HTC Desire - Good Decision?

Har0ld x9

I am due an upgrade and want a smartphone so after looking around I decided to go with the HTC Desire... I am collecting it tomorrow as I did not have my trade in with me earlier today..

anyway.. I want a good smart phone with a 5mp camera and on the android operating system, i want something that works fast & has a decent battery life..

will the desire give me all this?

i tossed up between this and the galaxy and decided on the desire as the galaxy just felt too bulky & big in my hand..

got put off the wave coz of Bada... heard bad reports about it( lack of apps).. had the wave been on android i would have bought that!!

TheIrishGrover

5 Mp camers: Yes
Android: Yes
Fast: Yes
Battery:.... Well, that all depends on what you use it for. I'm not a huge user of my Desire. I make a few mins call each day, send/receive a few texts. I browse a bit when I'm on the bus etc. I have my weather widget, facebook, email, RSS reader, engadget reader running the whole time (I'm a sucker for widgets) and I get about 2 -2 1/2 days out of the battery. Heftier users seem to get about 1 - 1 1/2 days out of theirs per charge.

I updated to Froyo over the weekend (Along with everyone else it seems ) and I find it fantastic. 2.1 is great too but the litle improvements on froyo (2.2) are fantastic. The google voice search is fantastic: It will search your phone first, then the net so, for example, if you search for a name you kow is in your contacts it will bring that up but if you just do a common browser search (4 On Demand for example) It will bring up google results from the net for that. 2.2 also plays Flash and it's amazing to see the various flash video sites (Legal of course, like 4OD run on it.


All in all it's a fantastic phone and, as the marketplace gets bigger and bigger, it's only going to improve

Abelloid

It does have a 5MP camera, but it's sh¡te IMHO.

Har0ld x9

I would not be a heavy user but I dont really know as this is my first smartphone so dont know i i will catch the bug... that battery life sounds ok enough, my own fault then if i run it down!!

read some threads and they dont seem to like the camera either.. i dont tend to take many photos so this is not a showstopper to me but I have to say that the camera on the Galaxy looked amazing..

is there a 3.5mm output on it?? it says so on gsmarena but i have been misled by it in the past:mad:

Abelloid

...and the supplied headphones (with wired remote) are sh¡te too.

Otherwise it's a great phone, I haven't been able to put mine down since buying it on first release a few months ago.

Yes, standard 3.5 jack.

Har0ld x9

sorry to ask a stupid question but is there any chance my desire will come with the froyo 2.2 update or how do i get it if it is so good?

i like the sounds of the phone.. each phone i have looked at has cons but the Desire seems to have cons that are more of an inconvenience than an annoyance.. looking forward to messing around with it when i get my hands on it tomorrow

Abelloid

Not sure if it will come with 2.2 but it is available OTA on Meteor already, not sure about the other networks.

Hogzy

JustinOval wrote: »

It does have a 5MP camera, but it's sh¡te IMHO.

+1 the 3.2 mega pixel camera on my old Sony ericsson was leaps and bounds ahead of the desire camera.

More mega pixels doesnt mean a better camera. I think the desire's camera sufferes majorly from stability issues. In order to get a decent shot you need to have the camera completely still.

Abelloid

Where are you getting it BTW? I thought it was sold out everywhere.

Har0ld x9

Where are you getting it BTW? I thought it was sold out everywhere.

as did I but called into CPW on lunch today & guy in shop said he had 1 left that was on hold for someone that didnt collect it... also they are giving me €50 for an old Nokia N73 which is why i could not take it today so they have it put away for me until tomorrow

Abelloid

Lucky.

Despite the issues I have with it, if buying again tomorrow I'd still go for the Desire.


...until something better comes along, I'm happy with it.

TheIrishGrover

Har0ld x9 wrote: »

sorry to ask a stupid question but is there any chance my desire will come with the froyo 2.2 update or how do i get it if it is so good?

i like the sounds of the phone.. each phone i have looked at has cons but the Desire seems to have cons that are more of an inconvenience than an annoyance.. looking forward to messing around with it when i get my hands on it tomorrow

It probably won't come with Froyo preinstalled as it just came out oficially for the desire last weekend however if your phone is unlocked you should be able to update it OK. It's still a great phone on 2.1!

Yeah, the verdict seems to be that the camera is poor but I don't use it as a camera replacement anyway. Plus the fact that you can't connect your own headphones to the hands-fee connector is a pi**er (You can, of course, just connect your own headphones to the 3.5mm socket if you are just listening to music). The wired handsfree thing, to me, is the biggest flaw in the design but, for the amount of times I would be using a wired handsfree kit, it's not a major problem. The adaptability, power, available apps/widgets make this pretty much the ultimate phone on the market at the moment IMHO.

Har0ld x9

Thank you all for your feedback.

hope the phone is unlocked now so I can avail of the upgrade....

not a user of wired handsfree so this does not bother me..

Philip42

Har0ld x9 wrote: »

Thank you all for your feedback.

hope the phone is unlocked now so I can avail of the upgrade....

not a user of wired handsfree so this does not bother me..

Alright there mate..I got mine from CPW too and it was sim-free and thus automatically downloaded the 2.2 update...class phone...

If you ask me, the best feature of the update was the bigger keyboard for typing...it's brilliant...I can text by thumb again!

Paparazzo

I got one about 2 weeks ago. I'm new to smart phones, but know lots of people with i-phones, so i'm familiar enough with them.
The desire is great! Few things I don't like:
Don't like the alarm
Camera lens is poor. Iphone 3gs is better. High mega pixels means nothing. I'd rather 2 megapixels and decent lens. Battery is terrible compared with my old bog standard nokia! A charger beside your bed sorts that problem out! Radio isn't great. Other than that, it's fantastic! customising your screen with combinations of widgets and apps is great. Drag and drop music and films with no resizing is worth the money alone!

WebGeek

I have the iPod touch and was wondering if there is any way to port the apps I bought from there to the HTC??

jimmycrackcorm

WebGeek wrote: »

I have the iPod touch and was wondering if there is any way to port the apps I bought from there to the HTC??

Nope, however more and more of the popular apps are being rewritten for android.

Sanjuro

Have to say, it's my favorite gadget I've ever bought. And I buy a lot of gadgets. Do it.

mickeyboymel

Mee Too ...have it 3 weeks and it is just brilliant, everyday I find something new it can do, you will not be disappointed!

NellyMcD

Battery not great and the built in speaker is poor, but this is a great phone! Do it.

partyatmygaff

Do it. The camera is actually pretty good once you choose the correct settings and have a steady hand.

Abelloid

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Do it. The camera is actually pretty good once you choose the correct settings and have a steady hand.

What settings?

Keano

JustinOval wrote: »

What settings?

Do tell PAMG?

Hogzy

JustinOval wrote: »

What settings?

+1
There are no setting to make the camera better. ISO does feck all and ruins the quality.

partyatmygaff

Lighting, focus and white balance. Reducing saturation helps from time to time as well.

You also need to focus it using the touch focus. The auto focus is decent but it's better to do it using touch focus. Quick point and shoots can look pretty nasty but you can some decent shots (Specifically medium Macro shots) if you take your time.

Here's a (Boring) example of a closeup of a carpet. It's well focused and the noise isn't that bad for a camera phone. (And no, taking photos of carpets isn't something I do often :pac:)

Abelloid

I've taken the Emo ugly-on-purpose approach with mine and use Vignette to take all of my pics now.

http://neilandtheresa.co.uk/Android/Vignette/

Hogzy

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Lighting, focus and white balance. Reducing saturation helps from time to time as well.

You also need to focus it using the touch focus. The auto focus is decent but it's better to do it using touch focus. Quick point and shoots can look pretty nasty but you can some decent shots (Specifically medium Macro shots) if you take your time.

About 99% of the photos i take from my camera phone quick point and shoots. Thats the whole point of having a camera on your phone. Is so you have quick access to taking a picture.
Not being able to take a good point and shoot is stupid. Id give up the tap to focus function in a flash if it were to be replaced by some sort of stability program.

partyatmygaff

Well I guess you've gotta point. But it's not that the hardware's bad (It uses a Samsung Sensor) it's just that it needs some way to counteract not being perfectly stable.

Hogzy

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Well I guess you've gotta point. But it's not that the hardware's bad (It uses a Samsung Sensor) it's just that it needs some way to counteract not being perfectly stable.

It doesnt help that my last phone was a c905... Probably the best camera phone on the market.:D