Tempted - HTC Desire HD

[mrapoc]

Well contract is up this month

Gonna see what Orange can do for me in terms of an upgrade

If they can't make me smile, Dialaphone are doing the HTC desire HD for £25 a month for 24 months

[Gary]

Well contract is up this month

Gonna see what Orange can do for me in terms of an upgrade

If they can't make me smile, Dialaphone are doing the HTC desire HD for £25 a month for 24 months

Check the reviews, its a bit buggy right now, and with bad battery life sadly

[Simon]

Bad as in how bad, Gary? 

[mrapoc]

Well at the moment I'm looking at either one of the HTC desires (original or HD)

Unless there is something along those lines better...I mean, there is no way I can afford the Iphone4 at £30 a month +

I can get the normal desire for £20 a month iirc.

Orange only give 500mb of data tho...is there an app for closely monitoring data usage?

Any other networks giving more? I wouldn't mind T-mobile as they use the orange network now (not as terrible!)

[Simon]

I believe O2 only give 500mb for new contracts now too. 

[Gary]

Bad as in how bad, Gary? 

Well half a day if you use it alot and its updating, a day if not, that's not great and you cant fit a bigger battery in either 

"During their testing, they revealed that the HTC Desire HD could only manage a full day's use of battery consumption, although Engadget stated that their usage was 'minimal' and included tasks such as simple web browsing and a 30 minutes session on Angry Birds"

[Simon]

Half a day isn't good, but I'm already down to 68% on my iPhone, since 8am this morning, and I've only been on here for about 90 minutes, on and off.  I think all smartphones are as bad as each other for battery use, but obviously, a large screen will eat the battery more quickly.  Why can't they make higher capacity batteries, I wonder?

[Simon]

67%...

[Rik]

?

[Gary]

my iphone 4 gets 3-4 days of light use 2 days happily with texting a few  calls emails and browsing, the battery is much better than the 3GS. I agree though smartphones have reached a point where battery life is really important as screen size and processor speed increases, then again the point comes when is a smartphone a tablet pc? The Dell streak, way to big imho to use as a phone for day to day apart from it being pants it was more a tablet pc than a phone really.

[Rik]

I wonder whether the smartphone will, in time, begin to affect fashion design - ie will designers build bigger pockets into clothes. Just my odd way of thinking...

[Lance]

Battery life is my only criticism about the iPhone 3GS.

As for data use, In 16 months I've downloaded 1.5gb and sent 305mb over the 'cellular data network' and its not as if I hold back! I do tend to update apps through iTunes on the PC but it goes to show that 500mb per month should be plenty for the average user.

[Gary]

I wonder whether the smartphone will, in time, begin to affect fashion design - ie will designers build bigger pockets into clothes. Just my odd way of thinking...

Probably, Rik. Protective padded big pockets for your smartphone, after all we do have a symbiotic relationship with these devices, so our attire should match the bond I guess. So who is up for Smartpants  

[Gary]

Battery life is my only criticism about the iPhone 3GS.

As for data use, In 16 months I've downloaded 1.5gb and sent 305mb over the 'cellular data network' and its not as if I hold back! I do tend to update apps through iTunes on the PC but it goes to show that 500mb per month should be plenty for the average user.

I tend to update through the phone Lance, but over wifi so I agree 500mb should be enough for most people.

[Rik]

Probably, Rik. Protective padded big pockets for your smartphone, after all we do have a symbiotic relationship with these devices, so our attire should match the bond I guess. So who is up for Smartpants 

Plus the pocket for the spare, plug-in, battery.

[Simon]

Is there a physical reason why batteries can't be a higher capacity?  Does more power equal larger size?  I'm surprised, with today's technology, batteries aren't the size of a postage stamp, and last a week!

[Gary]

Plus the pocket for the spare, plug-in, battery.

You could have one in the heel of you shoe, bond style  

[Rik]

Is there a physical reason why batteries can't be a higher capacity?  Does more power equal larger size?  I'm surprised, with today's technology, batteries aren't the size of a postage stamp, and last a week!

Battery technology has always been a restraining factor. Think of the size of the first mobiles. Phones only got smaller as battery technology advanced to allow them to.

[Gary]

Is there a physical reason why batteries can't be a higher capacity?  Does more power equal larger size?  I'm surprised, with today's technology, batteries aren't the size of a postage stamp, and last a week!

My AA Rechargeables get about 6 hours a day usage in my mouse and last three weeks...

[Rik]

You could have one in the heel of you shoe, bond style  

You could make the shoe a little generator...

[Gary]

You could make the shoe a little generator...

Now thats an idea, saying that mine would not get much use  but for your average walker that would be very useful

[Rik]

Mine too, Gary.

[Gary]

Mine too, Gary.

I was thinking that this weekend, Rik.

[Simon]

58%! 

[Rik]

Soon be in the basement then.

[Gary]

58%!  

What have you got running in the background? Or foreground, mine stays at 100% for a good 4-5 hours  

[Rik]

The forum?

[Gary]

The forum?

[Simon]

I pay special attention to making sure all apps are closed when not in use, so it's just the browser and the push mail client, that I know of.  Not sure if jailbreaking affects the battery, but the phone is unusable without it, although, I've only done some tweaks, and haven't actually installed any apps from Cydia.  Just charged in the car for half an hour, and back up to 82%.  81...

[Rik]

Couldn't you leave it connected so it charges all the time you're in the car, Simon?

[Simon]

I could, but being stationary a lot of the time, I'm a bit worried about it killing the car battery.  I also have a bit of a thing about the cigarette lighter sockets in cars, as they always seem to get rather warm. 

[Rik]

That's just the electronics dropping and regulating the voltage normally. If the phone charges via USB normally, the drain can't be more than 500mA, so it would take about 80 hours to flatten an average car battery.

[Simon]

I also have the car radio / CD on, and the taxi roof light, but thanks for the info, Rik, that's worth knowing. 

[pctech]

So you are a Hackney driver then Simon?

I know someone who bought the HD and found it crashed all the time so is now selling it.

[Glenn]

My Desire is sitting at 60% charge, I took it off charge on Saturday morning, that is with light use and loading 2.5Gb of Memory Map files to it.

I do use Juice Defender, it turns off unused devices, like the wireless, etc.

[Simon]

Oh, I have a Handsfree as well, so Bluetooth is on all the time, but wifi isn't searching, as it's only on for my home network. 

Yes, Mitch. 

[Lance]

I expect it is the bluetooth draining the battery the most.

[Simon]

Oh, and 3G. 

[mrapoc]

I Shall probably just go for the normal desire then for about twenty quid a month. Are the battery extend programs actually any good

[pctech]

3G is still a battery drain because GSM is pulsed whereas 3G (W-CDMA) is more constant.

[Glenn]

I Shall probably just go for the normal desire then for about twenty quid a month. Are the battery extend programs actually any good

It doesn't as such extend battery life, it just turns off unused fetures of the phone, but the end result is longer battery life.

JuiceDefender beta saves power

3dWatchdog Monitors data usage

Battery Widget Battery app

Hullomail Handy if like T-Mobile your carrier charges for voicemail

App Brain Allows you to search for apps on your PC and sync to your phone.

[Technical Ben]

I wonder whether the smartphone will, in time, begin to affect fashion design - ie will designers build bigger pockets into clothes. Just my odd way of thinking...

And more polo necks. 

[Rik]

Happy days, pass me my mutton chops.

[Technical Ben]

Oh, and batteries are a real problem. It's the same as miniaturisation. Fitting so much in a small place. That's why there have been incidents of explosions. Think about releasing 2 days worth of juice in one go!   

[Rik]

Orange or blackcurrant? 

[Simon]

BlackBerry, surely?

[Rik]

Good point.