All Android phones have access to the market. They may not have access to all apps within it, though: e.g. my UK HTC Desire only got access to the protected apps last week when Google finally got around to approving the HTC ROM image.
Flash 10.1 is pre-installed on many Android handsets, particularly those from HTC like my Desire. It's a piece of shit though. Flash, not the phone. Hopefully 10.2 will be better when it comes with Android 2.2
on the Iphone, if the phone is in standby then comms are dropped until an app needs it.
wifi settings, menu, advanced and set time out to 15 mins.
then go to wireless andn networks, mobile networks and untick mobile data always on. this is on my desire running HTV sense....
I know *why* it won't run it - and as I said there will almost certainly be unofficial ROMs from XDA-Devs that enable it - but locking yourself into a contract on the basis of what might happen seems a bit silly.
The HD2 isn't going to run Android as such - an HTC phone that looks very, very similar will be released with Android. Not quite the same thing, and you'll be back to running unofficial ROMs if you want to try it out. It might be fine, it might not - again, not necessarily something you want to tie yourself into long term. Buying a handset with an OS that "isn't dead yet" isn't really all that encouraging sounding!
I've had loads of WinMo / HTC handsets with various custom ROMs and the devil is in the detail with these things...
bear in mind no-one's seen a shipping Win7 handset yet. I don't think the HD2 is a good buy as it'll be obsolete in terms of OS as soon as it's out. No doubt XDA-Devs will port later versions to it but it'd seem sensible to not buy an end-of-OS-life handset now.
No, it's pretty good, really. The "Phone" button is on all homescreens in the same place - dead center at bottom of screen, just above the optical mouse - and there's a physical Home button so it's only ever two clicks away. HTC Sense ships with their smart dialler - so if you wanted to call bob smith on 12345678 you could start tapping in B-O-B... or you could start tapping in 1-2-3-4... and it'll present a list of matches that narrows down as you type. Press the one you want to dial - it's very nice.
Any touchscreen device isn't going to work like your Nokia's physical buttons, which is why I was suggesting a simpler featurephone.
The call conferencing etc is pretty clear through the onscreen menus, but you'd have to take it away from your ear for a second to do it, unless you're using a headset.
The homescreen can be customised by just dragging stuff to it or adding via the menu. The home screen isn't everything though - think of it as being roughly the same as a PC's desktop. You can put app shortcuts, widgets, etc on there, but you still have all these programs/widgets/apps available via the normal menu button that gives you a full list of thumbnails for the apps. There's lots of widgets built in, and many apps also come with an optional widget. A widget could be a dumb shortcut to an app, a speed dial, or a live-updating RSS feed, etc etc. You don't have to download anything to customise it though.
It multitasks very nicely and the notification bar can be pulled down from nearly all windows to tell you what it's up to, or view any notifications.
You might find in store that there aren't many turned on and ready to play with, as you need to sign in with a google account on first boot. In my case the sales guy in my local T-Mobile store had his personal one to hand and didn't mind me playing about with it for 10 minutes.
You kind of sound like any featurephone from the past few years would fit? Bloat is only bloat if it sacrifices features you do want for features you don't. It's not the same as coming with extra features that you don't have to use and won't affect you if you choose to ignore them... Whilst you do need a Google account to use the Desire, you don't have to use it for email/calendar/anything.
Android supports Google cloud services, MS Exchange, IMAP/POP, roll-your-own WebDAV. Not sure what more they could do here - you don't have to use any of these services.
Similarly, whilst you'll be prompted if you want to set up Twitter/Facebook accounts, you don't have to. If you want to use them but keep them non-integrated that's fine too.
You've got full access to the filesystem as well. Fill your boots.
You get offered a lot of choices: which you take is up to you.
I got HTC's vanilla ROM from there, works great.
Plus you can get the Nexus One ROM for applyign to your Desire, if you so wish.
Personally I think Sense is worth a little bit of a delay.
Note you don' tneed to root your phone to upgrade the ROM. And if you do root your Nexus One, you *explicitly void the warranty* - as in it will tell you this before it does it.
dammit, they pulled that offer the day before my local store had stock. Think they realised they weren't making any money on it. Good find, anyway. I too would pick Desire over 3GS. I was more thinking about iPhone 4 when it comes out...BR
If you've not done it then it's worth hitting up XDA-Developers and making yourself a Goldcard, then updating to the latest unbranded ROM. It's a bit quicker, and the headphone low-volume bug has been fixed.
" the screen can be difficult to see in bright sunlight, but I solved this problem by living the U.K."
Nice!
I'd add to the CON list that can't open more than 4 tabs at once on the browser. Minor irritant and other browsers are available, though.
I'd also emphasise price - for £190 I got a handset on a £15/month contract with 300 mins, unlimited texts and unlimited data. Compare to the iPhone which would cost the same but be £35/month.
I agree with this, as another owner.
I'd suggest the excellent "Slide-it" keyboard (free in Market) as a replacement - it's brilliant.
Audio level - my T-Mobile Desire had very low headphone output level until I reflashed it with the vanilla HTC ROM. Now fixed. This might explain why some users complain about volume, and others don't!
Google Earth can be sideloaded if you search for the APK file. Apps not appearing in the Market is down to Google not approving HTC's ROM for protected apps. When I checked end of last week I thought this had been done though. It'll be here Real Soon Now if not.
There's a setting to make this "work like an iPhone" (!) in that it only turns it on when an app requires it. In wireless settings turn off "mobile data is always on". Has no effect on anything - any apps or widgets that want data will turn it on, use it, then turn it off again.
Slide-It was a revelation. I thought it'd be a buggy good-in-principle kind of thing, but it's amazing. The standard OSK isn't as responsive as the iPhones (I think it might just be that it's slightly smaller - I find I hit the wrong key more often) but with slide-it you just wipe your finger around and it magically works.
Oh, and remember you've got voice input into all text fields with a bit of effort, and the speech recognition is pretty darn good, too.
So do "normal" people! Cases in point I've been asked about THIS WEEK:
"Huh? My PC died. Why can't I copy the music off it to another?"
"Huh? Why doesn't it work with my new car's head unit? I got the top of the line VW one with phone integration?" - no decent bluetooth control, and no remote SIM support, and no chance of a fix
I'm really fussy about phones and here in the UK getting one at a reasonable price usually implies a 2 year contract so I was really careful before switching. Thankfully my old iPhone 3G is worth quite a bit on ebay!
Apple are going to actively prevent sideloading of content, and generally go their own path. This will probably make them a truckload of money, but in the end they're not going to be supportive of any use of the phone that doesn't make them money: e.g. why doesn't the file system of the iPhone appear as a USB drive when it's connected? It's not for technical reasons...
The HD2 has great hardware but won't run Windows Phone 7 series. There's an android version on the way though (Evo?). Have handled the HD2 and it's a really great bit of engineering - and the size is much better as a large phone / small tablet. Makes more sense than buying an iPhone AND an iPad...
Just as an aside - the Desire isn't quite a rebadged Nexus One. Hardware differences: no dock connector or car clip charge points. No noise-cancelling mic (although it works just fine without). Software: HTC Sense GUI (which is really very, very good indeed), no voice search (easily added), and no root access just yet - the latter will probably be done by Paul @ MoDaCo this week. Although to be honest, it's open enough that I don't need root just yet.
I thought this until I'd had it a week. Battery massively improved after a couple of charge cycles. Also go into Mobile Networks and until "enable always-on mobile data", and tell the wireless connection to standby after 15 mins inactiviity. Any app that needs data will still get it on demand, the phone just won't keep up a pointless connection when you're not using it. My Desire gets better battery life than my 18 month old 3G and I hammer it.
Slide-It is bloody great. It's awesome and free - you just slide your finger around on screen qwerty keyboard without lifting off, and it works out the word you were after - sounds great in theory but probably buggy in practice? No! It's *brilliant*.
I switched last week. Had pretty much all types of smartphones over the years, and have been running an iPhone 3G for past 18 months. I switched partially because I was getting uneasy about Apple's lock down, partially as my 3G was glacially slow, and partially because I was bored.
What swung it was Engadget riffing about integration with external services like Twitter/Facebook/etc - goes completely against Apple's principles, whereas Android actively works to do this. In the future, I want more of this, not less, and I don't think I'm going to get it from Apple.
Prior to this I'd change my phone every 6 months, so Apple has done well.
I'm not going back. I may be envious when the new iPhone comes out, but the Desire is great. I couldn't go back to a lower screen resolution, I love the OLED display and it's *fast*. You can customise everything, and the phone just keeps on giving with features - case in point: last night I wanted to copy the new Iron Man 2 soundtrack over to listen to in the car. Didn't have my sync cable to hand, so I when to the Android Market, installed ES File Explorer (took about 10 seconds to search and install - it's crazy fast) and used it to browse to the share on my LAN that had the MP3s on. Copied them to the handset - again, crazy fast - and job done.
Downsides? No dock connector. Handset doesn't have that "hewn from a block of glass" feel to it. Android Market smaller. iPhone more intuitive (although you could also say "more Fisher-Price"!) although Android more powerful. No Apple lockdown means differing app GUI styles sometimes. Headphone volume was low until I replaced the T-Mobile ROM with the vanilla HTC one (thanks XDA-Developers!)
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Ah. This makes sense of a few things. Thanks.
All Android phones have access to the market. They may not have access to all apps within it, though: e.g. my UK HTC Desire only got access to the protected apps last week when Google finally got around to approving the HTC ROM image.
Flash 10.1 is pre-installed on many Android handsets, particularly those from HTC like my Desire. It's a piece of shit though. Flash, not the phone. Hopefully 10.2 will be better when it comes with Android 2.2
on the Iphone, if the phone is in standby then comms are dropped until an app needs it. wifi settings, menu, advanced and set time out to 15 mins. then go to wireless andn networks, mobile networks and untick mobile data always on. this is on my desire running HTV sense....
the nexus one has one, is what I meant. its used for the car dock, and desktop charging. I would like line out too.
my wife has the pre. web os is great, but the apps ares but thin on the ground, and with palm finances bring how they are
I know *why* it won't run it - and as I said there will almost certainly be unofficial ROMs from XDA-Devs that enable it - but locking yourself into a contract on the basis of what might happen seems a bit silly.
The HD2 isn't going to run Android as such - an HTC phone that looks very, very similar will be released with Android. Not quite the same thing, and you'll be back to running unofficial ROMs if you want to try it out. It might be fine, it might not - again, not necessarily something you want to tie yourself into long term.
Buying a handset with an OS that "isn't dead yet" isn't really all that encouraging sounding!
I've had loads of WinMo / HTC handsets with various custom ROMs and the devil is in the detail with these things...
Sounds dreadful! Thanks for the warning.
bear in mind no-one's seen a shipping Win7 handset yet. I don't think the HD2 is a good buy as it'll be obsolete in terms of OS as soon as it's out. No doubt XDA-Devs will port later versions to it but it'd seem sensible to not buy an end-of-OS-life handset now.
No, it's pretty good, really. The "Phone" button is on all homescreens in the same place - dead center at bottom of screen, just above the optical mouse - and there's a physical Home button so it's only ever two clicks away.
HTC Sense ships with their smart dialler - so if you wanted to call bob smith on 12345678 you could start tapping in B-O-B... or you could start tapping in 1-2-3-4... and it'll present a list of matches that narrows down as you type. Press the one you want to dial - it's very nice.
Any touchscreen device isn't going to work like your Nokia's physical buttons, which is why I was suggesting a simpler featurephone.
The call conferencing etc is pretty clear through the onscreen menus, but you'd have to take it away from your ear for a second to do it, unless you're using a headset.
The homescreen can be customised by just dragging stuff to it or adding via the menu. The home screen isn't everything though - think of it as being roughly the same as a PC's desktop. You can put app shortcuts, widgets, etc on there, but you still have all these programs/widgets/apps available via the normal menu button that gives you a full list of thumbnails for the apps.
There's lots of widgets built in, and many apps also come with an optional widget. A widget could be a dumb shortcut to an app, a speed dial, or a live-updating RSS feed, etc etc. You don't have to download anything to customise it though.
It multitasks very nicely and the notification bar can be pulled down from nearly all windows to tell you what it's up to, or view any notifications.
You might find in store that there aren't many turned on and ready to play with, as you need to sign in with a google account on first boot. In my case the sales guy in my local T-Mobile store had his personal one to hand and didn't mind me playing about with it for 10 minutes.
You kind of sound like any featurephone from the past few years would fit?
Bloat is only bloat if it sacrifices features you do want for features you don't. It's not the same as coming with extra features that you don't have to use and won't affect you if you choose to ignore them...
Whilst you do need a Google account to use the Desire, you don't have to use it for email/calendar/anything.
Android supports Google cloud services, MS Exchange, IMAP/POP, roll-your-own WebDAV. Not sure what more they could do here - you don't have to use any of these services.
Similarly, whilst you'll be prompted if you want to set up Twitter/Facebook accounts, you don't have to. If you want to use them but keep them non-integrated that's fine too.
You've got full access to the filesystem as well. Fill your boots.
You get offered a lot of choices: which you take is up to you.
hahahahaha, so much fail
I got HTC's vanilla ROM from there, works great. Plus you can get the Nexus One ROM for applyign to your Desire, if you so wish. Personally I think Sense is worth a little bit of a delay. Note you don' tneed to root your phone to upgrade the ROM. And if you do root your Nexus One, you *explicitly void the warranty* - as in it will tell you this before it does it.
dammit, they pulled that offer the day before my local store had stock. Think they realised they weren't making any money on it. Good find, anyway. I too would pick Desire over 3GS. I was more thinking about iPhone 4 when it comes out...BR If you've not done it then it's worth hitting up XDA-Developers and making yourself a Goldcard, then updating to the latest unbranded ROM. It's a bit quicker, and the headphone low-volume bug has been fixed.
" the screen can be difficult to see in bright sunlight, but I solved this problem by living the U.K."
Nice!
I'd add to the CON list that can't open more than 4 tabs at once on the browser. Minor irritant and other browsers are available, though.
I'd also emphasise price - for £190 I got a handset on a £15/month contract with 300 mins, unlimited texts and unlimited data. Compare to the iPhone which would cost the same but be £35/month.
I agree with this, as another owner.
I'd suggest the excellent "Slide-it" keyboard (free in Market) as a replacement - it's brilliant.
Audio level - my T-Mobile Desire had very low headphone output level until I reflashed it with the vanilla HTC ROM. Now fixed. This might explain why some users complain about volume, and others don't!
Google Earth can be sideloaded if you search for the APK file. Apps not appearing in the Market is down to Google not approving HTC's ROM for protected apps. When I checked end of last week I thought this had been done though. It'll be here Real Soon Now if not.
There's a setting to make this "work like an iPhone" (!) in that it only turns it on when an app requires it. In wireless settings turn off "mobile data is always on". Has no effect on anything - any apps or widgets that want data will turn it on, use it, then turn it off again.
Desire is the top of the line at present, just above the Legend, which is a replacement for the Hero.
that's great. Thanks for the tip. Backing up now...
Slide-It was a revelation. I thought it'd be a buggy good-in-principle kind of thing, but it's amazing. The standard OSK isn't as responsive as the iPhones (I think it might just be that it's slightly smaller - I find I hit the wrong key more often) but with slide-it you just wipe your finger around and it magically works.
Oh, and remember you've got voice input into all text fields with a bit of effort, and the speech recognition is pretty darn good, too.
So do "normal" people! Cases in point I've been asked about THIS WEEK:
"Huh? My PC died. Why can't I copy the music off it to another?"
"Huh? Why doesn't it work with my new car's head unit? I got the top of the line VW one with phone integration?" - no decent bluetooth control, and no remote SIM support, and no chance of a fix
I'm really fussy about phones and here in the UK getting one at a reasonable price usually implies a 2 year contract so I was really careful before switching. Thankfully my old iPhone 3G is worth quite a bit on ebay!
Apple are going to actively prevent sideloading of content, and generally go their own path. This will probably make them a truckload of money, but in the end they're not going to be supportive of any use of the phone that doesn't make them money: e.g. why doesn't the file system of the iPhone appear as a USB drive when it's connected? It's not for technical reasons...
The HD2 has great hardware but won't run Windows Phone 7 series. There's an android version on the way though (Evo?). Have handled the HD2 and it's a really great bit of engineering - and the size is much better as a large phone / small tablet. Makes more sense than buying an iPhone AND an iPad...
Just as an aside - the Desire isn't quite a rebadged Nexus One.
Hardware differences: no dock connector or car clip charge points. No noise-cancelling mic (although it works just fine without).
Software: HTC Sense GUI (which is really very, very good indeed), no voice search (easily added), and no root access just yet - the latter will probably be done by Paul @ MoDaCo this week. Although to be honest, it's open enough that I don't need root just yet.
...and be made of unobtanium
I thought this until I'd had it a week. Battery massively improved after a couple of charge cycles. Also go into Mobile Networks and until "enable always-on mobile data", and tell the wireless connection to standby after 15 mins inactiviity. Any app that needs data will still get it on demand, the phone just won't keep up a pointless connection when you're not using it. My Desire gets better battery life than my 18 month old 3G and I hammer it.
Slide-It is bloody great. It's awesome and free - you just slide your finger around on screen qwerty keyboard without lifting off, and it works out the word you were after - sounds great in theory but probably buggy in practice? No! It's *brilliant*.
I switched last week. Had pretty much all types of smartphones over the years, and have been running an iPhone 3G for past 18 months. I switched partially because I was getting uneasy about Apple's lock down, partially as my 3G was glacially slow, and partially because I was bored.
What swung it was Engadget riffing about integration with external services like Twitter/Facebook/etc - goes completely against Apple's principles, whereas Android actively works to do this. In the future, I want more of this, not less, and I don't think I'm going to get it from Apple.
Prior to this I'd change my phone every 6 months, so Apple has done well.
I'm not going back. I may be envious when the new iPhone comes out, but the Desire is great. I couldn't go back to a lower screen resolution, I love the OLED display and it's *fast*. You can customise everything, and the phone just keeps on giving with features - case in point: last night I wanted to copy the new Iron Man 2 soundtrack over to listen to in the car. Didn't have my sync cable to hand, so I when to the Android Market, installed ES File Explorer (took about 10 seconds to search and install - it's crazy fast) and used it to browse to the share on my LAN that had the MP3s on. Copied them to the handset - again, crazy fast - and job done.
Downsides? No dock connector. Handset doesn't have that "hewn from a block of glass" feel to it. Android Market smaller. iPhone more intuitive (although you could also say "more Fisher-Price"!) although Android more powerful. No Apple lockdown means differing app GUI styles sometimes. Headphone volume was low until I replaced the T-Mobile ROM with the vanilla HTC one (thanks XDA-Developers!)
Overall, it's a *great* handset. Very pleased.