HTC Desire with a Mac?

[nickmooney]

Hiya peeps.

Seriously considering swapping my iPhone 3G for a HTC Desire on T-Mobile very soon (Upgrade early next month) and I've been reading a lot of reviews and watching a lot of handy YouTube walkthroughs (The one by geekanoids is very useful) but I've got a couple of questions that I can't easily find an answer for, and this forum seems to be useful for people with issues.

I've seen from other users on this forum that one can use a HTC Desire with a Mac. I have a 15" Aluminium Unibody MacBook Pro (Running latest build of OSX Snow Leopard). I notice on the HTC Website HTC - Products - HTC Desire - Specification it says

"Recommended Windows System Requirements
Windows

 

[Eugene's Mac]

Hi There. I also have a Unibody Macbook Pro and come from an iPhone to my Desire. All works fine.

1)The Desire can backup all your info to the SD card. The SD can be mounted on connection to your Mac at which point you can make a backup of the SD and all your info. I use Missing Sync for Android which syncs with my iTunes brilliantly. Photos auto sync with iPhoto or Aperture. Most things can be sorted out right there.

2) Yes I also push my contacts, iCal & email OTA with Google no problems.

3) Yes the Desire automatically selects wifi over mobile data if it is available & returns back to mobile data when the wifi drops.

The transition from my iPhone to my Desire on my Mac was a breeze, so don't worry and just look forward to a far superior phone.

 

[nickmooney]

Thanks for clearing that up.

This would be my first Google Andriod based handset.

My biggest reservation about the HTC Desire is the storage.

I understand that it has 570mb of RAM and 512mb of 'internal' flash storage (or the other way around) but after the OS and suchlike is accounted for only around 70-140ish mb of internal storage is left for various applications to be installed on.

I appreciate from other users posts that many of the larger applications install the central core of the app on the internal storage and any of the bulky data goes on the SD card. And I understand that it is possible to 'root' the Desire so that one can change that.

Anyway, what size of SD card is included with the Desire or does that vary depending on network? Any idea what T-Mobile UK ship with their upgrade Desires?

I ask, as I've got about 5Gb of music that I carry around with me on my iPhone (iTunes 'scales' tracks down to 96kb/sec AAC if they're larger) and this might be bigger than the included microSD card.

Is there a preferred supplier that users of this forum suggest for larger storage?

Thanks again for any help.

 

[mattbeef]

As your a MobileMe user like myself. What you will need to do is setup iCal and Address Book to sync with your GMail account and it works exactly the same.

As for email. If you want to have your mail as push and use an MobileMe alias' then i suggest that you use K9 Mail.

Had my desire for 4 days now and K9 Mail is an awesome replacement

 

[Eugene's Mac]

The update 2.2 is due from Google soon which is believed will permit apps to be installed on the SD rather than the Phone's internal memory. All the Networks vary with regards to the SD. I got mine with a 4gig sd, but purchased a 16gb with the phone for good measure. Most Networks only offer either 2gig or 4gig with the phone, so think it best for you to invest in another Micro SD for the phone if you will need more space.

 

[Degudodger]

Guys,

Little help if that's ok.

Previously i had an iPhone linked to a mobileme account. Now all of my contacts are stored on my MM account and i would like to if possible migrate those across to either direct to my Desire or to my Google mal/Contacts account.
What is the best way of doing this and is there a guide.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[d.knight99]

I too have a Macbook and find that although there is little support for the OS natively, there are lots of ways of getting around that.

MobileMe is, in my opinion, a complete rip off. I had a 2 month free trial and loved the OTA syncing but Google offer that service for free, and the online storage space offered was slow compared to just sticking the stuff onto a USB drive.

The iPhone offers closer integration to the Mac platform, which by the sounds of things you are very much a part of. However, with a few geeky work-arounds and simple set up options, you make your Desire work (mostly) with your existing ecosystem, in some ways even better than with an iPhone.

The Missing Sync for example, which has already been mentioned in this thread offers OTA Wi-Fi or Bluetooth proximity syncing, which saves you having to plug it in Via USB every time you want to transfer something. (Which is nice!) Yes it comes at a price but hey, you'd be spending twice that per year on MM subscriptions so it's money saved in the long run!

My iCal syncs to my Google calendar which in turn syncs with my Desire, simples! Address book does the same as do my emails. All for the low, low price of

 

[Degudodger]

Guys,

All sorted

What i did was select all of my contacts in mobileme, from the options menu select export all my contacts where converted into a VCF file. I then used the import option on Gmail to import contacts from a VCF file. Easy!

By syncing my Desire with Gmail contacts it imported all contacts OTA. BINGO!

 

[KBv1]

Apologies for bring up a old thread but no point starting a new one

I have a Macbook pro and im just wondering can i use the HTC desire as a modem on it if im out and about?

Thanks

 

[frostydub]

Apologies for bring up a old thread but no point starting a new one

I have a Macbook pro and im just wondering can i use the HTC desire as a modem on it if im out and about?

Thanks

When HTC puts out the Android 2.2 update (should be soon) you'll be able to turn the Desire into a WiFi hotspot.

 

[KBv1]

Thanks

 

[bpdcomputers]

Hi guys,

Again like the guy said above, sorry for dregging up an old topic. I have an iPhone 3GS and use MobileMe. I sync my calender on my iMac to my iPhone and also vice versa (iPhone syncs OTA via MobileMe to my calenders). I am on the road alot as I support people with Autism.

From what I read, I have to sync my iCal to gmail? How would I go about doing that? And is it easier to use a GMail account and then sync iCal with Gmail...?

I still would like to know how to sync iCal with Gmail? And K9Mail is an e-mail app for the HTC Desire right? Sorry, I am normally a techie, I trained for 3 years to be a computer programmer! But thanks guys!

And I read up the top, that it doesn't play uncoded music. Will it not play my mp3 music?

And how to put music onto the phone? Via my Mac?

Bobby

 

[bpdcomputers]

I think I figured it out, by going into iCal and adding my me.com google account to it. My dates in my iCal are not syncing to the new calender.

Any ideas?

 

[d.knight99]

To set up CalDAV support for Google Calendar in Apple's iCal, follow these steps:

Open Apple iCal, go to Preferences and then the Accounts tab.
Click on the + button to add an account.
In the box that pops up, enter a description for the account and your Google Account username and password.
Under Server Options, add the following URL:

https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/YOUREMAIL@DOMAIN.COM/user

Replace 'youremail@domain.com' with the email address that you use to log in to Calendar. Make sure to include the '@domain.com' portion (which is @gmail.com for Gmail users) in this section.
Leave the Use Kerberos v5 for authentication option unchecked.
Click Add.
Under the Delegation tab, select the calendars you'd like to add to iCal by checking the boxes next to them. You may need to hit refresh to get the latest list of calendars.
Add your email address to your Address Book card by selecting Add Email. You'll be prompted to add your email address only if your address is not already in your Address Book.
You won't be able to invite or email guests to Google Calendar events within iCal if your address is not in your Address Book.

Your Google Calendar will now appear in iCal's list of calendars, and changes you make to your Google Calendar in iCal will be reflected when you sign in to Google Calendar.

Event information will automatically refresh every five minutes. You can change this interval by opening the iCal > Preferences > Accounts menu and selecting a new refresh interval under the 'Refresh calendars' drop-down. Keep in mind you can also force a refresh by selecting a calendar and pressing the Apple and R keys at the same time.

Calendars that are checked but disabled have already been added to iCal - you can remove them from within iCal.

After you've set that up, just sync your google cal with your Desire. It works perfectly for me, never had any duplicates or missed entries or anything.

I'm not familiar with K9 so can't comment.

Regarding it's music playing abilities, 'uncoded' music as you put it means .wav or .aiff files. Apple lossless is a codec that basically squashes the files size to between 50-60% of it's raw size but retains every single bit of data. Hence the term 'lossless', i.e. no data is lost. MP3 is a lossy format, the algorithm actually discards bits of data that the human ear 'can't hear' meaning it can get files down to really tiny sizes. ALAC (apple lossless) is, as the name suggests, is an Apple proprietary standard so isn't very widely used outside the iTunes/pod/phone ecosystem. Having said that, there are players available for the Desire that will play ALAC but I don't like the way they work. Anyway, to answer your question yes, the Desire will play your MP3's, you can add them manually by connecting via USB and dropping them into the Music folder on your SD card or buy some sort of syncing app from the market.

Hope it helps.

 

[chriswilliams]

Okay, so here's the story...

I've moved from Nokia E71 to HTC Desire. Syncing the Nokia with iCal was simple, and seemingly there is a workaround for the Desire via gmail...I followed the steps in this post which are from the Google web site but have no idea what to do next...(the gmail calendar now appears in my iCal calendar list)

I assumed that this process would update Google's calendar with what is on iCal, but no...

I want to continue to use iCal and thought that this is what this would enable me to do, but unless Google Calendar syncs with iCal this obviously can't work, so...

Can somebody give me instructions as to how to actually make iCal sync with Google Calendar? (keep it simple please!)

Then, preseuming I can get that to work, how on earth do I make Google Calendar sync with my phone (again, clear instructions would be appreciated rather than just saying 'sync it and that's it!')

Looking forward to any help and appreciate the patience required for dealing with novices like my good self.

After you've set that up, just sync your google cal with your Desire. It works perfectly for me, never had any duplicates or missed entries or anything.

I'm not familiar with K9 so can't comment.

Regarding it's music playing abilities, 'uncoded' music as you put it means .wav or .aiff files. Apple lossless is a codec that basically squashes the files size to between 50-60% of it's raw size but retains every single bit of data. Hence the term 'lossless', i.e. no data is lost. MP3 is a lossy format, the algorithm actually discards bits of data that the human ear 'can't hear' meaning it can get files down to really tiny sizes. ALAC (apple lossless) is, as the name suggests, is an Apple proprietary standard so isn't very widely used outside the iTunes/pod/phone ecosystem. Having said that, there are players available for the Desire that will play ALAC but I don't like the way they work. Anyway, to answer your question yes, the Desire will play your MP3's, you can add them manually by connecting via USB and dropping them into the Music folder on your SD card or buy some sort of syncing app from the market.

Hope it helps.

 

[Eugene's Mac]

from Start....iCal. Go to preferences. Accounts and then create the account. easy enough. Make sure the server path under "server settings" is correct like /calendar/dav/******.****@gmail.com/user/. This should get us to where you appear to be and show the google calendar in iCal. By seeing it in iCal, you should now see it in Google calendar too. You can also right click on the calendar in iCal and select refresh all.

On the phone it should by default be linked to your google calendar if you entered your gmail account on initial setup. Settings/accounts & Sync. Is Google there to sync? Try going to your calendar. Menu, more, calendars. Is your google calendar selected there? If not, try menu and add calendars.

 

[chriswilliams]

Thanks for this, but the stuff from iCal just isn't appearing in Google Calendar even though I've followed the instructions exactly...I can put a new meeting into Google Calendar and it appears in iCal, but the same isn't true the other way around...am I missing something?

I have a number of calendars in iCal...none of them are appearing, BUT a calendar I subscribed to (UK Holidays) appears in Google Calendar...none of the calendars I created appear.

I've now tried to 'Export' a calendar from iCal to Google but it isn't taking the alarms with it! It also seems that when you add a new calendar event in iCal it doesn't appear in Google Calendar even when I refresh both...Dammit, why is this kind of stuff never straightforward!

HELP!

 

[drschwartz]

The title pretty much says it all. Whenever I connect my Evo to my iMac, iPhoto launches. Very annoying and I'd love to stop it.

Any advice would be appreciated!

TIA,
David

 

[Phenomenological]

HTC EVO 4G - Android Forums

Go that way. This is the Desire forum, not the Evo one.

 

[tabjh]

I too am having trouble syncing my iCal to my HTC desire. I went to iCal, opened preferences, added my account, went to server settings and the info was automatically input for me. At this point in your explanation you say to press "add", there is no place to select add. Also on delegations, no calendars appear and there is not a refresh button? What am I doing wrong?

 

[d.knight99]

Okie dokie, lets try again. First off though, if something goes wrong and you lose all your appointments and entries, don't blame me! Please back everything up first.

First of all you need to have a Google account set up with all of your cals, appointments and entries added to it.

To do this, you can File->Export your calendars from iCal and then Import them to Google cal. You will only have to do this once. The idea is to manually set up your Google cal to look exactly the same as iCal. Once this is done, delete everything from iCal, including the calendards themselves, Google will actually create new ones so these are no longer needed. If you use the File->Export method this really shouldn't take too long at all, don't try and add each appointment individually if you have loads!

Now go to your iCal's preferences-> Accounts. Add a new account and put in your username (minus the @googemail.com or whatever) and you password. You can also name the account if you like, mine just says Google.

Click the drop down menu for Server Options and in the Account URL section you will need to put -

https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/YOUR FULL EMAIL ADDRESS HERE/user

(thats including the @googlemail/google.com etc)

Then click add.

This should give you the first cal you set up in Google. If you're like me and have multiple calendars for different appointments, click the delegation tab under the account you just made and tick all the other caldendars you want to see in iCal.

Voila! Google calendars in iCal. Simples

Oh and I noticed someone asking about iPhoto automatically launching. There is a setting in iPhoto that allows it to automatically launch when cameras are connected. You can turn this off but it will stop it launching all the time, even when you plug your digi cams in. It can't distinguish the difference between a desire and a camera, so it's either all or nothing I'm afraid!

 

[RegYeomans]

Hi all,

Firstly I've read through all your questions and helpful advice to others and I apologise now if I'm repeating any part of others questions.

I must say that I am new to all this and your help, advice and patience would be greatly received. So here goes....

I'm a novice Mac OS X user, with a Nokia N95 (smashed in pocket !!). I am considering moving to an iPhone or HTC Desire. I will get a much better deal from Orange if I go with the Desire.

I currently only sync my calendars and address book from my Mac to the N95 phone (vise-versa). I only use Hotmail for email and only really store photos etc on the phone, not much else.

I will use the Desire to store my contacts, calendar and photos, with internet access to Facebook, Hotmail, and general browsing.

So can you guys tell me if I can seemlessly sync the HTJ Desire with iCal (without going through Google or any other 3rd party applications), my address book directly from my Mac to the Desire, and access hotmail and facebook etc.?

I await in much anticipation. In the mean time I'm off down to the Orange shop to check out the phone.

Man many many
Reg

 

[d.knight99]

Hi Reg! Welcome to the forums.

The upshot of your question is that, without going through a third party program or service, no, you will not be able to sync iCal to your Desire directly. HTC Sync is currently not available for the OS X operating system and I have no idea if that is ever set to change.

HOWEVER. And this is a big 'however'. Setting up iCal to sync with Google calendar is a breeze, and your phone is automatically set up to sync with the same Google calendar. So really, it will still feel pretty seamless once you spend a few minutes setting it up. The same thing goes with the address book and Google contacts. Plus, if you wanted the same 'over-the-air' syncing you get with the iCal->Google->Desire method (which is free) you would have to give Apple a further

 

[Famous Mortimer]

So, after reading this thread, as well as spending a fruitless evening trying to get my Desire to sync with iTunes on my Mac (DoubleTwist appears to sync approximately 10% of my iTunes folder, and is fairly unhelpful to the new user, if there's a setting I'm missing) I think I might just use my laptop. I know I can do it via drag-and-drop, but I guess a year of having an iPhone and iTunes has made me lazy.

There must be an easy / free way to do this (MissingSync $40? No thanks) and I'll probably keep searching, but the current system certainly doesn't make it easy for those people wanting to transition from the iPhone and keep the best things about that device.

 

[ecedillo]

I got Myssing Sync to sync my HTC Desire and my Mac. The problem is that I can't open the music plug in settings, it disappears after a second of being open so I can't put music into my HTC... how can I fix this or how do I drag the music manually to the SD card? where do I find that in my Mac?

THank you!!