Android Market [Archive] - Hyper Magazine Forums

Italian Stallion

23-07-2010, 06:12 PM

I'm pretty sure Skype is coming sometime soon.. their PR person said they'll be releasing one in the coming months. I haven't really looked into it much though.

Couple of apps I think are great:

JuiceDefender - allows you to set circumstances under which your data connection remains on while the screen is off. Helps with battery life.

MSN Talk & eBuddy - yet to decide which is better, but, obviously it's an MSN client.

ASTRO - file management.

ShopSavvy & Barcode Scanner - scan barcodes to look up prices etc.

Shazam - play it a song and it identifies it.

Spare Parts - to get a rundown on if anything is raping your battery life.

Also the eBay app is pretty helpful if you eBay a lot!

Dunkurtin

24-07-2010, 02:25 AM

Paper Toss - flick balls of paper into a bin with different power fans blowing them.

So addictive, been sitting on the couch for over an hour just playing it.

Edit: Also this is the first post I've made off my new phone. Woo! =]

Lazlow

24-07-2010, 11:28 AM

Paper basket - flick balls of paper into a bin with different power fans blowing them.

So it's like Paper Toss on iPhone?

Dunkurtin

24-07-2010, 11:55 AM

So it's like Paper Toss on iPhone?

Yes so much so that it is Paper Toss and I ****ed up in my tired state. Fixing now.

Italian Stallion

24-07-2010, 03:28 PM

So it's like Paper Toss on iPhone?
You'll probably find quite a few apps on the iPhone are on Android too - a lot of iPhone developers are jumping ship to Andriod because it's a bit more open, and doesn't have the same nazi restrictions. :p

A couple of games I have on mine:

Replica Island - side scroller which (can) utilize the tilt sensors etc of the phone.

Robo Defense - typical tower defense game.

Lazlow

24-07-2010, 04:20 PM

Google just need to open up development to Australian developers. Two of the iPhone's biggest draws (Real Racing, which Apple use extensively in their ad campaigns, and Flight Control) were developed by Firemint who are based in Victoria.

Then there's Spinfast who make a few neat sports based apps.

TrinityJayOne

24-07-2010, 05:07 PM

God I can't wait to get this damned phone. Just watched a guy showing off various active wallpapers and when he went to the screen with weather on it you could see an icon of a storm. Without him doing anything a bunch of dark clouds roll across the screen, complete with lightning bolts and simulated flashes.

Anways, you should check out this wallpaper he had called Pixel Zombie. It fills the screen with little squares that roam free- green squares (civilians) run away from the red squares (zombies) as they can infect them, and blue squares (hunters) try to kill all the zombies. You set the population for each one and then watch it play out.

Slippery

24-07-2010, 06:59 PM

I hope early August is August 1st.

TrinityJayOne

24-07-2010, 07:07 PM

I saw them mention the 6th somewhere.

Lazlow

24-07-2010, 07:11 PM

Just watched a guy showing off various active wallpapers and when he went to the screen with weather on it you could see an icon of a storm. Without him doing anything a bunch of dark clouds roll across the screen, complete with lightning bolts and simulated flashes.

Yeah that's the default clock/date/weather widget. When it refreshes there's an animation dependent on the weather. Today its been alternating between what you saw, and heavy clouds drifting across.

Knuckle Children

24-07-2010, 08:45 PM

So Laz, how are you finding Android compared to your time with iPhone OS? Pros/cons?

Lazlow

24-07-2010, 09:07 PM

Dunk posted a vid that pretty would show what I'd explain;

Kax24GN1458

This system shits all over what I had with the iPhone 3G. With my setup I have twitter, music player, messages, mains screen (date/time/weather, plus some icons), apps icons, facebook & google search bar, RSS feeds (Autosport :D). And its a simple case of sliding from one screen to the next, it'll refresh automatically, so there's no constant opening/closing programs like there is on the iPhone.

Lazlow

25-07-2010, 10:17 PM

Got SCUMMVM working with Sam & Max :D

Just got to figure out how to get Beneath a Steel Sky working.

The second post in this thread pretty tells you how to go about it (http://forum.scummvm.org/viewtopic.php?t=9009), was dead simple, no more than 10 minutes.

Rambo

26-07-2010, 12:22 AM

I'm loving my Desire actually. I upgraded from the 3G iPhone and I'll never go back.

The battery is still really really bad. Does anyone know of any after market batteries?

Rambo

26-07-2010, 12:23 AM

Oh, and they have 32GB micro sd cards on ebay going for $35.

Lazlow

26-07-2010, 12:24 AM

I haven't noticed much difference in battery between the 3G and the Desire.

That said I've turned off all the background updating to save data usage, so that's probably saving some battery as well.

Italian Stallion

26-07-2010, 12:47 AM

I dunno, I kind of get the feeling those 32GB cards are fake.. I've had a few problems with memory cards on eBay before. You get them, they show up as whatever size, but then you're only able to fill up a portion of it. You seem to be able to copy to it, but the files are corrupt or something when you try and open them. Considering 16GB Micro SD cards are $50, and 32GB ones are about $150, I don't like the odds. I saw them too though.

Battery life improves over time, I'm noticing it gradually getting better and better. First few days were pretty atrocious.

A HTC rep on some forum posted a once off charging procedure, which is meant to condition the battery & set Android's battery info up right. Procedure as follows -

Turn phone on, connect to charger, charge until green
Disconnect charger, then turn phone off
Reconnect charger, charge until green while phone's off
Disconnect charger, turn the phone back on
Turn phone off, reconnect charger, charge until green
Turn phone on and use as per normal

Sounds a bit strange, but it seemed to help my battery life a bit. Lots of reports from other people of improvement too.

A good app to try is JuiceDefender - allows you to set times for when the phone should switch the data connection off. I have it off while I'm sleeping, as well as while the screen is off - unless the connection is grabbing more than 50KB in 30 seconds, or if MSN etc is still running. It then enables data once an hour for 3 minutes, at which point Android tells anything that uses data (weather, facebook, emails etc) to update during that time. That seems to have helped a bit too. I can get 2-3 days with moderate usage, 1 full day with heavy usage. Li-Ion batteries are designed to not require a full discharge and recharge, just charged whenever, so I charge it most nights anyway.

Lazlow

26-07-2010, 12:50 AM

I'm the same re: eBay memory sticks. There was a massive bust on counterfeit Sony Pro Duos a while back too.

I just grabbed a 32GB micro from WOW for $150.

Rambo

27-07-2010, 01:31 AM

Ahh man.

So I'm getting a 2GB stick?

Silverwolf

27-07-2010, 01:55 AM

8gb are most likely the best value for money, I paid ~25 bucks for one over a year ago.

Lazlow

27-07-2010, 09:39 AM

That said, swapping sticks would require you to power down the phone and take out the battery. Hence opting to go one big fat stick.

Lazlow

27-07-2010, 11:20 AM

Just discovered that Opera Mobile isn't yet available for Android, but has apparently been in the works for some time. This is most not good.

Opera Mini 5.1 for Android was released on the 15th... if this is what you're referring to.

Either way, I just downloaded it from the Android Market :D

EDIT: Okay, not a fan. Doesn't seem to support an pinch zooming or double tap fit to screen. :/

There's a full screen mode that will fit webpages to the screen, but it kinda only half works.

EDIT2: Okay, I see there's Opera Mini 5 and Opera Mobile 10, so they ain't the same thing >_>

Rambo

28-07-2010, 12:19 AM

With that conditioning thingo, mine always stays green when I turn it off and stuff. Like it's already fully charged.

Italian Stallion

29-07-2010, 12:22 PM

I found mine charged up more (about an hour) when I turned it off.

Maybe try it in a few a week or two when the battery has had time to break in or something.

Android 2.2 is expected to be released on the Desire in the next day or two, pending some final testing. Woot.

Lazlow

30-07-2010, 09:25 AM

According to an internal document doing the rounds within Sprint, it should be released tomorrow. Whether its for a set range of handsets or just for the Evo 4G, I can't determine.

EDIT:

Here we go, Mark Moons (HTC Europe) posted on his twitter (http://www.newsden.net/htc-desire-to-get-android-2-2-froyo-update-tomorrow-2174/comment-page-1/) that 2.2 updates for the HTC Desire begin tomorrow. Gotta get a frame of reference to exactly find out when "tomorrow" is.

Lazlow

30-07-2010, 03:06 PM

Looks like an influx of quality games will be just around the corner too. Gameloft already have a decent range that they sell from their own website, but I've seen a few articles announcing ports of Angry Birds, Flight Control (Namco's apparently handling this for Firemint, which probably gets around the Market's block on Australian dev's), and a port of Need for Speed Shift is apparently doing the rounds pre-installed on Droid Xs.

EDIT:

Popcap has an Android page (http://www.popcap.com/allgames.php?p=android), there's just nothing on it yet.

TrinityJayOne

30-07-2010, 09:58 PM

Would anyone object to this becoming a general Android/HTC thread? >_>

Handtec have been slightly redeemed, possibly. I sent them just about everything but the kitchen sink but there was always something minor omitted, so in the end I just said send it to my work address. I then get a 2nd confirmation email the next day (Wednesday morning I think) saying that it had passed their security and was being "dispatched via your chosen method". Sounded a bit odd given they were originally saying the 6th of August as the date they would have stock and that the website still says "due in soon". Then just 10min ago I get an email from FedEx with a tracking number, saying that the estimated shipment date is today (only noon in the UK), with an estimated delivery date of Wednesday (local time). I will be an extremely happy chappy if it's in transit over the weekend! Fingers crossed.

Dunkurtin

30-07-2010, 10:18 PM

Would anyone object to this becoming a general Android/HTC thread? >_>

I think crossover discussion about all the recently purchased Desires is fine but don't see an Android/HTC thread working so well. Only because there's non HTC Android phones and HTC make non Android phones.

Lazlow

30-07-2010, 10:23 PM

Plus back in April HTC were looking into possibly designing a native OS and ditching both Android and Windows.

I hope they stick with Android though. If it ain't broke...

Dunkurtin

30-07-2010, 10:37 PM

While I would love to see what they come up with I don't think moving away from Android would really be worth it. Especially with everything thats beginning to move over to the Android Market.

TrinityJayOne

30-07-2010, 10:43 PM

I think crossover discussion about all the recently purchased Desires is fine but don't see an Android/HTC thread working so well. Only because there's non HTC Android phones and HTC make non Android phones.
Oh, I wasn't aware of this. I know pre-Google phone they used WinMo but I thought it had been ditched since.

I'd prefer they stick with Android too, seems far more awesome than the alternatives.

Dunkurtin

30-07-2010, 10:46 PM

Oh, I wasn't aware of this. I know pre-Google phone they used WinMo but I thought it had been ditched since.

I'd prefer they stick with Android too, seems far more awesome than the alternatives.

Oh. Actually they may have gone Android exclusive now. Not sure I'm far from being an HTC expert. But that would still be excluding any people who own older models.

Lazlow

30-07-2010, 10:51 PM

They're still selling WinMo powered HTCs at Telstra anyway.

Dunkurtin

30-07-2010, 10:57 PM

Yeah. I imagine the HD2 will continue to sell well for quite some time.

TrinityJayOne

31-07-2010, 02:05 AM

Tracking status updated, phone is on its way! :D

Italian Stallion

31-07-2010, 02:08 AM

Expect a funny shipping pattern! Mine went to 3 different places in UK, then off to France, then to China before coming to Australia. :p

HTC are still making phones for Windows, but I don't think they're releasing anything new until Windows Phone 7 is released in 3-4 months. That HD2 is one sexy beast of a phone though. I thought a 4.3" screen would make it really huge and bulky, but it's surprisingly not. Awesomely thin too.

Lazlow

31-07-2010, 06:28 PM

Doh'eth!

According to Uk's Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/7919151/HTC-releases-Froyo-update-for-Desire-mobile-phone.html) the 2.2 rollout this weekend is for unlocked handsets only, with T-Mobile waiting until September and O2 TBA pending further testing.

Don't know how relevant this is to Telstra, but it doesn't fill me with hope.

TrinityJayOne

01-08-2010, 11:50 PM

My Desire is now in Sydney. Dare I dream of having this in my hands as early as tomorrow? :eek:

Dunkurtin

02-08-2010, 08:25 AM

http://www.knowyourmobile.com/blog/523863/android_22_confirmed_for_htc_desire_legend_and_wil dfire.html

Yes! Seems the Legend and Wildfire should also be getting the Android 2.2 update.

Italian Stallion

03-08-2010, 05:53 PM

Good stuff, Dunk. I got the prompt to install 2.2 on Sunday night. Download size was about 90MB. Didn't have to back up anything first, all my numbers, settings & programs were there after the 10ish minute installation. The update has made the phone noticeably faster - which I'm quite happy about, given the trend of certain other phones following updates. ;) Some nifty added features and bug fixes too. Battery life has improved a bit as well.

Loving my phone even more now. :)

Any news on your phone yet, Trin?

Lazlow

03-08-2010, 06:44 PM

TrinityJayOne

03-08-2010, 07:02 PM

Slippery

03-08-2010, 07:04 PM

I don't have mine yet :(

Dunkurtin

03-08-2010, 07:27 PM

Man the wait for Telstra to release their update will be agonising.

Also stupidly found out today that even if you toggle the mobile network widget off you can still send and receive calls and messages. So for the last week its been splitting my data between WiFi and nextg as opposed to just WiFi. Only way I can explain using 14mb data on saturday. Plus when I refreshed Twitter this morning the 3G icon was animating, even though I had a solid connection to the office wifi.

Maybe I misread this but mobile network widget only toggles your mobile internet. You can still do everything a phone can do without the internet. It's good for conserving your data usage, stops friend stream and such from automatically updating.

EDIT: Also Football fans may want to look into getting Soccer Scores. Theres a free version and a paid that just removes the ads. They're pretty small and unobtrusive anyway so not worth paying imo. Depends on the person I guess. Make sure you grab it before the Premier league starts on the 14th!

Lazlow

03-08-2010, 10:52 PM

Maybe I misread this but mobile network widget only toggles your mobile internet. You can still do everything a phone can do without the internet. It's good for conserving your data usage, stops friend stream and such from automatically updating.

Yeah I found that out today... I though toggling it off also stopped you from receiving calls and messages. >_<

Bit scared of how my first bill is going to look.

TrinityJayOne

03-08-2010, 10:57 PM

Ok, so it's good! Three major things though-

-File manager? I found a free one but it has ads. Would also like one just for videos/pictures as the default one only seems to show stuff from the camera.
-SMS viewer that just has an inbox, outbox and shows things in chronological order. I HATE group by contact shit.
-Adding a "new folder" to the desktop - what does this achieve? Where is it on the phone? Can it be renamed etc?

Lazlow

03-08-2010, 11:00 PM

-File manager? I found a free one but it has ads. Would also like one just for videos/pictures as the default one only seems to show stuff from the camera.

I needed one for SCUMMVM, so I used Astro (http://www.androidtapp.com/astro-file-manager/). Was free, rated well, and in the end I'm happy with it.

Adding a "new folder" to the desktop - what does this achieve? Where is it on the phone? Can it be renamed etc?

Hit "+" button on the bottom right of the screen, hit 'folder', hit 'new folder'. To rename it, open the folder, then hold your finger on the heading and a prompt will come up to let you enter a new name.

I found this blog post (http://nimbu.amorvi.com/2010/04/htc-desire-new-user-guide) that helped with a few things (custom ringtones, notifications), so it might be worth a read.

TrinityJayOne

03-08-2010, 11:35 PM

I see, folders are just for organising programs on the home screen. I thought it was a shortcut to stuff.

Now for the arduous task of merging all my phone numbers into individual contacts!

Lazlow

05-08-2010, 04:17 PM

Something weird. I have my phone on charge as I sleep, so it was on charge last night. Was definitely fully charged this morning as I had a green LED, and the battery icon was full.

I have the mobile network off, only WiFi is active. I've barely touched my phone today (played some Pokemon emerald for about 5 mins, and browsed the web via HSDPA for 5 - 10, switched the mobile network on for that, but then turned it off once I was done), and by 4pm today I'm down to 14% battery. :/

Previous days I've regularly updated twitter, played super mario, browsed the internet, checked facebook, and still had half a battery left by 5pm.

Rambo

09-08-2010, 12:58 AM

Do you use app manager?

There's a high chance you didn't actually close the gba emulator properly and it actually is still running in the background.

TrinityJayOne

09-08-2010, 10:14 AM

I thought it was weird at first that it seems impossible to actually close a lot of apps, like the browser, but Android seems pretty damn talented at managing it all itself. The battery info in the settings menu is great for seeing what's been bleeding the battery dry.

That said, I have enountered a few apps that aren't programmed as well and mustn't go into a standby state like the default ones do.

My pick of the very few apps I've tried so far-

Blizzard Authenticator
The same two-factor security pass they sell for $6, only it's on your phone and it's free. :D An absolute must if you play WoW, as even net-savvy people like Silverwolf have had their accounts compromised. Same if you're into SC2.

eStrongs File Manager
Best file manager I've found. Free, multiselect etc, and no ads. Part of a suite including a task manager and a security thing, but you download them independently.

Google Goggles
Ok so I haven't found a legitimate use for this yet, but it's just too cool not to have. >_> Take a picture of something and it tries to identify it, then gives relevant information! Doesn't always distinguish the object from the background (a solid color backdrop helps a lot), but the cropping tool makes it easier to minimize this. Incase you aren't sold on it yet, here's some stuff I tried and the results-

A box of Maltesers
Found it easily, linked me to Wikipedia etc..

Barcode on the back of Katamari Damacy
Knew it was a barcode, knew it was the Aus/NZ release. Directed me to Wikipedia and offered to search prices online.

A map of Azeroth
Directed me to worldofwarcraft.com .

A Scarface poster of a dollar bill with Montana's face instead of the president
Didn't identify the movie, instead seeing money and giving results based on that. :P

A part of a poster of De Niro in Taxi Driver, without any text
Directed me to Wikipedia etc..

A 360 controller
Directed me to Wikipedia etc..

A Ferrari 512BB on my monitor (picture from Google itself)
Directed me to Wikipedia etc..

Various car images that probably aren't on Google already, taken by me both IRL and in Forza
Google themselves admit it isn't so great at cars, but it does make a go of it! Every single car I tried it got the color, orientation and sometimes the general shape correct, but just couldn't quite pick the model. From one of the Forza 2 pics it directed me to forzamotorsport.net from seeing just half of the watermark in the corner. :P

This image
http://members.iinet.net.au/~trinityjayone/ferrari2.png

Listing this one separately because it got very close, probably because of the nice angle. Not only did it get the color and orientation right, of the 10 or so results shown most of them were Ferraris of similar shape, such as a 550 Maranello and a 612 Scaglietti. There was even a California in the results but I guess it just couldn't tell them apart.

Such an awesome app. :D

Lazlow

09-08-2010, 10:25 AM

Google Skymap is pretty awesome. I can now spot the Southern Cross by eye now :D

Do you use app manager?

There's a high chance you didn't actually close the gba emulator properly and it actually is still running in the background.

Nah it was Super KO Boxing. Checked the battery status and it was still running in the background. Whilst it was only consuming a very small percentage the system idle was running pretty high.

Lazlow

11-08-2010, 02:30 PM

Stories like these (http://www.news.com.au/technology/android-phone-virus-sends-costly-text-messages/story-e6frfro0-1225903929561) are a reminder of the risks associated with Android's more relaxed environment.

Lazlow

12-08-2010, 12:48 PM

Telstra Android 2.2 update ready in September (http://www.techworld.com.au/article/356408/android_goes_pre-paid_telstra_349)

Italian Stallion

12-08-2010, 03:15 PM

Good news indeed. 2.2 is a great improvement. I'm sure Telstra's customisations will rape it a tad, but the speed increase & decreased battery drain are worth it alone.

Lazlow

12-08-2010, 03:51 PM

I can always root it! :D

TrinityJayOne

23-08-2010, 11:56 PM

Had my first crash today. :(

Well, if you could even call it that. A live wallpaper caused some random service to crash when I uninstalled it, generating a little notification popup (like when you save a new word to the dictionary), followed by another saying it was restarting the service. I love Android.

Also, I had a bloody good trawl of the puzzle games section while on the can lastnight and found a few gems. The first is called Antigen and it's difficult to explain so I won't bother. The second is called Light Up, it's the one with a red laser icon (there's another game with the same name). You basically have a grid with obstacles and a colored laser emitter or two, and using a limited number of various different tools (mirrors, splitters, prisms, etc), you have to get a beam of each color to pass through a gate of the corresponding color. It starts off simple but the level I'm on now has had me stumped since lastnight, and the one before that took a half hour. I'm on Lv11 and there is 40+ :( It's highly satisfying when you solve the bastards though! Cool visuals too, very Tron.

Also, I've been seeing a lot of apps that have an "a" in front of them and mention stuff like "openhome" I think. Some sort of popular shell or something I take it?

TrinityJayOne

25-08-2010, 12:07 AM

Went back to find this post to offer my opinions as I've had the phone for a little bit now!

JuiceDefender - allows you to set circumstances under which your data connection remains on while the screen is off. Helps with battery life.
Didn't like this. The UI is the definition of user un-friendliness, and I don't see it making much of a difference for me anyway. I've popped the WiFi power control widget on my main screen and just switch it off when I'm not home. I'm still convinced the normal usage is minimal, but the Bureau of Meteorology have an open network at the bottom of my building at work and my Desire picks it up intermittently, which probably does drain it. The only syncing apps I have are Facebook and weather, both of which only do it every few hours.

ASTRO - file management.
As stated in another post, I found eStrong File Manager to be far better. Great UI, no ads, and all the same features as far as I can tell.

ShopSavvy & Barcode Scanner - scan barcodes to look up prices etc.
Google Goggles does this and much, much more. ;) Refer to that post I made pimping it! Also reads these babies-

http://members.iinet.net.au/~trinityjayone/generator.png

:D

Spare Parts - to get a rundown on if anything is raping your battery life.
Haven't tried this, but I find that the battery info screen does the job nicely.

If I could throw in a few more things, when adding a widget the very top option to download more HTC ones has two that are alright- a coin flip and a dual D6 roller. :P

Also, that spending spree I did the other night on puzzle games? (If you could call < $10 a spree) I got an email & SMS the next morning to call Commonwealth because of fraudulent activity on my card. I got transfered through to a security guy who obviously hadn't looked at the statement before accepting the call.

"Did you make a number of transactions lastnight from a company called......oh, Google..."
"Yeah I bought a few apps on my phone, for like a dollar or two each"
"Sir I am sorry to have troubled you"

He sounded pretty embarassed. :P

Creedy

27-08-2010, 10:16 AM

I just got a brand new Samsung Galaxy S last night!!
So much to discover now.

TrinityJayOne

28-08-2010, 03:08 AM

Does Android on a Samsung or whatever other phone look the same as on a HTC? I know HTC has Sense but don't actually know what's Sense and what's just plain ol' Android.

Lazlow

28-08-2010, 03:31 AM

Galaxy S interface is essentially a carbon copy of iOS.

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/3300/galaxyfront270x437.jpg

Creedy

28-08-2010, 10:51 AM

Until you change it that is.

meh
They are pretty much both the same.

http://www.samsunggalaxysforum.com/samsung-galaxys-general-discussion/galaxy-s-with-launcher-pro-beta-skin-ui/

Galaxy S has the bigger screen. ^_^

Specs Desire
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_desire-3077.php

Specs Galaxy S
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9000_galaxy_s-3115.php

Lazlow

28-08-2010, 05:00 PM

lol, always a pissing contest with creedy.

Trin asked what the interface was like, and I simply repeated what every review of the Galaxy S has said.

Italian Stallion

28-08-2010, 06:06 PM

I've heard the Galaxy S is quite laggy compared to the Desire. Have you had the opportunity to play with a Desire to compare? Apparently there's a fix for it, but you have to root your phone to apply it.

Some of the features that first video showed off looked pretty nifty. The major reason I didn't put too much consideration into the Galaxy S is that based off my last 2 Samsung phones (and another prior), they're really slack with releasing updates and fixes. Things that were obviously easily fixed with third party software/or even the default OS software (as opposed to their skinned versions) worked fine, theirs were slow and buggy. At least HTC are known for getting them out.

Hopefully they get past that slackness soon, their phones were good aside from that.

Didn't like this. The UI is the definition of user un-friendliness, and I don't see it making much of a difference for me anyway. I've popped the WiFi power control widget on my main screen and just switch it off when I'm not home. I'm still convinced the normal usage is minimal, but the Bureau of Meteorology have an open network at the bottom of my building at work and my Desire picks it up intermittently, which probably does drain it. The only syncing apps I have are Facebook and weather, both of which only do it every few hours.
To be honest, I'm not sure. I haven't really tested the phone without it since 'breaking it in'. It seemed to help a fair bit when I first got it though.
As stated in another post, I found eStrong File Manager to be far better. Great UI, no ads, and all the same features as far as I can tell.
They're both fairly much the same. I moved over to eStrong soon after recommending ASTRO - it has a couple of additional features (most of which can be got through addons for ASTRO). Either one will do the job though, imo.
Google Goggles does this and much, much more. ;) Refer to that post I made pimping it! Also reads these babies-
ShopSavvy & Barcode Scanner both read them too. :p Also, Google have Google Shopper as well - which seems almost the same as Goggles. Shopper is more Barcode orientated, Goggles is more picture/text orientated.. but ShopSavvy uses Google's results, as well as 20,000 or so independent retailers, so you should get more results with ShopSavvy every time.. but obviously that's only for barcodes! Goggles has had surprisingly good results in identifying random objects though.
Haven't tried this, but I find that the battery info screen does the job nicely.
It's actually just a program which launches an inbuilt shortcut to some hidden battery info screen on the phone. If you find you're running out of battery quickly, you can open it, have it show only info since you last unplugged the phone, then check if any processes are preventing the phone from sleeping properly, using too much internets, etc. You can access it via *#*#4636#*#*

Slippery

28-08-2010, 06:35 PM

Anyone on Optus have trouble with sending and recieving mms on the Desire?

Or even not have trouble with it. If you don't have trouble would love to steal your APN settings.

TrinityJayOne

28-08-2010, 08:45 PM

I don't think I've even tried sending one, but I'm not on Optus. The only trouble I've had sending an SMS is when I accidentally select someone's landline because the UI doesn't automatically hide them, which is a pretty amazing oversight if you ask me.

Italian Stallion

28-08-2010, 10:03 PM

@Slippery - Here's (http://ausdroid.net/apns/) a page with a list of Australian APNs for Android phones, and directions on how to enter the info.

@Trin - It's not really an oversight, some carriers allow landlines to receive text messages. ;)

Creedy

29-08-2010, 12:48 AM

I'm having trouble connecting my Galaxy S to my PC.
:(

Slippery

29-08-2010, 09:33 AM

Creedy

29-08-2010, 10:21 AM

Thank God for the XDA forums!!!
I couldn't connect because I had LauncherPro running! Downloaded another program called Home Switcher to easly switch between home screens. Disabling LauncherPro lets you connect to your PC.

So if anyone buys a Galaxy S and has issues connecting to their PC and you have LauncherPro or any other home front installed, remember this post.

Do people know about this thread?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=765081

Lazlow

31-08-2010, 11:29 AM

Had a play with a co-workers iPad yesterday, and they are certainly very pretty devices, but still too limited for my tastes.

So something that might be of interest to Andoird users are the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab (http://ausdroid.net/2010/08/27/samsung-galaxy-tab-specs-listed-on-an-indian-website/), and Notion Ink Adam (http://www.slashgear.com/notion-ink-adam-pricing-and-more-1297402/), two iPad competitors powered by Android 2.2.

I'd write more, but I'm at work and the above links provide the info anyway.

I'm still hanging out for more info on the HP Slate (which is set to use Win7).

Creedy

05-09-2010, 11:43 AM

Angry Birds Beta is now available on the Android market, hell yes!!!

TrinityJayOne

05-09-2010, 12:15 PM

A physics game? SOLD!

Lazlow

05-09-2010, 03:43 PM

Don't forget that Gameloft sell their Android games from their own website and not through the market.

They apparently updated N.O.V.A. to work with Desire handsets, though when you select the Desire to download the demos available N.O.V.A. isn't amongst them.

Dunkurtin

13-09-2010, 02:23 PM

Mate sent me a picture message, whenever I try to download it fails. Get a notification that says generic server failure or something. First mms I've been sent since I got ny legend. What to do?

Italian Stallion

13-09-2010, 02:32 PM

Make sure your MMS settings matches your providers on here. (http://ausdroid.net/apns/)

shallowdays

13-09-2010, 02:55 PM

Mate sent me a picture message, whenever I try to download it fails. Get a notification that says generic server failure or something. First mms I've been sent since I got ny legend. What to do?

Keep on living your life.

Slippery

13-09-2010, 03:26 PM

I have mms trouble with the desire, its patchy, you can fiddle with apns, but basically it just doesnt work most of the time.

Lazlow

14-09-2010, 01:47 PM

Anyone else find their Desire unlocks way to f***ing easily in their pocket?

Many times I'll take it out and it'll be on some random screen, once making some intellligeble post on twitter, and twice now I've found it switched to airplane mode and because I can't remember the pin I can't unlock the sim leaving me without a useful phone.

TrinityJayOne

14-09-2010, 04:04 PM

I try to have mine in the pouch as much as possible, but haven't had any issues when it isn't in there. I take it you don't have the pattern turned on?

Lazlow

14-09-2010, 04:08 PM

Pattern?

Also tried to turn it off and it sat for 40 minutes on the shutting down screen. Ended up taking out the battery. Apparently it might be an issue with the SD card and having to manually unmount the SD card before turning it off.

Something I couldn't do anyway because it was goddamned locked!

TrinityJayOne

14-09-2010, 06:07 PM

In the security section there's the ability to set up an unlock pattern that you need to do after the normal drag down one. Basically it shows a 3x3 grid of dots on the screen and you create a pattern that needs to be drawn in to unlock the phone. It's pretty neat.

Lazlow

16-09-2010, 02:34 PM

Telstra froyo update out within 4 weeks (http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/09/your-telstra-desire-probably-isnt-getting-htc-sense-but-it-is-getting-froyo-finally/)

ffs, they said September over a month ago and now it will probably roll into mid-November.

Creedy

19-09-2010, 10:19 PM

Anyone know where to get good 960x800 wallpapers for Android phones?
You know the ones that fit perfect when you slide across?

Lazlow

19-09-2010, 11:21 PM

search the market for "Live Wallpapers"

I got a cool galaxy vortex thing.

Lazlow

23-09-2010, 12:30 PM

Samsung Galaxy Tab $999 outright for 16GB model (http://www.news.com.au/technology/samsung-galaxy-tab-will-be-here-in-november/story-e6frfro0-1225928208065)

Dang, that sucks, way too much for my tastes. On the upside Dell announced a new 7inch tablet running on Android, though leaked specs sheets say its 2.1. Hopefully thats a typo.

Plus there's still the Win 7 HP Slate.

EDIT:

Gah, just did a google search and apparently Win 7 was too slow on the Slate, and now HP are considering WebOS. Don't know if this is a good thing, or a bad thing.

EDIT2:

And according to wiki, they're going to use both! >_<

dende d. guardian

23-09-2010, 01:08 PM

any clues as to when the desire hd will be released here? of all the phones i've been looking at lately, its the one that most interests me

Lazlow

23-09-2010, 01:14 PM

Locally, no idea. Its exclusive to Vodafone and 3, which kinda sucks.

Wiki page says October 11, most likely for European markets, so could import one like Trin and co did for their Desires.

HTC Desire HD is priced at £469.99 at Amazon.co.uk and Play.com and will be available from both starting 11 October 2010.

Creedy

23-09-2010, 10:58 PM

So this is how I have my screens layed out so far.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v121/Creedy/1285245990644.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v121/Creedy/1285245987380.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v121/Creedy/1285245995798.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v121/Creedy/1285246004223.jpg

Does anyone else want to show theirs?

MIIIIIIIIIIIILK

TrinityJayOne

23-09-2010, 11:05 PM

Do you need an app to screen dump? What's with all the Russian bookmarks?!

Silverwolf

23-09-2010, 11:12 PM

What's with the overused wallpaper.

Creedy

23-09-2010, 11:23 PM

Do you need an app to screen dump? What's with all the Russian bookmarks?!

It's an app called ShootMe, you apparently need a rooted phone for it to work but there are reports of it working on none rooted phones so give it a shot.

Otherwise you can do this.
http://www.sameshow.com/democreator/article/capture-screen-on-android-phone.html

The Russian bookmarks were just random bookmarks that were already there, maybe the creator of LauncherPro is Russian.

What's with the overused wallpaper.

What do you mean by overused?

Dunkurtin

24-09-2010, 07:57 AM

Extremely common. Used too much. Many people have it. Amazing popular etc.

Clift

02-10-2010, 04:21 PM

any clues as to when the desire hd will be released here? of all the phones i've been looking at lately, its the one that most interests me

This.

They were saying October, but it's October now and there's still no info on the Voda / AU HTC website. /shrug

Anyone know anything yet? :p

TSplodey

05-10-2010, 11:11 PM

I upgraded to an HTC Desire today and I'm loving it.

I've figured out most stuff on my own/through the Internet, but I'd like to check one thing. The top bar lists most (all?) the current apps that are doing stuff right? Just want to know when it is and isn't chewing up power unnecessarily.

Lazlow

05-10-2010, 11:13 PM

Settings -> Applications -> Running Services

TrinityJayOne

06-10-2010, 12:51 AM

My bar is entirely clean, but I don't run any apps that are always on.

In Android-related news, my old Sony-Ericcson K850i that my partner inherited has started to fall apart (she always gets my old phones when I upgrade, apart from the N97 my Desire replaced, which I sold for $330 :D). Part of the joypad is currently being held on with sticky tape and other bits of the keypad have been flakey for a while. She's always been on (sporadic) prepaid and doesn't want to change this, so contract upgrades aren't possible. I looked around for cheap iConform 3GSs but they go for $450-500 used on Ebay, and all the stores I tried had no stock and weren't getting more. She likes my Desire but doesn't want to pay that much (it's only gone down 5 quid), so we settled on a Wildfire, also from Handtec. $300 it works out to be, just under half what my Desire cost. Not bad for a phone with half the CPU power and half the resolution. :P

Clift

06-10-2010, 06:20 PM

So the Vodafone store across the road from work is officially run by complete idiots.

Twice I've gone in there seeking info on a phone and twice I've been met with a blank stare, followed by an odd silence and then a "Sorry I've got no idea". =/

Went in with a sliver of hope I'd be able to find out a little bit more about when the Desire HD is being released; No luck.

Guy I work with just got the Samsung Galaxy S which I had a bit of a play with today, seemed pretty nifty, but I'd much rather wait until the Desire HD was released before I made my decision. :p

TrinityJayOne

06-10-2010, 09:57 PM

You can get it from Handtec (www.handtec.co.uk), as well as the Z, and both were in stock the other day. Just make sure you calculate the price on the "excl VAT" price in fine print, not the normal figure.

Lazlow

11-10-2010, 01:00 PM

I swear to god Telstra are deliberately withholding their Froyo update to ensure as many people as possible break warranty >_>

They have until Thursday when they exceed their "within 4 weeks" timeframe they announced in mid-September.

TSplodey

12-10-2010, 12:07 AM

Anyone else having the same problem as me with Google Goggles? It won't work (loads but no results) unless I am connected to WiFi, making it rather useless in the grand scheme of things.

Italian Stallion

12-10-2010, 12:49 AM

Haven't really used it much myself, but I just gave it a shot - worked fine without wifi.

The Desire HD looks awfully tempting. Having held the HD2, I don't feel the phone is too big despite the massive screen... I just don't think I can justify the ~$100ish loss for the sake of a bigger screen and an arguably better body. The little additions the HD & Z have I'm hoping will come to the Desire soon enough anyway.. if not, the Desire HD ROM has already been ported to the Desire anyway, adding those things.

How'd you find the Wildfire, Trin (assuming it's arrived)? I had a play with one the other day at JB. It seemed pretty fast despite the slower processor, though everything does seem literally halved.. looks like you can only fit one widget on any given screen, etc. Seemed great for anyone who wasn't after the bees knees of phones though. Only thing I noticed - and I may have been imagining it - the screen didn't seem as vibrant?

TrinityJayOne

12-10-2010, 11:58 PM

Yeah, the current exchange rate seems a touch better than it was in July, as the HD works out to be the same price in AUD as I spent on my Desire, but it's still 70GBP more. :P "As new" 8183 models seem to be going for what I paid on Ebay, and I reckon the 8181 would have a bit more swing with people who have done their research. I'd pretty much just be losing out on postage, but like you I still can't justify it. Still 1GHz and still 480x800 screen, just stretched out. Like you said, I'm sure HTC Sense.com can be rolled out to the Desire in time.

As for the Wildfire, feelings are mixed. Is it a bad phone? No. Does the Desire make it look like yesterday's jam? Yes.

I didn't really think about the resolution, as by itself 240x320 doesn't seem so bad for a budget smartphone. I mean my K850i had that and it was fine...but that was in 2007. Phones are of course a lot more screen and a lot less button now, and blowing up that resolution really isn't doing it any favours. The pixels are obvious in everything, and it also has some spectacular ghosting with bright reds, especially with text (this is the exact same problem the PSP has). Still plays videos just fine if you don't mind the loss of detail that comes with the resolution.

Speed wise it's still just a snappy as my Desire for the most part and not at all unresponsive when typing as I had feared. It does hang for a few seconds in places that only give a momentary pause on the Desire though, such as entering the list of installed apps. Using some of the more system-intensive things, like the camera, are the only other times I really noticed it struggling.

Feature-wise it can do most things my Desire can, but a few understandable omissions have been made. For example, Live Wallpapers aren't supported (but lock screen wallpapers are, something I haven't been able to do on my Desire) and neither are some HTC Sense features like the weather animations on the default clock (they still play if you touch to go to the fullscreen weather forecast). Suprisingly you could theoretically replicate your Desire homescreen setup flawlessly, as they've made good use of what screen real estate there is. The screen still has a 4x4 cell capacity, just that there's less padding between them so the icons are more tightly packed. Same goes for the fullscreen widgets like calendars - they've just been tightened up a few pixels here and there. To be honest they've just removed the fluff, as the awesome contacts integration, friend stream, widgets, etc are all the same.

Overall it's a pretty good package, with the only thing that really grates being the screen. Going from the Desire to this is kind of like being handed crackers after you just tried a Tim Tam, but if you were upgrading to it then you wouldn't be disappointed.

Lazlow

15-10-2010, 05:09 PM

So 2 days after the "within 4 weeks" deadline lapses, Telstra's now telling everyone Froyo will be out in the next few days (http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/10/telstra-desire-froyo-update-coming-within-the-next-few-days/).

The fact they still can't deliver a definite deadline leaves me cynical.

Theiffy

15-10-2010, 05:59 PM

I thought desire already had froyo? Trin failed to mention that my wildfire has awesome battery life compared to his desire :p

TrinityJayOne

15-10-2010, 06:03 PM

Mine does cos it's imported, Lazlow got his on a Telstra plan as it's exclusive to them in Australia. Their version of Froyo would be slightly modified for their version of the Desire, which is also slightly modified. There's also been one, maybe two minor updates since then, but I don't know what they actually did.

Lazlow

15-10-2010, 11:08 PM

Pretty much giving it till next Friday, otherwise I'll root it next weekend.

Italian Stallion

16-10-2010, 12:53 PM

Angry Birds is out of beta and has been released to the marketplace. And it's free! :cool:

Lazlow

18-10-2010, 10:35 AM

Telstra's twitter has now said today that the Froyo update may not be OTA, and instead be only available through HTC's website.

Italian Stallion

20-10-2010, 04:45 PM

I'd be pretty sick of waiting by now. It couldn't take that long to add some icons and weblinks to the bloody thing. T-Mod seems to be a good choice for Telstra users.

Jobs seems to be a bit worried about Android (and BlackBerry) lately. He went on some 5 minute tirade about how iOS isn't as closed as people say, and how Android is fragmented (with over 100 different versions of Android, apparently!) etc., going as far as to mention the struggles the TweetDeck developers went through making a client for Android because of the supposed fragmentation, which received the following responses -
Did we at any point say it was a nightmare developing on Android? Errr nope, no we didn't. It wasn't.
We only have 2 guys developing on Android TweetDeck so that shows how small an issue fragmentation is
Looks like someone's grasping at straws and making shit up!

Lazlow

20-10-2010, 04:51 PM

He also basically said the Android market is rife with porn, and Android phones are nothing but porn machines.

RIM's hit back at his recent claim that no one will buy 7" tablets because they're too big for a phone and too small for a tablet.

I'd be pretty sick of waiting by now. It couldn't take that long to add some icons and weblinks to the bloody thing. T-Mod seems to be a good choice for Telstra users.

It's looking pretty horrendous at the moment. A day after Telstra's twitter account said Froyo won't be released OTA, a twitter account belonging to Telstra's Team Group Manager for Media Relations, Craig Middleton, posted a rebuttle (http://ausdroid.net/2010/10/18/telstra-could-update-htc-desires-ota-who-knows/), saying that not releasing it OTA hasn't been confirmed, and its still being looked at.

Ausdroid's closing line pretty much spells it out;

So to wrap things up, we don't know what's going on, you don't know what's going on, and best of all Telstra doesn't know what's going on. We're in good hands

Like I said, I'm giving them till Friday. I'm worried about f***ing it up and breaching my warranty, but the wait is getting pretty ridiculous. Plus it can't be any harder than installing custom firmware on a PSP, right?

Dunkurtin

21-10-2010, 02:47 AM

Android market had porn? I need to start looking at more of the apps!

Lazlow

21-10-2010, 03:17 PM

Will ask about the release date again, but I can confirm that it will not be avail OTA due to file size. You will be able to download it from the HTC site-Steve

Telstra twitter has reiterated that the Froyo update won't be available OTA

Still no release date

Italian Stallion

26-10-2010, 04:46 PM

Telstra’s been teasing the Froyo update for the Desire for what seems like an eternity, but this morning Director of Telstra Mobility products Richard Fink promised the update was coming this week.

The holdup, according to Fink, was on Google’s part, thanks to some problems with the update internationally. But Google approved the update yesterday, and Telstra is now working with HTC to get the update up on HTC’s website, which should happen this week.
Let's see whether it happens this time!

Lazlow

26-10-2010, 05:05 PM

Well I was too lazy to root my phone last weekend so hopefully!

Italian Stallion

26-10-2010, 09:26 PM

What do you know! (http://www.htc.com/au/SupportDownload.aspx?p_id=312&cat=2&dl_id=1048) Telstra finally made good their promise.

Lazlow

26-10-2010, 10:43 PM

Bah! Have to install HTC Sync aswell.

Started to download from the Asia 1 server, but I was getting under 10kb/s and the ETA was 9hrs.

So I cancelled and started again from the US server, getting just over 50kb/s so it'll only take 1 hour :cool:

FYI the rom is 173.2MB. How big was the vanilla rom from HTC?

TrinityJayOne

26-10-2010, 11:06 PM

Certainly wasn't THAT big! I recall around 90ish, maybe less.

Lazlow

26-10-2010, 11:17 PM

Ah crap, download got to 34% but now speed simply says "?" :(

Lazlow

27-10-2010, 02:23 AM

Think my bro may have reset the modem when I was out of the room... he flips out when he can't get a wireless connection. He's 30.

Either way, I got the rom and have just updated my phone.

Couldn't find a way to back my settings and programs up that were all stored on the phone (HTC Sync didn't seem to have any backup options) so now I'll have to reset the bloody thing again.

At least it has definitively removed all the old junk apps.

TSplodey

27-10-2010, 02:37 AM

Just managed to update mine. Was rather infuriated working around the 170 USB error. Definately not user friendly.

Lazlow

27-10-2010, 10:31 AM

170 USB error?

TSplodey

27-10-2010, 05:59 PM

http://androidforums.com/htc-desire/65894-htc-desire-usb-device-not-reconized-error.html

I found my fix on the Whirlpool forums.

Lazlow

27-10-2010, 09:54 PM

I've had that with many USB devices; iPhone, Desire, BenQ MP3 player, PSP. Usually sorts itself out once I unplug all USB devices and just plug the one I want use in a different port. Worst comes to worst I just go to device manager and reload drivers.

TSplodey

27-10-2010, 09:54 PM

I had to uninstall all HTC shit, reinstall the drivers and then intercept the install and pick a different one. Then pray it didnt spit the dummy. :)

Lazlow

28-10-2010, 02:23 PM

Desire HD; out early November, $0 on a $59 cap, permanent exclusivity to Vodafone and 3 Mobile (http://ausdroid.net/2010/10/26/official-htc-desire-hd-will-be-0-on-59-cap-exclusive-to-vodafone-forever/)

Kinda sucks for anyone outside of the capital cities, but with the turnover of phones lately will people really care in 6 months?

That and I now see the benefits on importing an unbranded phone from the UK. Even if my phone is free >_>

Italian Stallion

28-10-2010, 10:26 PM

Telstra have now released Froyo OTA.

TrinityJayOne

28-10-2010, 10:52 PM

Rofl, you poor bastards!

Lazlow

29-10-2010, 12:30 AM

Meh, I'm one of the few who had no dramas :D

Italian Stallion

29-10-2010, 01:15 AM

It seems like the issue was Windows 7 x64. HTC released a guide to do it though.

Despite all that, how's Froyo feel compared to Eclair on a Telstra branded phone? I hear its benchmarks get higher scores than a couple of popular 2.2 ROMS. Sounds like Telstra have done a good job on it.

Italian Stallion

29-10-2010, 12:29 PM

Just came across this (http://synapse-phones.com/order.php) site. They have a basic Android 2.2 based phone with a 4" screen and all the basic functions, and from there you're able to have it custom built how you want it - network, wireless, cameras, flash, multimedia output etc. Pretty nifty.

Looks like it'd come up a bit too expensive for most people to bother, but it's a cool idea nonetheless.

Lazlow

06-11-2010, 02:02 AM

Don't know why Gameloft don't let you buy N.O.V.A. for the Desire, the hacked version I've downloaded works brilliantly.

TrinityJayOne

06-11-2010, 02:53 AM

Lazlow

06-11-2010, 05:04 AM

Well I've now got NFS Shift working as well :D

It required downloading the Android SDK, so I could use some command line trickery so it would install directly to the SD card, but that's a handy trick that I'll probably need in future.

The game is pretty damn smooth as well, plays much like Real Racing on iPhone. Don't know why these titles are more widely available.

Clift

06-11-2010, 02:51 PM

Just got home with my HTC Desire HD (Last one they had). :D

Obviously haven't had much of a chance to play with it, but first impressions are good... Feels nice (in terms of quality and comfort) in my hand/s, it's also very pleasing to look at. :p

Definitely a step up from my ridiculously primitive Nokia. Only downside is I won't be able to keep it in my pocket at work (Unless I want it destroyed in the first hour). :p

Oh, and did I miss anything important in that sequence when you turn the phone on for the first time? Guy in the store thought it would be funny to skip through them all.

TrinityJayOne

06-11-2010, 04:59 PM

I don't recall there being anything massively important, but if you can't redo it from the settings (I'm sure you can) then a factory reset would probably do the trick.

Lazlow

11-11-2010, 12:42 PM

Android's 700% growth sees it swallow quarter of world's smartphone market (http://www.news.com.au/technology/smartphones/androids-700-per-cent-growth-sees-it-swallow-quarter-of-worlds-smartphone-market/story-fn6vihic-1225951843874)

Creedy

11-11-2010, 08:49 PM

Good, the sooner Apple dies the bettter!

Lazlow

11-11-2010, 11:54 PM

Funnily enough about 2-3 hours later the article was changed to 600%

Lazlow

22-11-2010, 01:47 PM

Opera Mobile beta now out (http://my.opera.com/chooseopera/blog/2010/11/09/opera-mobile-goes-android)

Actually, it was out a little while ago, but I only bother to check because the standard browser was screwing up with google last night.

TrinityJayOne

22-11-2010, 09:06 PM

HUZZAH!!! caps

TrinityJayOne

22-11-2010, 11:10 PM

Well...I never though I would ever say this about Opera, but I don't like it and have uninstalled. :( Several reasons why I'm going back to the default browser (herein referred to as "Bob")-

-Like Opera Mobile on my old N97, some websites it scales properly and some it doesn't. The forums look ok I guess (it does manage to make the default font a little bigger, but that's nothing a small zoom in/settings change doesn't fix), but other websites it has issues with. Take the new WoW forums (http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/984270/) as an example. With Bob there is no horizontal scrolling whatsoever, the menu bar is perfectly lined up with sides and it's all readable. In Opera (at 100% zoom), you have to scroll horizontally.

-"Mobile view" just makes things look broken and retarded. Never understood the purpose of it.

-Turning "full screen" off shows the status bar (time, signal, battery, etc), but also takes up half the ****ing screen with crap. Bob automatically shows this when you push the menu button, then hides it after.

-Speed dial only has 9 icons, even though I used Opera Link (the one great feature it DOES have) to sync to my PC Opera, which has 12. The 9 it gives you also look horrible in landscape view because it puts 5 on the top row and 4 on the bottom.

-Touching links is harder. Bob gives you a fair amount of "slush" when you're trying to hit a tiny link, such as on these very forums, and seems to get it right 90% of the time even when it's just a tiny page number and there's lots of others nearby. Opera feels like it was designed with the finesse of a stylus in mind.

-Opera does not have a vertical scrolling lock. If you browse to a website that's too wide for Bob (or zoom in) and try to scroll vertically, it will lock the horizontal point of reference and only scroll up & down, unless you move your finger to the left/right past a certain threshold (which I wish could be increased actually). It's kind of like holding shift in MS Paint to draw a straight line. Try it!

I'm sure there is more, but that's all I have for now. It really doesn't look like they've done anything since the version that came out for my N97 ages ago, and that's a damned shame.

Lazlow

10-12-2010, 12:12 PM

Gah f***en!

Phone keeps throwing up Low Phone Storage Space warnings. Had a look an there's only 11MB free on the Phone, yet I go through my apps list and I only have two large apps stored on the phone; SCUMMVM and Homerun Battle 3D, both about 25MB (can't apps2SD these two).

I looks like after installing Android/Sense UI you only get about 70MB out of the 576MB total internal memory.

Guess I should get around to updating SCUMMVM, apparently the new version allows it to be moved to the SD card.

Italian Stallion

10-12-2010, 01:25 PM

There's a way of forcing pretty much everything to have the ability to be installed to SD, and doesn't require root. Most apps are starting support it now anyway, but it's helpful for the few that don't. Method can be found here (http://androidforums.com/desire-tips-tricks/160560-force-apps-install-sd-without-root.html).

I had it on mine until the other day - note: don't try and force an OTA update if you've rooted. :D You have to boot to recovery and turn off signing to do it, so it's not easy to mistakenly do. But I'm an idiot. :D Just glad that most important things are backed up to Google.

Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) has been officially announced and shown off. Along with the Google Nexus S (which is the Samsung Galaxy S). Haven't really looked at much of it, but it's meant to have some nifty feature inclusions and a further speed increase. Hoping it will come out for the Desire.. but it will be ported to it ASAP anyway, no doubt. There's also rumours of HTC releasing the new Sense UI (currently on Desire Z & HD) to the Desire some time this month. That seems to have a range of new features too. Hope that happens! There's already a ROM based on the Desire HD ported to it though.

Also, Android is apparently seeing 300,000 new phones activated each day, compared to less than 100,000 new iPhones each day. :cool:

Cerebral

10-12-2010, 02:56 PM

HTC Desire just arrived. Got the biggest bonner right now.

Knuckle Children

10-12-2010, 04:09 PM

HTC Desire just arrived. Got the biggest bonner right now.

Thanks mang, now I can never look at Carla Bonner in the same way again.

Lazlow

14-12-2010, 10:24 AM

Game Dev Story is on the Android Market for about $4

Lazlow

14-12-2010, 10:26 AM

Also, Epic have stated they have no current plans to port any of their games to Android. Much like iD the platform is too fragmented for them.

The engine they built will be made available to willing Android developers though.

Cerebral

14-12-2010, 05:40 PM

Game Dev Story is on the Android Market for about $4

Sweet! I wasn't expecting an Android port but I've been keen to play this.

Cerebral

24-12-2010, 04:06 PM

Random update for my desire today. How long does this shit take?

Sitting at a screen with a red ! on it and I gotta head out soon.

Slippery

24-12-2010, 05:44 PM

Game Dev Story for $4.80? Sweet!

Any other good games I should grab? I've got Angry Birds.

Italian Stallion

09-01-2011, 01:21 PM

VLC should be out for Android in the next week or two!

Anyone tried any browsers other than the stock? I love tabbed browsing, and the way the stock one handles it is less than ideal. So far I've tried the following -

Dolphin HD - good, fully-featured browser, almost as much usability as a desktop browser, but it becomes annoyingly slow when clicking links, entering text etc. Has an addon for LastPass which is a password manager though - super handy.

Dolphin Mini - only just installed this, much faster and a bit of a sleeker interface. No addon support though. :(

Miren - Super fast, great interface, has a handy 'speed dial' home screen similar to Opera, and an easy to use rotation lock. Only downsides I've found are some issues with Google Image searches, and occasional random exits.

xScope - Similar to Miren without the rotation lock and Images search issues, haven't noticed any random exits either. Costs money from the app store (the others are all free).

I also tried Skyfire, which seems to be a popular app on iPhones due to it's ability to play flash content, but I found it lacking compared to the above. I can't remember my exact beef with it, but I uninstalled it pretty quickly.

I found Opera similarly underwhelming, especially for the size.

I haven't bothered trying it yet, but Firefox for Android it seemingly getting positive reviews all around, aside from issues with memory leaks and it being a bit on the big side. Should be good when it's finally released though!

Also, I think you can sign up to the Swype beta now and get instant access via an installer apk you download from their servers. Easily the fastest keyboard on any smartphone ever bar none.

Munky

09-01-2011, 01:49 PM

Got me a Desire yesterday on a Telstra plan.

It goes pretty well.

Lazlow

09-01-2011, 03:43 PM

TrinityJayOne

10-01-2011, 02:32 PM

^ What he said. The tabbed browsing IS shit, but I don't find myself using it enough for this to matter. As mentioned in my Opera rundown a few posts back, the vertical scroll lock and the "slush" when hitting links would need to be present in a browser for me to consider changing to something else.

Italian Stallion

31-01-2011, 09:30 PM

I was pretty happy with Dolphin Mini & Miren, couldn't decide between the two.. then I decided to try my hand at flashing ROMs. Put a Desire HD ROM on, and it comes with a newer version of the default browser. In it, if you do a full pinch as if to zoom, it brings up the window selection thing. Handy! Don't think I need another browser anymore..

As for the ROM itself, it has some improvements with the new Sense UI.. things are organised a bit better, there are some new widgets, theme support etc. All welcome additions, nothing groundbreaking though. The new HTC Music player has an equaliser though, and coverflow. The new Gallery has some improvements too. The UI feels much snappier than before too, but I also had another DHD ROM installed which was a tad sluggish in comparison, so it's likely about the same as stock.

I've been keeping my eye on two other ROMs too - one is just 2.3 which has been ported to the Desire - big downside, and main reason I haven't installed it, is that it's lacking Sense UI. Meant to be super quick and have visual improvements among other things.

The other is some MIUI thing I came across. The interface is somewhere between Android & iOS, but being built on Android it still has it's superior functionality, as well as stuff like widgets etc. Again, it's meant to be really quick, and has lots of custom apps made by the developer from the ground up.
Got me a Desire yesterday on a Telstra plan.

It goes pretty well.
Nice choice. Enjoying it?

Clockw0rk

01-02-2011, 08:58 PM

I'm looking at getting a Desire, prepaid, for NZ$700. Good deal? Or are they cheaper in Aus?

Cerebral

03-02-2011, 03:38 AM

Check Mobicity. i got mine for about $580 delivered.
I was pretty happy with Dolphin Mini & Miren, couldn't decide between the two.. then I decided to try my hand at flashing ROMs. Put a Desire HD ROM on, and it comes with a newer version of the default browser. In it, if you do a full pinch as if to zoom, it brings up the window selection thing. Handy! Don't think I need another browser anymore..

As for the ROM itself, it has some improvements with the new Sense UI.. things are organised a bit better, there are some new widgets, theme support etc. All welcome additions, nothing groundbreaking though. The new HTC Music player has an equaliser though, and coverflow. The new Gallery has some improvements too. The UI feels much snappier than before too, but I also had another DHD ROM installed which was a tad sluggish in comparison, so it's likely about the same as stock.

I've been keeping my eye on two other ROMs too - one is just 2.3 which has been ported to the Desire - big downside, and main reason I haven't installed it, is that it's lacking Sense UI. Meant to be super quick and have visual improvements among other things.
Think I found the gingerbread ROM on the XDA developers forum, pretty tempted despite the lack of SenseUI. Can you give us a link to the Desire HD ROM you're using? If it isn't too hard I'd probably do the same (bonus if it ends up making my Desire snappier).

Italian Stallion

03-02-2011, 04:12 PM

The one I'm running is here (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=791315&highlight=ReflexTSense), but this (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=789830) is the other which is meant to be better - I had no luck installing it though.

Just an fyi if you haven't installed custom Android ROMs before - you need to root your phone - unrevoked is the easiest method I found.. apparently you can do it via an app on your phone as well though. Also you have to partition your SD card manually (not really sure if there's apps that will do this for you or not). You basically make an EXT4 partition of 512MB-1GB to store installed apps to - similar to a2sd but all apps work.

If you go through with it, make sure you do a Nandroid backup before you do - just in case something goes wrong, you have a full backup of exactly how your phone was!

Cerebral

05-02-2011, 07:30 PM

That sounds hard!

Cerebral

05-02-2011, 07:31 PM

Considering going the Gingerbread ROM. Sense UI is nice, but I can't think of anything that makes it better than the stock android UI, it's just different.

Lazlow

22-02-2011, 11:54 AM

Anyone CyanogenMod and can recommend it?

Getting that itch to tinker.

Plus I just know Telstra is going to drag their feet for 6 months in getting the update out.

TrinityJayOne

23-02-2011, 01:17 AM

I'm tempted to get Gingerbread on mine as well, but phones are pretty much the one thing I refuse to tinker with!

Any idea when exactly it will officially come out for the Desire?

Lazlow

23-02-2011, 01:27 AM

HTC's update is still marked as "near future" sometime after the Desire S goes on sale.

jons2ann

08-03-2011, 02:46 PM

Just bought myself HTC Desire HD. I love it.
But gosh... the battery life sucks balls.

My old Nokia N73 can go on standby for a week before it dies out. This one takes less than 48 hours.

Lazlow

21-03-2011, 01:30 AM

I'm tempted to get Gingerbread on mine as well, but phones are pretty much the one thing I refuse to tinker with!

Any idea when exactly it will officially come out for the Desire?

Q2 2011 (http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/htc-desire-update-gingerbread-coming-q2-931791)

Spring or Summer (http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Android/HTC+Desire/news.asp?c=27650)

So basically it sounds like it'll be out April - June.

TrinityJayOne

21-03-2011, 10:59 PM

Awesome! Does this mean we'll have HTCSense.com or is that something entirely different?

Lazlow

20-04-2011, 12:07 AM

Downloaded Launcher 7.

Basically a home screen app to make your phone look like a Windows Phone 7. Finding that it actually drains less juice than HTC Sense.

Cerebral

20-04-2011, 05:27 PM

Think I tried that out once. The screen transitions were jerky as hell, though.

Lazlow

20-04-2011, 07:13 PM

Smooth as hell for me.

Probably updated it.

phatdex

20-04-2011, 10:19 PM

I got something even better, a windows 7 phone! Might download something to make it look like an android one!

Dunkurtin

20-04-2011, 10:42 PM

=\
Obv troll is obv.

Lazlow

20-04-2011, 11:08 PM

I have no problems admitting I find the GUI of Windows Phone 7 really appealing

Lazlow

20-04-2011, 11:09 PM

But I'm not going to buy a shitty phone just for its GUI.

Lazlow

20-04-2011, 11:11 PM

http://www.uyac.com.au/forum/images/smilies/1.jpg

Ad-Rock

27-04-2011, 09:45 AM

So I finally entered the world of smart phones. Just bought a Sony Ericsson X8 for $169. Tell me some good apps.

TrinityJayOne

27-04-2011, 06:51 PM

Kind of entered at the low end there, didn't you? >_>

Ad-Rock

28-04-2011, 08:47 AM

Hell yeah.

Ad-Rock

28-04-2011, 08:51 AM

I didn't know what I was getting; I didn't want to go and spend $600+ on something that might be shit. And I don't have any thing to make a comparison to, so as far as I can tell it's the best phone on the market :D

Rambo

28-04-2011, 12:25 PM

Ignorance is bliss.

Ad-Rock

28-04-2011, 01:12 PM

It truly is.

TrinityJayOne

28-04-2011, 04:01 PM

Hey, if the guy is happy with it then that's fine!

Cerebral

28-04-2011, 04:08 PM

Smooth as hell for me.

Probably updated it.

downloaded it again and it still sucked balls. Back to Launcherpro~

Araenel

07-06-2011, 10:37 PM

Anyone else jumped onto the Galaxy SII?

Pretty major leap from the iphone 3G lol so pretty happy with it. Just finished re-flashing with the stock samsung firmware to get rid of the shit optus loaded on the phone.

TrinityJayOne

07-06-2011, 10:47 PM

Pretty sure everybody in this thread hates you right now! I do enjoy HTC Sense though. Speaking of which, where the ****s mah Gingerbread.

Silverwolf

08-06-2011, 09:06 PM

Pretty sure everybody in this thread hates you right now!

Not me! Mine was meant to arrive today but I was at class so I missed it.
Can't be jealous when I know I will have it next week though.

Silverwolf

10-06-2011, 11:09 AM

aaaaaaaand mine just arrived and it is awesome.

Araenel

10-06-2011, 04:22 PM

high five

Cubby

11-06-2011, 02:53 PM

Clockw0rk

11-06-2011, 03:20 PM

Just got an Incredible S. It's charging now. First smartphone, woo!

Lazlow

11-06-2011, 05:33 PM

So I'm probably going to start using my partners Desire HD. It has 3 branded gingerbread on it now. I was wondering, is there much difference between the branded gingerbread, and vanilla? And if so, how do I go about making it vanilla?

I have a Telstra branded Desire and there's a fair bit of bloat on it added by Telstra; bigpond, foxtel, bigpond games, bigpond movies, bigpond news, social web, bigpond sport, travel, tv, weather... and all of it takes up phone storage space. IIRC the Telstra 2.2 update was about 50-80mb bigger than the vanilla HTC update.

If you want to make it vanilla you'll have to root the phone.

Lazlow

11-06-2011, 05:34 PM

People getting flash new phones makes me remember I'll still on contract for about another 14 months :(

TSplodey

11-06-2011, 05:42 PM

So is the 'sequel' to the Desire HD announced/coming out any time soon? I have a Desire at the moment and was considering upgrading to an HD, but if theres a newer model on the horizon Id rather get that.

Oh and btw, Skype on Droid is the most buggy piece of shit ever.

Lazlow

11-06-2011, 05:51 PM

Mobile phones are like computers these days, obsolete as soon as you take them out of the box. There's always something new on the horizon, which is why I stop myself from prematurely upgrading while still on contract. By the time the remaining 14 months are up there'll be phones better than the Galaxy SII.

You basically just have to bite the bullet and upgrade to a newer phone when you feel its a significant enough upgrade from your current one.

Cubby

11-06-2011, 06:13 PM

The S3 should be out in 14 months lol

TSplodey

11-06-2011, 06:28 PM

Stuff.
Well thats basically what I was asking. The HD has been out for a while so I figured the next thing was coming along.

Clockw0rk

11-06-2011, 07:17 PM

The Incredible S has pretty much all the features of the Desire HD from what I can see. I'm pretty happy with it.

Not happy about PvZ only being available to people in the US. RACISM.

Lazlow

11-06-2011, 07:57 PM

Just find an installer on the net. It's likely it wont get recognized by your market app so you wont get updates, but you'll at least have a version of it.

Lazlow

11-06-2011, 08:02 PM

Well thats basically what I was asking. The HD has been out for a while so I figured the next thing was coming along.

Well in the immediate future is the HTC Sensation, but in comparison charts it doesn't stack up against the Galaxy SII (http://ausdroid.net/2011/06/05/galaxy-s-ii-vs-sensation-vs-optimus-3d-vs-atrix/)

Lazlow

26-06-2011, 05:45 PM

Grand Prix Story is pretty cool

Italian Stallion

26-06-2011, 10:04 PM

Looks as though the Desire will be getting a Gingerbread update without Sense UI.. apparently HTC couldn't fit it in thanks to the somewhat lacking internal space. On one hand, kudos to them for at least updating it... on the other, how come some ROM developers at XDA have managed to fit it in, and HTC can't? Odd!

Lazlow

27-06-2011, 02:14 PM

Wouldn't be too sad to see it go. While SenseUI was one of the main selling points, when it comes down to it, I never really fully utilised it. I certainly didn't have more than one scene, and I barely filled all the screens. I also wasn't a fan of having my contact list intergrated with social networking sites. It was all well and good when people I know, who were in my contact list, had their various statuses and shit all fall under the one stream. But it also meant people I didn't know were added to my contact list.

I haven't used SensUI for several months now. I got bored of Launcher7 (which worked perfectly fine for me, don't know what you're talking about Cer) and swtiched to GO Launcher.

I wonder though, if HTC couldn't fit SenseUI in with the update, if Telstra will face the same problems with all the bloat they add.

Silverwolf

27-06-2011, 05:43 PM

I haven't used SensUI for several months now. I got bored of Launcher7 (which worked perfectly fine for me, don't know what you're talking about Cer) and swtiched to GO Launcher.

Have you tried Launcher Pro? It's what I use, curious about how it compares.

Lazlow

27-06-2011, 08:05 PM

Nope, I've only used Launcher7, SlideScreen (nice to see another UI that breaks away for the norm, but its not an improvement on functionality), and GO Launcher.

Going on this article (http://android.appstorm.net/how-to/customization/six-best-android-home-screen-launchers/) though, it seems like there's little difference between Launcher Pro, ADW, and GO.

What sold me on GO was some of the themes other dev's were coming up with. Also there was a comment on that article about Launcher Pro development being pretty dead these days.

Lazlow

27-06-2011, 08:07 PM

Kinda want to have a crack at a Launcher7 style UI in the guise of a Star Trek TNG console interface. >_>

Lazlow

27-06-2011, 08:10 PM

Or something Designer's Republic-esque.

Cerebral

27-06-2011, 09:30 PM

What sold me on GO was some of the themes other dev's were coming up with. Also there was a comment on that article about Launcher Pro development being pretty dead these days.

The lead dev has promised a 'rewrite' for about half a year, and has fended off queries about its status ever since in typical one-man developer fashion. Which sucks because I was more than happy to put down the $3 for all the extra (and I presumed future) functionality.

I've really fallen out of love with Sense, mostly because it's slow as ****. Ideally what I'd really like to do is install a gingerbread ROM, but for some reason my phone is never correctly recognised as a USB device. I've never bothered to get into it since downloading all the HTC sync drivers and shit didn't work.

Lazlow

04-07-2011, 02:03 AM

fishfishmonkeyhat

04-07-2011, 02:23 AM

HELLO! talkin bout bangin!

Clockw0rk

13-07-2011, 12:15 PM

Damnit!

Backbreaker 2 is on the market, but the 23mb left of internal storage isn't enough for the install. >_<

Everything I can possibly transfer to SD has been. Getting pretty close to rooting this thing.
Uninstall something then reinstall it? Do you use everything on your phone or are there lots of "ooh that's neat!" use once apps? How much internal storage do you have?

Lazlow

13-07-2011, 12:57 PM

I don't keep anything I don't use. That 23mb was after I had deleted some things I had recently check out and cast aside. There's only 150mb of user accessable internal storage. I don't know how much additional space I lose to Telstra's bloat.

I ended up restarting the phone which found an additional 6mb, pushing free space to 29mb which allowed the download.

It's pretty sweet, you can now do the tackling, having to avoid waves of blockers to get to the ball carrier.

Lazlow

13-07-2011, 01:02 PM

As mentioned before HTC and Telstra to dump Sense UI for Desire with 2.3 update (http://ausdroid.net/2011/06/24/htc-and-telstra-will-dump-sense-ui-in-favour-of-stock-gingerbread-android-for-the-htc-desire/)

I think a lot of people will hate this - most that own the desire are non-tech savy girls

burn :(

Italian Stallion

13-07-2011, 03:26 PM

They've changed their mind so much.. Will get it, won't get it, will get it without Sense UI, will get it with a striped down version of Sense UI.. ah well.

Recently purchased an Optus MyTab from their site.. Meant to be pretty sweet even at the $200-$250 price they were recently selling for, but it looks like they're trying to clear stock as they had them up for $99 delivered! Still waiting to get my hands on it, and I'm not expecting much - resistive screen, 600MHz CPU, only runs 2.2.. but I guess for the price I can't go wrong! Hoping for 3.0 to be ported onto it once Google releases the source code for it.

Cerebral

09-08-2011, 12:25 AM

Man the process to load a custom ROM onto my phone is long and convoluted.

So far I've:
- Used Revoked to give myself root access
- Installed a custom recovery image (clockwork mod)
- Flashed my HBOOT (S-OFF, this was a pain in the ass)

And afaik I still have to create an ext4 partition on my sd card before backing everything up, wiping everything then loading a ROM through recovery. MIUI better be worth this shit!

Cerebral

10-08-2011, 10:12 PM

(worth it, btw)

TrinityJayOne

24-08-2011, 09:27 PM

So, how about that HTC Sensation? >_________>

I'm not sure why but I just love the curved lip around the edge of the screen.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/images/dynamic/b6ebac8d4a5c0c4fc0b1fe234281d0a68bd43016.jpg

http://aleptu.com/images/2011/04/htc_sensation_design.jpg

I could get this right now for $550 + p&h from Handtec (less than my Desire), then hock said Desire on ebay for roughly $300. Miiiiiiiiiiiiighty tempting.

Lazlow

24-08-2011, 09:50 PM

This is about my biggest concern:

The design also has its flaws, such as when your hand covers the Wi-Fi antennas on the rear of the device will cause Wi-Fi signal to drop and sometimes even cut out, this does happen in real-world use and you hold the phone in landscape mode with two hands on the rear of the device. Annoying.

and

There’s only a 1520mAh battery on the back of the Sensation and it drains the life out of it fairly quickly. After leaving home at 7AM each morning and getting home at around 3:30PM, I would have to put it straight on the charger after that period of time with pretty intensive use (syncing, music, browsing). I don’t think HTC realise that with such a powerful processor pushing out enough to power a qHD display, it would need a lot of juice. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Ausdroid Review (http://ausdroid.net/2011/06/18/htc-sensation-review/)

TrinityJayOne

24-08-2011, 10:44 PM

fishfishmonkeyhat

28-08-2011, 09:30 PM

So my brother is thinking about getting a non-apple based phone for some reason.

Someone give me the 30 second idiots guide to the current best on the market, OS add-on desire whatever stuff pls.

Lazlow

28-08-2011, 09:32 PM

Samsung Galaxy SII

Lazlow

28-08-2011, 09:33 PM

Unless he was a brilliant screen, in which case HTC Sensation.

fishfishmonkeyhat

28-08-2011, 10:04 PM

Like, in a former life or something?

Lazlow

28-08-2011, 11:04 PM

I was him

Slippery

29-08-2011, 10:41 PM

So any good games around for me to play on my Desire?

I've played a bit of Game Dev Story and Spirit. Don't know how people play Zenonia, pretty retarded on a touch screen.

Lazlow

29-08-2011, 11:14 PM

ScummVM

TrinityJayOne

30-08-2011, 09:28 PM

Giving this (http://www.eurodroid.com/2011/08/01/htc-desire-android-2-3-update-installation-guide-and-gallery/) a go, will let you guys know how it turns out in (hopefully) a sho-...oh it just finished after like 3 minutes. >_>

Well, impressions soon.

Lazlow

30-08-2011, 09:38 PM

Could I use that then? :/

I notice they went from an O2 branded phone to vanilla.

TrinityJayOne

30-08-2011, 10:41 PM

So far it's great. Phone turns off in seconds, and there's quick restart option too. A few things like text selection are better, the browser UI is better and it seems faster too. It scrolled on a flash-heavy site very smoothly when before it used to chug a bit.

Already quite annoyed though at a few things. Firstly, I backed up all my contacts using HTC Sync, but when I tried to put them back it gives me a generic error without telling me what the problem is. :\ I thought "nevermind, the reorganizing will be a **** but they're all on my SIM", but of course they aren't anymore because I switched providers a short while back and hadn't backed them up. :( I thought I had backed them up onto my MicroSD too, but apparently not. Thankfully I've managed to track them down in the Windows Contacts folder that HTC Sync copied them to, so now I just need to export them back to vCard files and put them on the MicroSD, where my phone WILL find them or it's going out the window.

The second annoyance is that one's Google account only remembers apps you paid for it would seem, not free ones. They'd all still be installed, but Android won't recognize them until I've remembered names and redownloaded them all, which I didn't think I would need to do. ****ing Google.

Regarding using it, I would be wary. Certainly nothing stopping you, but one of the comments on that site notes that they have a Telstra handset, and after flashing it told him he had the A8181 model. I highly, highly doubt firmware can change the frequencies the phone uses, but maybe look into that just incase.

TrinityJayOne

31-08-2011, 05:49 PM

So, with everything setup it's a nice change. Everything just seems smoother, and I have an extra 40MB on the phone memory. That guide I followed said theirs didn't change, but I think they were upgrading from a fresh install. I had everything that could go on the SD card moved across with one or two small exceptions, and it was always hovering at around 20MB remaining. Considering how much Smelstra bloatware yours must have, I'd give it a crack. I looked into the possibility of firmware altering the radio bands and it seems about as likely as the Australian soccer team winning a world cup.

Also, it has a pretty cool battery usage meter now with a graph tracking battery level and some bars showing signal, awake time and screen-on time. Very utilitarian design though, it might just be a dev tool.

Lazlow

31-08-2011, 10:03 PM

Not to mention the 3 different launchers and plethora of shit I've put on it.

Will give a crack later tonight.

Creedy

31-08-2011, 11:05 PM

Why is it so complicated to update HTC phones?

I updated my Galaxy S to 2.3.4 with no problem. I use a program called Odin which is a tiny program on the PC. Connect the phone via USB and within 2 minutes the phone is rebooting and updated.

TrinityJayOne

31-08-2011, 11:27 PM

This isn't an OTA update, it's an unbranded dev kit release for developers. All the other updates have been easy, I just can't be bothered waiting any longer.

Lazlow

17-09-2011, 05:33 PM

This isn't an OTA update, it's an unbranded dev kit release for developers. All the other updates have been easy, I just can't be bothered waiting any longer.

From what I've read this is all the Desire is getting. Officially it'll stay at 2.2, so this Devkit update was to meet the fanatics in the middle, by providing something that can work but isn't officially supported. Hence all the caveats.

So all week I've been getting low storage space messages which has left me tossing up between the Devkit update or CM7.

I've read a few horror stories of the Devkit update leaving some handsets pretty unstable, plus the whole changing from A8183 to A8181, has left me pretty unsure about diving in. Plus it is apparently more difficult to root once this update is done, if it all goes awry.

CM7 doesn't appear to be too difficult to do (http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/HTC_Desire_(GSM):_Full_Update_Guide), no more so than putting custom firmware on my PSP was (using the Lumines exploit).

And apparently it doesn't affect the frequencies on the A8183 (http://stubbedtoe.co.nz/index.php/2011/02/htc-desire-gingerbread/)

So it looks like I might give it a go.

So its looking more likely I'll go with CM7.

Silverwolf

19-09-2011, 04:37 AM

From what i've heard, CM7 is quite good. Haven't tried it myself though.

Italian Stallion

19-09-2011, 07:53 PM

Haven't run CM7 on my phone, but I've had it on 2 tablets.. worked well, even the nightly builds.

Main reason for not running it on my phone is that I like Sense, so I've always run Sense-based ROMs. Currently using InsertCoin Gingerbread, and have been for a while now after trying out a few. Fast, stable, works well, looks good! My biggest gripe with the Desire is the lack of internal memory, but custom ROMs have alleviated that problem. I've formatted my SD card so a portion of it is dedicated to apps.. haven't seen that pesky low space notification in a long time now! :D

nintendo

03-10-2011, 11:08 AM

HTC (http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/10/01/massive-security-vulnerability-in-htc-android-devices-evo-3d-4g-thunderbolt-others-exposes-phone-numbers-gps-sms-emails-addresses-much-more/) kinda has a problem

Lazlow

03-10-2011, 11:42 AM

their mail app is shit too. my work got desires for the sales reps and set up the company mail with the app. despite constantly clearing out their inboxes and trash, and storing attachments to sd, the app continues to eat up storage and there is now way to clear it without wiping the entire email account off the phone and setting it up again.

now they can't even use sms because there is no storage space for it to function.

stupidly I put in my gmail details to access the market on one of the phones, so I could download astro, and now I can't remove the account without factory resetting the phone.

Cerebral

03-10-2011, 08:31 PM

My biggest gripe with the Desire is the lack of internal memory, but custom ROMs have alleviated that problem. I've formatted my SD card so a portion of it is dedicated to apps.. haven't seen that pesky low space notification in a long time now! :D

Literally this. Installed MIUI-AU on my Desire and I have 130MB free after installing a few apps.

Cerebral

03-10-2011, 08:32 PM

Also the MIUI interface is pretty much fantastic

Lazlow

15-10-2011, 01:01 AM

So I finally got the shits about 11:30pm Wednesday night, rooted my phone, and flashed Cyanogenmod 7.1.

Didn't get to sleep until about 1am, but damn it was worth it.

Firstly SPACE! Gone is all of Telstra's bloat and now there is nothing I can move to the SD card.

Secondly SPEED! There's a noticeable performance boost going from 2.2 to 2.3.7

Losing Sense UI did leave me with no SMS widget, so I grabbed GO SMS Pro and GO SMS Widget to make up for it.

Cyanogenmod uses ADW Launcher for the UI, so there is no shortage of themes and widgets available.

Despite my apprehension the whole process was pretty easy, I only made one error by forgetting to Factory Reset and Wipe the Partition Cache before flashing CM7, but it was easy enough to go back and do those 2 things and reflash CM7.

Italian Stallion

15-10-2011, 04:04 AM

Probably could've gone back and just factory reset/wiped caches and would've been good to go anyway.. but either way!

There really is a night & day difference in terms of speed between using a Sense ROM & an AOSP ROM. I love the Sense UI customisations, so the hit in performance is worth it if that's what you're after.. but some of the alternate launchers are pretty cool. Beautiful Widgets has a few cool widgets in their package, and I've found Go Launcher EX better than ADW Launcher & Launcher Pro for customisation and speed. There's plenty of others you can try too, but they're the 3 main ones at this stage.

You should get better battery life on Cyanogenmod as well. I noticed a drop to <1% battery drain per hour with CM7, with regular updates still turned on.

Italian Stallion

19-10-2011, 07:01 PM

Icecream Sandwich - Android 4.0 - was officially announced today.

Finally brings uniformity between tablets & phones, as both run the same releases now.

UI & stock apps have been revamped.. looking quite good! Also has full hardware graphics acceleration, so it should be buttery smooth (like TouchWiz on Samsung phones already is).

New Nexus Prime revealed too.. 4.6" 720p Super AMOLED screen, 1.2GHZ Dual Core CPU, 1GB RAM and a huge battery.. thing is a bit of a beast!

Italian Stallion

07-12-2011, 02:23 PM

There's a 10 day sale (https://market.android.com/details?id=apps_timed_promotion&feature=banner#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDIwMSwibnVsbC10b3Bf ZmVhdHVyZWRfYXBwc19BVV9fMV9wcm9tb18xMzIzMTk3ODYwNT MyIl0.) on apps in the Market, 10 new apps each day, selling at 10 cents each.

Some great apps in the list, and SwiftKey X is probably the best non-Swype keyboard around.

Watchers

07-12-2011, 05:47 PM

Way to triple post, Damo.

TrinityJayOne

09-12-2011, 12:50 AM

Cheers for that. I barely use wifi - only if I'm downloading/updating apps at home or browsing while on the can, and in landscape mode I tend to hold my Desire by the edges anyway rather than covering the back with my hands.

Battery life is always going to be a concern with the CPUs they cram into the things these days, but reviews are giving me mixed signals. Obviously that review was negative, but I also read one that was positive, and another that was initially negative but then withdrew their comments after using a battery that had been broken-in properly. Also, everyone complained that the Desire had woeful battery life but mine was fine. I browse the net for roughly 2-2.5hrs during my commute and while at work, with a handful of apps updating every hour or so and the odd text or call here & there. Usually get home of an evening with 50% or more battery left. :\ It's wifi and things like GPS that kill the battery if you ask me.

I might at least hold off until there's more info around about the HTC Ruby.
Well, I've had a chance to fiddle around with a Sensation recently and the screen is crap. A while back I mentioned that I had ordered in a Wildfire and the screen had a glaring amount of ghosting when scrolling one of the system menus, for example. Well the Sensation does the same thing, only it's not a cheap Diet Desire Lite. Still adore the design though.

The HTC Ruby is probably going to reach our shores before christmas, but it too looks a bit weak. Reviews don't have anything Amaze-ing to say about it and it has the same screen size & res as the Sensation, plus apparently you can easily see the pixels.

Oh well, if HTC don't want to put a decent screen into a phone I'll find someone who will. Just ordered a Galaxy Nexus.