I realise this kind of thing comes up a bit on the forum but I’m still undecided.

A few months back I bought a used Desire to use on O2 and it’s been a good replacement for the Blackberry and Ipod Touch combination that I used before.

My contract is due an upgrade now and it’s got me thinking about an Iphone.

Now I like the Desire on the whole but do find a few things annoying about it these being;
– lack of Itunes which I do like, Doubletwist is ok but is slow and clunky by comparison
– lack of compatible docks/chargers
– inability to play videos from some websites Mpora/Dirt being the prime example

All of these would be sorted with an IPhone I guess but it seems an excessive premium to pay for the phone and I do like the Desire as a handset . So should I just suck it up and stick with the Android phone? I’m no computer expert so the infinite life changing ability to get an Android phone to take over the world is lost on me. I’ve not even been able to flash my Rom to get rid of the pre-loaded Orange software that came from the original owner.

Any useful comments to help me decide would be appreciated.

Ta.

If you are asking the question then you should probably get a desire.

Personally I’ve had one and my iPhone 4 is leagues ahead, never again will I be so foolish to stray.

I have both (Desire for work) and the iPhone 4 is better.

I’m no computer expert so the infinite life changing ability to get an Android phone to take over the world is lost on me.

Defo the iPhone then

Samsung Galaxy S 2 if you want an Andriod 😉

But to be honest it sounds like you would get along better with the Iphone – what with your like of ITunes.

r.e. the video playback, there was another thread about that on here with some solutions.

I realise this kind of thing comes up a bit on the forum but I’m still undecided

Yes, it comes up a lot. Go back and re-read the threads, if this one gets going it’ll just degenerate into the same tired old fanboisms from the usual suspects.

FWIW, you seem happy enough to tolerate iTunes so the iPhone’s almost certainly the one for you.

inability to play videos from some websites Mpora/Dirt being the prime example

On iOS (and maybe on android, not checked) videos embedded from mpora anywhere (e.g. dirt) won’t play. But if you go to mpora and search for the video, it will play.

It’s a flash thing – is your desire up to date and with flash installed?

Content providers are slowly getting round to providing HTML5 (or otherwise) enabled cross platform embedded players. Soundcloud are another example (works on their site, but not embedded).

You cannot get rid of the pre-loaded Orange ‘ware. It’s an issue that affects Android because it’s open and the networks can get away with it. It’s something they used to do a lot with early WAP phones, only allowing a narrow portal to access the web content they want you to access. Orange were one of the worse, and American networks do the same. Wait until July, the iPhone 5 will be available, with upgraded specs. That means the current 4 will be available for a much lower price, and you may be able to pick up a new one unlocked for a reasonable sum. It’s worth noting that if you get a 4 or 5, then sell it at the end of the contract when you upgrade it, you’ll get a very good price for it, 3Gs’s are still fetching £160. A mate at work got a new iPhone 4 unlocked back in December I think for £180 or so. Wait, get a new iPhone and flog the Desire, you’ll get pretty good money for it.

only allowing a narrow portal to access the web content they want you to access.

This is bollocks, I have a htc desire hd on orange and can access what I like.

What toys19 said. You can also get a Gingerbread upgrade ROM from XDA Developers.

Perhaps CountZero doesn’t know how to use the internet properly?

I’m not going to re-say what’s been said a dozen times, but I’d like to pick up on this:

lack of compatible docks/chargers

Like it or not, MicroUSB is now the de facto standard for mobile phone chargers. Every mobile manufacturer worth a toss (including Apple IIRC, in an “I’ll believe it when I see it” sort of way) has pitched in and agreed to use this connector instead of their proprietary gubbins.

Thanks for the comments, I do have Android 2.2 which has helped. I figured that as I used to be able to view website embedded videos on my Ipod touch I ‘d be able to do the same with an IPhone.

It’s not so much a case of tolerating Itunes it’s just that all my music has been transferred to my PC with Itunes and is held in the library there. Using Doubletwist seems to take an age and makes my non tech brain hurt.

I’ve kept an eye on various threads here over the months but as mentioned in replies above they seem to degenerate into toy throwing. I don’t want to be told to “just load this programme and hack that to make the world a better place ” .

It’s also not a like it or not over minor usb, the fact is that I can walk into Currys and spend 50 quid on a speaker dock that will also charge an IPhone but not my Desire.

If I were to get another Desire free upgrade from O2 would it work any better than the Orange-ified one I have now? From what I can see the Desire HD and Galaxy S don’t seem to offer a great deal over the original Desire.

Like it or not, MicroUSB is now the de facto standard for mobile phone chargers.

True, but that doesn’t really cover docks though does it? There are a vast array of stereos, speaker systems and even cars that have an Apple specific dock on them so folk can plug in their iPod/Touch/Phone.

Until they agree a standard dock for everything (accessories, speakers, external controls and data) then they will struggle to match Apple for a range of compatible add-ons.

If you like the Desire & can put up with the larger size, the Desire HD2 will be out soon-ish with latest Android OS, bells & whistles.
Iphone4 is a neat bit of kit, as long as you are happy to pay a small fortune to have it.

Sorry, this is invariably going to be me being a bit thick but what’s the issue with Itunes?

I’ve a Desire and use HTC SYNC to download my library to the phone.

Dave, reckon I’m on my limit of whistles and bells!

Deluded, that might just be me being thick then, when I got the Desire I googled how to sync my Itunes library and got doubletwist as the most popular result. Does HTC sync just allow me to drag and drop from my Itunes library folder?

And another thing, I never was able to get push email to work which I miss having had no problems with push email with my Blackberry.

If you are willing to switch to Vodafone, Quidco currently has £140 cashback if you switch to a monthly contract on iphone4.

Unfortunately for me i upgraded a month ago (when the offer was £150) without reading the smallprint about ‘not applicable to upgrades’ so as i was already on vodafone i got bugger all. 🙁

@ st
If you have a look on your pc your music in itunes will be in an itunes folder on your main drive just find it and drag and drop onto your SD card on your desire no software required 🙂

LOL…. Stu, get a mac.

IOS will not play flash thats why most video do not play. Ask Apple as to why.
Get a Galaxy or Nexus if you can.

I friggin hate my iphone. 12 of my friends got iphones and only myself and one other still has one.

I’ll be selling mine in April, :-). Xperia Play here I come.

st,

http://www.htc.com/www/SupportViewNews.aspx?dl_id=1073&news_id=856

Download this then connect your Desire to your PC with a USB cable to synchronize various content such as Music, Gallery, Calendar etc.

On the Desire go to Settings and select Connect to PC Default Connection Type – ‘HTC Sync’

Also make sure you go to Settings – Applications – Development and select ‘USB debugging’.

All the best.

I think there should be a new section in the forums for this subject, & then a subsequent swapshop so geeks can swap their fanboi Iphone’s for andriod tat, & feckless antifanboi’s can get a phone that works.

Just a thought 😉

Dirtynap – Member
IOS will not play flash thats why most video do not play. Ask Apple as to why.

According to iPhone fanbois, this doesn’t matter, as Flash is outdated and they never, I repeat, never even come across a site where they need Flash.

Strange then, that when using IE 64bit (that doesn’t support Flash/Adobe haven’t updated Flash to 64bit), I come across all sorts of stuff that won’t play.

It’s ok though, Jesus doesn’t need Flash.

Ignoring all the arguments for a minute – for me a Desire HD is worth it’s weight in gold, simply for the fact that every other disciple in the pub doesn’t have one.

According to iPhone fanbois, this doesn’t matter,

Well it doesn’t though does it? Youtube player handles that side of things, and most flash videos now are also being served in HTML5. Also, Apples dominance in the smart phone market has made web developers use flash less and/or have mobile sites which bypass any flash they might have used on the regular site.

The thing is, if you really want flash then can still just use the Skyfire Browser.

To final points of order. I have a iPhone 3GS and it’s quite nice, I also have played with some Android devices and they also seem quite nice. Whereas all this fanbois shit boils my piss as it just does not help anyone. People stand up for a product that might actually have some flaws in it and others slag off a product they have never used just because it has some fruit on the back of it.

Do you know I went for a Desire because you can dial a person’s name on the numeric keypad and it comes up with all the possibilities like most phones before the touchscreen generation did. And also I can hear people who call me on desires but those on Iphone 4 sounded awful and kept dropping off. Everything else is about the same give or take but why anyone would ever choose to use Itunes is completely beyond me. I’ll look at it all again come october when it’s upgrade time. The worst thing for me was having to sideline SE as my Satio was pants in comparison to both of them and I had been an SE fanboi for ages!

I’ve got a desktop cradle/charger for my Desire HD. Charges & comes up as a drive for dropping music/pics on/off etc. Not a fan of typing on my HD though, but I’ve Shrek like fingers so struggle on most phones.
I looked closely at the iphone, but whichever way you do it they want the thick end of £800 out of you. Sorry, thats just silly money.
I could buy a bike for that. 😀

I’ve no idea if an iPhone does, or not, but following on from devs comment about a Desire coming up with possible entries with the first few digits typed into the phone book…….

When texting on my HD, I can horribly mis-spell a word and 90% of the time, it will have the actual word I meant to type as an option to hit, usually after typing three, or four letters.

Also, whenever any new number calls, and the call is finished, it automatically prompts me to save the number. As I said, an iPhone may well do the same, but handy features nontheless.

Err, thanks all, kind of regretting asking now as I’ve started another sandpit for the kids to fight in ;o)

Err, thanks all, kind of regretting asking now as I’ve started another sandpit for the kids to fight in ;o)

Oh you knew what you were doing you little tease! 😉

FWIW, you seem happy enough to tolerate iTunes so the iPhone’s almost certainly the one for you.

+1 on this. I personally hate iTunes, awful piece of software, badly designed, ugly, clunky and slow. It was the main reason I got a Desire instead of an iPhone. If you like it, though, get the iPhone. There’s not a great deal in it, but it is still marginally better, and (for the moment at least) there are more apps available for it.

how about get a desire and use the cash you save over the iphone to buy a premium spotify account? itunes problem solved.

Stu, you are a Gadget Show anorak & dont watch it for Suzi Perry.

Internet is faster on the Desire HD than iphone 4, and imo is better having compared it against many iphone 4 users.

Internet is faster on the Desire HD than iphone 4.

Heh.

‘Nexus S’ is what you want. Just bought one today oh yeah mama.

Isn’t the Nexus S a Samsung?

i’ve had a desire since the day it came out and love it but i also use my wifes ipd rouch and think its a fantastic device which does what it is designed to do really well. if you want to use itunes get an iphone if you want to play around a bit get a desire. im a big google fan so every thing sinks really well. i have the whole uk on 1:25k ordinance survey through mm tracker and i can stream all the music from our laptop wirlessly to my phone with audiogalaxy

both are good devices just slightly different and it depends what system you want to buy into.

tbh my biggest issue is battery life which is crap on both and probably a bit worse on the desire if they could improve that it would make the biggest diference to the smartphone experience.

TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR – Member

Strange then, that when using IE 64bit (that doesn’t support Flash/Adobe haven’t updated Flash to 64bit)

The beta 64-bit Flash client works fine for me in IE but yeah Apple suck for not supporting (and hurting their app store monopoly).
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/square/

I’m perfectly capable of using the Internet. I may, however, not been as clear as I could have been. Orange, and other networks, when WAP phones first came out, and early web phones as well, didn’t have a proper browser, just a portal with limited web access dictated by the provider. Now, with proper browsers, the networks can’t get away with that, but they are sticking ‘ware onto Android phones that cannot be removed by the owner, and attempts to do so just result in the ‘ware being re-installed. Now, the fandroids whitter on about how Android is nice and open and let’s them tinker around with it, which is fine, but by far and away the great majority of smartphone owners don’t want to sit for hours piddling around with their phone just to make it do some obscure function that they can go and brag about to their l337 h4ck3r friends in cyberspace. I just want a phone that let’s me use the ‘net when I want, make calls, text occasionally, take photos, listen to music, and read books, and have access to offline maps to use with the GPS. so far, no other manufacturer has produced anything that comes anywhere close to doing what I want it to do as well as my iPhone does. I also have no issues at all with iTunes. iPhoto, on the other hand, I have many issues with.

Ignoring all the arguments for a minute – for me a Desire HD is worth it’s weight in gold, simply for the fact that every other disciple in the pub doesn’t have one.

so just as bad as an apple fanboy.

how do you know if somebody has an i-phone?
they show it to you.
how do you know if somebody has a nexus/desire/android phone?
they show it to you to prove they don’t have an i-phone.

i have dhd, mrs tlr has iphone 4.

we both prefer the ‘open architecture’ drag/drop of the dhd.