HTC Desire Tips, Tricks and Tweaks
Tips/Tweaks
HOW TO: Sync Music And Videos Between HTC Desire and Computer
211 year ago
Introduction
If you’ve used an Apple iPhone, you’re probably familiar with iTunes. Whether you love it or hate it, you know that it’s a handy way of quickly transferring audio and video to your iPhone without much difficulty.
When you get a Desire and look for a software CD, you’ll find it doesn’t come with one. This is because there is no “official” Android equivalent of iTunes. However, there is a really handy application (free of course) which does a really good job of managing music between your computer and phone, DoubleTwist.
Getting Started With DoubleTwist
IMPORTANT: For your phone to be picked up by DoubleTwist you need to mount it as USB. When you connect your Desire to the USB cable select Disk drive and press Done
DoubleTwist is a free piece of software that works on both Windows and Mac. Just visit the website and download it for free, then install it.
When you first run it you’ll be asked to register an account. It’s quite straightforward, and when you’re done you’ll be ready to start managing music.
Adding Music and Videos to DoubleTwist
To your media to DoubleTwist, you have a few options:
- Add your existing music files. If you have music and video files on your computer then you can easily add them by going on File > Library > Add to Library and browsing to the location of your existing media.
- Import your existing iTunes playlists into DoubleTwist. By default iTunes playlists will be viewable under the Playlists option, but you won’t actually be able to send them to your phone until you import them.
To import go on File > Library > Import iTunes Playlists - Amazon Music Store – DoubleTwist integrates with the Amazon Music Store so you can buy music from within the DoubleTwist application. The Amazon Music Store is an alternative to the iTunes Music Store and you’ll find plenty of music there.
Sending Music to Your Phone
Now that you’ve got your music library into DoubleTwist, you can easily transfer it to your phone. There’s a couple of options to do this too:
- Drag and Drop – the simplest way to do things. Drag one (or more) songs from the Library onto where it says HTC Android Phone (a ‘+’ icon will appear)
- Sync A Playlist – if you imported playlists from iTunes, or created your own from within DoubleTwist then you can use this option. Just click on HTC Android Phone in the sidebar. Check the Sync Music box. Choose whether you want to sync all playlists, or ones you specify. Click the Sync button
Drag and Drop Mode
Sync Playlist Mode
When your music is sent across, DoubleTwist automatically organises your songs into a folder called Music, with subfolders for each artist and then another for each album. I find that really handy and far more convenient than managing files on your SD Card manually.
Notice the folder stucture, Music/Artist/Album
Sending Video to Your Phone
You can add video to DoubleTwist in the same way as you did with music. To send it across you just drag and drop. DoubleTwist automatically attempts to optimize the video for your phone and its screen size, whichs sometimes takes a while and can even result in a larger file size than the original you’re trying to copy. If you find this a problem then copy video directly to the phone. In the meantime I’m going to see if I can find the best way to convert video for your HTC Desire.
Bonus Features
Along with an easy way to manage your music and videos, DoubleTwist also has some great extra features:
- Amazon Music Store – the Music store lets you browse and purchase music from within DoubleTwist. Once purchased you can sync it to your phone too.
- Android Market Browser – DoubleTwist lets you browse around the Android Market place from your computer. It also shows additional information about the application such as size, version number, and a handy QR code so you can download the application on your phone quickly.
- Podcast Search – find and view/listen to popular podcasts. As far as I know you can’t download and send podcasts to your phone, but someone correct me if I’m wrong.
Amazon Music Store
Android Market Browser
Final Words
I think DoubleTwist is amazing. It’s free, and it provides a very easy way of managing your media on the HTC Desire (or any other Android phone for that matter).
As I’m no expert on video, I’ll have look at the best way to convert video for the HTC Desire and find out if the increase in file size is normal. I assume it is because it uses a different video format (i.e. converts from avi to mp4).
Let me know if you’ve tried it, or if you know of any better alternatives. Enjoy!
EXPLAINED: What ‘Android’ and ‘Froyo’ Are And What They Mean For You
112 years ago
In the past couple of weeks, most of the hype has been about ‘Froyo’, and the features that it may/may not include. This article aims to help everyone understand what it actually means, discusses potential features, and what it actually means for you as a HTC Desire owner. Let’s start with basics:
Android
Android is the operating system that is installed on your mobile phone. If you consider your phone to be the hardware – the touchscreen, buttons, camera, mic, trackpad all the little components on the inside, then the operating system (OS) is the software that makes the hardware come to life. From the moment you turn your phone on, Android is running. It provides you with everything you see on the screen, whether its your homescreens, making a call, sending a text message or taking a picture, all of it is done using Android. This operating system is developed by Google and provided free of charge.
HTC Sense
As a Desire owner, it’s safe to say you’ll have come across the term HTC Sense. HTC Sense is a version of Android which has been customised by the company that made your phone, HTC. As Android is free and open-source, it’s open to any developer to download the code and edit it for themselves. HTC have gone and done just that, creating a fantastic variation of Android. HTC Sense includes the homescreen that you get, the widgets, the Mail, Browser, Messaging applications, even the on-screen keyboard you get and other similar features. In simple terms, HTC Sense is Android, but modified by HTC.
NOTE: If you’re using a phone by another manufacturer, then it may also have a variation of Android, for example Motorola phones call their variation MotoBlur. Phone that use the Android OS as supplied by Google without any/minor customisation are referred to as running Vanilla Android, with Vanilla being the geek-term for plain.
Donuts, Eclairs and Froyos!
All these desserts are Google’s names for the Android OS as it matures over time. Android is under constant development by Google. Each new version of Android is assigned a codename based on a famous sweet snacks which go in alphabetical order. Donut is Android 1.6, Eclair is 2.1 (the version you have on your Desire) and Froyo is 2.2, which is due to be released around 19 May.
Android Versions on HTC Desire (and other HTC Phones)
As mentioned earlier, HTC phones come with a modified version of Android called HTC Sense. With each new version of Android, HTC get the code from Google and then apply their changes to make it into HTC Sense. This process can take from days, all the way up to months. This means that you can’t expect the HTC Sense version of Android to be released on the same day as the Vanilla release. You have to wait for HTC to finish altering and testing it. HTC Hero phone owners are still waiting for their HTC Sense version of Eclair from HTC – Google released Eclair in January!
About Froyo
Froyo is the next version of Android which is rumoured to bring some exciting new changes to Android phones. The most interesting of which are described below:
- Flash Player 10.1 – Up til now Android phones have used Flash Lite, which is only a very limited way of viewing Flash content. Flash Player 10.1 will allow you to view Flash content on your phone, in almost exactly the same way as you would on your PC. For example, you should be able to watch iPlayer directly from the BBC website, play Flash games on certain websites and view websites that have been created using Adobe Flash. This feature is guaranteed to be included in Froyo.
- Applications on SD Card – If you rooted your handset you’ll know how useful it is to use your MicroSD card for installing applications on. It means you’re no longer restricted to the limited capacity of your phone. Google have now decided that they will allow this functionality in future versions of Android. This is great news considering how many games and applications use quite a large amount of storage space. This feature is most-likely going to be included in Froyo, but not guaranteed.
- Tethering - this allows you to connect your phone to your computer, and share the mobile internet coming into your phone with your computer. For example, if you’re travelling on a train with a laptop where there’s no WiFi, you could plug your Desire into the laptop using your USB cable and enable tethering. The laptop would then be connected to the Internet via the mobile internet connection of your phone. Bear in mind that most mobile networks state that your data allowance can’t be used for tethering.
What Does It Mean for My HTC Desire?
Well, Froyo will be announced on the 19 May at a Google Conference. It will be released on the same day, or within a few days in it’s Vanilla form. The Vanilla version will work on phones whose manufacturers didn’t bother with customising Android, for example the Google Nexus One. For the HTC Desire, we’ll be waiting for HTC to create the Sense version of it – and it’s whenever they’re ready that we’ll see the update on our Desires.
Summary
- Android is an operating system
- HTC Sense is Android that has been modified by HTC
- Froyo is a codename for version 2.2 of Android, Eclair is the codename for version 2.1
- Froyo will be released around the 19 May 2010
- Froyo for the Desire will be released when HTC modify Froyo with their changes to make it into HTC Sense
What Now?
Well, I hope you now have a better understanding of what it is that makes your Desire tick. If you have any questions, or spot any mistakes do let me know.
FIX: Constant “Preparing Download” Message When Installing Market Application
32 years ago
This article is written by Paul AKA Munkeycop, via Twitter.
Update. 25 May 2010: This method will also solve issues where you get an error message saying “Google Talk authentication has failed”
Introduction
All day yesterday I was unable to download any Android apps from the marketplace, it was very annoying. The phone would constantly say ‘preparing download’ and that was it, there wasn’t even an error message. It turned out the problem wasn’t with the phone but it was to do with a change that Google made to their email service this week.
All over the world googlemail.com is known as gmail.com, here in the UK it is called googlemail.com due to a copyright dispute. However, Google sorted out the legal stuff and this week offered all UK users the option to move over to a gmail address. They claimed the switch over would be seamless but it would seem that they’ve overlooked Android handsets.
Once I changed over to gmail.com my HTC Desire was suddenly unable to download apps from the Android Marketplace. The issue is with the ‘Talk’ application on the handset (Talk is Google’s equivalent of Windows Instant Messenger). When downloading from the marketplace, in the background, ‘Talk’ signs in on your Google email address and that is what authenticates the handset to commence the download. In my example it was still signing in on my old googlemail.com address but this no longer existed (I was also getting an error message stating that Google Talk would not authenticate, a telltale sign of this problem). This is why I was unable to download anything. What doesn’t help is that there is no option on the handset to change the settings for the Talk application, you are stuck with the settings you already entered when you set up the phone for the first time.
The Fix(es):
Option 1 – Not Recommended
Remove your googlemail.com account from your phone then add the new gmail address. The problem here is that removing your googlemail.com account from your phone requires a full phone reset, this involves losing EVERYTHING on your phone and starting again from scratch. Not good.
Option 2 – Much Better!
Go into your google email account settings (via a computer, not your handset) and switch back to your old googlemail.com address. The second I did this and restarted my handset’s internet connection the applications started downloading again.
In order to refer Gmail back to googlemail.com follow these steps:
- On a computer, log into your gmail.
- Click Settings (top right)
- Click Accounts and Imports
- At the bottom, next to ‘Change Account Settings‘, click on ‘Google Account Settings‘.
- On the opened page it will tell you near the top whether you have a gmail or googlemail address.
- Go back to the previous page, next to ‘send mail as’ there is a small ‘switch to gmail?’ link, click this.
- Then, click the link that says ‘go back to googlemail‘, then on the next page click the next button to confirm (I think it’s the big blue button).
- Then click on the ‘Google Account Settings’ link from step 4; this should now confirm you are back on a googlemail account.
Credits
This article is written by Paul AKA Munkeycop, via Twitter.
If you have anything tips, tricks or news to share then feel free to email: hello [at] myhtcdesire [dot] com
Desire Root Update: Vanilla Android and Custom Recovery
12 years ago
Paul O’Brien (the guy working on rooting the Desire) has just posted up 2 images of his HTC Desire: one running Vanilla Android (standard Android without HTC Sense), and the other with a custom recovery image (which lets you put custom ROMs such as Vanila Android on your Desire). As you can see below from the white top bar, standard Android Widgets and the default homescreen that owners of other Sense-less Android phones (such as Nexus One) will recognise:
HTC Desire running Vanilla Android
HTC Desire with a custom Recovery Image
His latest tweet says that “Desire kitchens are a go-go” – basically meaning that you should be able to customise your own ROM file and install it to the Desire!
I’ll keep you updated as further information is released throughout the day!
HTC Desire Rooted!!! Expect public release 28 April
02 years ago
Paul O’Brien, widely known for his work on Android phones and the Modaco custom ROMs for numerous Android phones has just posted up a screenshot showing the HTC Desire with root permissions. He later tweeted saying that if all goes well the root method will be made available to the public from tomorrow (28 April 2010).
Here’s a screenshot showing the SuperUser application, and he also posted saying that this app as well the su file (essentially what makes the Desire rooted) have been successfully written to the system partition.
What does rooting actually mean? Rooting is called that because it gives you “root” permissions, which is like administrator access to the entire Android operating system that your Desire is running. With it you can:
- Run additional applications such as screenshot apps, Titanium Backup (a brilliant way to backup applications AND their settings), put WaveSecure on the system partition (which is safer than installing it as a normal app)
- Install a custom recovery image, which gives you extra options like a full backup of your phone (nandroid), formatting sd card and flashing custom ROM files
- Install applications to the SDCard using a2sd
Custom ROM files are unofficial firmware created by the massive Android community developers. Each ROM is normally unique and can feature additional applications, tweaks and even bug fixes that isn’t on the stock HTC firmware. You’ll probably find ROMs that can remove HTC Sense altogether, ones which are based on the public Android source code and ones which features all kinds of tweaks and fixes. The possibilities are pretty-much unlimited.
Please remember that rooting will void your warranty with HTC, Paul hasn’t yet mentioned if it’s possible to restore the warranty by reflashing the stock HTC firmware (as was possible on the HTC Hero).
Will post further updates tomorrow when the root method is released.
HOW TO: Improve Your Internet Connection on T-Mobile
82 years ago
Here’s some Internet settings which you can use on your T-Mobile HTC Desire contract to improve your internet connection in case it’s a bit flaky. Before you start to edit them I’d strongly recommend you write down the original settings in case you want to revert (or if someone is kind enough to post them in comments then even better!)
The settings are as follows:
name= T-mobile Internet
apn= general.t-mobile.uk
username = t-mobile
password= leave it as it is (or set to blank)
mmsc= http://mmsc.t-mobile.co.uk:8002/
mms proxy= 149.254.201.135
mms port= 8080
mmc= 234
mnc= 30
auth= pap
To edit your internet settings go on Settings > Wireless & Network Settings > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names > T-Mobile (or whatever your selected option is) and then enter the above settings in the boxes as they appear.
Thanks to sgtbarton for the heads up!
Update: Please remember this is for T-Mobile UK.
Update 2: Credits given to correct person. Sorry sgtbarton!
Task Killers – You Really DON’T Need Them
62 years ago
by MrBrightside
in Tips/Tweaks
Before I get into this I want to make one thing clear: it’s not bad to have a task killer installed for the purpose of checking what’s running or to close unnecessary apps, but if you have it make sure the task killer itself isn’t running in the background.
Ok, so a lot of people with their new Desire have been recommended to install a task killer. Here’s a few reasons why you don’t need one:
- The way Android OS works is that when an app is in the background then it’s as if the app is frozen and not really running. The exception being apps that need to run in the background such as feed readers, Twitter clients and so on. Having apps in the background that aren’t doing anything is therefore not a problem. The ones that are (Peep, Stocks and so on) you can just change their update frequency to something higher so they’re not running as often.
- The memory management of Android makes sure you always have sufficient free memory. If the available memory falls below a certain threshold your phone will automatically close older applications. Even though this wasn’t too efficient on the Hero, it’s far better on the Desire which has more initial memory to work with.
- Task Killers themselves use up system resources constantly and in turn use battery life, not to mention that it’s trying to access ALL the other processes. Many users have reported an increase in battery life when they don’t have a Task Killer running
- Some task killers will make Sense laggy. Lagginess is a common complaint from Task Killer users. It keeps trying to access the Sense process and causes it to lag.
- Certain apps restart anyway. HTC Apps like Stocks, Peep and Footprint will restart themselves whenever they’re closed. This restart process might cause your phone to lag for a second, use up extra battery during the initialisation process, and so obviously closing such apps has done more bad than good.
- The Desire actually has enough memory and processing power to handle many applications being open. If it’s not broke then don’t fix it, right?
If you insist on having one installed then make sure it’s not always running. When you select apps to close, make sure the task killer itself is included.
