Something something Desire something

[andrewducker]

I got to play with the HTC Desire last night. I charged it up, activated the SIM and had a play.

Setup was a doddle - it asked a couple of questions and set itself up to synchronise all of my contacts, calendar and email from google. It displays the new emails, texts, etc. nicely at the top of the screen. And so far everything has Just Worked.

The only thing it didn't do was support IMAP push email. Which meant that it had to actively check for new emails every 10 minutes. This seemed pretty silly, but a quick check found me K9, a fork of the basic Android email app that supported push mail. Installing that took about 10 seconds, and I then just had to turn off gmail and the built-in mail app and I was all done.

The only quirk that's annoyed me was that on my old phone I could quit my email app when I didn't want to be alerted any more - whereas on the Desire it looked like I was going to have to turn the synchronising off, which is a bit of a pain. However, the only reason I wanted to do that was so I wouldn't be woken up in the middle of the night. And it turned out that I could turn the phone to silent and the alarm would still make a noise, so that works as a workaround. I need to work out what to do in general though, because I want to be wakeable by a phone call in the middle of the night, but not by emails arriving. I'll have a play with the interface tonight and see what I can find.

I'm sure there will be other annoyances over the next few days, but I guess I'll have to wait and see what they are. Because generally I love it.

Comments

[bracknellexile.livejournal.com]

The silent-but-alarm-still-works is on my Blackberry too. On top of that, it also has a phone-only profile that precisely fits what you want. Hopefully your Desire has something similar

[andrewducker]

Hopefully. I'll check the manual when I have a mo.

[dreema.livejournal.com]

i downloaded an app called taskiller on my hero. You can use it to kill off apps you don't want running in the background, mainly to save battery, etc.

[andrewducker]

Cheers, I'll take a look for that.

[jarkman.livejournal.com]

This can also be a good way to make apps that were in the background because they had work to do go wrong, and has been a cause of support issues for our apps in the past.

Generally (if they were even half-competently written) they will not be using any cycles, just hanging about until they get notified.

Android has its own scheme for leaving apps loaded until it needs the memory for something else, so finding that an app is loaded does not mean that it is burning power.

[cybik.livejournal.com]

Silent but alarm still works is a pretty old feature - my crappy Nokia (cheapest thing I could get on pay as you go about three years ago) does it. I *think* it does it when it's turned off, too. Certainly my even older and crappier Nokia did.

[andrewducker]

Well, yes. It works on my old Nokia too. Just wasn't sure if it would on the new phone. Nokias had all sorts of useful features before anyone else did :->

[cybik.livejournal.com]

Which might explain why, when buying a new phone, I always wander into the shop and say "I'd like the cheapest Nokia on pay-as-you-go please". ;)

[meaningrequired.livejournal.com]

I have a contract, and I think now is the time I could upgrade, but I know how my current phone works, and I hate learning a new system. I have a brand new phone from about 4 years. I never used it, I kept my old brick because I knew the system.

[cybik.livejournal.com]

Me too: part of the reason I stick with Nokia is that I know how their phones work. But then I only buy a new phone when my old one breaks, so I don't have to change phone particularly often.

[meaningrequired.livejournal.com]

I think I went from an LG to a Nokia, and the re-learning period was horrible, three clicks in the usual place opens a different menu!!!! I didn't copy my whole address book over either, just the people who texted/called me, and who I would as well.

I think you and I both couldn't live without the internet, but its funny we don't extend that to our phones :)

[cybik.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I definitely wouldn't want to do without the internet, but really don't care about having a phone with internet capabilities. I would try to suggest it's because there's a bit of me that doesn't want to be able to go online at the drop of a hat, but I think that would be somewhat less than true..

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

Then just get the upgrade and flog it on Ebay. I've done it several times and it usually makes me between £200-£300.

Alternatively, if you are due an upgrade, ring them up and tell them you want to continue but don't want a new handset. You will get money of your monthly charges.

[meaningrequired.livejournal.com]

Mine does it too, its REALLY REALLY annoying :)

[princealbert.livejournal.com]

Nokia's alarm can turn the phone on is the detonator on a lot of IEDs and was used in the Madrid bombings.

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

Which, of course, doesn't make it a bad idea.

[andrewducker]

Absolutely. Just because something can be used for evil doesn't mean that it's automatically a bad idea.

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

No. There are several things that are terrible ideas though. Like raccoons with lightsabers – that won't end well for anyone.

[andrewducker]

Although it does, clearly, need to be on YouTube.

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

Damn straight!

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

I highly recommend AppBrain for Android Apps - including TaskKiller as mentioned above. (Google SkyMap eeeeeeeee!)

[andrewducker]

Ooooh, Skymap! Just had a ten second play, and will take outside when I get a chance!

[asim.livejournal.com]

You can also try Airport mode, which'll turn off all Internet connectivity.

I use Timeriffic to set a bunch of stuff on my phone to "off" around my bedtime, and back "on" just before I awake. With another app, APNDroid, which shuts off SMS, only phone calls'll get through overnight.

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

Is that the one where if you upgrade the OS you lose all your data and if you touch it during the upgrade your phone might stop working, or is that a different HTC Android handset?

[andrewducker]

Dunno. Not heard of that issue. If you have a link I'd be interested to hear more.

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

The story is here, but it's the HTC Hero, not the Desire. Although I think Android has its perks, the last paragraph sums the whole thing up for me in terms of iPhone/Android – YMMV :)

[andrewducker]

I'll make sure I'm backed up before I upgrade to 2.2

What happens if you unplug the iPhone during an OS upgrade? I assume it recovers gracefully.

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

It's the part where you lose your information whilst upgrading that struck me as being really weird! I must confess I'm not sure what happens if you unplug an iPhone when you aren't supposed to, I've never been brave enough to try it/never really paid attention when it's been updating.

[andrewducker]

I assume that's HTC not being arsed to do things properly, and deciding that it's easier to do a clean install than upgrade in place. I wonder how that effects any paid-for applications you have installed. I shall make sure I investigate carefully before doing any upgrades myself. Cheers for the warning!

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

Does the Desire automatically back up when you plug it into your computer? An iPhone backs up every time the device is mounted, which is one of the nicer features of the product.

[andrewducker]

It backs up to the SD card on a regular basis.

And I've got it set to sync contacts and calendar to google already.

I've not actually plugged it into the computer at all. I guess I should, and see what I can do when I do that.

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

So if your phone gets nicked, have you got a backup? For instance, do you keep your SD card in the phone or d'you take it out? The great thing about the backup in iTunes is that, if my phone goes missing, I can put the information back onto the new handset.

[andrewducker]

I don't have a total backup at the moment - I ought to set one up.

I do have a backup of my contacts and calendar. And I don't have any photos on it at the moment, so there's not much else that I need to back up.

How does iPhone deal with apps? Can you back them up and then restore them to a different phone?

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

Apps live on your computer. Apps that you buy on the go through the apps store are synced back to your computer when you plug your phone in. And you can sync apps to any of the devices that you own, without limit. The backup backs up stuff like your contacts, your system settings and your text messages. A list of the apps that you had on your phone is saved (although the apps aren't put in the backup folder, they're in your iTunes Library so it shouldn't matter too much). It doesn't save passwords for apps/websites (which is probably a good thing as it prevents anyone who is snooping around your computer getting hold of them, I guess). However, my list of passwords in 1Password was backed up when I restored to a fresh handset after dropping my old one, IIRC (I didn't really pay attention to what had gone missing and what hadn't!) so I'm not sure how much of the settings or data from each app are saved. It may vary from app to app, I don't know.

[andrewducker]

Aaaah, having it all on the computer makes a certain amount of sense. Whereas the Android model seems to be to have the phone be the prime object - but there's the problem there that if I lose it (or upgrade) then I'm not sure whether it's possible to backup/restore apps.

Time to do some digging!

[andrewducker]

Aha! It's linked to my Google Checkout account - the apps will be downloadable again provided I use the same Google ID on the new phone.

So the only thing I have to worry about is my app data and my photos. Looks like I need to back those up every so often. Mind you, there's probably an app for that...

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

This is why I don't understand the feature Google recently announced, of buying stuff on your computer and your phone downloading it. Why bother? Why not just download it from the phone? It seems to fly in the face of what they've said they're aiming for from the Android OS and also doesn't make anything any easier for anyone. I can understand it as a "we can do it so we might as well do it" feature, but not as a feature unveiled in the 2.2 announcement....

[andrewducker]

Not seen that, but it does seem odd. I like that I can open the app store on the phone, choose an app, and have it running 10 seconds later. I'm not sure what putting a computer in there will add to the process.

(I also understand the iPhone way of doing things, which seems to be safer in many ways. It's all swings and roundabouts).

I'll have to go off and see what they're suggesting, and see if I can make it make sense to me...

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

I can have an app running in 10s, too – it's just that God looked at the apps and deemed them worthy before I browsed them. :P

I am all in favour of a controlled ecosystem, but I am not in favour of an censored ecosystem. I don't like that certain apps don't get through because they're pornographic. Although I have absolutely no desire to switch to Android (srsly love my iPhone), I'm glad that Google are encroaching on Apple's markets because I am hoping it is the kick up the arse that His Steveness needs to actually stop censoring the apps in the App Store and start just monitoring for malware/serious bugs (which I think, on a phone that backs itself up to your computer, is something that's worth doing!).

[andrewducker]

You can install apps when you're not at your computer? I thought that you had to have iTunes, etc.?

I'm totally with you on the feedback between the two systems. I want Apple to kick Google into making Android better, and Google to kick Apple into making the iPhone more open. Competition is definitely good for the consumer!

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you've been able to install apps on-the-go since the introduction of the App Store. And for the moment, the only way to buy books is through the iPhone/iPad app. You can't download apps that are larger than 20MB in size unless you're on Wi-Fi (presumably AT&T set that restriction).

[andrewducker]

Do they then synch to your PC the next time you connect to iTunes?

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

Yes, they do. Same with updates to apps – you can download them on-the-go but large files require Wi-Fi connections.

[andrewducker]

Cheers - that makes sense now!

[andrewducker]

Aaaah. I think I get it.

I can use the marketplace app to buy stuff, but the virtual keyboard isn't as fast as using a real keyboard, and having multiple windows open to compare things is clearly not as useful as, say, having 6 tabs open in Firefox.

So having a web-based store that then links to the phone and triggers it to download things is useful as an additional method.

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

I guess that's useful, but given that Android has wireless syncing (or did I make that up?) it still seems a bit surplus to requirements.

[andrewducker]

It's not vital, certainly. I added the "Edinburgh Bus Tracker" app while I was standing at a bus stop, for instance. It would be nice to have though, when I'm raking through dozens of apps to find the one I want.

[zz]

i just have k9 not notify on new email, as i mainly check mail on my laptop.

never heard of push imap before, will have to investigate.

an annoyance for me compared with my old phone is that if i get a text/missed call, it doesn't periodically beep at me until i check it. given i often don't look at my phone for hours, it can mean i miss stuff i didn't use to.

[andrewducker]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMAP_IDLE

Been around for a while :->

[zz]

oh, thought it was some special. turns out thunderbird's been doing it all along with my mail server. curious to see what it'll do to my bandwidth/battery consumption if i turn it on on the phone though.

[andrewducker]

Well, I turned "check email" to never and just let it pick up email via IDLE. Not had any battery problems yet, I'll let you know if I do :->

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

My iPhone gets push e-mail ever since Google set up an Exchange server and I haven't noticed an appreciable difference in battery life, but YMMV!