About 3 weeks ago I bought the smart phone I had been coveting for months – the HTC Desire. Within 2 days I was ready to sell it and I actually got an offer to buy it from me a few days later. By that time, my grumbles about it had been sufficiently addressed that, on balance, I decided not to sell it.
The first catch is that any Desire bought in the UAE has software that will wake you up for morning prayer! It will play even if you turn your phone off and you can’t uninstall it either! Was woken up 2 mornings in a row before googling finally brought the answer. My biggest grumble was to do with podcasting. I had mainly used my last phone, a Nokia E71, for listening to podcasts downloaded directly to it via the convenience of WIFI. I had confirmed that this was also possible on the Desire. Downloaded several podcast clients and was most unimpressed and frustrated with them for a few days. A definite dealbreaker for me and I was thinking the unthinkable – I’ll sell it! Eventually I found out that the menu key was contextual according to the application on the screen. The featureless podcast clients suddenly became functional. OK, I could get podcasts, but the sound was so faint to be unacceptable. So I actively sought a buyer.
Later that day I discovered that my ear buds had been stolen. Now I couldn’t listen to the podcasts while walking around, nor could I sell the phone till I’d got a new pair of ear buds!
Tramped around town with an ever darkening mood as I was repeatedly told that there were no spare pairs, and nor would any pair from other brands work. Tried some from Nokia but the sound was woefully soft. Finally, a Virgin Records salesman brightened up my whole Desire world when I tried some Blackberry ear buds. I actually had to turn down the volume to listen comfortably to my podcasts. Eureka! Not so keen to sell it now.
The next week I got absolutely lost in Sharjah when I overshot a turning in Dubai. Asking the locals didn’t help a bit as we lacked a common language. Together, the Navigation and Map applications in the Desire rescued me. I was warming to the phone at last.
I’ll give some tips about what I found useful when coming to grips with the Desire in a future blog.
