HTC Desire HD Review

I recently purchased a HTC Desire HD to replace the Nexus One which unfortunately was starting to get a little unreliable keeping a data connection. Why the Desire HD? Well the decision wasn't an easy one, for the week leading up to the purchase, my mind was constantly switching between the Galaxy S and Desire HD. Infact if Virgin had a Galaxy S in stock when I first inquired this may have been a review on the Galaxy S. Eventually however, the Desire HD with it's camera flash, slightly larger screen, and less problematic GPS eventually one me over.

Size

The first thing I noticed when I took the Desire HD out of the box was just how big this phone really is. I was a little concerned at first, it looked a little too big, and felt rather weighty. However, after a few minutes of playing around with it the weight didn't seem to be much of a problem and the phone fit surprisingly well in my hand. The phone also feels very solid thanks to an aluminium unibody case, which is in stark contrast to the plastic feel of the Galaxy S. While I'm on build quality one criticism I do have is the battery and sim compartments feel a bit fragile and could have been designed a bit better. I can see a lot of potential for them to break or deteriorate if constantly removed.

Screen

Lets be honest, the massive piece of glass on the front is the main calling card for the Desire HD and at 4.3inch it really is massive. Screen size is all well but unless the screen performs the extra size is rather worthless. So how does it fair against the competition? Well lets just be clear, it's more than adequate. The color representation is great, and the lower pixel density doesn't appear to subtract from the overall image quality at all. The only real issue I have, which is a rather pet peeve, is the light bleed from the SLCD in dark environments. The screen lights up the room substantially even when the screen image is black. Now that I've spent some time with both an AMOLED and SLCD screen I think the benefits outweigh the cons of the AMOLED technology, at least for my usage patterns.

General Performance

With 768MB of RAM there is no noticeable lag even with an uptime of a few days and 10+ apps running in the background. The UI is also very responsive with little to no lag swiping and scrolling. The app tray load is around average for most Android devices but in my opinion the scrolling seems to be smoother when compared to the Nexus One and Desire. All in all I couldn't be happier with the snappiness.

Call Quality

The phone clarity is also very good, it seems to handle in car calls a bit better than the Nexus One with very little to no fade out and higher clarity when traveling along the same routes. The clarity on the other end of the line is also very crisp and clear, I was pleasantly surprised to hear how much clearer voice was when listening to the Desire HD through my girlfriend's Milestone as apposed to the Nexus One.

Music and Video Payback

Music and video playback is equally surprising. Both stock music and video apps contain Dolby Mobile and SRS WOW HD sound enhancement and they really pack a punch. With even an average set of headphones I was surprised how much depth was added to the sound playback with good solid base and clear mids and treble. Another nice addition is the added DivX and XVid support straight out of the box, which is a good thing as the sound enhancements are only available to the Stock music and video players, which is quite disappointing. I would have thought it would make more sense to include them as a global equalizer rather than segregate them in individual apps.

Internet

The internet is where the larger screen really becomes a great asset, you wouldn't think a jump from 3.7inch to 4.3inch would add much, well I'm here to tell you when it comes to browsing that .6 of an inch makes a world of difference. The whole web experience is much less frustrating and I find myself using it more often than I did with the Nexus One.

Battery

As you can probably tell, I'm pretty happy with this phone. Solid performance, great screen real estate and a very enjoyable online experience. However, there is one thing I'm not happy about and that is battery life. In fact I'd go so far to say that it's rather abysmal. HTC recommend giving the battery 10 days to work itself in, and while I did notice an improvement through out the 10 days it wasn't exactly astounding. I honestly cannot see the reasoning behind putting the effort into creating such an amazing phone only to pair it up with a totally inadequate battery. I find myself having to charge it throughout the day in order to avoid running out of power by the end. Now to be honest I'm a pretty heavy user, I have auto sync on plus a few auto updating widgets and background processes so the average person may come out a bit better but don't expect miracles here.

Pros

+ Large crisp clear screen

+ Aluminum unibody design

+ DivX/xVid compatibility out of the box

+ SRS Wow HD and Dolby Mobile sound enhancement

+ Great performance

Cons

- Battery and simcard slots a little fragile

- Sound enhancements restricted to stock music and video apps

- Abysmal battery life

- Light bleed through

Virgin Usage Meter Donate Version

I've just uploaded a donate version of Virgin Usage Meter. I want to assure everybody that there is no functional or support difference between the free and donate version, I've never liked that whole shareware sort of release model. The Virgin Usage Meter was always intended to be free and fully functional.

So rest assured that the donate version is an avenue for those who wish to throw a bit of spare change towards the app now have the ability to do so.

Virgin Prepaid Connection Problem Update

Thanks to help from an extremely helpful Whirlpooler named Saeko, I have managed to track down a few bugs and find a work around to the connection problems that were plaguing Virgin prepaid users. The Virgin Usage Meter should now work for prepaid accounts once again. If this is not the case please let me know by either comment or email.

Thank you for all of your understanding and patience.

I repeat, the Virgin Usage Meter is working for prepaid accounts once again!

Virgin Prepaid Connection Problem

Virgin is currently having HTTPS connection issues with prepaid accounts that are using the VirginInternet APN. Due to the Virgin Usage Meter using HTTPS for security, it it's not currently working for prepaid accounts. In some cases it could also be causing phones to freeze.

Until further notice it's recommended that you remove the widget and not refresh the data if you have a prepaid account.

I will update this post as more information comes in.

Update: 12/11/2010

It doesn't look like Virgin will be able to fix this quickly, so I'm looking into a work around. It will take some time so please bare with me I'm working as fast as I can.

App Inventor Experiment - Advanced Tutorials Ahoy

With Maria flying through the basic tutorials (when time permits), she has completed the first of the advanced tutorials Mole Mash. After a few hairy moments like understanding why one global variable was being assigned to the other and the purpose of assigning a value to a global value that never changes, she was at the end of her tutorial staring with uncertainty at the extra activities. Oh yes dear readers, you heard correctly, not only must she work through the tutorials but she must also create solutions to the extra exercises at the end, and of course, all without help.

After some frustration, head scratching and me fighting the almost overpowering urge to rip the keyboard away from her and do it myself, she had completed the extra activities and was playing her first self created Android game. Unfortunately it was at that point she started to promptly shut up be quiet so she could beat the hell out of the poor defenceless mole.

Now onto some concerning observations. I am starting to witness some troubling changes in the participant. It is my observation that with every successful tutorial she completes her head size increases in size by a small fraction. Even more of concern is that the participant has starting to consider herself as an Android developer. Recently she has even gone to such lengths as to verbalize such a thing. I suppose this was likely to happen eventually, but in such a short time period? Maybe I should stop this before her head becomes so big that she can no longer fit through doors.

T-Touch Tab - Telstra Steps Into The Fray

In the last couple of weeks Telstra has announced it is gearing up to step foot into the oncoming tablet war. Jumping on the back of the iPad frenzy it hopes to cut itself a piece of the market.

According to representatives, the T-Touch Tabs release will be close to that of the Galaxy Tab, which is arguably a good strategic move considering the T-Touch Tab is much more reasonably priced at around $299.

The big question is, will it be successful?

To try to answer that lets start with what Telstra has in it's favour.

The Network

It's undeniable that Telstra has the most extensive and reliable network reaching all over Australia. When people join the NextG network they know that in all but the most remote places they will have reliable internet access and a strong signal. Played right this should be a boon for Telstra's chances. The T-Touch Tab paired with a generous data plan should see the become a solid consideration.

Existing Customers

The other strength Telstra have is its existing customers and potential discounting. If customers can receive an extra discount for adding a T-Touch Tab onto their plan it may be the subtle push Telstra need to point them in the T-Touch Tabs direction. It may even sway some companies to pick up a few discounted tablets for trial.

Unfortunately, at least in my mind, that's as far as Telstra's advantages go. Now lets address some of the difficulties they will have walking into the oncoming war.

Customer Support

The first difficulty I see is Telstra's image and their track record in the area of customer support. It's no secret that Telstra has been on the receiving end of public customer complaints for quite some time. This however, becomes a considerable disadvantage when selling general consumer technology, even more so when you're competing against Apple and Dell who not only have a solid customer service reputation but also have a good head start. Consumers want to be sure that when things go wrong they can rely on the support of the company to get things right again. It will be a tough ask for Telstra to convince customers it is up to the job.

The Stand Out Factor

The other problem Telstra is facing is the stand out factor. Apple has been extremely successful in riding the cool factor. Love or hate Apple they know what the majority of consumers want and they provide it very well. Telstra's doesn't really have that and I honestly doubt Telstra's ability to come up with anything that has a promising wow factor. I'd love to be proven wrong but I think in the end the T-Touch Tab will be lost amongst the umpteen other tablets coming onto the market.

Final Thoughts

The tablet market is pipped to be saturated with many tablets coming to the market at around the same time. Telstra will be competing with companies who have long pockets and are veterans when it comes to competing in the general consumer technology market. Whether Telstra can be competitive in this market is unknown. One thing is for sure, they have a tough fight ahead of them.

Over 1000 Active Virgin Usage Meter Installations

After checking the Android Developer Console I was surprised to see that Virgin Usage Meter now has over 1000 active installations. It has come a long way since it was a simple app with an awful red background and yellow usage bars. I remember how surprised I was when it first hit 100 active downloads and now it's 10 times that. While it's not the millions of active downloads some apps out there get it's definitely many more than I expected.