HTC Desire (With Froyo)

Two months ago I bought myself a Desire. This was a big deal for me. Windows Mobile developer buying Android phone - betreyal! As I received Android Froyo upgrade last night, I decided to write my experiences with this device usage.

Upgrade

As old Windows Mobile user, I am not used to OS upgrades. It is just not something that happens that much in Windows Mobile world. Even if you get an upgrade, it also means that all your data is gone and all applications need to be reinstalled.

Whoever thought of Android upgrade process is genius. Phone informed me that upgrade is ready, asked me whether I will download it over WiFi or mobile and, after download was over, asked me to confirm upgrade. As simple as it can possibly be.

It took next 15 minutes for upgrade after which I was greeted with all my data, applications and widgets completely intact. I do not think that it can get anything better than this.

Screen

First thing that you see on is 3.7" screen with 480x800 pixels on it. Usage on sunny day is usually crappy - barely anything is visible. You forget all that while inside - pictures are bright and vivid and pure joy. Big part is probably because usage of OLED on my model. Newer models will have SLCD display and, while picture may not be so great, this will bring better battery life.

Battery

Battery-life is usually annoyingly short. That would sum it up. Normal usage will get you through day but not much further. Late night charging is back in fashion.

Camera

Camera is 5MP and probably best phone camera I saw. It is still inferior to any standalone digital camera. Pictures will be good if lighting is excellent - anything less than that and you will probably not be satisfied. Yes, it does have LED flash but only thing that flash is good for is for flashlight applications - for camera not so much.

Camcorder mode is great. It has 720p capture (came with Froyo update) and it gives decent resulting video.

Speed, memory and everything else

This device has fast processor, plenty of memory and I will not write much more. Boring technical specification data can be found at HTC pages.

Annoying stuff

This phone has it’s own death grip. My way of holding phone includes pinkie holding phone’s weight (cross between balance and four edge grip). When I hold this phone in left hand it just happens my little finger fits perfectly over microphone. It would be understatement to say that it’s usage as communication device is slightly compromised.

HTC decided to modify standard Android calendar application. And they did beautiful job - except two small details. Idiotic remainder is turned on by default. Yes, I know that it was turned on Windows Mobile also, but there you could disable it. Here you can choose only what annoying time you want to set it. There is no option to turn default reminders off!

Often I first browse my calendar to find suitable day and only than I add new event. On Windows Mobile I came to expect that new event will default it’s day to one that I am currently viewing and give me next available time as default value. This works ok when you use Add event from list. If you use same function from menu it defaults to current day. If you are not careful, it is easy to make appointment in past while thinking you made it two weeks in future. Yes, it behaves differently whether you use on-screen function or menu item. I hope that this is bug since alternative would be that designer actually thinks this is useful. I dread that world.

It used to be that you cannot send contact via SMS. Froyo finally fixed this so I will not complain too much. I will just say: about time.

Also there is one thing that no smartphone can get right (except iPhone) - input of simple letter Đ (latin letter D with stroke). When this letter is part of your national alphabet this deficiency quickly becomes visible. Mind you, this letter is supported - you just cannot use keyboard to enter it. And yes, this phone is legally imported in Croatia and it is intended for Croatian market.

Conclusion

Even with all annoying deficiencies, I consider this a great phone. I would even dare to say best phone I had yet.

Now I wait for Windows Mobile 7 to throw me off my feet.