With the Desire HD on its short voyage back to MobiCity headquarters, I thought I would just write a quick follow-up post to the review to share my final views on the device. Certainly after using it for over a week you do get used to some aspects of the phone, but not others. Telstra’s terrible speeds on the 2100MHz might have had a role to play in that. Hit the break to read my final thoughts. All questions welcome 🙂
Screen
The screen is only LCD and as I came from using the Desire (AMOLED) I did find the colours to appear washed out and not as vibrant. Obviously if you’ve never used an AMOLED device you won’t notice this. Not a massive problem at all, only an observation.
Lag!
If you follow us on Twitter, you will have read a few Tweets about the immense lag that I was suffering from when using the Desire HD after using the YouTube app or it would randomly start happening. A few of you guys did tell me to turn on “USB Debugging”, I did this and it stopped the random occurrences of lag. I also received an OTA update (all MobiCity devices will have received this) that specifically said it would fix the YouTube app lag, and it did just that. So all lag is gone except for the occasional slowness when syncing.
Battery Life
After a few charge cycles I found the battery life of the Desire HD to be no better than that of the original Desire. The Desire HD has a smaller battery than the Desire and also has a more powerful processor. When you put that into perspective, it’s not that bad, but not great either.
DLNA
I couldn’t get DLNA to work with my LG Blu-ray player at all, though I did get my Blu-ray player to find my laptop and I’ve had oodles of fun using it that way. No success with DLNA at all.
Hardware Buttons
In the initial review I threw a bit of hate towards the way the hardware buttons (power/lock & volume rocker) are placed flush on the surface. After using the Desire HD over the past week and a bit, I can use the power button perfectly without having to look where it is, but still having problems finding the volume rocker. If they had a little bit more feedback to them I doubt this would be as much of a problem.
Telstra’s Network
As some of you may know I use a Telstra Prepaid SIM so I’m not stuck on any lengthy contracts and can change phones whenever I feel. A massive problem with this is, is as soon as you leave the NextG Network (850MHz) you can kiss any fast speeds goodbye. Chris also had massive problems with Telstra’s speed on the 2100MHz network up in Sydney whilst reviewing the Desire Z. So I definitely don’t recommend this device (900/2100Mhz) to people who wish to get the most out of the NextG network.
some good info here, i was looking to get this phone online, so was just wondering if mobicity is the way to go? im after a black desire HD that will work on the optus 3g network… cheers.
I was wondering, with the DHD, does it support 850MHz and is that 3G? Just I’ve been looking through the sites proposed by vodafone, and I see the vast majority of them are 850MHz. But I can’t seem to find anywhere if the DHD supports 850MHz and if this is 3G?
Anybody know if the DHD supports 850MHz and if 850MHz is 3G?
850MHz isn’t necessarily 3G, it can be 2G as well, so you have to be careful.
The DHD from Vodafone is not 850MHz 3G, but this version is: http://www.mobicity.com.au/htc-desire-hd-nextg.html
Only issue is ringer button always hitting it hopefully skin case will give protection no lag issues great phone internet usage has gone thru the roof!!!! Bought from UK use live connected (optus) good coverage matched sister in laws telstra next g phone for speed & coverage On NSW north coast Yes very happy
It is really true that there are more gains to be had from making sure that the exhaust gasses are effectively removed from the combustion chamber. Smoothly bent pipes, relatively free flowing mufflers, headers, and a balance pipe will result in a more efficient exhaust system and thus greater performance.
I too have been extremely happy with my DHD. Coming from the Magic everything is so much better. Speed and power, Good camera with Flash(w00t) Massive screen, Froyo with NewSense. But…. Really missing hardware buttons. I hate the fact that I can sneeze on these capacitive buttons and something will happen, brushing the buttons will usually happen at a massively inconvenient time too. Things haven’t been supper smooth though. I got hit with the lag issue last week. Enabling USB Debugging seems to have settled it down but not completely. Battery life is massively inconsistent and I think the automatic… Read more »
Very very happy with my Desire HD. Got it a couple weeks ago from Mobicity (first batch) and havent looked back. Had a Google Nexus One (HTC) prior to this, and loving the bigger screen (I do miss the AMOLED screen a bit, but you get used to it).
I’m on optus, and finding my speeds much better and more consistent than ever before (have used HTC Nexus One, Iphone 3GS as well).
Ive been extremely happy with my DHD, There have been a few issues, such as the screen staying black when finishing a call, i then have to press the power up to wake and then end the call. This has stop since installing a custom ROM. I haven’t used the YouTube app at all yet so not sure if my device suffered from the lag issue. An issue i have had is, when i plug a 3.5mm stereo plug into the handset, DoubleTwist will start the last played track, then stop, then start, then stop, then start and away it… Read more »
That’s an issue with DoubleTwist, it has done it to me on a heap of devices.
It’s Vodafone. It seems to happen with my bros Nokia and my wifes iPhone. Even in my own house. When I was on virgin no issues. I have heard its because of the 3 and Vodafone branding.
Myself, I have had the Desire HD in my hands for the last two weeks, and on Three’s network, I am very patchy all over the place. I can get 3G-2G speeds in shopping malls, and it goes to H in most other places on the road, but only get E speeds or many times nothing at all in my own home in Boronia/The Basin at the foot of the Dandenongs. Frustrating! Battery Life: I love my music, and I installed Winamp on my DHD and listen to it with Sony in-ears while at work. By turning off most of… Read more »
Has anyone here had any issues with HTCsense.com?
I tried the lock phone feature, only thing is that it didn’t ever lock my phone but the website still tells me its locked. annoying!!
Buzz, when at htcsense.com there is a section about community or something. it has a list of people who want to be “friends” with you. You can choose to accept or ignore. my list has 15 people. mostly with european sounding names…. so my question is….where are these people browsing these lists of htc desire hd users to ask to become friends? there are no links to these peoples profiles or the page where one can view available users. I didnt opt in to this service. What do you know about it?
I’m honestly not sure how the friend system for HTCSense.com works.
I had Lucas from Techanist.com add me and I wasn’t even aware that it was sharing my mobile number and personal details with him. I have no idea how HTC picks them out.
I agree Buzz, can be a bit scary, especially when there is no warning or even a T&C’s screen popup saying personal info will be shared.
I’ve noticed a lot of signal dropouts on Vodafone with the desire HD. Freqently in Harbord, I’m off-air for 5-10 minutes before getting a signal back. I never had this issue on Optus in Harbord. Does anyone else have this problem or am I just unlucky in choice of handset or provider?
I’m in Adelaide on Vodafone, and while I’ve only completely lost signal once, requiring a restart, I’ve found that the data connection is ridiculously intermittent, going from H to 3g to no data back to H in the space of a a couple of seconds, over and over again. Using the browser isn’t too bad most of the time, but it’s incredibly frustrating trying to tether. I’m assuming this is part of the general Vodafone service issue that’s been flooding whirlpool with angry customers, rather than the phone, and am praying they’ll get their act together in time. Coming from… Read more »
Unfortunately the 3 and Voda networks have not merged yet. And all reports say that it won’t be until later next year. So if you go with 3 your get patchy reception and roaming charges. If with Vodaphone… well you should know what thats like already 😛
Love the site & reviews Buzz. I was particularily amused with you using the word “oodles”. I used it in front of a young person recently & they had never heard it before. Maybe its making a comeback.Keep up the great work.
If the sim & handset are both next g compatible you should rightly expect better speed & coverage than other networks. I haven’t experienced what you have Buzz. I find the network rarely drops back to the slower 2100 Mhz band.
I don’t think Telstra make any bold claims about the speed of the 2100 Mhz network for people that are not using both a 850Mhz capable sim & handset.
I do however understand the frustration of being regularly in an area where my service provider’s network is patchy – for me that’s Optus. For other’s it’s Telstra or VHA!
My sister and my friend both now have Desire HD’s and as the Android expert I found pretty much the same as the review.
LAG! I know there is a fix, but when playing around with an out of box phone this shouldn’t happen and is a reason I’m a sense hater! Battery life is alway going to be a killer on smartphones, and when there are users like my friend who refuse to turn down screen brightness (even at night..) then this is alway going to be a nagging issue.