Desire (Bravo/BravoC) - 4/5 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

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-Branded Android Devices Wildfire, Desire, and The New Tianyi Headed To China On China Mobile, No Mention Of Google Or Android

Posted by David Ruddock in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), HTC, Tianyi, Wildfire (Buzz)

HTC issued a press release today announcing four HTC-branded phones (HTC phones were previously branded Dopod in China) are to be released in China in a deal with China Mobile and electronics retailer GOME Electrical Appliances (the largest electronics reseller in China). Three of those phones run Android. One, the Tianxi, looks to be a rebranded HD2 running Windows Mobile, which as we all know, can run Android.

Unfortunately, it appears removal of Google branding from Android devices (including the Market) in China will continue with these new phones. This is a requirement for Android phones running on China Mobile, which is the dominant (and state owned) carrier in China.

Jul

HTC Confirms It Will No Longer Use AMOLED Displays For Desire, Nexus One—Switching to Sony SLCD's

Posted by David Ruddock in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), News, Nexus One (Passion)

HTC confirmed in a press release today that the Nexus One (which is still manufactured for and sold across Europe and Korea) and Desire will no longer be sporting AMOLED displays. Instead, HTC has opted to use Sony SLCDs. Their reasoning? The press release gives it to us from a nice, sugar-coated PR perspective:

HTC Introduces SLCD Display Technology To Its Portfolio
New Displays to be integrated into HTC Desire and Nexus One
Taoyuan, TAIWAN – July 26, 2010 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, today introduced Super LCD display (SLCD) technology into a variety of HTC phones including the HTC Desire and global Nexus One later this summer.

Jul

Unrevoked 3 Finally Brings Easy 1-Click Root, Recovery, Nandroid Backups, And Custom ROMs To HTC Droid Incredible. [Explanation + Instructions]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Aria (Liberty), Desire (Bravo/BravoC), Development, Eris, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Incredible, News

Unrevoked, a tool that brought the ability to run applications that require root and originally developed for the HTC EVO 4G and HTC Hero, was just updated to version 3.

Unrevoked 3

With this new version 3, Unrevoked finally brings a 1-click root solution to the HTC Droid Incredible that also allows you to flash a custom ClockworkMod recovery, custom ROMs, and take backups of your phone with Nandroid Backup.

Compared to version 2, you no longer need a previously rooted phone - Unrevoked 3 roots for you.

The only thing that Unrevoked doesn't do is unlock NAND permanently, meaning you won't be able to write to the system partition after the OS boots and therefore won't be able to uninstall various carrier installed garbage apps.

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”).

Jul

Nexus One Finally Receives FM Radio Support, Not Thanks To Google But The Android Community. Coming To A ROM Near You!

Posted by John Thompson in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), Devices By Manufacturer, HTC, News, Nexus One (Passion)

Ever since HTC released its version of Google’s Nexus One, the Desire, people have wondered why Google haven’t given the N1 any FM Radio capability. The HTC Desire uses the same Broadcom chipset as the Nexus One, so why does one have FM Radio and the other doesn't?

Official Word

Asked about this at their I/O conference, a Google rep said the company had no plans to bring FM Radio to the Nexus One and told everyone to turn to the hacking community for support, as there are a number of custom ROMs out there for the device.

Android Community Steps In

After six months of waiting, it appears that our wishes have finally come true, as a member at xda-developers, named intersectRaven, has released a kernel which, when utilized by ROM developers, gives us FM support on our Nexus Ones!

Jul

HTC Phones To Receive Froyo Before Christmas

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), EVO 4G (Supersonic), HTC, Incredible, Legend, News, Wildfire (Buzz)

Update schedules are rarely a final thing, and users can get quite angry when they don’t receive updates according to schedule. However, HTC may have finally given themselves a schedule that they can adhere to: all of their recently released phones will be updated to Android 2.2 “before Christmas.” They had previously announced that ‘several’ models would receive the update in Q3 2010, so it’s unclear if this announcement means that timetable has shifted.

While rumors say that the HTC Desire could receive the update in August, other HTC phones might not be updated for several months. HTC’s higher-end devices, such as the Droid Incredible and EVO, will likely be updated fairly quickly.

Jul

ROM Devs Bringing FroYo, 720p Video Recording to HTC Desire

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

Well, this is pretty exciting. Two ROM developers by the names of Maja and udK over at (where else?) XDA-Devs have ported FroYo to the Desire, and enabled 720p video recording – pretty neat stuff. The ROM (v1.0) isn’t quite ready for mass consumption yet – it’s still in testing (v0.3 is available for now, though). Still, it’s definitely something to look forward to, and we’ll be sure to update everyone once the FroYo/720p ROM is released.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the fact that our phones are great to begin with, and that ROM devs continue to unlock more goodies for them, is just too cool.

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

unrEVOked 2 Released – Install ClockworkMod Recovery On Your EVO 4G, Incredible, Desire, OR Aria

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Aria (Liberty), Desire (Bravo/BravoC), Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), HTC, Incredible, News

The crew behind the original easy root for HTC EVO 4G and HTC Hero - unrEVOked - has released unrEVOked2 (UR2) – a tool that lets you replace your phone's (see below for supported models) stock Android recovery with the ClockworkMod recovery. ClockworkMod allows users to create nandroid backups, use custom ROMs, and otherwise customize the phone.

UR2 does not unlock the NAND on the phone permanently - it only does it long enough to install a custom recovery.

When coupled with the original unrEVOked, UR2 provides means to easily root (albeit without a permanent NAND unlock) and install ClockworkMod on all of these phones: