In my recent Desire review

Well Kevin C. Tofel of jkontherun has taken the jump and managed to get the HTC Sense UI working on his Google Nexus One, Googles own version of the Desire. He’s detailed the installation process and also outlined some of the features a little further. For the folk who don’t know much about Sense UI, I would suggest taking a look at the article.

Keep it in mind that some of the tethering features, specifically the wireless tether that Kevin mentions are third party additions to the ROM he used and are not part of the stock HTC Sense UI.

So is it worth the effort and minor risks to get the Sense UI on a Nexus One? Even with less than a day of usage, it is for me. The Nexus One was fun to use before thanks to the super specifications, but it’s even better with the Sense UI. Personally, I’d like to see HTC offer the Sense UI for aftermarket installation — even if they charged $10 or perhaps $20, it would be worth it for me.

(image from jkontherun)

The Hero camera also had a short lag after taking the picture, this would often mean you miss that perfect shot and in low light situations you could almost guarantee the picture would be blurred.

The Desire has an LED flash and the significantly faster processor which most definitely makes the difference. In low light the LED flash brightens the environment but not overly so, the image is instantly taken, no delays and the inclusion of face recognition perfects focus on subjects, mainly my daughter so far.

For me, the colour reproduction is the stand out feature, maybe its just the devices screen but images look bright and crisp, I’ve uploaded two quick shots from the garden taken today straight from my Desire using the Wordpress application.

I will have my full HTC Desire review online soon.

My only real issue with the device was its inability to see the applications which I had purchased and used on my HTC Hero. A number of people have reported this very issue and one user received this response from HTC support;

"Dear Andrew The explanation we have been given is that for all new ROMS released we have to supply Google with a "fingerprint" that identifies the ROM and this needs to be updated in their database with compatibility info and such so that the correct apps can be shown. Such as the market filtering out incompatible apps. We do supply these before release of all our ROM’s and devices however we have no say over how long it takes for Google to update their database. Best regards, Bjorn D HTC"

So for the last three weeks I and many other Desire users have been at the whim of Google, well wait no more. As of yesterday Google finally added the Desires fingerprint to their database and DRM protected applications are now available in the market.

So if your a Desire owner, get yourself on the market and see what you have been missing out on.

Well for the last couple of days I have been laid up in hospital with a severe throat infection. I’m a lot better now but that’s a different story.

I was lucky enough to have a few of my gadgets brought in for me which included my Asus EEE 1000H but not my gadget bag which contains my Palm Treo Pro. The Palm is perfect for tethering as it uses the Windows Mobile operating system. With it, I simply connect it to my laptop via the USB cable and open the internet connection sharing application which is built into Windows Mobile as standard and the computer is online, no additional software or configuration required.

So I have a laptop, I have a mobile but no cable to connect them. I had a look on the application market but the only real option is an app called ‘Wifi Tether for Root Users’. This turns your Android device into a router using the mobile network as a connection to the internet. It would have been perfect but I unfortunately couldn’t get it to work on my HTC Hero. A little searching later using the Hero’s browser and I stumbled across this forum entry on the applications Google Code pages. Its actually a Sprint Hero user with the same problem but the result was a beta version from the developers which works perfectly and finally allows my laptop to connect via wireless and access the internet!

Speeds from my hospital bed are in the region of 2Mbps which is perfect for catching up on feeds, emails  and the of course this post.

The beta version is available here to download but the usual rules apply, it is beta code and so be wary of that when installing on your device;

http://android-wifi-tether.googlecode.com/files/wireless_tether_1_61-pre1_htc.apk

The only complaint about using this method is of course the battery drain on the Hero, with both Wifi and HSDPA radio under heavy usage I can’t see the phone battery lasting more than 5 hours. I have a phone charger here so its not so much a problem but if you spend a lot of time on the move and require your phone to last I would suggest maybe another method of connectivity.

Also whilst typing out this post, the doctors have told me I can go home today which is great news.

I’ve had quite sometime with my new HTC Hero and as part of being a new user to the Google Android environment I have spent a fair amount of time finding applications to help with daily tasks. This has been made much easier with the 100,000+ apps in the Android Market.

So here are some of the apps I currently have installed;

Barcode Scanner – This should be the first app for any Android user as it not only can be used to scan every day products to search online retailers for pricing but its also used for navigation, say to a particular app in the market or a URL online.

Meebo IM – A simple but effective instant messenger to connect with the standard MSN, Yahoo, ICQ and AIM networks. As an added bonus it can also connect to Facebook chat.

Evernote – The Android version of Evernote is only in beta and only handles basic tasks but its far better than heading for the browser. It allows easy upload of photos and voice notes, a real must for anyone as disorganised as me.

Astrid – This fantastic ‘To Do’ app is simple but powerful in it’s own right but the icing on the cake is its perfect Remember The Milk synchronization and support for Smart Add.

beebPlayer – A nifty client for viewing the BBCs iPlayer online streams. Supports not only TV & Radio on demand but also can play live streams. It’s like having the BBC in your pocket.

wpToGo – A elegant, simple to use app for blogging to Wordpress blogs whilst on the move. Has support for multiple blogs, image upload, links and much more. Worth noting this post has been written using this app!

Stream Furious – If like me you tune into online radio this app is perfect. It’s straight forward with an extensive of list stations built in, it also allows you to paste links to your favorite stations that may not be in its list.

Wireless Tether for Root – This app uses your phones data connection and spreads it via the WiFi adaptor just like a wireless router. Only downside is it requires you to root your device.

Abduction! World Attack – A nicely polished game for those moments of waiting around in queues, it involves you rescuing animals abducted by aliens. Makes excellent use of the accelerometer for game controls.

What the Doodle?!? – An online multiplayer version of pictionary which tasks you to drawing doodles on your screen and having other online players guess the object. Very very addictive.

These are just a few so far but ill check back soon with more.

Any other app suggestions then hit up the comments.

Well eight weeks ago in a moment of weakness I ordered up a new phone contract and a HTC Hero from Mobile Phones Direct and so the switch began.

For the first couple of days despite the very slick setup of the device and seamless integration with Google’s services, Facebook and Twitter I felt deep in the unknown, well out of my comfort zone. Once I began to play with the device and experiment further it all seemed to fall into place.

Hardware

First thing I noticed about the device is the chin, whilst its not a style feature it does add functionality in that it helps with grip on the device, I can hold the phone right at the bottom with one hand and because of the chin this feels very secure.

This then leads me on to the screen which is by far one of the best smartphone touchscreens I have used. Its the first capacitive touch screen I have used on a device other than an iphone and it feels perfect, touch is accurate, scrolling it sensitive but not overly so and coupled with the finger friendly Android interface its a joy to use.

The inclusion of a 3.5mm headphone socket had me reaching for my favourite Sony headphones once again and as a portable media player the Hero really works. There is even a skip, play and pause function on the device locked screen which means you don’t need to unlock it to change playback. Just small things like this make the device feel very rounded on the whole.

Battery life is good, with heavy usage I’m getting a around 36 hours, this is with the Wi-Fi and bluetooth radios left on, some browsing, push email and an instant messenger application running all day.

Software

I felt well out of my dept at first, its the first Android device I’ve used for more than five minutes and even  basic tasks like application management took time for me to grasp. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe this to be a fault of the operating system, more a user issue. I have been so used to Windows Mobile I found myself looking at the Hero aimlessly thinking about how I would complete an action in Windows Mobile, once I got over this hurdle usage fell into place which I suppose is the same for any long term user of an operating system.

One of the things that strikes you the most about the Hero is how tightly integrated with Google it is, simply entering your username and password syncs your Gmail messages, Google contacts and Google Calendar. Taking this a step further, entering your Facebook login details then matches your contacts to Facebook friends, synchronising their Facebook profile picture, birthday, status updates and uploaded pictures, all of this from the contact card on your device. It also enables instant sharing of photos and videos to Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

The big story of the Hero is HTC’s new user interface, Sense UI. This is the medium between us as users and the devices functionality. We are used to HTC bridging this gap with Windows Mobile devices using TouchFLO and they certainly do deliver with Sense. It consists of a 7 panel view which can be switched between with a simple finger swipe side to side.  These panels house widgets, on the centre panel by default is the clock with a weather panel giving you the current forecast for your current location, then the three panels to the right and left of this are easily customisable with a whole host of available Android and HTC widgets.

The other feature of this interface is Sense preconfigured scenes, which have different uses. For example the Work scene contains world times, quick access to email, calendar, contacts and stocks information whereas the Social focuses on items like Twitter and SMS messages. Its very well thought out and means you can switch between these items based on what your day will entail.

HTC has go all out with applications for Android, there’s HTC Peep which is a full featured Twitter client and widget, the Stocks app which also has its  own widget and the interesting Footprints applications. This allows you to save your GPS location, add a picture, notes and categorise them. Useful for remembering the nice restaurant you found or noting a memory of a day trip somewhere. Other applications can be downloaded through the application market, its straight forward, simple and clean cut enough for anyone to be able to use and the number of applications on there is incredible, again something I have never experienced with Windows Mobile.

Browsing with the Hero is also a pleasurable experience, Androids browser is fantastic and comparable to that of Apples iphone but not quite as speedy. It reflows text perfectly almost every time a page is loaded and renders everything I have  thrown at it, including YouTube videos from the desktop site using the included HTC Flash. In fact browsing it so good on the Hero I find myself using it more for web stuff than any other device I have owned.

One of the other things i wanted to mention here was the radio management to conserve battery life. I configured my home Wi-Fi network on the Hero and it will use that network for its data needs, during this time the 3G/HSPDA radio is turned off, saving battery. I walk out of my house and the Hero loses connection to the home network, it turns the Wi-Fi into standby and enables the 3G/HSDPA radio. Whilst this seems like the obvious thing to do as a long term Windows Mobile user its not been the case with my previous devices.

Conclusion

Overall the HTC Hero is superb device, its slick, smooth, well integrated, well connected and also looks great. It is certainly smoothed my transition from Windows Mobile and shown me that great functionality can look good also.

If like me you push the boundaries of what your phone can do and your not interested in being tied into Apples policies then the Hero is for you. 

Since the switch I haven’t looked back and for a number of reasons. First off when I say lightweight I mean incredibly so, even with multiple tabs open only a fraction of the memory when compared to Opera Mobile and at no loss of performance or in anyway reducing the experience. The rendering is fast, probably the fastest I have experienced of the non server side rendered browsers. This coupled with the better HSDPA signal when using the Treo Pro mean that I am using my device for more and more browsing.

One of the other interesting points to note is a recent update to version 1.1.9 has changed the way certain sites are displayed. When visiting m.facebook.com or google.co.uk/reader I now receive the iphone version of these mobile sites,  which is a far better experience that the standard mobile versions of these sites. I hate to say that I’m grateful to Apple for giving the web masters of these sites an excuse to build a custom version for the iphone but in this case its a real bonus.

All of the above points are really making a case for me switching to the Treo Pro from my trust HTC Diamond on a permanent basis.

Those who follow me on Twitter will already know that I plan to follow in the footsteps of Kevin C. Tofel from jkontherun and replace my Windows Server 2003 file server at home with Windows Home Server.

I will go a little more in depth into the installation and my impressions in the coming week so check back if you want to follow the action.

Also this post was from my Windows Mobile based Touch Diamond via moBlog. More on that coming soon too.

I’m out and about today and had 30 minutes to kill before I was due to meet a friend so I fired up the laptop and connected with HTC Touch Diamond.

With Windows Mobile the process is so easy, when I connect the phone to my laptop, I get a popup on the device asking which mode I would like to connect by, Active Sync, Mass Storage Mode or Internet Connection Sharing. I pick the latter and am connected to T-Mobiles HSDPA network in seconds, the whole process is two clicks or less and couldn’t be simpler.

As with anything I subscribe to or take part in I have to look for a mobile version so that I can take it anywhere with me and Twitter was no exception.

I’ve tried only two Windows Mobile applications for accessing Twitter and I think I’m fairly confident in saying there is no need to try anymore as PockeTwit is simply fantastic.

Its a fairly small download with a highly usable finger touch enabled interface which is a pleasure to use.

Swiping gestures to the left and the right provide a whole host of options for program settings, individual tweet options and there is even the ability to Geotag your uploaded images.

Features include;

• A unique user interface
• Works on VGA, QVGA and SmartPhone devices
• Support for multiple twitter and identi.ca accounts
• Maps view shows users on a world map and allows searching by region
• “Conversation View” shows a what this status was in reply to.
• Uses standard notifications to alert you of new friends statuses or replies
• URL shortening with is.gd
• Take photos and send to TwitPic
• Integrated search.twitter.com
• Clickable @names, URLs, and #Hashtags
• Option to check for new version on startup
• Themes