Here’s my Google Nexus One next to the HTC Desire:

New Widgets.

Since the HTC Desire runs a 7-screen setup (vs. Nexus One’s 5-screen), HTC redesigned a lot of widgets. Many of them take up a whole screen! Some of them I don’t use, like emails (I use the Gmail app), or Favourites [contacts}, which I use the basic People app.

That said, I do like the new Twitter app. It uses enough space to display the last 3-4 tweets, and gives you a textbox to tweet in. Perfect!

And here’s the new Messages widgets. You can swipe up or down to see previous or next messages. I reckon it’s very handy, and saves you time to check out text messages in folders 3-5 clicks away. Now it’s one finger swipe away!

However, I did find widgets I didn’t like. Since most of these widgets take up a whole screen, it can be difficult when you try to fit everything into one screen. Luckily, the Calendar app still only uses up a quater of the screen, and you can still put shortcuts on your main pages. Overall, the flexibility is just about there.

Brighter, prettier screen.

This was the first thing that struck me. When I turned on the HTC Desire, the striking blue background plus the glowing white … it’s not anywhere the same quality I’ve seen before in iPhones or even in the Google Nexus One. Other people agree too. If you get a chance to play with a demo, check it out!

Too many built-in apps.

While I’m a power-user when it comes down to technology, I also prefer simplicity. For example, I prefer my desktop completely void of shortcuts. (I do love shortcuts on my phone; just not on my desktop, where I’d rather see my wallpaper.) In the App Screen, though, the HTC Desire comes with 61 apps! I don’t even use 20 of them. Why do I want with the other forty? Well, I guess tomorrow I’ll find some time to see if I can hide/delete them. This will probably come up again in a future post.

Buttons are physical, not touch-sensitive.

This is very similar to the iPhone - the main button is a click-able button, and doesn’t react to your touches. That’s not completely true, though. The “centre button”, which most people probably don’t notice easily, is actually a touch-sensitive directional button and also clickable. In that sense, you are not restricted to use the touch-screen. You can move your finger on that button to navigate, and click on it to select. But the other buttons - “Home”, “Menu”, “Back”, “Search”, are all phsyical buttons. Having a Nexus One, whose buttons are all touch-sensitive, I thought that was quite different in their decision in user interface design.

HTC Desire is more responsive to touch!

Compared to the Google Nexus One, which has a noticeable delay when you finger swipe, the HTC Desire is on par with the iPhone - no delays.

Correct 3G/HSPDA network display.

With Google Nexus One, which only has 3G and “E” (Emergency, which means you’re roaming), the HTC Desire also displays the HSPDA network properly, which means you’re on a slower speed, but not roaming, basically.

That’s it for now. Next time, I’ll talk about battery use and internet browsing, so stay tuned!

Well, here it is, fresh out of the oven. In this video I quickly talk about being able to transfer contacts between your Androids by connecting your Google or Twitter accounts. The entire video is recorded with my Google Nexus One, woot!

Click here to watch it.

Read the rest of this entry »

And I’ve got a twitter account: @Xavier_Ho. Follow me!

http://exchange.telstra.com.au/2010/05/14/25-reviewers-announced-telstra-htc-desire-social-review/

I’m happy to finally say that I won the participation of the HTC Social Reviewers. According to Kristen, there were over 2000 submissions. To be one of the final 25 lucky people, I feel really honoured and excited. Not to mention I get a new upgrade to my mobile!

Over the next two to four weeks I will be updating my experience and thoughts about the HTC Desire right here on my blog. Of course, it will be themed to suit my personal lifestyle - Android OS related topics, visuals, interface design, etc. And it will be a lot of fun.

Thanks, Telstra!

Disclaimer: This approval of participation is completely freely provided by Telstra, and is decided by the surveys we filled out. My future reviews will be based on my experience with the phone, and not affiliated with any other 3rd party companies. Please don’t think that we got pay or paid anyone to get this role. =]

I found a cute picture on the internet, so I decided to draw it up.

Another day of work, but saw the sunset and I had to run out and grab the photo - simply amazing how nature can change to appear to us.

Well, I’m back, finally. After two months’ break in Taiwan, I must say the experience is now refreshing and great. For one, I learned to change the strings on my guitar by myself. So, there.

Haha, just randomly posting now. More to come!

This is my first guitar I bought and played. But I’m flying back to Taiwan, home for Christmas, and I’m going to have to leave it at the local guitar store for 4-5 weeks. I will miss you!

*says the passionate man, as he plans on getting a cheap acoustic at home* :]

I’ve added a publication link at the top of the navigation bar. The old Weblog link is merged into the dragon icon - you can actually click on it now.

I felt I needed a place to archive important articles. So that’s where it’ll go.

Hopefully that graph makes sense. Lots of jumping around, though.