HTC Desire - 2/2 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Nov

Ready For Black Friday? Verizon Discounting Plans, US Cellular Offering Cheap Phones Galore

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in News, US Cellular, Verizon Wireless

Now that everyone and their cousin's friend are preparing for Thanksgiving and the national shopping day that follows (Black Friday), we're starting to see some great deals popping up, especially from carriers looking to sway over new customers.

One such carrier, US Cellular, announced today that it will be offering "door-busting" bargains on all four of its Android phones in celebration of Black Friday, beginning November 22 and ending on the 29th. Their deals aren't really mind-blowing in comparison with some of Wirefly's recent deals, but they're quite a bit cheaper than US Cellular's regular prices:

Samsung Mesmerize - $99.99 after an $80 mail-in-rebate
HTC Desire (see our review here) - $49.99 after an $80 mail-in-rebate
LG Apex - $0.00 after an $80 mail-in-rebate
Samsung Acclaim - $0.00 after an $80 mail-in-rebate

In related news, Verizon Wireless will be rewarding customers who add a new 3G smartphone to their existing plans by subtracting $9.99 from their monthly bill, the same cost as adding a line.

Oct

Phantom Black HTC Legend And Brilliant White HTC Desire Launching In Europe

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), Legend, News

If you live in European markets, you may be glad to hear that HTC is offering a new color for two of their phones: the HTC Desire, which will soon come in "Brilliant White", and the HTC Legend, which will soon be available in "Phantom Black."

There's no doubt that each phone looks really slick, but you've got to wonder the purpose of a black Legend: wasn't its main appeal the gorgeous metal finish? The white Desire, on the other hand, is sure to be a lot more exciting than the plain old brown color it launched with. Check out pictures of each device and the full press release below.

Sep

FroYo Update For HTC Desire On O2 Goes Live Before Dying A Sad, Sad Death

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), Froyo 2.2, HTC, O2

Well it's not the first phone to get FroYo, or even the first phone with HTC's Sense UI to receive the delicious update, but Froyo is coming to UK carrier O2's HTC Desire. The update hit the air - before being pulled almost immediately!

According to O2's full statement posted on their forums,

Hi all
As some of you will have noticed the Android 2.2 Froyo update for HTC Desire on O2 went live this morning. While we’re pleased that so many of you have been able to download it successfully and are enjoying the benefits of 2.2, we have seen that a small number of people are having problems installing the update.

Aug

Vodafone Rolling Out Vanilla (!) Froyo To HTC Desire In Next 7-10 Days

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), Froyo 2.2, News, Vodafone

After Vodafone deployed an HTC Desire update last week that was full of crapware, customers responded with understandable anger. After initially standing firm on the crapware (“Vodafone 360”), Vodafone has now backed off and will remove it with the next update. The next update? Vanilla Froyo - and it’s coming in 7-10 days.

The surprising thing here is that the update will apparently be an unmolested version of Android 2.2 - something they elected not to do with their Nexus One update. The only customizations Vodafone will be making to the Froyo Desire update are to the network settings, in order to “optimise them for [their] network.” This is obviously good news for Desire owners, as it means they’ll receive the update sooner, and without any extra Vodafone “goodies.”

Congrats to Vodafone customers for standing together and staring down the huge teleco.

Aug

Android Froyo 2.2 Update Rolling Out To European HTC Desire

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), Froyo 2.2, HTC, News

What was once the sole possession of the Nexus One has begun making its way into the eager hands of HTC Desire owners throughout Europe. That's right, Froyo is now creeping over the air and bringing Sense UI right with it. Read on to find out what benefits and potential problems this update has in store.

Pros

The 2.2 update grants the Desire the ability to record video in 720p, as promised by HTC at launch. Clarity seems superior to the efforts so far on the Nexus One but framerates are still low.
HTC has added the simple app sharing widget as seen before on the Desire's little brother, the Wildfire, allowing you to spread links to market applications over your various social media.

Jul

Unlocked European Desires Getting Froyo And A Few Other Features This Weekend

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), Froyo 2.2, News

HTC is not resting on its laurels with the latest version of Android. Hot off the heels of yesterday’s announcement that the EVO would be the first phone to receive an update to Android 2.2 (other than the Nexus One, of course), HTC has told Engadget that unlocked European Desires would be receiving the update this weekend, which would also include an App Sharing widget, 720p video recording, iTunes sync, and improved Caller ID.

Anyone who happens to have an unlocked European Desire should receiving a notification within the next two days telling you an update is available. It is a no-wipe update, but HTC stresses that you’ll want to be connected to Wi-Fi in order to avoid data charges.

Jul

HTC Desire Headed To Canada On Telus

Posted by Ron Hamelin in Carriers, Desire (Bravo/BravoC), News

Android is getting some love from the great white North: the HTC Desire is coming to Canada on Telus. The Desire features:

Sony SLCD 3.7” HVGA screen at 800x480,
1GHz Snapdragon processor
5 MP camera with flash and video recording
3G (850MHz and 1,900MHz bands)
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1
MicroSD slot with support for cards up to 16GB

Telus is also throwing in an 8GB microSD card for good measure, and the device will be running Android 2.1 with HTC’s Sense UI. Can you spot the difference between Telus’s Desire and the original? HTC has apparently chosen to start using SLCD screens on the device in place of the AMOLED display the European version possesses, presumably to make sure production capacity is high enough (due to the AMOLED “shortage”).

Jun

“Several” 2010 HTC Models Getting Android 2.2 FroYo – Including Desire, Legend, and Wildfire

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), Froyo 2.2, HTC, Legend, News, Wildfire (Buzz)

It’s official: word from HTC is that “several” HTC phones released in 2010 – including the Desire, Legend, and Wildfire – will be getting Android 2.2 (FroYo) “beginning in Q3.” Considering that July is days away, that timetable isn’t too bad, all things considered.

The FroYo update has been the most publicized and anticipated update yet. As I’ve pointed out before, the Android universe is expanding at an unbelievable pace. Android 2.2 is a substantial update which brings some pretty awesome improvements.

[Source: Recombu]

Jun

HTC Desire Coming To The US In August

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Carriers, Desire (Bravo/BravoC), Eclair 2.1, HTC, News

Last Updated: December 30th, 2011

The popular in Europe HTC Desire handset is going to be heading to the US in August, HTC officially announced this morning via twitter:

The device will feature the same specs as the European version: 1Ghz Snapdragon processor and Android 2.1 with Sense, HTC's PR rep Ricky tells us.

The only caveat in this announcement is the carrier choice - Desire will be going to regional carriers only, which means the big 4 - Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile - will not be involved.

No details yet on the pricing or exact launch date.

Apr

HTC Desire Root Instructions + Apps2SD Now Live

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), Development, HTC, News

Last Updated: April 2nd, 2011

Yesterday, we reported on an exciting announcement for all HTC Desire owners - @PaulOBrien managed to root the device and promised detailed instructions to be posted today.

Well, he's backed the promise up with action and as of this morning, full instructions have been posted.

Paul notes that HTC made it much harder to access key partitions and write any data to them, compared to, say, the Nexus One. This made the process of rooting extremely complicated and left it a quite crippled (he's still working on uncrippling it).

The current set of instructions (29/Apr r3) is below - get ready to do some reading: