Neil Phillips’ blog

So.. eight years after my first smartphone (the glorious Orange SPV) and after a year of reluctant use of a 3G iPhone, I finally invested in an Android phone, the HTC Desire. The short review is – it’s great, I really like it, it’s not perfect, but it’s got a lot going for it.

Since Android came out, it’s been top of my consideration set for a new phone, and the newest HTC phones finally have hardware which is just about acceptable (no hinges or moving parts for me).

Here’s the longer review:

• I no longer need iTunes. Result. Free from the worst piece of software (by far) I’ve regularly used
• The overall build of the Desire is pretty damn good, it’s not a one-piece Apple marvel, but you’re giving that up for swappable batteris
• The screen is amazing – I’d prefer more control over the brightness (even the dullest is a bit too bright for night time viewing), the screen is much whiter than the iPhone, and it has a sort of photographic quality to it, I think maybe just because of the pixel density
• It feels like there’s a few too many buttons (and I’d still love a physical volume on/off button), and the buttons, though pretty quiet, could be quieter to click. While I’m at it, the volume button seems like it’s placed a bit too high on the side after the iPhone
• The actual volume seems a bit quieter than the iPhone
• Some apps (I’m looking at you urban spoon ignore the volume setting – fair enough for the alarm clock, but every other app should have to ask permission to make noise in a silent mode
• This is my first Android phone, and I’ve no idea what’s Android and what’s HTC Sense – credit to HTC for a great integration job, but it’d be good to make it obvious (to me) which is which
• Setup was pretty flawless, although I’d like it to tell me my mac address during first/unsuccessful wifi setup, rather than me having to track it down
• Haptic feedback doesn’t do much for me – and I’d say the settings for haptic should all be in one place, rather than the keyboard haptics being a bit more hidden
• The camera’s pretty good, although sometimes getting it to focus seems a bit hit and miss
• Facebook integration from contacts (for feeds) is great and feels natural
• The Telstra apps have been badly implemented – it’s not obvious which does what, and calling Whereis Maps ‘Maps’ (the same as Google Maps) seems, stupid. My Sync (which doesn’t even work for Android) has it’s own link – nonsense.
• Be great to selectively allow apps to use mobile data, rather than turn it on or off globally
• The SIM card fits in either way up – and the diagram showing you the right way is tiny
• It’s not always obvious to whom I’m giving my various passwords – probably be good to tell me the URL that’s asking
• There are a few apps which I’d like, but I’ve found good ish replacements (and the browsing experience is SO much better than the iPhone, I’ve not really missed them). I wouldn’t mind tweetdeck, ebay, flixster and linkedin
• The headphones supplied are a bit average with their little foam covers, I’m still using my Apple ones, and I’m not really a fan of those/li>
• Be great to have tasks/notes sync with Exchange – although I think that’s a Microsoft problem, not an HTC one
• It’s difficult at first to see which source contacts are from
• The Android Market (e.g. App Store) is a bit.. weird. There are still some country specific apps that needn’t be, and installing non marketplace apps is harder than it needs to be
• The optical trackpad is pretty cool – basically to make it easier to click on links when zoomed out on web pages, and other.. pretty well hidden features
• Battery life is pretty average – probably because loads of apps seem to be running in the background, and I normally leave wifi/gps on all the time
• Over the air podcast syncing (with Google Listen) is great
• Sync settings are well thought through
• The web browsing experience is superb – much better than the iPhone (I’m told 802.11g is responsible), but the browser itself seems more responsive too, zoom is perfect (starting zoomed out)
• Android stores all apps in memory (rather than on SD cards) which makes them fast, but also means after 1 day I’d ‘used up’ all the space on my phone (mainly due to 5,000+ contacts with photos) – they’re sorting this out in Android 2.2

In conclusion – I love the freedom to install anything I like on my phone (both practically, and philosophically) so that the minor gripes above should be fixed, or are fixable in the future, and that the software gets better day by day. I wouldn’t swap back, and I’m pretty sure my next phone will be an Android too.