HTC Desire (A8183) - NextG Compatible

just got the desire and was told that outlook would probably not work on the desire, and yes this was the case until after a total of six hours on the phone to telstra, htc and web central managed to work it out, all it took was unlocking the port from web central and configuring the phone correctly, actually no biggy and now have all my office appointments and spread sheets etc, calendar, everything on the phone, no problems only solutions. iphone has been killed (Posted on 13/12/10)

I love this phone but the battery does not last anywhere long enough. Receive a few calls and the battery is nearly flat. Or have got something turned that is draining the battery?? Got very little instruction from the Telstra people when I bought it :(

EDITOR: This is generally a problem with the Telstra ROM. Put a non-Telstra ROM on there like I did and it improves vastly. (Posted on 24/11/10)

This would be about the best phone on the market except for 1 major flaw.
It cannot connect to any wifi that runs through a proxy server, there is no ability in Android to cater for proxy servers.
Do not buy this phone as a business phone before reading up on this issue.
Other than that, i love it (Posted on 28/10/10)

easy to use, great display, love it love it love it, only downfall is it is not considered a blue tick for regional areas with telstra but reception is good (Posted on 10/10/10)

After using common slider phones for 3 years this is a revelation, sure iv played with an iphone and its been impressive. This however seems to be toally seamless in all operations.
Web surfing is effortless. Email and messaging faultless. and the live wallpapers, lets just say someone at HTC loves Tron's lightcycles!

Highly recomend! (Posted on 22/08/10)

Best phone ever. Haven't had a single problem with it :D (Posted on 13/08/10)

1.) Desire has some buttons that you use as part of navigation (which I like)
2.) The Desire does feel more solid in the hand than other smart phones
3.) HTC have added the Sense UI which is pretty good. (Posted on 2/08/10)

this phone is a iphone killer (Posted on 24/07/10)

Let me begin by saying that the Desire is not an iPhone killer. Tech journalists everywhere have been saying this since the first review units got into the wild but they've all got it wrong. To compare this handset to an iPhone is like comparing a PlayStation3 to a PC. What they have in common is games, social networking and web-browsing. The PC's additional productivity capabilities are what keeps them ahead of the pack for market penetration. This is true also of the Android-running Desire and why this phone is not, and never will be, an iPhone killer. They operate and deliver information using completely different design intentions.

The Desire, as with other Android handsets, streams information in from a number of different sources. It's only when the user needs a specific function that an app is required that the experience shifts from being about information flow to user-directed. In direct contrast to this, the iPhone is entirely static and app-centric like the gaming console. Until the user starts a program running, be it a game or one of the multitude of flatulence apps, the iPhone lies stagnant on a screen filled with little icons.

HTC has force-fed the same Android 2.1 OS as Google's much-lauded Nexus One with their own SenseUI and squeezed in a bit more RAM to ensure everything flows smoothly. The multi-touch AMOLED screen almost feels like it's burning a hole in your pocket; urging you to take it out and flick through updates from social networks, email or play a game or three. There is no noticeable slow down, lag or juddering as the hardware tries to keep up with the software as with earlier iterations of Android phones. Every action on the handset, and I will make this comparison in with respect to the performance only, has an iPhone level of smoothness to it. That and size are where the comparison ends.

The handset itself is a comfortable pocket-sized device with a 3.7inch AMOLED screen powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and backed up by 1076MB of memory. The extra 50-odd, as mentioned previously, is to keep the SenseUI performing as it should. At this point I will highlight the major flaw - as I perceive it - in almost every handset on the market right now. With memory prices so low, why not just stick in 2GB and be done with it. At the rate of advance in the mobile device market, 2GB now would just about see you through to early-2012 and ready for the next major flurry of releases in the smartphone space. This holds true of all purpose-built devices (mobiles, consoles, etc...) in that the memory limit is almost always reached a long time before the clock cycles are. Why manufacturers keep doing this, besides cutting a few cents off the cost of each unit's production, is beyond me.

Moving on, the specs page pretty much covers everything there is to know about the technical aspects of the device so from here the comparisons and numbers end while the user experience begins.

This is one of the easiest smartphones to get your head around. Using your current Google, social networking and email details the phone appears to set itself up. Out of the box there's minimal end-user configuration to be done to be productive. Customisations occur painlessly over time through the Android market (with 40,000 apps and counting). Once FriendStream has the requisite details inserted the first information flow starts from Facebook, Flickr and Twitter. Other optional widgets include email, messaging, RSS feeds, calendar reminders and a whole heap of others - 20-plus of them, in fact!

Beyond the widgets, the main source of information flow, are the apps themselves. The apps are either ports or variants of the themes in Apple's iStore. The store is broken down into the various categories. I won't cover the store because it's something that all manufacturers are building up now and only the number of apps really differentiates them. I will say that of all the apps out there, my estimate would be that about 10% of them are unique and useful with the rest being cheap copies, developers testing code and those that fall into the novelty category. You can explore those on your own.

So, with such an abundance of processing power and screen real estate, what is it that makes the Desire the must-have handset that the name implies? One word: Customisation. There is almost nothing that can't be set up just how you want it. Want to use your own tracks for ringtones? Done. Want to move the RSS feed to the home screen and only have the main connectivity apps - messaging, browsing, contacts - within easy reach? Done. I could go on like this for every different feature but, once again, it's your handset and your exploration. You prioritise what's important to you and you can decide how much of the available resources to throw at it.

And what are the failings of the handset you might ask? Well for one it's really difficult to read the screen without some shade to block the sun's glare. This isn't too much of an issue as most people in the tech-sumer market work in some form of indoor office. I personally find it a little annoying that the volume rocker controls the notification volume and the media volume. This means that if you want to catch up on your Youtube subscriptions in the weekly team meeting you'd better launch into it before you enter the meeting or you risk everyone knowing you're watching cats doing funny things or people hurting themselves.
While on the topic of flaws, Telstra and their customised ROM have to be mentioned. If you've read this far you will know that almost everything can be customised. The exception are the Testra-specific apps...well, they're not so much apps as they are shortcuts. They have their own icons on the Home screen and can be easily deleted from there. Removing them altogether is a different story. Backing up a bit, Telstra has obviously gone to HTC and asked them to add ways for Telstra customers to get to their content - ie: BigPond Music, Sensis, Whereis (confusingly named Maps and located right next to the Google Maps icon - also called 'Maps'). These aren't apps, per se. They're just shortcuts that open in the browser and link to Telstra's online portal. The anecdotal reviews of these shortcuts haven't been overly favourable because they're little more than Bookmarks/Favourites. That being said Telstra has done an excellent job of ensuring their content is easily accessible without impacting on the wider SenseUI experience. I suppose that makes it both a flaw and a positive at the same time.
...and, other than the temptation to spend as much time flicking through content as you would when at home, that's about it for the Desire's flaws. Pretty impressive for what is effectively a 3rd gen device for the Android platform; remembering that the cacophony of "You didn't include this' or 'why can't it do that' didn't cease to be heard from the iPhonatics until a software update to the 3rd generation of the iPhone OS!

The only remaining question is, given the rate of advancement in the mobile and PID (personal internet device) arena currently, should the Desire be on the shopping list or is there a point to waiting to see what happens next? The answer to the former is yes and to the latter the answer can only be a resounding No! Anyone reading this review is clearly up to date with what's going on and what's coming up. There are mutterings of dual-core mobile processors in the next 6-12 months amongst other things. The reality is that most phones targeted for release in the next two quarters are either based on the same hardware platform specs or lower. Real advancement is not going to occur in this arena in the immediate future as developers and manufacturers achieve market penetration along with the resultant date centering around the current offerings. It's always tempting to wait and see what happens but the most common outcome of that strategy is that you end up between generations - stuck with last year's model trying to run next year's environments; or you wait, and wait, and wait, and wait...Get the picture?

This review has focused mainly on how the SenseUI ecosystem works and the handset customised to your needs. I've focused on this because that's what HTC are aiming for with this generation of Android handsets from the Legend to the Nexus One to the Desire atop the pile. It's all about you, or in my case, me. The Desire has mostly replaced my laptop and desktop PC's as my primary conduit to the online world. It's that good. There are times where it doesn't suit - eg: editing documents or video (though there are apps to do this if you really need to put something together while you're on the move). However, as more of the world is seen through the eyes of social networks than at the pub or conferences HTC is moving to capitalise on this and there is no doubt that people using the oh-so-sexy Desire will connect with the wider and remote world well before the less-connected people around them. (Posted on 28/04/10)

I walked past this phone in the Telstra shop yesterday and fell in love with it!

I've always used Windows Mobile but after using Android for a just a few minutes, browsing its features and browsing the web and playing a few games - there is no way I'm sticking with WM. Coupled with HTC's customisation, it blows the competition out of the water!

The camera is really good, unlike the 5mp camera on other Android phones the camera in the Desire keeps everything in frame sharp, crisp and keeps the colour too.

The screen is amazing! After watching some Youtube videos, I could see myself spending hours just watching movies and clips.

The Web browser is almost better that using a computer! It is fast, slick, easy to use, and because of the super high resolution screen the text on webpages can be read without even zooming in on the page.

The price of the Desire is the best part though, because it is the cheapest phone in it's catagory, as well as being the best.

If you are looking for a touchscreen phone, go no further! (Posted on 27/04/10)