Mobile Ignoramus Desires Desire

[Mr Hammers]

That's it. I want a smart phone. I've wanted one for a long time, and after having a go on a mate's iphone I've decided my existence is pointless unless I have one of these fandangled things on my hip.

Thing is, while I'm pretty up on most new tech stuff, I'm very easily confused with the array of tariffs out there. I know what phone I want, and that's an HTC Desire. iPhones are cool, but I don't like buying into all that apple stuff, and would rather go with Android as an OS.

I'm looking at one deal with Orange that gives the equivalent of a £15 per month (normally £25pm) when you take into account a 'redemption scheme' with Canary (they give you back £45 every few months)

Here's a link to it;

https://www.best-mobile-contracts.co.uk/phones/HTC-Desire.aspx

What I'm worried about is that if I sign up with this, and it's tempting as it's the cheapest out there that I can find, that I'll suddenly find I end up paying twice that just to use all the things that it can do, because there are lots of hidden charges just waiting to bite me in the arse.

So, question is (to anyone who knows about these things) does this look like a good deal to you? And, are Orange crap?

I wouldn't be using it to make masses of calls each month, but I would probably spend a lot of time on the net. Email isn't too important, if it costs, but might be handy if it cheap (or free).

Any help/guidance much appreciated!
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A Guide To Powerbands

[Stevie GooGs]

Desire is getting on m8 get the HTC Desire HD. With regards to to contract, ive been with Orange but the signal is not the best where i live (highlands) so i switched to vodafone and got the Galaxy S. I would honestly hold off for the Desire HD.
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Current: 2019 Yamaha T7 -> 2015 KTM Superduke R | 2000 Yamaha R1 Past -> 2009 KTM 990 SM -> 2005 kawasaki ZX10r -> 2000 Honda CBR 600 FY -> 2002 Honda XLV 125 Varadero
Bike Pics! -> My Photography Website

[Scooty]

I went with T-Mobile for the 18 month £35 option. 3GB download limit a month is pretty good. Have only found about 2 seconds of 3G signal yet though, so depends where you live.
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Current Bike: 2018 Honda CRF250L
Ex-Bikes: 2002 Honda CG125, 1998 Honda VFR800, 2011 Honda CBR600F, 2013 Triumph Sprint GT SE, 2015 Kawasaki ZX10R

[The Artist]

If I was you, I would wait for desire HD.

Even if you only want the desire because when the HD comes out, the desire will drop in price and you can get a better deal.

I have the desire and it is awesome. Infinitely customisable and considerably better than the iphone if you can be arsed to sit and read through some of the topics on android forums.

[Tarmacsurfer]

Can't say I'm that enamoured of the HD. Very large in the hand and a tiny battery, plus a not overly wonderful screen. I'm dubious, very, very dubious.
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I'm immortal. Well, so far.

[Feasty]

I have the Desire and it is a fantastic phone except for one thing - the battery life. If you play games for a little while on it or do much surfing you'll find yourself charging it up all the time!

I've got a contract with unlimited web access, and I need it too with all the app's and games to try!
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Previous: Aprilia Habana Retro 50cc (beauty), Yamaha SR125 (fell apart), Honda XR125 (nippy little commuter), Honda SLR650 (Geewhizz), Yamaha Diversion 900S (Smoooooth) written off courtesy of a stupid escaped horse.
(7 year gap), BMW F650 (Relaxing ride). Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 (Big and bold). Yamaha FZS600 (got me in trouble too quick!).
Current: Yamaha TDM 900 (Comfy, light but big, power when needed).

[Stevie GooGs]

[Feasty]

I'm not sure, I'm with O2 and I do know that the unlimited web comes to an end at the end of this month - which is why I'm downloading just about every app I might find useful now!
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Previous: Aprilia Habana Retro 50cc (beauty), Yamaha SR125 (fell apart), Honda XR125 (nippy little commuter), Honda SLR650 (Geewhizz), Yamaha Diversion 900S (Smoooooth) written off courtesy of a stupid escaped horse.
(7 year gap), BMW F650 (Relaxing ride). Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 (Big and bold). Yamaha FZS600 (got me in trouble too quick!).
Current: Yamaha TDM 900 (Comfy, light but big, power when needed).

[Robby]

I have a desire, bought it second hand (couple of weeks old) on ebay I so can have a sim only 1 month rolling contract - hate the idea of being tied in for 18 or 24 months. Great phone, does loads of stuff (like smartphones have for ages) and does it well (which smartphones haven't done for ages).

It does chomp through the battery playing games. Is there such a thing as a battery cover with a solar panel in it yet? Seems like a good idea for such phones.

[smegbrains]

I use GiffGaff, very handy and the only genuinely unlimited net/texts I've come across. They just don't want you to take the mick and tether it or use it in a 3G dongle, which is fair enough. £10 a month on the bundle gives me 100 mins and unlimited texts and net, which is plenty for me.
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Current Bike: Honda CBR 600F
Ex Bikes: Suzuki GX 125

[Aka Matt]

If you give orange a ring you may be able to get a better deal than the £15. I called them up for my younger brother friday and got him the phone, 300 mins, unlim texts and 500mb internet for the grand sum of £12.50 a month on a 24 month contract (he was an existing customer mind so not sure how that may affect things).
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Current bike(s): 2016 Tuono 1100 Factory, 1998 Hornet 600
Previous: 1998 YZF600R Thundercat, 2001 Bandit 600, 2002 GSX-R 600 K2, 2011 Tuono R, 2013 Z1000SX

[Mr Hammers]

[MonkeyKnuckle]

[The Artist]

[smegbrains]

[el_oso]

i am in need of a new phone. current phone really is dying on me now.
is the desire really worth it over the wildfire.
what is the battery like on the wildfire?
also don't think that getting a smart phone is such a great idea for me. i rarely use the Internet. occasionally may use wi-fi. definately don't want all my e-mails coming straight through to my phone as this would get annoying.
all i really need is something that has a decent music player so that i can listen to some tunes on the way to work, which is a 30 minute journey. calls. texts. GPS would also be handy for them times when i need to find where i am from time to time.
i want the desire because it looks so good (screen) and is a powerful piece of kit, even though the wildfire would still probably do the same job that the desire does at roughly half the price.
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Duke 390
Previous: '05 XR125L | '96 XJ600S Diversion |'05 Suzuki GSXR1000 | '05 Honda CBR125-R | '97 YZF 600R Thundercat | '11 Honda CBR250
Car: Jeep Wrangler 4.0L

[MattHirst]

To be honest, i'd go for the desire over the wildire.

The desire has a bigger screen for one (with better resolution) so the GPS will be more visible in that aspect. The wildfire is almost the same phone inside but the desire has a better (iirc) gpu, bigger screen and a few other jibba jabba's!

You don't have to get all your emails sent to your phone, iirc you can set it to sync manually, so it only retrieves all your emails if you tell it to. I only have my gmail sent to my phone as my NTL is pointless, can't send it through my phone anyway (or any PC not connected through my NTL/virgin line)

There should be quite a few cheap Desire's on the ghey of E soon when the Desire HD (HTC Ace) is more main stream.

Sorry if it doesn't make sense, i'm a bit sozzled to say the least!
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It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt, then it's bloody hilarious!!!

[Tarmacsurfer]

If you're after a phone that is mainly for music I'd look elsewhere. If you're not using it as a net browser, social network feed and info point then a smartphone is pretty redundant and one of Android's main failings so far is the media handling. You can make it play music and video but it's far from a well polished job under Sense and even the third party apps leave a bit to be desired (no pun intended). The sound quality - particularly over bluetooth - leaves much room for improvement. It will improve, Google are usually quite good from that point of view, but currently the sound isn't great.

I use a Desire, love it to bits and have spent a great deal of time on the HTC ROM scene over the years upto and including driver projects for PC/Phone comms in the early days, only saying this to get across that I'm not biased here and just trying to explain that it may not do what you seem to want.
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I'm immortal. Well, so far.

[bazza]

Go for a Wildfire and one of these: https://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/shop/MP3_Players.1/Cowon_iAudio.15/IAUDIOI9-8GB/Cowon_i9_8GB_MP3_Player.4039.html
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"That's it. You people have stood in my way long enough. I'm going to clown college."
'98 Ducati 750SS, '08 Suzuki GSX650F ©2004-2014, Bazza's Harmless Banter

[el_oso]

already thought about that option. i would get the 16Gb i9 though. double the memory for +£20. my music collection is huge in size (FLAC)
if i do go for the i9 i would not be getting the wildfire. pointless having all those extra features that i will not be using most of the time and having a battery that only lasts a day. considering getting the same phone that i have now (SE c702) and the cowon.
only problem i have with the c702 is the face that i need to use the headphone adapter to listen to music, and i always misplace it.
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Duke 390
Previous: '05 XR125L | '96 XJ600S Diversion |'05 Suzuki GSXR1000 | '05 Honda CBR125-R | '97 YZF 600R Thundercat | '11 Honda CBR250
Car: Jeep Wrangler 4.0L