* The Official HTC Desire (Bravo) Thread! *

SteveOBHave · 21 Jan 2010 at 08:54

EDIT: Stoked - I have my Desire - much lighter feeling than the Nexus One.

Being dissappointed to find that the Desire has no Voice Search function I went away and found this:
http://nimbu.amorvi.com/2010/04/add-...to-htc-phones/

Also Turn by Turn Maps!
http://nimbu.amorvi.com/2010/04/add-...to-htc-desire/

There are some others as well:

http://nimbu.amorvi.com/

A few more apps worth noting, speech to text, nexus one launcher etc

Well we've all been looking out for a decent Android phone, some have found what they like in the Moto Milestone, some in the HTC Nexus 1, others like me are pretty happy with their HTC Hero.

I am coming to the end of my contract (as of Late March) and I have come across some Interwibble Scuttlebutt that states that the HTC Bravo is to be coming to T-Mobile UK in, as luck would have it, late March!
Source: http://androinica.com/2010/01/20/first-live-image-of-the-htc-bravo-optical-joystick-included/

So what do we know.
- Dimensions -56 x 112 x 11.7 millimetres
- 3.7in AMOLED 480 x 800 touchscreen with multitouch support
- Sense UI by HTC
- 5MP camera (with auto-focus and 720p HD video capture)
- WiFi a,b,g and n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR , a compass, GPS, FM radio and integration with Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and Microsoft Exchange.
- Snapdragon 1GHz Processor
- microSD, microSDHC, TransFlash, SDIO
- removable 1400mAh battery
- Internal RAM 320MB, ROM 512MB

And of course the first actual shot

My first impression of the actual hardware is that it's not a bad looking phone but it's still a long way from the design chic of Apple hardware. They seem to keep doing odd stuff with their buttons, but at least they are hard buttons and not the irritating soft buttons on the Nexus. I think I shall be sitting tight to see what this one comes out like.

SteveOBHave · 21 Jan 2010 at 10:58

Izi said:
this is true, it is fairly ugly - but not as ugly as the Hero

See I think the Hero is a bit of a love it or hate it phone - I quite like the design of it - and it feels good.

SteveOBHave · 21 Jan 2010 at 13:08

Alty said:
i can but dream about it being released on O2 but since it will be a major competitor to the iphone doubt it somehow

Dunno about that - I think O2s obligation to the iPhone is coming to an end soon.

SteveOBHave · 21 Jan 2010 at 17:23

Meatball said:
Ditto . I like the sound of the hardware though.

Yeah - HTC designers are mostly blind I think.

SteveOBHave · 28 Jan 2010 at 16:00

Amp34 said:
Or what about this: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18106968

If it comes out over here in a reasonable time frame...

I prefer the supersonic look, actually looks stylish unlike the Bravo, which looks like it's been hit with an ugly stick...

Having said that the X10 is looking good too... And the HD2 is still beautiful, with a possible upgrade to WM7 (which may be sublime!)... Hmmmmmm

I personally like the look of the Supersonic far more than the Bravo - thing is with the bravo coming out at the same time as my contract ends... I know how rubbish I am when it comes to new gadgets...

SteveOBHave · 16 Feb 2010 at 12:03

All over that - I think it's a better looking phone than the N1.

SteveOBHave · 16 Feb 2010 at 16:32

shine said:
Not according to this article.

I'm dubious about the accuracy of that article - Android 2.1 has voice search integrated into it and if it's not there natively then voice search can be downloaded from the Market.

SteveOBHave · 22 Feb 2010 at 09:05

Vonsteve said:
Really want a hw keyboard but just totally put off by the milestone. I'd put up with a touch screen just for a HTC handset there's something about them that just looks good. The android OS on other handsets just doesn't look as nice lol. Stupid I know.

No- I'm inclined to agree - the HTC sense interface is much more polished, IMO in many ways better than the N1...

SteveOBHave · 6 Apr 2010 at 10:51

OK -weirdest thing.

I called up T-Mobile to upgrade my phone to the Desire and they tried to get me to go on a 24 month contract £20/month and still pay £230 for the phone. I even tried the 'I'll have my PAC please' and they went - 'fine... here you go'.

I jumped online and had a look at a few websites and found one that would do the phone for free, £25/month and 18 month contract and unlimited internet. Just bizarre...

No idea when the phone will arrive but there you go... pays to search around sometimes.

SteveOBHave · 6 Apr 2010 at 11:29

SteveOBHave said:
OK -weirdest thing.

I called up T-Mobile to upgrade my phone to the Desire and they tried to get me to go on a 24 month contract £20/month and still pay £230 for the phone. I even tried the 'I'll have my PAC please' and they went - 'fine... here you go'.

I jumped online and had a look at a few websites and found one that would do the phone for free, £25/month and 18 month contract and unlimited internet. Just bizarre...

No idea when the phone will arrive but there you go... pays to search around sometimes.

Stoked - delivery tomorrow! Still can't believe that T-mob are so reluctant to retain customers.

SteveOBHave · 6 Apr 2010 at 11:38

admoo said:
Who did you go with in the end?

Mobile Phones Direct - excellent deal.

SteveOBHave · 6 Apr 2010 at 12:46

ejr22 said:
When did you order? As they are saying "First come, First served"

This morning - Website says in stock.

SteveOBHave · 6 Apr 2010 at 14:33

leoncc said:
I can't get this phone any cheaper than £35 p/m on Vodafone retentions which sucks, think I will definately be cancelling my contract in May and going via Quidco or something.

What deals are everyone else getting?

This was on a 24 month contract as well, they wouldn't keep me on 18 months!

Ridiculous!

Yeah I got the same spiel from T-Mobile - they must be getting the squeeze from 3rd party re-sellers or something. Only going with the 24 month contracts.

SteveOBHave · 6 Apr 2010 at 16:20

Bossk128 said:
Thanks. I'm on the hunt for a good deal now, though I'm not desperate to GET ONE NOW!!!!!!!!!!

Any thoughts all on this deal?

I'd be careful with any redemption deal for anyone that doesn't have a shop - personally I'd steer away from them and just go with a standard contract.

SteveOBHave · 15 Apr 2010 at 19:27

Stoked - I have my Desire - much lighter feeling than the Nexus One.

Being dissappointed to find that the Desire has no Voice Search function I went away and found this:
http://nimbu.amorvi.com/2010/04/add-voice-search-to-htc-phones/

Also Turn by Turn Maps!
http://nimbu.amorvi.com/2010/04/add-turn-by-turn-navigation-to-htc-desire/

Sorted!

Love it - excellent device.

SteveOBHave · 15 Apr 2010 at 19:58

Spawn said:
Awesone stuff Steve...just followed the instructions on the links and have both voice search and google nav working on my Desire.

Gonna try the navigation out later when im out and about..see how good it is...i take it you still get the voices??

theoretically - I've not tried it myself but the map works fine. I'll have to give it a go. I don't actually have a car but when I do hire one I use my Garmin. I was more for everyone elses benifit.

EDIT: Updated the first page. That site also has the nice gallery app from the Nexus - it's much nicer than the HTC one.

SteveOBHave · 15 Apr 2010 at 20:05

Khaaan! said:
In the UK you will sometimes get voice, sometimes get no road names at the top bar. It's a server side thing on how Google have it locked down IIRC.

Ah true - it's not a particularily nice voice anyway - it's a nasty synth voice.

Time to flick off my HTC Hero now... It's going to pay for an XBOX 360

SteveOBHave · 15 Apr 2010 at 20:21

Khaaan! said:
I will say that Navigon's nav app may be pretty basic compared to Sygic but the voice guidance is superb, crystal clear and the lane assist is nice too. It sort of hand holds you through the most complex junctions as I used it to drive home last night from Terminal 5 and it was more accurate than other NAV units I have used before.

I will use Sygic for routes around town I think and Navigon for routes that seem more complex.

What's the damage for the full version?

SteveOBHave · 15 Apr 2010 at 20:29

Khaaan! said:
Sygic 10 = £23
Navigon = £67.95 which is a bit WTF.

I'm going to run the trial to navigon to continue to see how it fares out, will just reinstall if I want to continue using it

Yeah that's a bit OTT - that's £30 short of my large widescreen Garmin Nuvi 255w - deffo not worth it compared.

SteveOBHave · 16 Apr 2010 at 10:28

Spawn said:
Ok finally got the voice to text option working lol...kinda neat and can see the uses of it ie sending a text whilst driving etc...but as Richie said above its more of a gimmick really.

Really liking this phone a lot now...although i dont know if its only my handset or others are affected by it but the trackpad on mine seems to be a bit wonky ie sits to the right a bit and in the dark theres a bit of light leakage coming from the left side of the trackpad...it also seems to crack when pressed now and again...anyone else find this on their desire??...dont really want to send it back but then id rather have a handset that hasnt got any build issues.

Nah mine seems pretty solid - my only complaint with the track ball is that for panning about and stuff in Maps or in the Browser it seems like it could be a bit faster but then that's what the touch screen is for - in terms of editing text it's about perfect IMO.

*** The Official HTC Desire (Bravo) Thread! ***

* The Official HTC Desire (Bravo) Thread! *