Experience with the HTC Desire
Until recently, I’ve always thought that getting a new phone with all the updated features is a bit of a waste of money. I’m now converted though, after buying the HTC Desire a few months ago!
The problem with smart phones – or so I thought – is that they are difficult to use, and don’t do a particularly good job of the basics. If I have a phone, I want to be able to ring people easily and send them texts – that’s pretty much it. Smart phones aren’t built for these functions, they are made to do a bit of everything.
This seems to be a problem of the past though, because phones like the HTC Desire seem to be able to do it all. I’ve had no problem ringing people, and sending texts is easy. The touch screen took me a while to get used to, but overall I think it’s a pretty good addition and means you get much more screen space.
I’d also heard bad things about the apps on Android. This is partly true – there aren’t many great apps available. Games like Angry Birds are starting to be ported over from teh iPhone though, so it seems this will improve. There is an issue with a lack of screening for harmful apps though.
There are a few problems – the main one being the frustrating battery life. If you’re going to be away from your charger for more than a day – and intend to actually use all the features of the phone – then it will run out of battery. You CAN increase the battery life by turning off Wi-Fi and GPS, but then you’re left with a shell of a phone.
One feature that I don’t think many people are aware of is the system control widget. This allows you to turn on or off all the services which eat up battery life from your homescreen. This is a better solution, because then you’re only using GPS etc when you actually need it rather than all the time.
Getting the phone in the first place was quite difficult too. I spent ages trying to find HTC contracts that weren’t overpriced or tied me into a three year(!) deal. Luckily I managed to get a pretty decent one, but you can forget trying to get a free gift with your Desire – it just isn’t going to happen.