HTC Desire - Available for pre order

[lloydi]

this is coming to the three network by the end of the month, i should imagine it will have Skype included too as most three phones do, my contract is due in May so good timing

[Latman]

this is coming to the three network by the end of the month, i should imagine it will have Skype included too as most three phones do, my contract is due in May so good timing

Not sure if SkyPe is compatible with Andoid phones yet. You might wanna check that first.

[cbrookes]

Its the best phone Ive had for a long time, kills the iphone imo, just wish the battery was better

[AP0ll0UK]

I've had my G1 for 18 months now, I've pushed it as far as it can so I've really had my money's worth and I will definately be going for a Desire as I can't wait for the Evo.

Android as an os I think is excellent, it's stable, it's quick and the GUI imo is supurb. I've flashed it with tons of different roms, either modded G1 roms or modded Hero roms just to see what the support for Flash apps and movies was like. But as with most devices, it can only be overclocked so far and not all of the Hero stuff including Flash will run as smooth as they should.

I download a lot of [pay for] apps from here - http://mobilerumor.blogspot.com/2009...downloads.html - Plus Android apps get posted onto Usenet every other day the same as iPhone apps do.

My girlfriend has an iPhone 3G which I've played about with, Jailbroken and installed a few toys on. IMO the iPhone was marketed to death and like most things that are heavily marketed, picked up by early adopters and then spread by word of mouth, it really isn't my cup of tea. I'm not a Mac hater and I think the iPhone really helped to push the mobile market forward. But it also crippled the O2 network which affected personal and corporate customers, I have circa 150 Blackberry's in use by senior managers so I know just how much this hurt O2, how much pain it caused our users, and how much time / money / effort / prayer O2 are having to now spend rectifying this - I'll stop being I get into a rant.

The iPhone is nice and shiny and the GUI is very polished, but without busting it open and invalidating your warranty I don't think you can get the level of freedom which you get with Android. The iPhone has some excellent apps, even the banks are getting into bed with Apple now. But if Android numbers continue to increase as they are, the banks and other companies would be foolish not to do both Android and Apple versions of their apps.

The spec of the Desire gives the phone the grunt it needs to allow the Android os and the apps to go to the next level, delivering features and fucntionality which could potentially overthrow the iPhone. The iPhone was a leap forward when it first came out, but as the new versions of the phone have appeared, not much seems to have changed. Perhaps v4 of the os will change this, or perhaps it will just allow Android to gather more of a following.

Just my 10 cents.

[pumpman]

Top phone mate. Had mine for over a week now and still cant put it down.
Just had a firmware upgrade and that has made a big improvement over battery life.
You will not be dissapointed.

without wishing to sound thick, does the upgrade pop up on the phone ? or do you have to download it ?

[Latman]

without wishing to sound thick, does the upgrade pop up on the phone ? or do you have to download it ?

Just go to settings and select about phone and then you will see system software updates which you can use to check for updates.

Version I have is 1.15.110.11

[AP0ll0UK]

...oh and here's one more vote for an Android section

[Latman]

I've had my G1 for 18 months now, I've pushed it as far as it can so I've really had my money's worth and I will definately be going for a Desire as I can't wait for the Evo.

Android as an os I think is excellent, it's stable, it's quick and the GUI imo is supurb. I've flashed it with tons of different roms, either modded G1 roms or modded Hero roms just to see what the support for Flash apps and movies was like. But as with most devices, it can only be overclocked so far and not all of the Hero stuff including Flash will run as smooth as they should.

I download a lot of [pay for] apps from here - http://mobilerumor.blogspot.com/2009...downloads.html - Plus Android apps get posted onto Usenet every other day the same as iPhone apps do.

My girlfriend has an iPhone 3G which I've played about with, Jailbroken and installed a few toys on. IMO the iPhone was marketed to death and like most things that are heavily marketed, picked up by early adopters and then spread by word of mouth, it really isn't my cup of tea. I'm not a Mac hater and I think the iPhone really helped to push the mobile market forward. But it also crippled the O2 network which affected personal and corporate customers, I have circa 150 Blackberry's in use by senior managers so I know just how much this hurt O2, how much pain it caused our users, and how much time / money / effort / prayer O2 are having to now spend rectifying this - I'll stop being I get into a rant.

The iPhone is nice and shiny and the GUI is very polished, but without busting it open and invalidating your warranty I don't think you can get the level of freedom which you get with Android. The iPhone has some excellent apps, even the banks are getting into bed with Apple now. But if Android numbers continue to increase as they are, the banks and other companies would be foolish not to do both Android and Apple versions of their apps.

The spec of the Desire gives the phone the grunt it needs to allow the Android os and the apps to go to the next level, delivering features and fucntionality which could potentially overthrow the iPhone. The iPhone was a leap forward when it first came out, but as the new versions of the phone have appeared, not much seems to have changed. Perhaps v4 of the os will change this, or perhaps it will just allow Android to gather more of a following.

Just my 10 cents.

Excellent. Sounds like you've spent a lot of time looking in to this.

[B.I.G.]

My contarcts up mid may and i think i'll be getting one of these judging by the comments on here and general reviews.

I've considered the iphone but i've got an ipod touch and i just don't use it for anything other than an mp3 player and occasional browser,all the apps and stuff don't make any odds to me and for the price this seems like the better option.

Can anyone who's got one tell me what the camera's like i know it's a 5mp one but whats the picture quality like say compared to an n95.

[AP0ll0UK]

Can anyone who's got one tell me what the camera's like i know it's a 5mp one but whats the picture quality like say compared to an n95.

I'm not sure how it compares to the N95 as I haven't used a Nokia for quite some time but have a look at the review on engadget as there are some examples of photo's taken with the Desire on there - http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/01/htc-desire-review/

I don't take a lot of photo's but when I'm out and about then it looks like it would do the job. But if I'm going to a party or something like that I always take my digital camera anyway.

[Roach-Rampino]

My G1 is by far the best phone I've had so far but I too am keen to take advantage of a few upgrades available to me (got 7 work phones all of which contracts are totally out of sync so we are always due an upgrade every few months).

The Desire is sorely tempting but if the Evo is on the horizon I may just wait.

[AP0ll0UK]

The Desire is sorely tempting but if the Evo is on the horizon I may just wait.

I've seen summer time mentioned in a few places for the Evo so it will probably be Q3 at least by the time it hits the Uk shores.

But with the Evo supporting 4G which isn't even rolled out fully in the States yet, and to the best of my knowledge 4G isn't really on the radar of all mobile comms providers in the UK. Sure there'll be a few areas trialing it [probably for provider employees only at this time I would guess] but to be honest I don't think the infrastructure inthe UK is ready to cope with those speeds. I know O2 are currently running a program nationwide to upgrade their cells to provide more bandwith and bring traffic volumes back down to an acceptable level. Vodafone are probably running something similar, T-Mobile and Orange I don't know but the latter two companies will be sharing a lot of the same infrastructure soon anyway because of the merger last year.

So in my eyes 4G is a long way off, and if the providers start advertising a device that does 4G which is a speed that the provider cannot currently offer then this raises awkward questions with customers. On that basis we may not see the device over here officially unti Q4 2010 or perhaps early 2011. You'll be able to pick it up on FleaBay once it launches in the states but it wont be cheap with the spec it has.

My suggestion would be to get the Desire, it will fill the gap nicely and by the time your bothered about performance or similar then HTC will have a new offering which will probably surpass the Evo.

[Roach-Rampino]

I've seen summer time mentioned in a few places for the Evo so it will probably be Q3 at least by the time it hits the Uk shores.

But with the Evo supporting 4G which isn't even rolled out fully in the States yet, and to the best of my knowledge 4G isn't really on the radar of all mobile comms providers in the UK. Sure there'll be a few areas trialing it [probably for provider employees only at this time I would guess] but to be honest I don't think the infrastructure inthe UK is ready to cope with those speeds. I know O2 are currently running a program nationwide to upgrade their cells to provide more bandwith and bring traffic volumes back down to an acceptable level. Vodafone are probably running something similar, T-Mobile and Orange I don't know but the latter two companies will be sharing a lot of the same infrastructure soon anyway because of the merger last year.

So in my eyes 4G is a long way off, and if the providers start advertising a device that does 4G which is a speed that the provider cannot currently offer then this raises awkward questions with customers. On that basis we may not see the device over here officially unti Q4 2010 or perhaps early 2011. You'll be able to pick it up on FleaBay once it launches in the states but it wont be cheap with the spec it has.

My suggestion would be to get the Desire, it will fill the gap nicely and by the time your bothered about performance or similar then HTC will have a new offering which will probably surpass the Evo.

You obviously know your onions mate and your input is appreciated. I will get on the horn tomorrow and see about upgrading to a Desire.

Nice one.

[flumperino]

Blimey, another HTC phone?! My concern would be if they actually support phones other than their most current model - as it seems like they have released a gazillion new models over the last 2 years o_O

[AP0ll0UK]

You obviously know your onions mate and your input is appreciated. I will get on the horn tomorrow and see about upgrading to a Desire.

Let me know what you think when you get one, I'm not sure an upgrade until the end of April

I've spent a lot of time playing around with my G1 and like I mentioned before, it's just not up to the job anymore but thats only a hardware limitation. It can do multi-tasking so I want it to do multi-tasking, it just can't keep up and the Desire will solve this problem for me instantly.

Initially when I thought the Android GUI was slick and the Google integration and web browser was fantastic. My work phone is a Blackberry 9000 Bold and it's a nice device, good for business use but I wouldn't dream of buying one for my own use, it's nowhere near as flexible as Android underneath the hood.

I'm also not anti-iPhone either, I just don't like over-hyped stuff, Android is very much the underdog when compared to Windows Mobile and the iPhone os [even though both the iPhone and Android run Linux underneath] and it's now gathering pace deserves to knock the iPhone off of the top spot.

[AP0ll0UK]

Blimey, another HTC phone?! My concern would be if they actually support phones other than their most current model - as it seems like they have released a gazillion new models over the last 2 years o_O

The flip side to this is that they are all much of a muchness, the Android custom rom scene is very much alive, there are tons to choose from and as you would expect some are much better and more stable than others.

People who think that the Nexus One is likely to see updates before the others are right to some degree, but if you like having a bit of a tinker then you can stay up to date with all the new toys by loading custom roms way before they are 'officially' supported on your device.

I can't remember if the Eclair 2.1 firmware update has been officially released on the G1 but I've been running it for months. The latest rom I'm running has some of the eye candy thrown in from the Nexus One, menu transitions, boot up screen, live wallpapers......this is on an 18 month old phone.

[steve10574]

Apollouk is there a Android version of Install0us??

[Roach-Rampino]

Let me know what you think when you get one, I'm not sure an upgrade until the end of April

I've spent a lot of time playing around with my G1 and like I mentioned before, it's just not up to the job anymore but thats only a hardware limitation. It can do multi-tasking so I want it to do multi-tasking, it just can't keep up and the Desire will solve this problem for me instantly.

Initially when I thought the Android GUI was slick and the Google integration and web browser was fantastic. My work phone is a Blackberry 9000 Bold and it's a nice device, good for business use but I wouldn't dream of buying one for my own use, it's nowhere near as flexible as Android underneath the hood.

I'm also not anti-iPhone either, I just don't like over-hyped stuff, Android is very much the underdog when compared to Windows Mobile and the iPhone os [even though both the iPhone and Android run Linux underneath] and it's now gathering pace deserves to knock the iPhone off of the top spot.

I swerved the iPhone for similar reasons.

I have 4 lines eligible for upgrade so have ordered 2 x Desires (both the missus and I broke our G1 screens with in24hours of each other..luckily I borrowed one of my old Doris who had struggled to get on with it and put it back in the box.

T-Mob are currently out of stock but due more in this week and will send them out to me as soon as they get some. I shall post back in here to report.

[AP0ll0UK]

Apollouk is there a Android version of Install0us??

Not that I've come across.

slideme.org is an independant marketplace which carries some apps and stuff that the marketplace built into Android doesn't have. There is an app on their site which you can download to your phone so you have an alternate marketplace actually on your phone.

mobilerumor.blogspot.com carries a lot of paid-for apps and games, it's easy enough to download them to your phone via your usb cable, but is obviously not integrated into the phone which is what I think your looking for.

There may be one in the pipeline somewhere as it isn't rocket science but not that I've come across to date.

[steve10574]

Not that I've come across.

slideme.org is an independant marketplace which carries some apps and stuff that the marketplace built into Android doesn't have. There is an app on their site which you can download to your phone so you have an alternate marketplace actually on your phone.

mobilerumor.blogspot.com carries a lot of paid-for apps and games, it's easy enough to download them to your phone via your usb cable, but is obviously not integrated into the phone which is what I think your looking for.

There may be one in the pipeline somewhere as it isn't rocket science but not that I've come across to date.

Can you access the site via the phone and download them ?