Any others to consider? Looking for something along those lines but not really sure whats out there.
Cheers.

Nexus One? Works out a bit cheaper than the Desire and will get Android 2.2 next week with any luck.

Nexus One. Gets Android 2.2. next week hopefully, and it's named after a killer android.

depends what your after have a good read
I have a HTC HD2 and think its superb but not out the box its great if you like tweaking and customising
If you dont mind messing about with things then the HD2, Nexus One or Desire IMO are the better phones out there however I phones are easy to use but expensive for the hardware they possess

I agree on the HTC HD2, but have heard lots of good things about the Android phones.

the forthcoming iPhone.

Thanks for that chaps

may depend if you want to use OS maps for biking. I use an HTC HD with Memory Map and it works well. iPhone app not as good, not sure what Android offers in terms of maps.

The Memory Map Free app on the iPhone's pretty good, but Viewranger have theirs available on both formats, and it seems to be pretty good, although I don't have it on my iPhone cos I just don't have the space. I've got Viewranger from when I had my old N95, and once you have the app the old maps can be copied across, unlike MM's effort. You can also then add all sorts of other maps and routes by buying credits. There are a few things missing, but a quick email late one Sunday night got a response a bit later saying that updates to add missing features were on their way. There was a review of it on the iPhone recently for an outdoor magazine, and they rated it the best OS mapping available. I'll see if I can find the link.
[edit] here's the link to the review:
http://www.outdoortalk.co.uk/content/61-ViewRanger-on-the-iPhone-First-impressions
[/edit]

Nokia have the N8 coming soon – looks promising and you get free maps/navigation on the phone.

Nokia have the N8 coming soon – looks promising and you get free maps/navigation on the phone

Personally, I'd avoid it – still has the Symbian operating system, which means far fewer and much worse quality applications for it, not as good a screen as the Desire (probably also not as good as the iPhone, but not sure). Hardly anyone will bother programming for it now, as Android and iPhone are a million times easier to write apps for, so you'll just be stuck using whatever nokia puts in free, and the things on Ovi store, which is pretty limited at the moment compared with itunes or android market.

Maps and navigation is a bit old now, it is a slight bonus that you can preload them, but the Symbian maps are not as good as the maps on Android (which also has free navigation too).

It'll also probably be very expensive (the rrp for the N97 is almost 2x the cost of the HTC desire), which might make a difference to how good a deal you get on it on contract.

Joe

Nexus One has a downer that you can't completely sync it with Exchange (it'll do emails, but not calendar, I think); that and other settings that IT admins like are available on the Desire though, I think, through the HTC overlay.
HTC HD mini(?) is basically an HD2 but the size of a Desire, so could be another option if you don't mind WM.

X10

I thought the Desire and the Nexus were the same phone with different skins/cases.

I'd go android. Once android 2.2 comes along with the ability to save apps to the SD card (rather than just the internal memory as they are now) the quality of android apps will get better and better. Rather than just being functional, developers will be able to make them look and feel as good as the apple equivalents.

mmm i was just gonnna upgrade my 5800 to the newer x6 but the htc looks good cheers chaps

Sony Ericson Xperia X10

Stupid question -I have the HTC Desire (which I really like) with the latest version of Android. Will I be able to upgrade to 2.2 once it's out?

The Desire is a brilliant phone but I did find a small issue yesterday -loudspeaker quality if quite poor so hands free talking is a bit tricky. Almost sounds like the "speaker" has blown but it hasn't.

Other than that it's excellent.

The Legend looks interesting too, nearly as good as a Desire but cheaer and less in demand, might be able to get a good deal.

Stupid question -I have the HTC Desire (which I really like) with the latest version of Android. Will I be able to upgrade to 2.2 once it's out?

HTC will need to work on the integration 1st, and once it's ready they will release the update.
The phone checks for updates periodically.

mmm… Desire has the HTC Sense(?) overlaid onto Android (bit like they do with WM phones to make them useable). From a hardware point of view they're very similar, and the basic framework of the OS is the same. Unfortunately, as it's a slightly tweaked version of Android that the Desire runs, it'll probably take a while to have Android 2.2 released for it officially.
However, I imagine xda-developers or the like will be tweaking a version to the Desire as soon as it comes out

Muggo and nicko – cheers for that. And yes it does Android updates – every day at the moment! Very pleased with it but still need to work a few little bits out that were just "normal" of previous phones (changing profile to meeting or silent and a few other bits).

changing profile to meeting or silent and a few other bits).

hold down the power button and the options come up to power off, silent, vibrate, airplane mode and mobile network on/off.

you can also press the volume key down and it switches to silent or vibrate.

Muggo – cheers!

Do you notice a fair bit of distortion when using loudspeaker mode (semi handsfree) at full/nearly full volume? It's about the only bad thing about the phone I can find.

I don't think I've used it. I will give it a try and let you know.

Surf-Mat – with regard to 'profiles' on the Desire, I thought that was what 'Scenes' were for, in the personalise section of settings. Or does that only change the look/apps on the home screens of the phone & not things like ringtone/vibrate etc….??

Must have a play later….

EDIT – just had a quick go & it seems that the ringtone etc. isn't altered by the scenes which seems a bit lame.

I will also have a play! Didn't want it to go off in a meeting yesterday so stuck it on Airplane mode!

To turn the volume down just use the volume button on the side, thats all I do.

Things I find bad about the Desire are crap battery life (I have to charge it every night, but I do leave 3g on all the time and wireless when at home), loud speaker volume, and as above has to be customised/tweaked to get half decent setup, and requires many 3rd party apps to get it running with stuff that should be standard IMO. Oh and the keyboard is certainly not the best if your entering lots of characters, I much prefered my old HTC which had a stylus.

Don't get me wrong its a great phone, but not a finished package IMO

Unfortunately most if not all smartphones will need charging daily. There are batteries available that are 1600mah (comes with a 1400mah). Try using advanced task manager too. You can set it up so that it stops certain apps running in the background that you're not using which saves memory and power.
There are keyboard apps available, but my fat fingers get on really well with this keyboard especially in landscape mode.

Funky – sometimes I need it on full volume (when in the open top car, in the boat, etc).

Battery life is bad but then it's a powerful phone – and a lot better than an i-phone for battery life.

It does need for standard apps but just connect it to wifi and get them downloaded – often gives you more choice anyway.