Just over a week ago I walked into a mobile phone shop and handed over my own hard earned cash and bought myself an HTC Desire. I'd thought long and hard about what phone to get. The HTC Hero I had on trial last year was great, but had a few problems that put me off. The Desire has addressed these problems though and added more features, so after reading up on it and seeing one in real life I knew this was the phone for me. A few people have been asking about the phone, so I thought I would share some first impressions.
The unit itself is very slim and light. The infamous “chin” from the Hero has gone, and the trackball upgraded to an optical version. The device has some hardware buttons, a useful addition making it that bit easier to use. These include a volume control which I was very pleased about as I use it as a music player a lot so being able to change volume without having to look at the device or unlock he screen is very convenient.The Quick Search button is very handy too and can also find content on your phone, including apps.
A high resolution touch screen display dominates the phone. This is a pleasure to use, it is very responsive (I've found touch screens to be a bit of disappointment on various devices in the past). The device has seven virtual home screens that you can scroll through by swiping the screen or with the optical trackball. This is very handy and different screens could be used for different things like work, leisure or travel. I mention that category because you also get Google Maps Navigation Beta included, so voice guided Satellite Navigation is always with you, the only issue is that you need internet access to be able to download the directions, which could be a problem if you are in an area with no signal. I haven't had much chance to use it yet, but it looks promising.
Text entry was something that I was worried about, especially as I was moving to it from a device that had a keyboard. I am also quite good as missing the key I want on a touch screen. Fortunately the Android (the phone's operating system) Engineers have anticipated that people like me might use their devices and devised an input method where it doesn't really matter if you do this, it will try to work out what you were trying to type. This took some getting used to, and a little embarrassment at first when I asked a friend when she was off to “Cardiac” rather than “Cardiff”, but now I am used to it (thanks to following the tutorials!) and find it really useful. I am told that Swype is a really good input method too, but haven't tried it yet.
Having a phone that multitasks is simply wonderful. It means I can do things like listen to Spotify, Last.fm or Internet Radio whilst reading web pages or my emails. Why anybody thought this was “geeky” is beyond me, haven't people have been listening to music while doing other things for quite some time? The web browser has proved much better than I thought it would be, even when reading web pages that were not designed for mobile devices. When you zoom in on these pages it reflows the text to make it easy to read on the screen, so convenient. It also has Adobe Flash built in, opening up a whole area of rich web content. It can take the Flash part of the web page and make it full screen, a feature that worked well with the Swedish Language learning games I was trying!
The camera looks good, but I haven't used it much yet. The addition of a flash will make it much more useful. To take a picture you have to press the trackball, which does feel a but unnatural, a button on the top of the device would have been better. There are a couple of issues with the phone though, the first is of course the battery, never a happy story when it comes to smartphones. Thanks to Keren Mills for providing me with lots of tips to keep power consumption down. These include the use of a program called Advanced Task Killer that enabled you to close down programs you are now using, and getting rid of the “live wallpaper”, a nice feature, but not essential. I think Google should just include close buttons on Android applications rather than leaving the operating system to decide when to shut down a program, I'm sure that would conserve a bit of power.
Also it would be great if there was a way to lock the icons and widgets on the screen, I have found myself accidentally moving things around when I pick up the device, if anyone knows a way to do this please let me know. I found the lack of memory for applications a bit of an issue too, install some heavyweight apps and the allocation soon gets used up, but it looks like this issue might soon get fixed as the new version of Android allows the installation of applications to the SD card (external storage) and rumours are rife that the Desire will be getting this new version as early as June 23rd.
There are lots of apps I am trying out that I really like, and I will write about these in future. However one app that is particularly interesting is Google Voice Search which allows you to say what you want Google to search for. Of course things like this are a developing technology so results will be varied, but when I said “Milton Keynes taxi!” it found me a list of taxi numbers (shown right) and I could just tap the screen to call them. This voice search is also sometimes integrated into other apps too, like Spotify, where results were admittedly varied, I didn't have much luck with my poor pronunciation of certain foreign artists' names, but English group names seemed to work well. Technologies like this are a natural next step for mobiles and it is something I think I will find useful.
Overall I am really happy with my purchase. Android is a platform with a big future and, with a range of devices for different pockets, an inclusive one too. The HTC Desire is a great little device with a polished user experience and it is a pleasure to use. One surprising result of having it is that I have found myself using my laptop less as the Desire does a good enough job of getting my emails, reading the web, interacting with Twitter and Facebook and entertaining me.
Re: My first week with the HTC Desire
Like you, I'm coming to the end of my first week with the HTC Desire, so thought I'd chip in here.
First, I replaced my iPod Touch and phone with this because my Apple device stopped --was revented by Apple-- talking to Linux. This talks to my PC perfectly. The PC is running Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid).
Multitasking is great, but it eats battery juice. Luckily Android provides a built-in breakdown of where all the power's gone. From that I can recommend placing a widget front and centre that will allow you to toggle wi-fi, GPS, email polling and 3G. There's standard widgets already on the phone. A task killer is another must. Just kill running apps with a single motion before putting the phone down. I now find my awake-time is a fraction of my up-time and the battery lasts days not hours.
Last week I tried the sat-nav with poor network reception. I was in London and the GPS could locate me on the surface of the earth, but couldn't give me a map or directions. It was frustrating, but it also demonstrated to me how quickly you can find a wi-fi or 3G signal, once you go looking. I was soon on my way.
My favourite things to do with this device are augmented-reality related. Google Sky Map comes with the phone and is amazing for stargazers. But Celeste actually overlays the position of objects on the camera view. And the various London Tube-finding apps work just great, though a traditional map view would mean waving the expensive phone around less!
For streaming music there's a Jamendo app; I doubt you'll get that on an Apple phone. :0)
Re: My first week with the HTC Desire
Wait until you discover the joys of rooting!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=628
Re: My first week with the HTC Desire
Thanks for the hands-on report! I'm currently considering the Desire's little brother Legend, and since they use the same operating system this proved a nice preview of how that phone might work as well (although slightly more sluggish obviously, not having that impressive SnapDragon CPU).
I'm glad to hear that Android/Sense will soon support apps installed on sd cards, as memory seems very limited both on the Desire and the Legend.
Re: My first week with the HTC Desire
As you know i've had mine for a couple of months and love it. If you're finding the keyboard a bit difficult, I've been using ThickButtons for a while. This predicts what the next letters in the word might be and makes them larger. Good for fat thumbs. A couple of days ago, I've installed a new keyboard called swype. No tapping, you just swype your finger across the keys and it works it out. I've been quite impressed so far on it accuracy.
A couple of apps I've enjoyed and found really useful:
Enjoy!
Re: My first week with the HTC Desire
I agree with most of this post (the need for closing apps particularly) and some good tips here; I just wanted to chip in about the camera. I didn't realise on the Desire the 'take picture' button was the regular trackball; that's really interesting.
I actually think this is a good thing - why have another button on the outside of the phone rather than working the existing ones harder? With the G1, I use the trackball all the time and know exactly where it is so can go straight to it; when I want to take a photo I have to feel my way around the edge of the phone to find the extra 'take picture' button because I don't use it as much. It's only a second or two wasted, but another example of better usability on the Desire.
Another reason for me to upgrade, thanks! :D
Re: My first week with the HTC Desire
You don't need to press the optical track ball to take a photo, just long-press on the screen.
It'll focus where you press and take the shot straight after.
Re: My first week with the HTC Desire
I installed Swype yesterday and would say its a must for your Desire! I've found it much nicer to use than the normal touch input and love that I can message by just sliding my finger across the screen.
Re: My first week with the HTC Desire
Where did you download SKYPE from for the HTC Desire? I don't seem to be able to find it!
Re: My first week with the HTC Desire
Of course I meant SWYPE !!!!!!!!!!!!
Re: My first week with the HTC Desire
Hi guys....best way to stop the Battery going flat quick and also stop updating all the time is to Press and hold the power button till menu appears....go to bottom entry i think it is network connections and tap it to turn off....this will stop all the updates taking place via mobile connection (just make sure your wi-fi is off also when at home....Another tip is to put the power control widget on your main screen....This allows you to quickly toggle on and off wi-fi, Gps , syncing and also one for dimming the brightness of the screen to 3 available settings. Hope this helps....what an awesome phone .
Re: My first week with the HTC Desire
Let me try and scotch the persistent rumour that a task killer is an absolute must have application; it isn't.
The incarnation of the Android OS in the HTC Desire has multi-tasking as standard and a very capable garbage-collector to free up system memory when it needs it.
Just allow the system to look after itself; it will manage perfectly well without intervention.
And to the list of must have applications I would add:
Museek - a mood mp3 player
Dolphin - tabbed browser
Trapster - speed trap alert
RAC Traffic - traffic hold-ups
Don't judge one model of htc cell phone by another
I used the htc Hero for six months. Though I had problems with the keypad, the external speaker--which I used constantly for calls, radio, and sometimes music--was stellar. It was the best external speaker I had ever used. So, after checking the Desire's keypad and finding it very much improved over the Hero, and coupled with its sleek appearance I decided very quickly that it was the phone I wanted. I did not check the speakerphone, which was always something I did consistently when considering a new phone; but my experience with the Hero and the four star editor reviews, gave me the false impression that all the htc phones would have quality speakers. Big mistake!!! The external speaker on the Desire is so raspy and tinny that it makes the functionality of the speakerphone and music playback practically useless. The battery on the Desire also drains much more quickly than the Hero from my experience. However, I love the phone and will keep it. Just wish I had checked the phone more closely before selecting it. I probably would have opted for my favorite--a Blackberry. And no, I am in no way affilitated with Blackberry.