Help Some issues faced with my HTC Desire

[sameee781]

I started my journey in the Android world few days back. Previously I used Nokia 5800. Hearing so many good things regarding Android, I planned to buy an Android phone and at last bought HTC Desire.

My Desire in brief -
Screen: S-LCD (may be)
Model: A8181
Android version: 2.2
Made in Taiwan

After getting Desire in my hand, I was totally impressed and felt proud to have it. Still I'm proud of it. Currently I'm facing some issues in it. These issues might not be too big but need solution. I'm sharing some points -

#1. Battery: It takes at least 3 hours to be fully charged both on AC and laptops USB. If th phone is in active state (music, browsing, etc) while charging it take more than 3hr to charge. As its capacity is high (1400mAH), we can't say it is unacceptable. But while using the phone it is getting discharge rapidly . Some voice calls (30-60min), a little bit Internet browsing (through EDGE), take few pictures and listening few songs etc cause fully discharged of the battery within 5/6 hours. It seems very unusual to me.
#2. It doesn't show call waiting on the screen when the called party is in another call having call waiting feature activated.
#3. I didn't find any indicator of showing a diverted call.
#4. It doesn't take alphabetic character as an input while using UMB (USSD Menu Browser). It only takes numeric character. Here some operators have a service to purchase train ticket through USSD menu where alphabetic character is needed.
#5. For the messages application, I found no option to arrange it by date. By default it is arranged by sender/receiver's name/number. Through the message widget setted in the home screen, messages are found arranged by date. But it is not possible to find messages of several month back through this widget. The widget seems convenient for 10/20 messages only.

Could anybody please make clear the above issues? Are those really the problem in Android or HTC or my fault (may be configuration related)?

 

[Tommex]

Generally, it will take a while to "break in" your battery. After a while, you should find it lasts much longer on one charge than it did when you first got it. However, if you really are concerned about your battery, you could root your phone (not hard at all) and flash a custom ROM (even easier) to give it a little bit more life.

For the other questions, I can't really help you out, I'm afraid. I use third party apps for most of the things I do. However, I think that Handcent SMS might have a "Sort by date" option, but I can't check, as I don't have my phone on my person right now. I'll check for you in a bit.

 

[SUroot]

Well I'd avoid rooting for a while until your familiar with the device. Screen and data connections take the most power. With the screen on constantly, you'd be lucky to get much life.

Make sure you set anything that syncs to sync when you want. Out of the box,m everything is set to "on" pretty much

#5 - Its threaded sms. You cant sort by date as they are threaded per contact. This is a more modern way of handling things and many smartphone sms systems do it this way now. It will take some getting used to, but it will be better in the longrun.

 

[sameee781]

Thanks Tommex and SUroot for the reply.
As the main concern is battery part, I'm also interested to learn how to root and flash it with a custom ROM. But I need to know the pros and cons first. Of course in this meantime I'll try to reduce power usage by controlling screen brightness, widget, auto update for news, weather, email etc.

For the other questions, I can't really help you out, I'm afraid. I use third party apps for most of the things I do. However, I think that Handcent SMS might have a "Sort by date" option, but I can't check, as I don't have my phone on my person right now. I'll check for you in a bit.

@Tommex: I just read your comment and downloaded Handcent SMS. Don't see Sort by date option. Anyway, could you please mention some app name for the rest of the things?

 

[Red_Avatar]

Well, to be honest: smart phones are not designed to be used for calling for hours a day. They're computers with calling as an added bonus. Even my regular phone gets drained after talking for an hour or so and that one lasts on standby for a week before I have to recharge.

For the rest, the battery improves - just don't let it run empty, do plenty of top ups and, to get it completely full: charge until the led is green, then let it drop a little bit, turn off the phone and charge again until green.

For the rest, I'm not sure what you mean with #4 but I can use letters to find a person just by pressing the numbers associated with the letters.

 

[SUroot]

Well when you are ready to think about rooting, read the faq in my Sig. Should answer most questions. But to reiterate, learn the phone first

 

[cb3190]

Do you think moving from nokia 5800 to the Desire was a good idea or would you go back?

 

[sameee781]

Do you think moving from nokia 5800 to the Desire was a good idea or would you go back?

Of course it was a good idea to move to Desire. Never think to go back to NOKIA 5800??? Now 5800 seems to be a backdated phone and Desire's performance is far far batter than 5800.

 

[sameee781]

My Desire is T-mobile branded. I want to replace t-mobile from welcome screen. To remove t-mobile from welcome screen rooting and then flash a custom ROM both are required? or only root access is required?

My understanding is- root for getting permission super user for the OS. With this root access privilege I'll be able to do administrative works. So, by root access I'll be able to change welcome scree's T-Mobile animation? Right?

or I've to flash a custom ROM to remove T-mobile? If I install a custom ROM, beside this what extra things I'm supposed to get? Will there have HTC scenes UI in custom ROM?

Is there any issue to get root access and install custom a ROM to my T-Mobile branded phone? If any, could you please refer me the checklist?

 

[SUroot]

You'll be able to replace the boot animation if you're rooted, but the splash screen before that will either require:

Root + S-off + custom splash + fastboot splash

OR

You could just debrand using a generic RUU and goldcard. This will put the original HTC splash screen back

 

[sameee781]

Current Software info. of my Desire-

Baseband version
32.49.00.32U_5.11.05.27
Build Number
2.12.110.4 ...

How can I collect RRU for this version? Not clear about the goldcard too.

Another thing I observed that a software (Android System Information) shows Max. RAM 415MB in my phone. But it should be 576MB, shouldn't it?

 

[togger161]

I rooted my Deisre and flashed a custom Rom within 3 days of having it. It was also my first Android phone so I was a complete newbie but there is some great help on these forums. I flashed a rom without the sense UI and I find my battery life much better although I am careful about what I have running - widgets etc, and how often they update.

I also have the power settings for my wifi bluetooth gps etc on my home screen, where they are easy to toggle on/off. This helps to stop me forgetting to turn the wifi off when out and about.

Last night I fully charged my phone - this morning it was on 98%. I've used it on the wifi for about 10 mins, had a few alerts from facebook, sent 2 txts, and played 3 levels of angry birds and it's now on 95%.

 

[sameee781]

I've taken decision to flash my Desire with custom ROM to play with it. I studied some post regarding rooting, flashing etc.

For installing a custom ROM, so far I understood is as below-
1. Need to have a root access to the phone (if bootloader is PVT4 S-OFF erase size value 20000, no issue, its normal). I can follow the process given here -unrevoked
Also here >> II. Root and Flash a Custom Recovery Image in this link How To: Root the HTC Desire (Unrevoked Method) (Updated 1.18.11) | TheUnlockr

2. Creating a goldcard for branded phones (needed to roll back to original ROM through shipped RRU if any issue arise after installing custom ROMs). This step can be skipped if I can collect it from my colleagues/friends. As there is no direct relation of making a goldcard and my phone itself. I guess - Any gold card can be used in any android phone to restore it's stock ROM through RRU.

3. Taking backup (Nandroid, Titanium etc.) for data, applications, contacts, messages, settings etc to restore the all things after flashing is done. Currently I don't need any data except contacts, I can ignore this step. I'm supposed to get back the contacts in new ROM by synchronizing with my laptop.

4. Getting S-OFF is optional. Some custom ROMs need it. If my selected ROM does not need it I don't need to gain S-OFF. If needed, I can follow the process given here >> III. (UPDATE 12.09.10)(Optional) Gain S-OFF in this link How To: Root the HTC Desire (Unrevoked Method) (Updated 1.18.11) | TheUnlockr

5. Flashing a custom ROM is easy as per the the first post in this thread available in How do I flash a custom ROM? this question. I got a youtube video regarding the process of install a custom ROM in SAMSUNG Galaxy S using ROM manager. Here is the link- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCDsAHfoVwc&feature=related. ROM manager seems easier to me. Don't know whether this process is okay or not with HTC Desire.

6. Rollback to original ROM is easy to do with a shipped RRU exe file. Just need to insert a gold card (in case of a branded phone) into the phone before start. In this case if any gold card is available to me I can easily use it otherwise I've to borrow it. To restore the phone with other ROM (changing from TMO to WWE or Asia to WWE etc.) a gold card is must (branded or unbranded phones both case). Then I'll loose root access to my phone again.


I'll be very glad if SURoot and other experts put their comments on each point. I'm trying to learn more from here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCDsAHfoVwc&feature=related