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

[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!