HTC Desire Tips & Tricks [READ ME]

[matttye]

I'm sure lots of people know about this but I've only just discovered it so thought I'd share!

When you're in an editbox in edit mode and there's a long piece of text that doesn't fit in the box (ie. the URL bar in the browser), you can drag the text left and right with your finger to scroll through it. This means that if you only need to edit part of the URL, you don't have to use the trackball to position the cursor where you want it, just drag the text and then tap in the appropriate section.

 

[gerenmoor]

@rosdif

I simply connected the Desire to the PC (running Fedora Linux, but Windows will do the same), mounted up the SD card, and used cp to copy them. They are a selection of .wav, .mp3, and .mid files, gathered over the years. As they're going onto the SD card, you only need to use the method described in the user guide. I actually copied the files from my old Sony Ericsson P1i, which is now retiring.

Hope this helps.

 

[ceider]

Regarding ringtones, notifications, and alarms on /sdcard, I wanted my collection of silly sounds to be available for use as any or all of these things, without having to copy them to 3 different directories. So I created a single directory

/sdcard/ringtones/alarms/notifications/sounds

and placed all my sound files in it. It worked nicely! Setting the ringtone, notification sound, or alarm sound brought up the standard ones as well as all of my silly sounds. That's saved some space on my SD card. Hope they don't change the code (MediaScanner.java) to be more choosy, or this will stop working.

Can I ask a daft question, but how do you go about creating this directory? I could only access message tones when I last connected my phone to the PC.

It's the alarm tones specifically I want to change...they're bloody awful!

 

[Raija]

Anybody knows what is the easiest way of converting my telephone and facebook contacts to google contacs so I can use Google voice search?
Thanks!

 

[sunny5001]

hi, this seems to be the palce to ask for help?
im a complete newbie to android, ive got a htc desire and ive only had it a wek and a half, i do absolutely love it but need help with a couple of things.
im on orange so called unlimited internet but really capped at 500mb, ive downloaded the widget to track usage but the issue is more for when im at work (at home i use my wifi) my battery is fine, however when i go to work i can only get "G" as the internet and my battery goes down super fast but the main prob is my data usage goes mental, i used 23mb over a 24 hour shift even with uninstalling 97% of my apps and switching the mobile internet off, i found it still being used so i kept turning my phone off, i can see in settings what uses the data and ive uninstalled some but im worried ill get rid of something ill need (i uninstalled orange world and my phone switched itself off!) im worried about using all my MB when im not even near my phone is there anything that really stops all my MB being consumed? does turning my phone off totally stop it?
sorry for huge long panic rant, i love my phone but dont want a huge bill for going over oranges not unlimited internet
any advice please? thank you

 

[Roze]

Sunny, if you're not using your 3G, have you disabled the feature (not sure 'mobile internet' is what you call 3G)? Phone settings -> Wireless & network -> Mobile Networks --> select 'use only 2G networks and if you have 'data' roaming, unselect that (you don't want it on).

You can also put your phone in airplane mode instead of turning it off. This way both 2G and 3G are turned off.

You might want to do a factory reset of your phone to see if that'll work.

Also...it'd be much easier to read if you break your post into paragraphs.

 

[Cornflake]

(...) and switching the mobile internet off, i found it still being used so i kept turning my phone off

I also have a stock Desire running on Orange, with 500MB/month cap - yet when I switch off "mobile internet" (I'm assuming you mean the "Mobile" icon on the screen appearing with one swipe to the left?), it stays off!

Nothing can use it unless you have an application which has maybe been set to switch it on if it discovers it's off?

 

[gerenmoor]

Can I ask a daft question, but how do you go about creating this directory? I could only access message tones when I last connected my phone to the PC.

It's the alarm tones specifically I want to change...they're bloody awful!

OK. Here's a short tutorial.

When you connect your Desire to the PC, the phone displays a USB notification. Check that this is showing 'Disk drive' so the SD card is offered to the PC as a USB disk drive. On the PC, it should automatically mount the SD card.

If you're running Windows, it will show up in Windows explorer as a new drive (e.g. E:, but you may get a different letter on your PC). In this case, you need to first create a directory called ringtones in drive E:. Then go into the new ringtones directory and create one called alarms, and then go into the alarms directory and create another directory called notifications. Inside the notifications directory, I created one called Sounds, but this isn't really necessary - I just created it to remind me where I got the files from. This gives you a full path
E:\ringtones\alarms\notifications\Sounds
and you can place your music or other sound files in there.

If you're running Linux, the SD card should get automatically mounted as a filesystem (such as /media/diskdrive but it depends on your system configuration). Check the filesystem has been mounted by calling df. In this case, I created the directory
/media/diskdrive/ringtones
and then created /media/diskdrive/ringtones/alarms, and so on until I had
/media/diskdrive/ringtones/alarms/notifications/Sounds
and I placed my sound files in there.

Remember to unmount the SD card cleanly from your PC, and then disconnect the USB connector, or the SD card may get corrupted.

If you install the app ASTRO from the Android market, it shows the SD card as /sdcard, which is the name given to it by the Android system. Astro lets you browse through the directories, and you can browse to the directory
/sdcard/ringtones/alarms/notifications/Sounds
to see and play your music files.

Hopefully this makes it a bit clearer.

 

[ceider]

thank you Geren! I will be trying that out when I get home tonight, will let you know how I get on

 

[fos1982]

Hi, i'm new to android and the desire having recently ditched the iPhone (thank god). I'm wanting to know if there is an app that would allow me to teather the phone to my laptop. I'm on O2 and have the unlimited internet blot on to my package so data usage is not an issue.

This might not be the correct place to ask my question but hopefull of a good answer.

 

[rtb35]

PdaNet and Easy Tether are 2 good ones apparently,they both have free and paid versions.

 

[Pojken]

HTC Sync has never failed me. It installs on the computer you want to use (it is on the memory card or you can download it from the site). It gives you options to charge, use as storage, and tether. (At least on mine, it does.)

Otherwise, if you root, you can wirelessly tether (make your phone into a hotspot). Look into the rooting guide section.

Tim

 

[fos1982]

PdaNet and Easy Tether are 2 good ones apparently,they both have free and paid versions.

Thanx for the help. I tried Easy Tether and it works a treat.

cheers.

 

[DesireMe]

Can I ask a daft question, but how do you go about creating this directory? I could only access message tones when I last connected my phone to the PC.

It's the alarm tones specifically I want to change...they're bloody awful!

Either connect your phone to the PC and select Disk Drive option, then create on the PC as you would any other folder. Or then download EStrong File Explorer from the market place, which will give you control and access to the SD card to move files/create folders.

 

[tomvdp]

I also have a stock Desire running on Orange, with 500MB/month cap - yet when I switch off "mobile internet" (I'm assuming you mean the "Mobile" icon on the screen appearing with one swipe to the left?), it stays off!

Nothing can use it unless you have an application which has maybe been set to switch it on if it discovers it's off?

The trick is to switch to airplane mode and then back to normal. Now you will be able to switch mobile internet back on.

 

[ceider]

thank you Geren! I will be trying that out when I get home tonight, will let you know how I get on

Thanks again, that worked a treat...left my USB/charger in work, so after ordering a new one as I'm at home, i had to wait a few days. Job done

 

[deaconblues]

Hi everyone and thanks for all useful tips and tricks!
Got my Desire last week and its my best smartphone experience so far.

But.. What about that lousy speaker? sounds like its cracked.
Anyone knows if its related to HW or SW?

 

[badonde]

hello folks. just jumped onto the smartphone bandwagon yesterday

so the desire is pretty cool. one thing thats annoying me is if i go to Messages to text someone, in the contacts it shows Everybody i have on facebook, and i dont want that
if i go to the People Widget, like if i want to phone, i found the View>and turning off facebook. but i cant find the same for the contacts found in Messages

i'd prefer to keep facebook seperated from my sim contacts. anything i can do here? otherwise i'm in danger of drunk texting folk i barely know..

 

[DesireMe]

hello folks. just jumped onto the smartphone bandwagon yesterday

so the desire is pretty cool. one thing thats annoying me is if i go to Messages to text someone, in the contacts it shows Everybody i have on facebook, and i dont want that
if i go to the People Widget, like if i want to phone, i found the View>and turning off facebook. but i cant find the same for the contacts found in Messages

i'd prefer to keep facebook seperated from my sim contacts. anything i can do here? otherwise i'm in danger of drunk texting folk i barely know..

Text them from the "People" program instead, there you can have just sim contacts (ie. no facebook ones). Other alternatives include setting up folders with "Direct Message" contacts.

 

[Cornflake]

The trick is to switch to airplane mode and then back to normal. Now you will be able to switch mobile internet back on.

I think you meant this for the OP?
I've never had any problem with using GPS and/or WiFi, and the various stock on/off widgets all behave perfectly...

(later) Ah, I see the ambiguity...
When I said "it stays off", I meant only that it behaves itself and stays off, as instructed, until such a time as I switch it back on again using the same widget.
No sneaky data accesses...

 

[Cornflake]

Hi everyone and thanks for all useful tips and tricks!
Got my Desire last week and its my best smartphone experience so far.

But.. What about that lousy speaker? sounds like its cracked.
Anyone knows if its related to HW or SW?

Yep, the Desire is a superb piece of kit. Thoroughly pleased with mine!

Yes indeed. The sound is a bit on the tinny side, isn't it - but I suspect it's lousy simply because the speaker is lousy...
There can't be much space left inside that case so any speaker is likely to be the most minimal sort of thing - probably an ultra-slim piezoelectric transducer, which would more likely get used as a beeper elsewhere.

 

[DesirableHTC]

Hi Lekky, thanks for the useful tips.

Only have one problem, i cannot get the nexus one launcher app to work, i have tried the way you said to the letter, anyone els having issues? When i install it, it says that its done, but cant open it...?

Thanks. Geof

 

[andyroo82]

Hey Guys

It might not be that good of a trick but
I discovered that you can wake up the phone by pressing the top button and then
instead of slide to unlock you can use the menu key to further unlock it.

Doh! So that's why the blooming thing keeps unlocking itself in my pocket. anyone know if there is a setting to disable this without using an unlock pattern?

 

[loveandroid]

You must wear really but really tight pants....

 

[fos1982]

Hi, another desire nooby question. My desire is on O2 contract and a friend of mine has one on O2 Pay & Go. He has different applications installed as standard on his phone, for example; Notes. I had to download an application from the market.

My question is, I