I just can't wait - New Phone

[DAZZD88]

As per the title, I just can't wait until tomorrow for my new phone to arrive, my shiny new HTC Desire. I've been checking for what are the best free apps.

 

My phone has had a knackered screen for a while (mainly because I was trying to prove how indestructible it was). So today I phoned T-Mobile and said I was thinking of jumping ship etc.. and wanted a new phone. The cheapest contract they could do me and get the phone for free was a 24 month contract (which I didn't really want but it does have benefits over the 18 month plans).

 

So for £28 a month I get my HTC Desire free, 900 minutes, unlimited texts, unlimited web (I didn't believe it but it has been explained to me how it works, and is genuinely unlimited) and after 21 months I can upgrade my contract with no penalties, as if I was at the end of the full 24 months.

 

I'm pleased, I just wonder how this compares with what other people have managed to get. Also, any must-have app suggestions would be well appreciated.

[teejay]

Thats a pretty good deal, welcome to the Desire club ;-)

See this thread for apps, I would say advanced app killer and app2sd are probably the first you want to install, wi-fi analyser is a great tool and robo defense is a great game :-)

[Dom_]

Angry Birds + the Live Hold'em game are the best I've got so far...

 

Shame there's no proxy support still!

[DAZZD88]

Sweeeet!! I'm just way too excited to concentrate. It's like Xmas for me getting a new phone. Now at least I'll be able to connect this to the bluetooth in my car and have a protable media player as the bluetooth on my C902 is flakey at best.

 

Been reading through peoples recommendations of apps and there are literally squillions of interesting sounding apps. I particularly like the idea of free sat-nav apps and anything that will generally save me having to buy and expensive piece of equipment.

[CapEnd]

Loads of must have apps. HTC desire is one excellent piece of kit. I have been with android since the G1, and it in my opinion is the best mobile operating system. So customisable. Its much more of an edugeek kind of thing than apple I would say.

 

My contract is £30 a month, with £200 worth of credit to use on calls, texts, picture messages etc, and unlimited internet. And you can even use the phone as a wireless router to connect to the internet, so it does away with my 3g dongle.

[VirtueTechnologies]

Hi Chaps

 

green with envy, i could do with a new phone, and looking at the HTC Desire mentioned above DAZZD88 - sweet SmartPhone..

 

i have been looking at this site Mobile phone price comparison site, compareyourtarrif.co.uk looks pretty cool..

 

zak

[DAZZD88]

The ability to use the Desire as a wireless hotspot did interest me. I don't know how much I'll use it but at least I know I have if I need it.

[LosOjos]

I recommend Lookout, free anti virus, online backup and GPS tracking should your phone become lost/stolen

[DAZZD88]

Wow, just read about Lookout and it looks like an awesome piece of kit. I think I'll be givivng it a bash.

[mossj]

Out of interest why did you go for the Desire over the Desire HD (Desire + HD + big screen + Cloud Thingy) or Desire Z (Slightly less power, but physical keyboard + cloud thingy)...

 

Desire is a good phone and if it wasn't for the Desire Z coming out any minute I'd have gone that route myself...

 

Also FYI but the T-Mobile giving you a 'free' upgrade thing appears to be bull, I got my "pre" upgrade a couple of days ago and the only phones available are bad ones that cost loads in a upgrade fee....

 

I've checked what new customers would have to pay and it's nowhere near what they want me to "upgrade" to/for

[tech_guy]

I upgraded from a G1 to the Desire in the summer and it's a brilliant phone. I use it as a wireless hotspot quite a lot.

[DAZZD88]

I went for the Desire over the HD due to the screen size, I don't want something that huge and the desire is on my limit. It's large enough for the functionality I want but not overly large so that it looks like a paving slab. And the Z didn't seem to offer enough over the normal Desire to warrant getting it. Don't get me wrong I'd like a qwerty keyboard but the last phone I bought with a qwerty keyboard was one I hardly used. Plus I believe it'd have cost more than the normal Desire.

[ICT_GUY]

I love my desire, best app would be vignette , its an awesome photo app for mimicking all sorts of effects. Edited November 9, 2010 by ICT_GUY

[DAZZD88]

Well my Desire has arrived and I love it. A few minor hiccups have occurred likeit froze once and randomly rebooted another time but I'm sure they were just one-offs. Do I really need a Googlemail account to download apps? Seems a bit daft if I do.

[DAZZD88]

I'm a bit gutted. After getting my phoneyesterday at about 12.20ish, it has rebooted far too many times randomly and it has crashed. So today it must go back to T-Mobile. I have read that there are somepeople who have issues with Android 2.2, some Desires overheat and some just have fault motherboards. Apparently some issues that you get with brand Desires can be fixed by re-flashing the firmware.

 

So to summarise, I am gutted and the phone will have to go back to T-Mobile.

 

[LosOjos]

That's a shame mate, it's a cracking phone! I'm with T-Mobile, but I re-flashed to stock HTC ROM for 2,2 because I got sick of waiting for T-Mobile to roll it out. Needless to say, I've had no problems like you describe. Occasionally an app will force close, but that's down to the app rather than the phone.

[tech_guy]

Bad luck it sounds like you've got a rogue phone. I've had mine since July and it's only crashed once which isn't surprising considering the junk I've put on it.

[DAZZD88]

I wouldn't mind if it was as simple as a force close of an appand I have had one of those, it was something to do with media streaming from the internet. I really liked the phone and have tried a hard reset and formatting the SD card (yeah, I was sceptical too but I figured it was worth a shot).

 

So off to the T-Mobile shop it is on my lunch break. I just don't seem to be having much luck recently.

[tech_guy]

I love my desire, best app would be vignette , its an awesome photo app for mimicking all sorts of effects.

 

That sounds good. I also have RetroCamera and FXCamera on mine - you can get some cool images - like this I took the other week:

 

http://flic.kr/p/8EoJra

[aerospacemango]

I recommend Lookout, free anti virus, online backup and GPS tracking should your phone become lost/stolen

 

Excellent call.....Just installed on my Droid!

[ICT_GUY]

Update.

 

Three have switched over to the orange network. In Weymouth this means no signal for maybe 2 - 4 months. I was two months into my contract with three, out of a a 24mnth contract. (my wife also) we complained about the signal problems, got the phones unlocked, one months refund on our bill and the contract cancelled. So we now have two brand new unlocked desires that cost us around £40 each.

 

This is the second long contract that we have terminated and kept the phone with three in the past 4 years.

[DAZZD88]

Well have had my new Desire for a few days and all has seemed quite well. Ordered a longer USB cable and got it because the one that HTC supply is a tad too short for my liking. Installed a few apps like:

 

APKoptic

Astra File Manager

AppBrain

DailyStrip

Demotivators

Dictionary.com

Epic Fails

Movies

Opera

RAC Traffic

SDMove

SDWatch

SayNoTo0870

Scanner Radio

ESPNScoreCenter

Shazam

ShopSavvy Barcode Scanner

Truth or Dare

Urban Dictionary

Wifi Analyzer

AVG Antivirus Free

 

Have a few more I don't use but so far I'm over the moon.

[LosOjos]

AVG Antivirus Free

 

I'd be very dubious about that app: AVG do not mention it at all on their website, I don't install anything that carries a well known brand name if the company themselves don't acknowledge its existence.

[DAZZD88]

Clicky.

 

Although, yes I probably should have checked this before I installed it.

[LosOjos]

Clicky.

 

Although, yes I probably should have checked this before I installed it.

 

Ahh fair enough then, there on site search engine is naff