[Archived] HTC Desire(not HD) or Iphone 3GS

[Iceman]

I have the opportunity to get an HTC Desire(not the HD one), and the Iphone 3GS. Now i know you guys are on iPhone 4 already, but would it be worth it to go for the 3GS?

The Desire i can pick up for around 70 Pounds and the iPhone for around 85 Pounds.

Im looking towards the Desire because its running Android, and also because it has a 1GHZ Processor, and 5mp camera, and a bigger screen. But what are the key features on the iPhone, that might sway it in my direction

any ideas guys

Ta

Isgak

[brian_gallagher85]

Having just got the Android based San Fran I have to say that the HTC is the way to go! Some of the free apps are bloody brilliant!

[Paul]

All been said before but if you want easy to use technology go for the iPhone 3GS. I use mine for e-mail, surfing, phone and calendar all of which integrate seamlessly with my PC and everything is very easy to set up. I do use the ipod section but not a great deal. Photos are more than adequate for my useage. The great thing about the iPhone is it works straight out of the box with everything I need. I can even upload stuff to Facebook when I'm out and about and i am the world's worst Facebooker, can't make it do anyhting I want from the PC!!! Battery life is only an issue if you are a heavy GPS user.

My impression of all other smart phones is one needs a degree of technical ability to hack this, unlock that, update such and such and frankly I'm not interested in buying something which needs to be mucked about with. If you look around here you'll see posts Biddy has made about doing this that and the other, and this is no reflection on Biddy, but when I read this stuff it immediately turns me off from even looking at all other brands. I just don't see the point in companies selling a product which is only half set up to do the job. If a company makes a product it should be 100% ready to go.

If you want a great looking phone that works all the time from the day you open the box look no further than iPhone. People talk about free apps, I have all the ones I need via iPhone and haven't paid more than 59p. If I haven't got 59p to give to someone who has spent a lot of time creating an app there must be something wrong somewhere. Software is only truly free when advertisers are getting something from you, like personal data. I did pay £45-50 for the TomTom app but that is a fantastic bit of kit that I use on virtually every car journey.

Now where's Tris!

[Paul]

As an example, sorry Biddy

One of the best pieces of advice, if you haven't rooted your phone (as I haven't) then the built in 2.2 Apps2SD is not that good. It gives developers the option of allowing installation to SD card but not all do. However, you can get around this limitation if you download the Android SDK, there is a program called ADB which is what you use to talk to your phone. Basically, install the SDK, hook your phone up and run:-

adb shell pm setInstallLocation 2

This will then allow you to move more (but not all) apps to the SDCard. You have to be careful with some like Tapatalk as the home screen widgets stop working if you move it to the SDCard.

Now my question is this - Why?

[Iceman]

i just got beat to the Desire and iPhone by somebody else available to me are still 2 Android phones ie Sony Ericsson X10(which i also quite like) for around 70 pounds and the HTC Legend( going for around 40 pounds)

[Paul]

ie Sony Ericsson X10(which i also quite like)

I got my lad one of these as he asked for it at Christmas. He says it's great. I've had a few goes and think it's junk.

[LeChuck]

The great thing about the iPhone is it works straight out of the box with everything I need.....My impression of all other smart phones is one needs a degree of technical ability to hack this, unlock that, update such and such and frankly I'm not interested in buying something which needs to be mucked about with.

I think you've got the wrong idea there Paul.

Android works just as well out of the box as iPhone does. The great thing is that it allows freedom for more technically minded people to play about with it, if they choose.

That doesn't mean you have to at all (loads of my friends have Android phones and wouldn't know how to hack anything), but the option is there if you want.

iPhones are very restrictive and limited in that sense. You can upload photos to Facebook etc just as easily on an Android as you can an iPhone though, Android is just as much an out-of-the-box product as the iPhone.

[Wilky]

I have a desire and ipod touch and will say desire.. I have also bar an iPhone 3g... desire kicks arse over Apple tho...

[Paul]

I think you've got the wrong idea there Paul.

Very happy to accept that is the case. I have only gained the impression because on this MB and a couple of others I visit all I have ever read, genuinely, about Android phones is people hacking everything. I have definetely understood this to mean they are only for people who know what to do with them. Clearly it has given me the wrong impression because I wouldn't even consider buying one but as I'm due an upgrade soon i will have a look - because so many people whose views I respect seem very happy.

This is interesting. Android phones are, I'm told and happily accept, more flexible than the iPhone yet because of the way they are talked about, perhaps marketed, it has put me off buying completely. Apple make everything appear very simple and fulfill my wishes, Android phones make me worry I wouldn't be able to use one because I'm not knowledgeable enough.

Who has the right approach?

Taking the example from Biddy above. I just about grasp he want's to put stuff on an SD card but the Androids won't do this unless they've been hacked? Now that seems daft to me. My old SPV did that years ago. Why does an Android need an SD card, iPhone carries 32GB anyway? Or is this another stick I've got the wrong end of?

[Tris]

This is interesting. Android phones are, I'm told and happily accept, more flexible than the iPhone yet because of the way they are talked about, perhaps marketed, it has put me off buying completely. Apple make everything appear very simple and fulfill my wishes, Android phones make me worry I wouldn't be able to use one because I'm not knowledgeable enough.

Who has the right approach?

Sales of Andriod handsets are up by 2000% year-on-year whilst the market share of the iPhone is in steady decline ... so I would say the Androids have it at the moment!

[Ste B]

Very happy to accept that is the case. I have only gained the impression because on this MB and a couple of others I visit all I have ever read, genuinely, about Android phones is people hacking everything. I have definetely understood this to mean they are only for people who know what to do with them. Clearly it has given me the wrong impression because I wouldn't even consider buying one but as I'm due an upgrade soon i will have a look - because so many people whose views I respect seem very happy.

I think the misconception arises because Android is that open that techies can start dabbling around with it and tweak things. You then see streams of stuff on the internet that is probably of no relevance to you whatsoever.

Android does everything the Iphones do and more, without the premium attached for owning it. As sales of Android rise so are the amount of decent apps available, and mostly free.

[Iceman]

Looks like i might settle for the cheaper HTC Legend. Its Android Eclair I think, upgradable to Froyo. Can somebody confirm this perhaps?

[adopted scouser]

Had my HTC Desire (the HD one) for around a month now and I love it

Why pay extra for the privilege of joining the Apple club ?! Steve Jobs can get stuffed.

Got my car valeted in Chorlton yesterday, forgot which way to go, used 'Navigate' on my phone, better than my bloody sat nav. Also unlike my Sony, it has better functionality when it comes to everyday tasks, ie - automatically compresses images before you upload them to websites for instance.

[Glenn]

Aye, because some of us love abusing the Android, unlike other bleeding edge tech, you don't have to to make it usable, it's still perfectly functional without. My wife has a San Fran and uses it just fine, she's no idea I rooted it, upgraded it and de-oranged it, she wouldn't even know what it means, she probably also doesn't notice it now runs much faster either.

That said, I still thing my iPhone is easier to use.

Ideally, I should probably swap phones with her.

[Biddy]

As an example, sorry Biddy

Now my question is this - Why?

Apologies Paul, it's my inner geek that I can't control.

Others have now explained how brilliant Android phones are and don't actually need "hacking" out of the box. It's more that you can. To be fair though, many people do the same on iphone by jailbreaking and allowing things that are outside of the design. You could say that is as confusing and as unnecessary.

Answering the direct question on "why?" for the SDCard thing, that is the one very odd design of Android. Basically, iphones have whatever memory you buy with it (16gb,32gb etc) and it just uses that with no need to worry. Android phones however generally have a small amount of internal memory (512MB ROM and 576MB RAM in the Desire) and the rest of the storage space is on a completely swappable SDcard. This can be seen as a big advantage as you can swap storage on cheap sdcards to have more music, take more pictures etc.

The original issue was that all Android apps had to install onto the internal memory. For most users this is actually plenty but not if you install masses of apps like me. The apps had to go into internal storage and data/music/films go on the SDcard.

in Android 2.2 they enabled apps to be installed directly onto the SDcard to free up internal space (as there are some apps that need to stay there). The hack I posted was for geeks to allow the force of apps onto the SDcard even if the developer hadn't enabled the option for that particular app.

Again this does not affect 99% of people and I've probably not explained it any better

[Paul]

Thanks Biddy, I understand that.

Seems to me I may have been missing something with these Android phones. I'm now busy compiling a list of questions concerning things I would like to do with a phone but can't with the iPhone. You guys are gonna love me!! I shall come to this a little later when I have all my ducks in a row.

[Iceman]

Okay, so I got beat to the punch of every Android phone that was reduced in price. I can't believe it, as I wanted an Android phone. I've now decided to take the HTC HD2, which is a windows 6.5 phone. Its an oldish device, but hopefully I can upgrade to winmo 7(Biddy, is this possible).

It runs off a 1GHz snapdragon processor, and has a 4.3 inch screen. It also has a 5mp camera.

Are there any winmo users, and are there enough apps to satisfy this OS? I'll mainly use it for internet and youtube.

[cn174]

This could persuade you either way - it's either awesome or creepy - but it made me chuckle

[Iceman]

I was very impressed with the iPhone 4. My buddy has one, and the ease of use is fantastic.

One thing I was delighted with, was to see my HTC HD2 still able to hold its own. So I don't think I made a mistake, in buying a year and half old phone.

Rotating the screen into landscape and portrait mode - iPhone won, slightly

Rendering of web pages- iPhone won, again by about half a second or so

Scrolling- iPhone had a very smooth way of scrolling, while the HD2 seemed to scroll too fast.

Battery life- not sure on this, but my friends battery seemed to decrease quite quickly. HD2, as most winmo phones, gives me about a day with light browsing, emails a few phone calls and text msg's.

Screen size on the HD2 is awesome, so I'm treating it like a mini tablet. 4.3 inches, so about 2.7 inches smaller than the Samsung Galaxy tab. IPhone colours were much more vivid, so no contest as the HD2 has like 65k colours.

All in all, I would give it to iPhone as its a great phone. However, despite it being close on 2 years old, the HD2 still kept up with the iPhone in most areas.

[Ozz]

Anyone know if there is an App for Desire that allows DAB radio to be used on it?

[LeChuck]

If you have a decent data package you can stream using TuneIn radio. I doubt the phone has a digital receiver to play DAB stations.

[brian_gallagher85]

I can vouch for TuneIn, downloaded it on LeChucks recommendation last week and it's ace. I was able to listen to my local station when I was in Rome this week.

[Ozz]

If you have a decent data package you can stream using TuneIn radio. I doubt the phone has a digital receiver to play DAB stations.

I would have thought that the BBC would have developed an App for listening to their Digital stations by now. That would be perfect.

Also, the video files captured on a lot of the HTC series phones and similar won't play back the audio content via Windows Media player when transferred to your PC. I got away with using VLC media player, but a small negative there.

[LeChuck]

I would have thought that the BBC would have developed an App for listening to their Digital stations by now. That would be perfect.

TuneIn Radio has all the BBC Digital stations on it anyway, so a BBC app would do the same thing but be limited to BBC.

It's impossible to play the station via DAB as your phone hasn't got the hardware, the only option is to stream it over the internet.

[Iceman]

is TuneIn Radio only available for UK residents?