Still no alternative to the original desire?

cormie · 11-12-2012 1:51pm #1

I'm considering an update from my original desire which I've now been using about 3 years. I had a quick look into a possible upgrade some time ago but there didn't seem to be any that offered:

Same size as original desire. Anything bigger is too big for me.
Optical Track Pad
Removable Storage Card
High capacity internal storage
Popular enough to have good support and a silicone protective case.
Faster, better camera, front facing camera

I know there's the One X + but this is too big and doesn't have the track pad or removable storage. Is there any hope of a Desire 2? :cool:

Idleater · 11-12-2012 2:53pm

The desire v and x and One v are all about the same dimensions as the original desire to a mm or two.
Once you get used to click and holding to move the pointer on the screen it's hard to see the benefit of the optical track pad.

cgordonfreeman · 11-12-2012 2:59pm

No new phone that I know of has an optical trackpad. They must not have been too popular. Probably your best bet for something a similar size to the Desire is the Samsung Ace II.
3.8" screen as opposed to your 3.7"
768MB RAM compared to your 512MB
1GHz dual core compared to 800MHz single core
Front facing camera
SD card

Support isn't great at the moment but it recently got its own forum on XDA.
All the new top end phones have massive screens or no removable storage.

Atomic Pineapple · 11-12-2012 3:43pm

Why are you limiting yourself to the size of the Desire? Go slightly bigger and get yourself a SGS II, it thinks all the boxes other than being slightly bigger.

cormie · 11-12-2012 3:55pm

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't think the One V or the Ace would be suitable really. Considering I've had it almost 3 years, I want to take a bit of a bigger leap in terms of more power, so it will last me another 3 years before I need to upgrade again. I'm willing to spend the money to get a decent one, just not keen on choosing the wrong one.

Screen size is an issue given my job, doing furniture removal so I'd be carrying a lot of furniture, resting heavy things on my legs etc. The desire itself is a bit big at times and I don't really use the phone for video playback etc and certainly not games so a big screen isn't necessary at all.

So what's the new method of editing text without the optical trackpad? The optical trackpad makes it so easy and I can't imagine having to press buttons instead. Also going to miss the dedicated menu button.

listermint · 11-12-2012 3:58pm

In that case, do you need to update?

What problem are you trying to solve by upgrading ?

Im not sure there is anything on the market presently that will add to your experience .

cormie · 11-12-2012 4:03pm

running out of space on the desire. I've very few apps to begin with but today's apps are just taking up more space than the desire can handle. I've over 2,500 contacts which may be part of it too. Some other issues too such as random shut downs (on every rom I've used). It's really served me well and if there was a simple desire 2 which was the exact same shell but just a more powerful inside I'd go for it..

Atomic Pineapple · 11-12-2012 4:12pm

Try out an SGS II I can't see any reason why it would be a hindrance to you.

GreenWolfe · 11-12-2012 4:14pm

http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_razr_i_xt890-4998.php

The Razr I is about the same size as the old Desire (just a quick check of dimensions on GSMArena, I haven't seen one in the flesh).

Zagato · 11-12-2012 4:58pm

draffodx wrote: »

Try out an SGS II I can't see any reason why it would be a hindrance to you.

I agree, the SGS II is much smaller in your pocket, due to being thinner.

listermint · 11-12-2012 5:26pm

the SGSII to be fair isnt exactly solid in comparison to the desire, My desire for work has been dropped and stood on and rolled on i dont know how many times and its still going strong.

sealgaire · 11-12-2012 5:37pm

if it weren't for the space issue on the desires I don't think anybody would ever upgrade them

cormie · 11-12-2012 5:41pm

I need something robust for sure. I've dropped the desire countless times, from pretty high distances. I don't know if it's the silicone case taking that's absorbing the shock, but it's yet to suffer any ill consequences as a result. Unfortunately it suffers from random shut downs, which mostly occur while in my pocket.

If the SG2 isn't up to standards and is relatively old tech at this stage (I know the s3 is out) I'd prefer to wait in the hope of a newer, better model coming out by one of the main contenders such as Samsung or HTC.

recyclebin · 11-12-2012 5:45pm

If you are looking to keep the phone for three years then you should probably look at newer phones with 4G.

Atomic Pineapple · 11-12-2012 5:54pm

listermint wrote: »

the SGSII to be fair isnt exactly solid in comparison to the desire, My desire for work has been dropped and stood on and rolled on i dont know how many times and its still going strong.

I would have to disagree, mine has been battered about the place and hasn't a scratch on it, I've dropped it countless times, its been sat on, kicked across the floor and dropped from a a first floor balcony and is still perfect. Sure it will comes apart when it's dropped but it always works when you put it back together.

cormie wrote: »

I need something robust for sure. I've dropped the desire countless times, from pretty high distances. I don't know if it's the silicone case taking that's absorbing the shock, but it's yet to suffer any ill consequences as a result. Unfortunately it suffers from random shut downs, which mostly occur while in my pocket.

If the SG2 isn't up to standards and is relatively old tech at this stage (I know the s3 is out) I'd prefer to wait in the hope of a newer, better model coming out by one of the main contenders such as Samsung or HTC.

It's pretty far from being old tech now to be fair!

cormie · 11-12-2012 6:11pm

Ah I know

I wouldn't even say the desire is old even though compared to today's phones it is. It still does pretty much everything I need it to.

Maybe there'll be a few new phones released early in the new year to consider?

theteal · 11-12-2012 6:20pm

Desire S, Cormie. I know it's old too at this stage. I went from the Desire to the S as I was out of space and had no love for the size of the Sensation (and everything that has followed) at the time . I know it's not much of an upgrade on the original Desire but battery life, memory and the look of it were enough to convince me to change. I'm still on the S today and thanks to recently getting JellyBean am convinced I will not be changing for a good while.

No trackpad though

- in fairness, i missed it for about a day

cormie · 11-12-2012 6:33pm

Thanks for the suggestion... so how does it work without the trackpad then? What do you use to go up and edit text, get to a specific letter to change it etc?

Sonics2k · 11-12-2012 7:47pm

cormie wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestion... so how does it work without the trackpad then? What do you use to go up and edit text, get to a specific letter to change it etc?

Your finger.

It's actually much simpler and faster when you get user to it, which takes a day or so.

cormie · 17-12-2012 9:04am

Hehe, I guess...

I've seen a bit posted about the Huawei G330 recently. Would this be a contender or is this just a good cheap phone and wouldn't really be much of an upgrade?

Zascar · 17-12-2012 10:29am

Sorry OP but saying any phone bigger than the desire is “too big for me” is just rubbish. It’s whatever you’re used to. You think the other phones are too big but it’s just in comparison to the desire which is tiny. You need to spend a proper bit of time with another phone and you’ll soon love it and look back with disbelief. I’d go for the HTC One S as the screen is lovely but its amazingly thin and light, you can barely feel it in your pocket. I have the HTC One X – I have small hands and I do not think its too big.

cormie · 17-12-2012 11:10am

I'd have to disagree. I went into the vodafone shop and saw just how big the one x + is, it's huge compared to the desire and it's not just a case of getting used to it, I've a pretty big hunch it would really get in the way in my line of work, even taking it out of a tight pocket I'm sure would be difficult enough, especially if you need to take it out while driving (to connect to bluetooth of course!) not to mind just being too bulky while running up and down flights of stairs carrying stuff for hours at a time, balancing stuff on my legs etc. It's a shame because the bigger phones do look nice, but it's a work device I need, not an entertainment device

groom · 17-12-2012 11:20am

The popular form factor has changed in the last 3 years and you're not going to get a Desire mark II with the same case. Sounds like sticking with your Desire and persevering with more ROMs might be a solution. I would recommend this ROM -> Jelly Bean: Evervolv Turba 3.0.0p7.

cormie wrote: »

running out of space on the desire....

sealgaire wrote: »

if it weren't for the space issue on the desires I don't think anybody would ever upgrade them

My Desire is running 4.1 fairly smoothly and I've got 100mb free

Nikez Lente ROM with a2sd

ROM instructions
a2sd

cormie · 17-12-2012 12:50pm

I've given up trying ROMS. I've found one I'm happy with, mildwild 4.3 from memory. I'm not really a rom head, I need the phone to be reliable and can't be installing a new rom every few weeks but thanks a lot for the suggestion. Any reason you'd go for JB on a desire? I heard there's no reliable and stable JB roms..

groom · 17-12-2012 12:57pm

You've no real need for JB but I've found that ROM quite stable.

a2sd sounds like it'd be the biggest win for you in solving your space issues. You can probably do it with your current ROM

Chet T16 · 17-12-2012 1:34pm

Regarding the trackpad, i use swiftkey keyboard and theres an option to turn on arrows for moving the cursor

The_B_Man · 17-12-2012 6:21pm

I'm in the exact same boat, in terms of looking for an adequate replacement. The size is perfect for me but would like a front facing camera.
I reckon I might just keep the phone until it dies on me. The space topic comes up a lot, which then leads onto ROMs. I think you can't really have a discussion about the Desire without mentioning the space and ROMs.

Space isn't an issue for me coz I have an 8GB SD card with a 1GB partition for apps. MildWild 5.5 has built in support for the external partition and goes like lightning!

I've tried the JellyBean alternatives, and they're good, but definitely not as zippy as MildWild's GingerBread ones. He has 3 going at the moment and they're the top 3 GingerBread ROMs for the Desire, in my opinion. IF he ever bothers making a JB version, I reckon I'll jump on it then. Its only Google Now that warrants the upgrade to JB for me.

Anyway, in terms of an actual hardware upgrade, there's the lower end of the HTC One range. My missus has the Desire S, and the HTC One V is basically the Desire S in another case, with similar/identical internals, and with Jelly Bean available as standard, I think. But for the price of it, I wouldn't bother with the upgrade. If I wanted it that bad, I'd get the Desire S and stick on the JB ROM that's based off the One V.
I stuck a custom ROM on her phone, and to overcome the lack of trackpad, you can enable an option to use the volume buttons to move the cursor back and forward. Its not ideal, but works. In saying that, she never had a trackball so I suppose she's used to it.

Other than that, its just a matter of waiting it out to see if another company comes out with a 3.7inch phone with good specs.

cormie · 18-12-2012 11:10am

Thanks again for all the input folks.

I've since managed to free up another few MB on the phone so I've 27mb free now, sync issues start when it gets to about 15mb so I think with 12mb free, I should be good for another few months, at which stage perhaps there'll be some high spec, smaller phone available

cormie · 17-02-2013 10:22am

Just decided to come back to this after hearing about the S3 Mini. Any opinions on how it might suit my required usage?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkcAyk6lSQY

Dcully · 17-02-2013 10:35am

Was gonna get one but went with the motorola razr i instead, delighted i did far better specs/better device allround.

Zonda999 · 17-02-2013 12:45pm

Its a nice phone in faireness but remember, the specs are not equal to those of the full size s3. The specs in the s3 mini are about equivalent to the specs in the original s2.So in that respect, if you consider you had a top spec phone in 2010, you will moving to a phone with top specs in 2011. Its decent value @ €250 on vodafone PAYG. You mention that you wanted a phone that'll stand up to a few knocks. I don;t think the s3 mini would be as tough as your Desire, so case would be worthwhile

As an aside, you'd wonder why manufacturers continuously need to increase screen size, in order to get a top spec phone. I think the problem is if you tried to put Nexus4/S3 specs in a phone with a screen size of about 4", wanted to keep it very slim AND give it decent battery life, it wouldn't be possible. Otherwise at this stage, some manufacturer would have filled that niche in the market..

Still no alternative to the original desire?

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