No more HTC Desire by Vodafone NZ?

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#358812 29-Jul-2010 20:47

bananamuffin:
semigeek:
bananamuffin: Bah, there goes that. I was really looking forward to getting one of those

Could always import one

Would an imported one work with any carrier i chose to go with? Still exploring my options, currently with Vodafone prepay on a regular mobile, but eventually want a smart phone and data plan.

make sure you get the right model number A8181 is the Vodafone/2Deg variant, and the A8183 is XT

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#358925 29-Jul-2010 21:54

bananamuffin:
semigeek:
bananamuffin: Bah, there goes that. I was really looking forward to getting one of those

Could always import one

Would an imported one work with any carrier i chose to go with? Still exploring my options, currently with Vodafone prepay on a regular mobile, but eventually want a smart phone and data plan.

See post above for VF/2 or XT models but I wouldn't rush into a data plan. I bought my parallel imported HTC Hero and just slipped my existing prepaid sim in and set up BBlite ($10/mnth for 100Mb). Because I use wifi at home I don't even come close to using 100Mb in a month. I'm probably only a light user, just browse some of the mobile news sites and do emailing etc and use google maps and navigator. But it is a way to assess your data usage before signing up for anything.

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#359337 30-Jul-2010 08:24

zocster:

make sure you get the right model number A8181 is the Vodafone/2Deg variant, and the A8183 is XT

Ah, good to know! thanks

bananamuffin

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#359343 30-Jul-2010 08:26

Dingbatt:

See post above for VF/2 or XT models but I wouldn't rush into a data plan. I bought my parallel imported HTC Hero and just slipped my existing prepaid sim in and set up BBlite ($10/mnth for 100Mb). Because I use wifi at home I don't even come close to using 100Mb in a month. I'm probably only a light user, just browse some of the mobile news sites and do emailing etc and use google maps and navigator. But it is a way to assess your data usage before signing up for anything.

Thanks! That's an excellent idea, I'm not too keen on getting tied in a contract yet, and prepaid is working great so far since I'm not using voice much.

nakedmolerat

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#359380 30-Jul-2010 08:50

HTC desire selling at http://www.mobicity.com.au/htc.html for $729... and yes, they took care of GST!

dpw

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#359590 30-Jul-2010 10:32

haakuturi:
semigeekCould always import one

That's what I'm planning on.

Phone Insure through Vodafone covers phones bought via Parallel Import stores, just means that if you need to claim you won't get the same phone back.

I should probably start another thread...but maybe there's a quick answer here. What's the advantage of using Phone Insure over normal content cover through insurance companies? I know here at AMI we cover cellphones under content insurance...

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#359665 30-Jul-2010 11:10

nakedmolerat: HTC desire selling at http://www.mobicity.com.au/htc.html for $729... and yes, they took care of GST!

That's Aussie dollars. You need to change the currency at the top of the page (approx $NZ900).

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#359680 30-Jul-2010 11:16

dpw: I should probably start another thread...but maybe there's a quick answer here. What's the advantage of using Phone Insure over normal content cover through insurance companies? I know here at AMI we cover cellphones under content insurance...

Phone Insure excess is only $125 and it's $9.95 per month :)
From memory, the excess for my Contents is way higher :(

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#360235 30-Jul-2010 19:00

Why is the HTC Desire so important? Isn't it almost the same as the Nexus One anyway?

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#360281 30-Jul-2010 19:40

Go to GSM Arena to see a comparison: http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=3069&idPhone2=3077#results

The Desire is effectively the Nexus One +"a little bit"

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#360481 30-Jul-2010 23:42

Dingbatt:
nakedmolerat: HTC desire selling at http://www.mobicity.com.au/htc.html for $729... and yes, they took care of GST!

That's Aussie dollars. You need to change the currency at the top of the page (approx $NZ900).

My bad, i clicked the wrong link....

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#360595 31-Jul-2010 12:01

Surprised they don't skip the desire and get galaxy s, desire seems so old and if they are going to just support 1x tablet for now, then why not the galaxy s?

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Linuxluver

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#360606 31-Jul-2010 12:33

Having played with both the Desire and the Nexus One now, Vodafone haven't made a bad choice. I own a Nexus One. It's a great phone.

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#360638 31-Jul-2010 14:26

Linuxluver: Having played with both the Desire and the Nexus One now, Vodafone haven't made a bad choice. I own a Nexus One. It's a great phone.

I have seen your previous posts re the N1. How did you find the physical trackball vs the optical one on the Desire. I find the trackball on my Hero a little finicky and thought maybe an optical sensor might be better. Likewise the touch buttons at the bottom of the N1 screen vs the hardware buttons on the Desire. Once again I like the hardware buttons on the Hero because you can find them by feel.
The N1 doesn't come stock with multi-touch such as pinch zoom etc activated although I understand it can be got. To get your N1 to the state where you are now, you have rooted and loaded a custom ROM.

And lastly the noise cancelling mic. Have you (or more importantly the people you talk to) found that it improves the clarity?

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#360802 31-Jul-2010 20:48

Dingbatt:
I have seen your previous posts re the N1. How did you find the physical trackball vs the optical one on the Desire. I find the trackball on my Hero a little finicky and thought maybe an optical sensor might be better. Likewise the touch buttons at the bottom of the N1 screen vs the hardware buttons on the Desire. Once again I like the hardware buttons on the Hero because you can find them by feel.
The N1 doesn't come stock with multi-touch such as pinch zoom etc activated although I understand it can be got. To get your N1 to the state where you are now, you have rooted and loaded a custom ROM.

And lastly the noise cancelling mic. Have you (or more importantly the people you talk to) found that it improves the clarity?

I should make it clear that while I have preferences, I'm also easily pleased. With that in mind, here are my answers to your questions. :-)

Trackball vs optical sensor: I've used a trackball on the HTC Magic and found it very useful. The Acer Liquid has no such pointing device and I missed it. Both the Nexus One and the Desire have such pointing devices and I'm not fussed which one I use. As a general tendency, I prefer no moving parts as they tend to wear out. But for actual use, I'm not fussed either way and don't see one or the other as an advantage or a disadvantage as long as the phone has one - be it whichever.

I'm not fussy about touch buttons. The touch buttons on the Nexus one light up and they are regularly placed at positions 1 2 3 and 4 (quarters) left to right....so with the phone held in my hand, my thumb hits the right spot the vast majority of the time even when I'm not looking, though I usually am looking because I'm touching the buttons in order to see something. So hard buttons or touch buttons...I don't really care, either way. I'm happy the N1 has no hard buttons to fail....harking back to no moving parts idea. But it's not a big deal. Neither a plus nor a minus for either phone.

Nexus one has had multitouch since the first OTA update after release, so that isn't relevant anymore. There have been many OTA updates since. Anyone buying a Nexus one now will find that it gets updated to Android v2.2 within a day of being turned on...and usually within a couple of hours. I have two Nexus one's in the house. Mine is rooted, but the one gave to my daughter is 100% stock....and it is right up to the minute in terms of software, running Android v2.2 (FRF91).

I make so few phone calls I haven't really tested the noise cancellation side of things. I txt a lot...as do most of the people I use the phone to communicate with. To actually PHONE someone is almost an admission of failure. The pre-pay ethic lives on strongly despite having loads of minutes I could blow through if I put my mind to it.

The reasons I prefer the Nexus are fairly straightforward:

1. It is the current reference platform for future Android development. The new Android is written for the Nexus One first...then adjusted for other phones by vendors. Google rolls out updates to Android to the Nexus One first. My daughter has been on stock OTA-delivered Android v2.2 for nearly a month. The Desire is also being updated quickly to Android v2.2....though not as quickly as the Nexus One was....but not much later, either. The Nexus One is designed to be rooted, so that's a plus for me, too. But if I wanted it to act like a factory stock phone, all I need to do is restore the stock recovery and the stock system ROM...and it would behave in every way that matters just like a stock, unrooted phone. When the FRF91 OTA started, my customised phone tried to update itself and only failed because when it rebooted I did not have the factory recovery in place to execute the update scripts. Whereas, HTC have made rooting the Desire more difficult...(but it has been done anyway.)

2. I don't like Sense UI, particularly. I prefer the cleaner, leaner default Android UI. This is no biggy, though. I'd happily use Sense UI if that was what was on both phones (Desire and N1).....though I might find myself loading up a ROM with a leaner, cleaner look. That's just me. I prefer that.

3. Last but not least, the back of the Nexus One is *MUCH* easier to get off. A single upward thumb motion in one hand sees the back slip off and I can swap the battery with the other hand in 5 secs. I have had two batteries for my phones for the past several years because I like to just turn everything on and glory in all that the phone is capable of without worrying about rationing use to conserve power. The Desire's back - the one I've tried - had about 8 plastic teeth that needed to be carefully prised loose each time the back was removed. It felt fragile...like it would not stand up to that being done 2 times each day for a couple of years. Most people won't care...and that's fine....but for me this is a big issue relating to how I use my phone.

But the bottom line is that there isn't much difference between the two phones. I'd be happy with either one despite my preferences and predilections.

That, in a way, may explain why I'd happily take a Nexus One instead of a Desire....They are very similar phones - almost identical, really - and anyone greiving over the lack of an HTC Desire in the VFNZ line-up still has reason to be grateful that VFNZ are offering, instead, an equally awesome phone with some minor differences.

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