even for tiny text sizes. Maybe TFT is better, but I think we're talking marginal here. Amoled has no reflective capability (which some TFTs do) so visibility in bright conditions outdoors is relatively poor, but not impossible.
These are my primary thoughts on the Desire - I have no regrets in getting the Desire, it's a great piece of technology and I thoroughly recommended it as long as you don't expect it to be entirely free of imperfections.
Ian
