My opinion about HTC Desire.

[Antaeus]

Great thread!!! Took 10 minutes off my working day!!

Just one question though, didnt you research the phone before you bought it???

I'd have thought that you might have looked into the product before buying if you had such a specific list of needs!?!?

Its a bit harsh to blame the manufacturer - its not as if they advertised the Desire as a "blank canvas of a phone with months of battery life on a single charge"

SteveP

Haha, you are welcome. I did research it. I never found a list or images or anything to suggest it was full of HTC brand software that could not be removed. If I had known that, I would never have bought this thing.

I blame HTC for making those applications NOT removable. It is fine by me that mediocore applications exsist. I have no problem with that, as long as I have a choice. And when you choose HTC ... well, actually you have a choice... deal with it, or root it (which voids the guarentee).

I have never expected it to run a week on a charge. I expected 2-3 days, then you can see why 1 day is a little unacceptable, right?

Again, I do not blame HTC. I merely told them to consider other ways of distributing their software. Like jay_kay is on about, what about tossing all those applications in "Downloadable widgets and HTC apps"?

This thread has been blown completely out of proportions, why? I have no idea, or well I do. Some people have read half, assumes something, and flame me because I believe HTC phones are not perfect.

 

[OfTheDamned]

I will take this opportunity to remind everyone of the rules and the zero tolerance policy of this forum. If you have not read either or do not know what I am talking about, please find the links in my signature.

There is also zero reason to use the term gay as a way to describe something negatively. Keep in mind that this forum contains people from all walks of life and while some things may not offend you, they can and will offend others.

Please keep things civil. There is nothing wrong with disagreeing with what someone has said, but it is not acceptable to insult or attack them personally.

If you cannot continue this thread in a civil manner, it will be locked and infractions will be handed out.

 

[stevep94]

Did you get the Desire on launch day then or something??? I bought mine about 2 weeks ago and knew exactly what I was getting!!

Its a smartphone so its not really realistic to expect 2-3 days of continual use out of it without having a battery the size of a house brick is it!?!?

I bought mine knowing the battery would not last forever but I'm sleeping in a bed every night that has a rather handy plug socket next to it so its not an issue!

I guess its not for everyone but I love this phone!!!

SteveP

 

[Nagrom]

Dunno what everyone's problem is with the battery.
I can start in the morning with 100%, and end in the evening with 70+%
The only reason it's not that hign now is because I use Andchat

Totaly agree about the Battery. I've no complaints whatsoever. I do agree about the space issue, but apart from that. I'm 100% happy with my Desire.

 

[Ceefax]

Don't think it's been posted yet....

If you want to remove applications that you can't with the the phone application manager, try checking here for a guide.

If you don't know what adb is and it all looks like gobbledeegook, probably best not to try! Plenty of tutorials out there on setting up the sdk though and using adb commands for those interested in learning a new thing.

Also, to the OP, if your a linux fan and already familiar with this, have you looked at the Nokia N900?

 

[gibbs1984]

What phone isn't branded by its manufacturer?

I don't think you researched it enough if you didn't know about these things, what does it matter that you have a couple of apps that you don't have to use but can't remove?

 

[Antaeus]

Did you get the Desire on launch day then or something??? I bought mine about 2 weeks ago and knew exactly what I was getting!!

Its a smartphone so its not really realistic to expect 2-3 days of continual use out of it without having a battery the size of a house brick is it!?!?

I bought mine knowing the battery would not last forever but I'm sleeping in a bed every night that has a rather handy plug socket next to it so its not an issue!

I guess its not for everyone but I love this phone!!!

SteveP

I got mine in June. So no, not at launch. It got sold out in Denmark, so I had to wait for it to arrive again. And now I get 1

 

[JustAUserName]

I understand you. If you have to charge everyday, it is not funny.

How people get to run their phone for up to 3 days is beyond me.

Mmmm...my phone lasts ages on a charge.

I last charged my phone on Friday evening, and now its Tuesday morning still with about 40-50% of charge.

When at work near and near a computer I can turn WiFi, and Mobile Internet off. GPS I have switched off all the time, and I do manual synch-ing of any apps that require downloading.

I'm not into Twitter, and only occasionally peruse Facebook - I'm not one to constantly look at that all day.

If I'm not able to check my mails during the day, I switch Mobile on - or when I'm at home I can use WiFi, as the connection speed is much quicker (plus you can limit your download if on a restricted contract).

At night and whilst driving the phone goes onto Airplane mode.

It's a shame you're having problems.

 

[Antaeus]

Mmmm...my phone lasts ages on a charge.

I last charged my phone on Friday evening, and now its Tuesday morning still with about 40-50% of charge.

When at work near and near a computer I can turn WiFi, and Mobile Internet off. GPS I have switched off all the time, and I do manual synch-ing of any apps that require downloading.

I'm not into Twitter, and only occasionally peruse Facebook - I'm not one to constantly look at that all day.

If I'm not able to check my mails during the day, I switch Mobile on - or when I'm at home I can use WiFi, as the connection speed is much quicker (plus you can limit your download if on a restricted contract).

At night and whilst driving the phone goes onto Airplane mode.

It's a shame you're having problems.

Okay, THAT is not something I am looking for, but bravo for making the battery last that long, with minimal effort!!

I have wifi on when I am home or somewhere where there is wifi, I HAD 3g on all the time, because frankly, in my logic it could not be that bad. Well, I do not have that on anymore.
I have the twitter widget open, but accordingly to running services, it is not running, so it can not be that bad on the battery. The facebook widget... hahaha, turn that on, I dare you. THAT sucks the living h**l out of it. Anyway.

Thanks for sharing

 

[Phenomenological]

And now I get 1

 

[Nodders]

Don't like the HTC apps - then just root and add a ROM that doesn't have them. Part of the benefit of android is its flexibility, so use it.

 

[Antaeus]

This attitude comes up so much, and I really don't understand it. It lasts over a day...So charge it while you sleep! It takes all of 10 seconds to plug it in.

That ruins the battery. Charging a little here, and a little there. That ruins the capacity of the battery, and makes cells collapse, so no thank you

Don't like the HTC apps - then just root and add a ROM that doesn't have them. Part of the benefit of android is its flexibility, so use it.

Okay, thank you for your 2 cents, but I will say this for the 3rd or 4th time... it voids the guarentee!

 

[Phenomenological]

That ruins the battery. Charging a little here, and a little there. That ruins the capacity of the battery, and makes cells collapse, so no thank you

No, no it doesn't. Read up on lithium ion batteries.

 

[Griff_LI]

That ruins the battery. Charging a little here, and a little there. That ruins the capacity of the battery, and makes cells collapse, so no thank you

Please read the other info on this site. There's a sticky thread about batteries that contradicts the above. Why do you think this? As far as I remember the cell-collapse issue was NiCad batteries not Li-ion ones...

 

[Jammy]

Memory effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[mobileman]

what signal strength are you getting on your handset for the majority of the day when on 3G, 1-2 bars 3-4 or full signal ?

 

[nx1977]

I got mine in June. So no, not at launch. It got sold out in Denmark, so I had to wait for it to arrive again. And now I get 1

 

[HTC_Desire]

Still not a phone out there i would swap it for. Love almost everything about it - Sure I'd like more battery life, but i work round it and have chargers at work at home and in the car, so not a problem. I'll buy an extended battery if HTC do bring one out.

Have got a stock T-Mob branded one with Sense, and can't see the sense in changing it (sorry couldn't resist). Love the sat nav, latitude and my web browsing, as well as the odd poker game. For the deal I got this baby on, I'm loving it. My ONLY and I do mean ONLY gripe, is the no apps to SD until Froyo, so hoping they fix that soon, but it's not really limiting me at the moment if I'm honest.

Maybe I've just been lucky, but I can't imagine why anyone could be unhappy with this phone. Just my 2 cents worth ( pennies over here actually :-> )

 

[HTC_Desire]

That ruins the battery. Charging a little here, and a little there. That ruins the capacity of the battery, and makes cells collapse, so no thank you

I don't think so......................

They are Lithium Ion batteries.

You know what, to be honest, even if it did (which it doesn't), I'd just buy another battery when that one eventually died (which it won't, because it doesn't), because they are so damn cheap anyway (Did I mention that it doesn't??).

Convenience is the name of the game.

 

[Evil Genius]

before this turns into a battery life thread, the OP states that they have issues with the pre-installed HTC applications not battery life in general:

...contains applications that drains your battery faster, uses memory, uses precious space, and can not be shut down, nor removed...

...had this phone for 2 months, have been happy with it for 1 week, when I realized that I could NOT remove those applications...

.

 

[Griff_LI]

But I don't follow why he/she is bothered. The pre-installed apps are in ROM, not a resource the standard user can use (and if you're able to root and program ROM you really shouldn't worry about them as you can delete them). So long as you don't run them they're irrelevant. The only "resource" they take-up is screen-space in the installed-apps list. They can't drain your battery if you don't run them.

 

[ronaldjp]

The fact you personally lack the intellect to use it, does not make it a 'shitty crap gay phone'. And may I say that your eloquent grasp of the English language is, as made evident in that sentence, truly second to none?

Oh and incidentally, the attribute of being gay is hardly an appropriate descriptor for something negative in civilised society, now is it? In fact I know several such people, and while I'm certain there are lots of homosexual individuals out there who are truly horrific people, the ones I know are probably among the most amiable people I've ever met. And I'm pretty sure they're representative of the group as a whole.

Apologies for my brief jump on the political correctness bandwagon, I assure you all I'll be getting off at the next stop.

Yeh sure...."some of my best friends are"......blah blah blah. If he wants to voice his opinion let him. He can stew in his own bigotry...who cares? Its not an issue....

 

[slippknot]

well, there are widget and stuff that makes turning off wifi and gps and what not with one touch.. so I dun find much of a hassle with that task..

this is probably the best phone I've gotten to date.. and i changed a lot of phones in my lifetime. so far... i've gone to my usual routine of phone usage.. a phone call or two, lots of messaging, watching a vid for a bit and stuff... the battery seems to be holding fine..

got off the morning with 100% and its now 75% at 4:30pm. all in all, i estimate that I have a battery life of about 2 days at this rate.. no complaints there..

 

[spenspuma]

I love my Desire and I get 30 hours plus out of it and I use the phone a lot.

bs

 

[Thulsadoom]

I recently got a Desire, and I just thought it was interesting to read other people's thoughts... I can't say I mind the battery. I'm used to smart phones, and I've disabled most of the power hungry things and installed an appkiller. (Though battery life still isn't as good as my Touch HD, which has a slightly larger screen and is two years old with its original battery)

Having said that, the reason I found this post, was in looking for other people who found the Desire a bit overrated...

I've been a long time fan of HTC (7 in a row with Windows Mobile) Till now I've been using an HTC Touch HD. In comparison, the Desire is much smoother and faster, I must admit.

Unfortunately within the first week I've had repeatedly poor signal where the Touch HD was fantastic, unreliable texting (it often fails to send, even when the signal is high in places the HD had no problem). It is also now reading the micro SD card as 'damaged', and won't read from it (even after re-booting, unmounting, physical removal, etc). I've since read that a lot of people are having similar problems with their Desire. (The card in question worked without a single problem for the last 2 years in my HD.) So it's not just a case of a dodgy phone....

Beyond those hardware(?) problems and onto the subjective user experience, I'll say I'm not convinced on Android (or perhaps the Desire's usage of android, not having used another Android phone?). It's great from a visual and initial usage sense. Superior to an iPhone in almost every way (I've used a friend's several times, but find them far too limited). But past the surface, the user experience just isn't as intuitive or customisable. At least with Windows Mobile I was able to alter practically any and every setting with ease, if I so wished (again, I don't know, this may be just something I find with the way Android is implemented on the Desire, rather than Android in general?). I tended to find WM lacked the surface touches that make a lot of phones seem really swish, but it fires on pretty much all cylinders behind the scenes (Don't get me wrong, I think it's far from perfect, but I always found a way to do most things, or alter things that I wanted to, or fix any problems easily). Android seems to be all about the initial 'swish', and isn't quite so polished beyond that.

Also, I'm not a big fan of the capacitive screen now (all the rage since the iPhone). Yes, I know I should've thought about that before hand, but I thought it would be fine until I've now had more experience with regular usage. For those who have used a pressure sensitive screen with stylus like the Touch HD, you'll know how hamfisted it feels with a capacitive screen. It's better when ONLY using fingers, but only slightly. In my personal opinion the advantage of a stylus far outweighs the slight improvement a capacitive screen gives on finger usage. Any equivalent stylus for a capacitive screen is like using a block of chalk (so I've now discovered. My own fault, should researched better!). Now texting takes longer, with endless "Damn, that's not what I wanted to press" moments. The general texting system is also awkward and counter-intuitive, and that's still after installing numerous extra things to make it easier than out of the box.

To sum up, the Desire has left me seriously considering going back to my HD at the moment. It may be better than most other phones on the market. It may be much faster and look fancier on screen, but it just doesn't seem to have the usability or reliability for the basic functions, the way the Touch HD had, or even the previous HTC phones I've had. Perhaps I've been spoiled by how reliable and trusty HTC's own Touch HD has been.

Normally there's that period with any phone, of getting used to the differences, even finding the odd thing that your previous phone did better, but the pros have always far outweighed the cons. Within a week or so, I've always ended up really pleased with my new HTC phones, and more than happy at the upgrade. With the Desire, it's the first time I'm seriously unsure whether it was worth the 'upgrade', and I've had it over two weeks now. It's just constantly annoying me.