Problems and fix for htcsense.com

Since the launch of the htcsense.com website, which was discussed in a previous article, several problems seem to have arisen. XDA forum user "apprentice" claimed to have the following issues with the website portal:

"I can't remotely call the phone
It fails to load contacts
Does not correctly report my location (or sometimes incorrectly states Phone Finder not enabled)
Lock phone does not work
Have had problems deleting my account to start all over again.
It won't send text messages"

In other words many of the functions available to Desire HD and Desire Z users through the website fail to work.
Others XDA users claimed to have the same issues regarding the web portal. Many of them also contacted HTC, but the responses they received did nothing in the way of solving the problems.
However, XDA user "007K" claims he has a solution to get it working:

" Yes, HTC Sense.com is now fully working on both pc and DHD.
This is what worked for me:

1. Reinstall locations completely on DHD
2. Then remove HTC sense.com account from PC first the DHD
3. Register for a new HTCsense account. Use a new email provider.
4. Log in + sync DHD"

The reason for why the website is having problems is probably because of the relative short time since the launch. However, this is not a valid excuse, because if there are bugs or glitches with something it should not be launched until it has been sorted out. If there is something I have learned by following the smart phone industry it is just this: that phones and software are repeatedly released before they are ready, causing problems and frustration to the consumers.

Nonetheless, I hope it is just a matter of time before HTC gets around to solve these issues, letting users take advantage of the htcsense.com website to the fullest.

A scam free way of getting a free Desire HD?

 

Last night when I was looking for cheap prices for the DHD I found this website. What it claims is that the company running it is willing to give the user a free Desire HD (or any other gadget). Like anyone would be, I was of course very skeptical to this at first. After some research however, I found that their claim is actually valid: They give away free HTC Desire HDs!

Basically, this is how it works:

After signing up on the website, you first type in what free gift you want to receive (for our purposes this would be "HTC Desire HD"). Then, when the picture of the phone pops up, you simply press the "Add to basket" button.  At this point the basket value shows up, and it says "24 referrals". What this means is that you have to invite 24 people to the website which gives you 24 referrals, and enough for a Desire HD (obviously, the number of referrals differs depending on what item you want). In order for the people on the website to send you the phone, however, you first have to complete an offer. Now, the different offers that you can do differs depending on what country you live in, but in most countries you can do offers which are completely free. They range from signing up to free website hosting spaces to renting free online movies, and it is by doing this that the website receives advertisement money which they use to buy the items which they give to you for free. Therefore it is a win-win situation: The website gets money from various other websites who receive online traffic and users, and most importantly, you get a free Desire HD. 

This is of course something very neat, because it allows for people with tight budgets to get things that they otherwise wouldn't be able to buy. Also, when it comes to the smartphone business, I know from first hand experience that it is always tempting to have the latest technology. The problem with this is that it can get quite expensive. By using this method, however, this may just be possible without even having to dig into your wallet.

Desire HD source code released

HTC has now released the source code for the Desire HD. This is significant for two reasons:

Firstly, developers can use and manipulate this code to be able to use the Desire HD software on other phones. "Well, I thought this was already accomplished?" you might ask, if you remember the previous article on just this subject: Desire HD rom ported to Desire. The difference is that the "rom porting" can be done much more succesfully using the source code. For example, in previous ports there were problems with the camera, which can be avoided if the port is done using the source code.
Secondly, and more importantly to the users of Desire HD (us), this will allow developers to start cooking custom roms for the Desire HD. For example, if you for some reason dislike the new Sense UI, you could replace it with the stock Android UI (which can be seen on for example stock Nexus One devices). Developers could also improve various things with the original interface, or create new roms altogether or using parts of other roms. In other words, the possibilities for the Desire HD are now limitless! Well almost anyway ;P

Something to note is that HTC has previously taken quite some time to release source codes for their phones  (HTC Hero for example). This almost immediate release of the source code is a nice initiative by HTC that will be appreciated, and is hopefully setting an example for other Android phone manufacturers worldwide.

If you are a developers or just plain curious you can check out the source code here:
http://developer.htc.com/

Desire HD unboxing

Here is an unboxing video of the Desire HD. Keep in mind that the final boxing found in stores will probably be a bit different.
Enjoy:)

Desire HD appears on European market

As some of you may have noticed, the countdown to the release of the DHD has disappeared. This could only mean one thing, and now news are spreading in support of this. According to tweakers.net it appears that the first Desire HD phones have finally been shipped off, and Holland is the lucky country to get them first. The phone is showing up in different stores across the european country and people who pre-ordered it are now getting it sent to them.

HTC hardware defect to decide the future of the Desire HD?

More and more owners of the HTC Desire and other HTC phones are reporting cases where  their phones seemingly randomly reboots, resulting in a hard reset of the phone (meaning all the users data is removed). The problem seems to arise when simple apps like the browser or the navigator is used. These apps use the internet to function, and many speculate that the problem is 3G related as it occurs mainly when 3G connection is used. Something interesting is that people living in cold conditions have been less likely to experience this, and cooling the phone down has also seemed to temporarily solve the problem. This means it's caused by overheating, and many speculate it is therefore processor related. The Desire is equipped with a 1 GHz ARMv7 "Snapdragon processor.

Now, more importantly, how will this affect the HTC Desire HD? The DHD uses a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdgragon 8255 processor, which is similar to the processor found in the HTC Desire. Will the Desire HD therefore suffer from the same problem? This is something that ofcourse cannot be answered at this moment, but that will be found out later as the phone is released to the general public later this month. Many HTC Desire users who are stuck with this issue are reporting it as making their phones "completely useless", destroying an otherwise very nice user experience. They are also warning others NOT to buy any future HTC devices, as they will only regret it in the future. For all you readers awaiting the new Desire HD and for HTC itself I'm hoping that DHD wont be affected by this, as it would surely affect the future of the phone and how successful it will ultimately be.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and state how you think the Desire HD will be affected.

Desire HD Camera quality - Is the Desire HD not that HD?

The HTC Desire HD has been fitted with an 8 Megapixel camera with dual LED flash. Even though image quality usually increases as the number of megapixels increases, it is not always the case, and this is a bit misleading. For example, most 5 MP cameras take much nicer images than the 8.1 MP camera that my current phone has. HTC phones have in the passed also been quite lacking when it comes to camera performance, and it wouldn't surprise me if the Desire HD followed suit. In fact, the images taken with the Desire HD will probably be very similar in terms of quality as the ones of HTC Desire. This is a bit disappointing, keeping in mind the rather large price tag.

Some sample pictures, taken from mobile-review.com, can be seen here. Keep in mind that these were taken with an engineering sample and changes can be made prior to release. Although, this is not too likely.