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Hi guys,
I might buy a HD2 and I want to do everything that a current DHD or DesireZ can do. So keeping this in mind what are things that I shouldnt expect from HD2 ?
Thanks, Help me decide whether or not to buy this phone
go for HD7
Yeah, the Desire builds of Android are indeed pretty decent, and sooner or later the HD2 is gonna be running WP7 aswell so thats kinda a double win there.
sathara said:
go for HD7
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Click to collapse
??? Hmmm, helpful.
If you want to run Android full-time, then battery life may be your biggest issue, but apart from that I find that the current Android ROMs are pretty flawless, and it might be worth the trade-off for allowing you to dual-boot to WM, and save a few £100...
I'd say software-wise there's next to no difference, so after that, it's just a case of comparing the hardware side-by-side to seeing if any differences matter to you, e.g. camera-quality etc.
And a HD7 is just the HD2 hardware, but with non-expandable memory, and an okay-ish OS. Certainly not worth shelling out top-dollar for yet.
No HD7 please. Dont want a WP7 for now. Just want an android phone.
How bad is battery while running android ? Not looking forward to run WinMo anwyays.
I wanted to buy DHD... But its not available in US. Its quite expensive. And no other options for 4.3 Inch screen
If you visit the HD2 Android forums, there's a lot in there about battery life expectations. From all that I would have read, I think a safe generalisation is ~18 hours between recharges, so it depends if that suits your daily patterns (I can just about make it back into bed each night with a little juice left, and then leave it on charge until the next morning).
I've ordered the HTC Extended Battery, which will hopefully give me 1.5/2 days.
sathara said:
go for HD7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow............totally bad post there.....who wants to downgrade to WP7?
Apart from battery no other issues ? Battery if gives me 12 hrs of heavy usage i would be happy It delivers every thing that a nexus one /desire/DZ/DHD delivers ?
I'd really like others to reply, as the more opinions the better , but yes, I find that is is just like the Desire in every regard.
People have faced problems with:
-Data dropping
-Screen taking a while to turn on if screen rotation is on
-'Robot voice' on calls (e.g. you can't hear your call through distortion
But I believe I am right in saying that these have all been just about resolved within the last few weeks in many ROMs. Finding the right combo of ROM and Radio takes some time, but when you do, you should be fine. I face no issues on a daily basis.
The ROMs runs smooth, you get fine-running Live Wallpapers, all Apps work great without slowdown, WiFi is fine, I believe the same with Bluetooth, etc. etc. Some ROMs still have quirks, and in mine (MDeeJay Froyo Revolution) I find sometimes that I cannot save a Contact, but otherwise yes.
If money is no object, get the Desire.
If..
-You want to save the £300 or so
-Want the flexibility of another OS to use
Then get the HD.
I'd suggest looking around http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=743 and even perhaps posting this Q there as well.
Thanks. I vl do that
I am considering picking up and HD2 and loading it with the latest Desire HD Rom.
Before I fork out, can anyone who has seen both running side by side explain any disadvantages of doing so?
I'd like to hear how the performance is, as the DHD is blisteringly fast and if the HD2 seriously lags with the DHD rom I may well reconsider. Obviously the camera is a selling point of the DHD but when we are looking at nearly £300 difference I can live with the reduced megapixel count!
Seriously tempted to get the DHD and dual boot it with Android and Winmo 6.5 but would love to hear from you guys first about any down sides.
People who have done this already, are you pleased with the result or hankering for the DHD?
Thanks.
maybe the buttons? I hear many HD2 users complaining about them. But I must say I never have troubles with my device, I tested out some other HTC android devices and my HD2 is faster, there are roms here that get 3000 + quadrant score, and the DHD doesn't even get close to this.. But I think, the biggest problem with the HD2 is not always having cell reception. 9% of the time - 30% depending upon the area you live in ofcourse so that doesn't affect but also radio and that does affect so it takes quite a while before you found the best radio for your device, also because the radio affects your battery life. So you need to figure out a radio wich gives you optimal reception and also optimal battery life. I think a radio in the 2.10.50.X class is the best for me, but other users prefer other radio's. I use android every day so I must say, there is absolutely no lag on the HD2 but there is on other devices that run android only. THE PLUS: you can use TOMTOM, play PSX Games with PS3 controller, ... all windows things, yes you can hehe. The minus: booting android takes up to 3 minutes, okay it's not a really big deal but the DHD boots in 10 secs that's really amazing. what is cool is that our builds can be huge because we don't need an internal storage, android runs from SD, and faster than winmo even! so if you use a HIGHSPEED SD (HC), then you will have a nice android device. People are working on a 720P camcorder atm. I don't know I would doubt too! I like having winmo..
The difference is that HD2 has dozen of ROM both for Android and WM you can choose from,this in itself is a big advantage and freedom alike,I myself try an Android build at least a day!,they are fast and furious!,but keep going back to WM,nostalgia ,may be,however my son,who also has an HD2 he has become an Android fan,after he wears out this phone will most probably stick to another HD2.
Sorry if a bit off topic.I say get an HD2 this is a nice device.
Thanks for your input guyts, very helpful!
Can I just ask about the multitouch and the ability to play divx / avi videos using an application such as rockplayer / vplayer? Is this ipossible and as smooth as the native Android devices?
Multitouch I think is important for the on screen keyboard. Is this as good as the native android devices also?
I'm almost sold I think from your comments so far!
xspyda said:
Thanks for your input guyts, very helpful!
Can I just ask about the multitouch and the ability to play divx / avi videos using an application such as rockplayer / vplayer? Is this ipossible and as smooth as the native Android devices?
Multitouch I think is important for the on screen keyboard. Is this as good as the native android devices also?
I'm almost sold I think from your comments so far!
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Click to collapse
The hd2 only has 2 point multitouch, and it has issues where it will register 2 touches as being on the same axis if they are close to being on same axis. can mess you up when playing games with onscreen controllers. Newer android devices have 4 point multitouch.
I always say if you plan on just running android, get an android phone. When people say the hd2 runs android better than native android phones, they are usually comparing the tweaked, modified hd2 to a stock android phone. If you put in the time tweaking, rooting, and modifying the native android phone properly, it will run android much better than the hd2 can usually. And android phones also have custom roms with different builds you can try out also. A bunch of android phones can now dual-boot into 2 different android builds, running one off sd card, also.
Now, if you want to have winmo also on your phone, you can't beat the HD2. It does run android great for a port... definitely the best android port on a winmo phone... but you can definitely get native android phones with similar specs to run android much better if you take the time to learn to modify and tweak it like you would do with the HD2.
Despite being a big MS fan, I have not gone back to WM since getting Android working smoothly. It runs perfectly for Divx videos on VPlayer (my personal fave)(and using CifManager I even stream movies from my WLAN server when at home!), and I use PSX4Droid with absolutely no lag issues, or multi-touch issues. My one piece of advice if you go down this route is to get the extended battery, so that you get a comfortable 2-day battery life.
Day-to-day, no issues at all, although you do need some trial and error for ROMs/Radio/Kernal.
If my HD2 died tomorrow, I'd get another HD2 for Android full-time. If money was no issue, I'd get the Desire HD, but honestly I do not see any reason against the HD2.
There are some phones that set the trend for XDA. It is the most popular for the time being and most devs own that phone. It might not be the best hardware for its time but since almost all devs and cookers develop for it, it is best to stick to it. I call this XDA phone. Currently, imho, that phone is HD2. This is why HD2 gets more android builds than many native android phones. My next phone will also be an XDA phone
Hello and merry xmass to everyone.
Here is my question. I'm going to chenge my devices soon, so I dewcided to take a brand new LG Optimus 7 to test the infamous WP7. I never had a proper android device, so I'm thinking about a cheeeeep 2nd hand device to play with the green thing.
The question is: can the HD2 be in the list with devices such as the Milestone/Droid, Nexus One and other former top range android devices?
As far as I can read (and it took me so long to read every single thread in the developement forum) the android experience in the HD2 is so close to the Desire HD that you can't almost notice the difference.
So... would you buy now and HD2 to use it as an android device full time?
SorenStirner said:
As far as I can read (and it took me so long to read every single thread in the developement forum) the android experience in the HD2 is so close to the Desire HD that you can't almost notice the difference.
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not yet, there are many things (and time, of course) to do before Android on HD2 is close to Desire HD
if you love Android you should buy Desire HD
siunhanu said:
not yet, there are many things (and time, of course to do before Android on HD2 is close to Desire HD
if you love Android you should buy Desire HD
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Click to collapse
that's exactly what I thinks as well
Or get the Nexus S and install the Cyanogen build
merry christmas
Well... the DHD and the Galaxy S are not exactly cheep as they are the flagship devices in androind environment. Thay would make my ne LG O7 look like the secondo choice phone and took over as main phone.
I got 200 to 250eur left for an android toy, a 2nd hand Milestone should be the best choice for that range... better than an HD2 with android on it?
SorenStirner said:
I got 200 to 250eur left for an android toy, a 2nd hand Milestone should be the best choice for that range... better than an HD2 with android on it?
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Hi!
If you got 200-250e, yes, I could buy HD2 rather then milestone..
Merry Christmas
buy hd2,cause it can run multiple operatin systems already-imagine what will hapen in 3 months
#1 For HD2.........
I bought the HD2 second hand to run and test Android.
That is the one and only reason I bought it.
My situation might be a bit different as I have a E71 to do my calls with and the HD2 to toy with. Yes, that is right my HD2 has never ever made a useful phonecall.
I love it to bits but if I was only to have 1 phone I would go for a full native Android phone!
I don't see any problem with android on hd2, just don't install desire hd rom. Maybe in a few months even it will work perfectly. There isn't a cheaper and better android phone than hd2
to much battery drain, that is the main problem. also sometimes apps make problems with error messages. i made tests with several builds, but no build is for daily use.
the developers made a very good job, there is nothing to say against them.
but i think, if you want to use android for daily use then buy a desire or desire hd
I haven't found a sense build that is as smooth as it should be, but I don't know how smooth it is on a EVO or DesireHD either.
Using JDMS everything works perfectly except:
1. USB transfer - there might be a way to fix this, i just use dropbox
2. Slow GPS lock time - it takes 2-3 minutes in android, in winmo it took about 15s
3. Battery drain high in standby if GPS is left on - so you have to turn it off then turn it back on when you want to use maps. (otherwise battery is about as good as I got with WinMo
Looking at the build this is really the only 3 problems I can find. Everything else is smooth as butter and extremely stable (haven't had a freeze or restart in about 10 days with it)
The main problem right now is bettery consumption. The HD2 used to last two days with my usage pattern, with Android it's less than a day. Then speed is another issue: I haven't tried the latest RAM builds yet as they are really immature, but as is, the HD2 running DesireHD's Sense it damn slow.
That said, and given that you can find an HD2 for a very low price these days, I think it's a nice choice. I.e. an actual Desire HD consts 3 times the money. But don't expect a reliable phone that you can use daily with no problems. On the contrary, expect to try ROM after ROM and spend countless hours on XDA.
papajohn said:
The main problem right now is bettery consumption. The HD2 used to last two days with my usage pattern, with Android it's less than a day. Then speed is another issue: I haven't tried the latest RAM builds yet as they are really immature, but as is, the HD2 running DesireHD's Sense it damn slow.
That said, and given that you can find an HD2 for a very low price these days, I think it's a nice choice. I.e. an actual Desire HD consts 3 times the money. But don't expect a reliable phone that you can use daily with no problems. On the contrary, expect to try ROM after ROM and spend countless hours on XDA.
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Click to collapse
i think battery drain isnt to much of an issue if you let it run flat at least once a week to recondition the battery.theres not much difference between this and my old Hero or my girlfriends desire when it comes to battery,dont forget it is a big phone with only a 1230mAh battery,a htc wilfire has 1300mAh,even in winmo battery is not great,it just depends how you use it and what your going to use it for,if you keep the clock speed at normal and reboot a few times it should stable out after a few days,I use android everyday now,never really used Winmo only as a backup wich is rarely,yeah you have to expect a thew lags here and there but having used it and compared with my girlfriends desire its on Par with that at the mo
At this time, Android on HD2 is not 100% stable and the big problem still battery drain. If price is not your matter, you should buy DHD with 8 mpx camera, support 720p movie, 1.5gb rom, 768 MB RAM, 16M color.
and of course, if you think about a cheap phone with powerful performance, HD2 is the best choice
The only concern I have with my HD2 running Android is the battery consumption. The battery only last almost a day. Other than that, I use strictly Android and have been doing so for months. I have been running without a reboot for over 11 days just to see how long I can go without a reboot. I normally reboot at least once a week just to clean up my phone. Android is the only way to go for me. Have tried all OS except BlackBerry. Android in MHO is the best. Happy Holidays!
My first concern when purchasing a phone was the price to performance ration. How much bang for the buck are you actually getting? In my case, I got my HD2 for free (not refurb), so I would have to say it was well worth all the lil tweaks and bugs here and there to run Android. I would have gotten it even if android was stock on it. I've had WinMo for way to long. Happy Holidays!
Ps, yes the battery drain is an issue, but it is true on how you use it and for what. If your like me, your on your phone a lotttttt, and 10-12 hours is a good length. Plus I'm not far from a charger most of the time.
Tnx all for your opinions. Though I read a lot of different experiences and feedbacks and I really can not understand if the HD2 can be a good replacement for a native android device.
I might add this: as I'm pretty new to android, the market should be my playground. I'm also trying to learn some Java coding on Ubuntu environment (keeping my Silverlight SDK in the Win7 partition for the LG O7). Would the [email protected] be an hand brake? Should I get a Nexus/Milestone instead to test my experiments and the apps to avoid software issues?
We bought a HD2 for our Son as a joint Christmas & birthday present with the sole intention of installing Android.
I left it as late as possible and then installed MDJ's Desire HD 4.6 after reading the many positive posts.
He has been playing Dungeon Defenders on it today.
Phone plus 16 gig class 6 microSD card came in at £250.
Lots of bangs for your bucks.
(EDIT: been running Android on my HD2 since June thanks to the guys and gals at XDA Devs)
aenedor said:
(EDIT: been running Android on my HD2 since June thanks to the guys and gals at XDA Devs)
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Click to collapse
Really impressive! Can you please tell me the avarage usage of you [email protected] and its battery life? Do you use it as main phone (calling texting mailing googling marketing etc) or it's a backup/toy phone?
SorenStirner said:
Tnx all for your opinions. Though I read a lot of different experiences and feedbacks and I really can not understand if the HD2 can be a good replacement for a native android device.
I might add this: as I'm pretty new to android, the market should be my playground. I'm also trying to learn some Java coding on Ubuntu environment (keeping my Silverlight SDK in the Win7 partition for the LG O7). Would the [email protected] be an hand brake? Should I get a Nexus/Milestone instead to test my experiments and the apps to avoid software issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quite honestly, being a developer myself, i was worried about this as well. However, i successfully developed a 3D app using opengl java wrapper , capable of loading .OBJ files and using the compass/accelerometer as well as bluetooth. It runs quite well in my HD2 (running MDJ's Desire HD 4.6 build). Deployment is easy and you won't encounter any issue. So yeah, i developed for WinMo and Android using the same device. Hope i'll be able to say the samething when it comes to WP7...
Hey there guys, i will be receiving my new HD2 soon in the mail sometime next week and i have a few questions which i hope you guys don't mind answering. My first question how well does it run on the device? Compared to android which runs amazingly with no hitches just as a normal android device would. Are there a lot of bugs present? Could i just install WP7 on it and use that instead of android without there being show stopping bugs present? and lastly how is the battery life on WP7 compared to the android roms?
Many thanks.
Oh this is a big question, im not going to go in to detail now so if you have any further questions than ask away, but for now here is the no BS low down
Does it work, yes, very very well, its quicker than any OS i have ever used, including native iphones, android and even WP7.
Notable bugs include the marketplace freeze, some times the marketplace just packs in and you have to do a reboot to get it working again, i believe thats true to all WP7 devices tho
next, sometimes, very very rarely for me, the touch screen seems to stop, usually a swipe in the opersite direction then try again gets it working in moments
The camera has an issue with focusing, because we dont have a two stage button we cant focus to well, the flash for the camera is slightly out of sync meaning any photo in sub optimal light that uses the flash would result in a photo with a green tint to it. There is an alternative camera app already that is great, it has focus but the flash issue remains.
The battery life isnt too great, this seems mostly due to the differences in the battery controller, WP7 may or may not report the correct battery level, it may appear to drop very fast but that is usually because you didnt charge it fully in the first place, some times you have to restart the phone and charge again to fill it up.
and now the big one that im not going to go in to great detail on
SD cards
this is the single biggest course of almost all issues with the phone, if you have a dodgy card you will get wifi issues, restart issues, lagging issues etc
there is no list of compatible cards, no two cards are alike even within the same model, statistically you have a better chance with a class 2 or 4 card, but thats not to say you will have problems will all class 10 cards
I used to use android and there isnt any chance of me moving back, yes you cant mod the hell out of this but since i got itm, ive not wanted to, it just works and it works very well
i agree 100 %
but i have no trouble in the marketplace - i have downloaded manny games an other apps. with my old sd-card i have a very slow installation but now all is ok.
WP7 works on the HD2 as well as on any native device. I can tell that because I had also a Mozart for 2 weeks and could do a head to head. All the bugs present (Marketplace crashing from time to time) are also present on the native device, so they are not HD2 related in any way.
Battery life is OK for me. With some tweaks I can get a full they of moderate to heavy usage (3G on, 2 e-mail [email protected] min. sync, 1 hr IE surfing, 30 min. gaming and 30 min calls).
To be honest I boot Android lately only to show off to some pathetic DesireHD owners
I agree with all the replies so far. And dazza is completely correct about the SD cards... most issues people are having is because of using a sd card that doesn't play nice with wp7. I haven't had any issues with marketplace, and have had great luck using sandisk class 2 and 4 cards. Every other brand of card I've tried, including kingston, was terrible with wp7.
The main difference between the hd2 and native wp7 phones is that the hd2 only has 56,000 colors while native phones have around 4million colors, and you only get 2-point multitouch with HD2, and it can be kinda buggy, while native wp7 devices all have at least 4 point multitouch... so certain apps that use multitouch may not work properly or at all with the HD2.
Multitouch is the only problem
I have found that on my hd2 that wp7 worked a lot smoother than the native rom. I am very pleased with this OS. It has convinced me to buy one in the near future. which will be in a couple of months
mine works 100% perfect except multi-touch sometimes doesn't work too well. Battery life is good, marketplace never freezes, I have had zero issues with my SD card, speed and fluidity are good.
All the other issues seem to be WP7 and not HD2 related. i would much rather have this over a "real" wp7 device because at least I can boot into Android whenever I want.
I had my first taste of WP7 today, it was really just a taste test to help me decide what to upgrade to when my upgrade is due, I was impressed enough to make my decision.... (Omnia7 in case you were wondering)
I was only running it for about and hour and a half but everything seemed flawless, the activation code I got from MS worked fine and I was up and running in minutes. The only disappointing thing was that although I imported my contacts from my Gmail account no numbers came through. Everyone was there but they had no numbers
The UI was super smooth and the keyboard was far and away the best I have used yet..........
The phone did seem to be getting pretty hot while using it though.
Also the lack of a traditional "taskbar" was quite annoying, I like to see a battery meter at all times.
Overall very impressed though.
Wow thanks for the descriptive replies guys, so it appears to run very stable, I suppose. I'll just give the wp7 a shot first right off the bat instead of android!
unleashed12 said:
Wow thanks for the descriptive replies guys, so it appears to run very stable, I suppose. I'll just give the wp7 a shot first right off the bat instead of android!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha... to make a short statement... and "abusing" your nickname, one could say HD2 feels kind of "unleashed" with WP7.
Enjoy it
tictac0566 said:
Haha... to make a short statement... and "abusing" your nickname, one could say HD2 feels kind of "unleashed" with WP7.
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Click to collapse
i 100% agree with the statement Unleashed with WP7..
and i do agree with the SD card problems.infact,make sure what ever sd card you have,to be a class 4 sandisk on your HD2.as it's the most stable on hd2 with os wp7.
Enjoy!!!and Read as much as you can for your HD2 on XDA mate..
I will also buy a "original" WP7 device.
Do anyone of you know when Dual core smartphones will come out?
I don't want to buy an "old" 1Ghz model, I heared Nvidia has brought Tegra 2 and even 3 is there now which has Quad Core.
Any news about that?
As of now I haven't seen any WP7 phone utilize the tegra processor or any other dual core processor available. There are however many android phones which are using dual cores coming soon. the tegra 3 is still in development if im not mistaken.
orangekid said:
mine works 100% perfect except multi-touch sometimes doesn't work too well. Battery life is good, marketplace never freezes, I have had zero issues with my SD card, speed and fluidity are good.
All the other issues seem to be WP7 and not HD2 related. i would much rather have this over a "real" wp7 device because at least I can boot into Android whenever I want.
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Click to collapse
What's your setup? I'm assuming you have a TMO US phone? Radio, ROM? I'm about to flash and it would be a great help.
I agree with all the reply's here too! I bought my Hd2 after a long line of HTC phones purely so that i could use custom ROM's and take the p**s out of anyone with an iphone. My phone using WM6.5 was "my PC in my pocket". It did everything! I was a bit dubious about installing WP7 on it because its like going from XP to Windows 7. You get used to what your used to. I do use things such as the flashlight and voice recorder and i didn't want not to have those things that i use so much.
After i installed WP7 i loved the way it looked, animations are beautiful, its so smooth. Im also glad to say all the apps that i used on WM6.5 are available from the marketplace. I dont think i could go back to WM6.5 now. It seems too clunky compared to WP7.
I do have the same issues as everyone else with the dodgy camera, its not bad in daylight though, and i love the 720P camcorder. Battery life has been an issue but ive done the registry tweaks that have been talked about on the forums and im getting good results at the mo. Very close to WM6.5 in fact. WIFI and SD cards have not been a problem, mind you i am using a 16GB Sandisk.
When you do install WP7 on your HD2 just make sure that you get an activation code from Microsoft first thing! It makes the whole "WP7 experience" MUCH better!!
I think i truly have been turned into a Windows phone 7 fan. I just cant wait to see what ROM's and apps some of the chefs on here can cook up in the next few month's!!
ive been using it for about 2 months and it worked really well. i had the issues that everyone else had experienced with the marketplace, but this didnt happen that often. only thing you need to check is your SD card. there are a few threads about which SD cards work, but these are all unofficial. i have a topram (rebadged sandisk) 16gb SDHC class 4 and that works ok, but its not great (but it was £12.99!!)
matthewharmon102 said:
ive been using it for about 2 months and it worked really well. i had the issues that everyone else had experienced with the marketplace, but this didnt happen that often. only thing you need to check is your SD card. there are a few threads about which SD cards work, but these are all unofficial. i have a topram (rebadged sandisk) 16gb SDHC class 4 and that works ok, but its not great (but it was £12.99!!)
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Why do you call topram a rebadged sandisk?
well enough for some bugger to sell 15 guides and the DWI.exe on eBay
HERE
jigners said:
well enough for some bugger to sell 15 guides and the DWI.exe on eBay
HERE
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That's nothing... there was another guy that sold almost 500(last I checked) at $25 each.... he made over $10,000 in less than a week!!!
Hey all,
Firstly, if this thread is in the wrong place, then by all means move it. There are specific threads for Android and Wp7 questions, however this does not have to do with either of them specifically.
Anyways, I'm thinking of getting the HD2; I know it's an ageing phone but it seems to do the impossible
My reasons are
1) I'm looking for a phone to tie me over until I can afford a more "Upgrade-y" kind of upgrade, specs wise it is a downgrade from my current phone.
2) I love tinkering with phones and using the latest builds of whatever this baby runs. Unfortunately I'm no dev but maybe I'll get to it some day. Anyways, this will be more or less a toy for me, and perhaps even an educational tool.
3) I've gone through a lot of phones and I tend to get somewhat bored with them, which is why I cycle through them pretty often. The amazing HD2 runs so many things I doubt I'm going to get bored.
Anyways, I would like some user opinions on the usability of this phone. I realize that using the latest Jelly Bean build or whatnot will probably be slow and sluggish, and that's usually fine (as long as it's not slow to the point where it's unusable) but at times I will need stable roms. I'd like to know how performance is on the most stable of roms. I don't use it for games much, only texting and light web browsing, so for these simple tasks I'd expect them to be buttery smooth, but is that how it works in reality? let me know.
Also, aside from the great things I hear about the HD2, I've also heard of a freezing issue that pretty much renders the phone unusable without a hard reboot, and I hear it is due to the CPU overheating. I'm not sure if this is such a common issue but please let me know.
Finally, how does this perform with day to day functions? Screen legibility, speaker volume, responsiveness, battery life, etc...
Thanks a ton!
-Dillon
I had no problems using the HD2 until the digitizer died on me (common issue).. Screen legibility is great on such a huge screen, speaker volume is good, responsiveness is good, and battery life is decent. I could get through an entire day with some calls, some games, some texting and still have ~40% left. The performance is great on most roms I have tried. All AOSP/CM/etc ICS, GB, and Froyo are all very smooth. Even the sense roms ported over from newer devices are butter smooth. There are so many choices, you can practically flash a new rom every week and won't be bored by the end of the year.
Hey, thanks for the reply.
Do you know what the digitizer problem is caused by? Perhaps I can prevent it. But if I can't, would buying a new digitizer fix the problem?
Sent from my Kindle Fire using xda app-developers app
No problem, the digitizer problem is caused by the digitizer flex ribbon physically wearing out over time. It only occurs because the "end call/power" button is directly on top of that flex ribbon.. You can avoid this by not using the power button at all and use an app that emulates that button to turn off your phone. Buying a new digitizer will fix the problem, but if you have never opened the HD2 before, best to pay a professional to do it since it is a pain in the arse to disassemble and assemble..
Been using an HD2 for a good while and basically I would have to think very caerfully before upgrading. It does everything I need and does most things very well indeed. If you can find one at a good s/h price I'd say go for it.
Advantages:
Good screen for Internet browsing,etc.
Gorilla glass so reasonably damage-resistant.
One of the best phone cameras I've used, can be tweaked even further, see hacks.
GPS and magnetic compass.
Plays music even when in standby.
NOT WM7 so you don't have to encrypt the microSD card.
Stable. Runs for weeks without crashing.
Disadvantages:
A bit large. (I keep mine in a shirt pocket, which I find works well.)
Needs charging daily if you use it a lot. (Spare batts are cheap though)
Limited RAM, therefore don't open too many apps at once.
OS WM6.5, less easy to use than Android, though plenty free apps available.
Major annoyance:
Random dialling when on phone screen, due to static or a shirtsleeve-touch. Wish I could find a way to remove that speed-dial background list which seems to be the culprit. Basically, NEVER leave the thing on the phone screen unless you are in a call.
Minor annoyance:
Badly placed volume keys. Hard to pick up without accidentally changing volume.
Not all headphones are suitable for music use. Some give very inadequate volume.
IWR said:
Been using an HD2 for a good while and basically I would have to think very caerfully before upgrading. It does everything I need and does most things very well indeed. If you can find one at a good s/h price I'd say go for it.
Advantages:
Good screen for Internet browsing,etc.
Gorilla glass so reasonably damage-resistant.
One of the best phone cameras I've used, can be tweaked even further, see hacks.
GPS and magnetic compass.
Plays music even when in standby.
NOT WM7 so you don't have to encrypt the microSD card.
Stable. Runs for weeks without crashing.
Disadvantages:
A bit large. (I keep mine in a shirt pocket, which I find works well.)
Needs charging daily if you use it a lot. (Spare batts are cheap though)
Limited RAM, therefore don't open too many apps at once.
OS WM6.5, less easy to use than Android, though plenty free apps available.
Major annoyance:
Random dialling when on phone screen, due to static or a shirtsleeve-touch. Wish I could find a way to remove that speed-dial background list which seems to be the culprit. Basically, NEVER leave the thing on the phone screen unless you are in a call.
Minor annoyance:
Badly placed volume keys. Hard to pick up without accidentally changing volume.
Not all headphones are suitable for music use. Some give very inadequate volume.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the informative response. Did you happen to have the digitizer issue that Jian had, or the overheating issue?
When you said that some headphones were unsuitable for music, was it specifically headphones with a Mic or Volume control on them? Trying to use a pair of Monster Jamz (which had volume/playback control for iPod/iPhone) didn't really give me a "full" sound without pressing on the play/pause button.
Also, all of these things were on WinMo 6.5, correct? Have you tried a WP7 or Android rom?
Had my phone since release date.yep your right, the phone is a Beast!
I cannot recall how many roms, builds, os's whatever you want to call em i have installed in the past year fews and everytime i love my phone even more .i think the only time i will get another phone is if the hardware specs outweigh the hd2 that it cannot cope will a new os ie window8 apparently
Listen, There are thousands of reviews on this website but dont read into it that much. Its all about trial and error and how you go about your own business - by all means read the threads too as common faults do occur- but every phone user is different and alot of factors have an impact ie have you got the right radio installed ,have you got the right SD card? Have you formatted the card properly ie task 29 before installing a new rom have you installed the right files etc all these issues people face are repairable but ultimately,so you will have a different experience than others.
The old windows6.5 rom were absolutely great and fun to customize
Android builds that i tried were up to scratch for everyday use , stability wise, battery life fantastic internt browsing email etc great no lag freezing
Windows7 some battery issues with certain roms and overheating i did come across at first , again if you experience this "trial and error" try another rom, im currently using pdamatejam now for 2months no looking back.. For everyday use, stability excellant, battery life over 24hours etc no lag freezing
Im dualbooting so chopping and changing inbetween android and windows 7 a feature many phones cannot offer.i love the hd2
Note..Newly release build/roms will be unstable when first , thats expected but overtime they become more stable as through feedback from this forum the little errors problems are reticfied -i always wait until these problems are eradicated but everyones different as lot ofpeople like to try new releases roms and leave feedback which is what the dev are asking for-
Another note the SD card ..this is a MASSIVE factor imho which causes many people problems ie boot loops freezing crashing.... I have been through 5different sd card from the start of the hd2 when you stop having problems you know you got the right one, but stay away from fakes Period.
Good luck
Thanks a ton guys
I've another question; Should I get the TMOUS phone for it's bigger ROM capacity? If so, how can I even tell if it has more ROM than the regular? All T-Mobile phones are like that?
DillonBladez said:
Thanks a ton guys
I've another question; Should I get the TMOUS phone for it's bigger ROM capacity? If so, how can I even tell if it has more ROM than the regular? All T-Mobile phones are like that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes all tmous have 1gb internal rom. You can tell a tmous by the red+green send+end keys, and it says T-Mobile beneath the ear piece.(and its fractionally longer) They're slightly easier to brick than regular hd2, but only in one particular way (wrong radio) so as long as you know the danger it needn't be a worry.
As for jellybean, in the days since your first post there are now several jb roms that are shaping up to be as good as any previous versions. I'm running jb with my processor UNDER clocked, and barely a hint of lag anywhere.
Thanks for the insight!
This phone really seems to live up to it's name.
What do you guys think of WP8 on the device? I think I read somewhere that it's using a different kernel or something from WP7, and that it's a pain in the ass to get it to work with new hardware that it wasn't meant for.
i got the hd2 when it came out and i'm still using it today. It's just that good.
Also, I forgot to ask; Is there a notification LED on the HD2? It seems so small that it's not really mentioned anywhere, for any phone, but it's quite useful to me.
DillonBladez said:
Also, I forgot to ask; Is there a notification LED on the HD2? It seems so small that it's not really mentioned anywhere, for any phone, but it's quite useful to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes there is. It is on the left side of the speaker and it only has two colors: amber/orange and green.
I personally think the development effort would best be utilised on last of WP7 to make functionality superb & a few innovations to make W8 users envious.
Chasing latest OS's does not always result in real practical usable device.
friend its perefect the phone big variety of roms!
Sorry for not replying for a while,
Does the hd2 encounter some of the force close mishaps caused by lack of ram? Its only got 512mb, and I find my current phone with the same amount of ram to be doing this often. Would the wp7 Roms perform better in the stability aspects?
Thanks a ton,
Dillon.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
I still have an HD2 sitting w/a couple extra cells I'm not using, it's still brand new, it was never used just the box opened. I'm kinda slow answering emails but give me a shout.
I'm running the latest Jelly Bean build without overclocking and I think it runs rather smooth. At times it can pause for just a slit second but this isn't very often.
If your looking for a great phone that can do just about anything (but Sense 4) then this is the phone. Because this phone has a very high developer following it
often has new ROMs being released. This is one of the biggest reasons why I got the phone myself. I came from the HTC Touch Pro 2 so I picked this phone up
back in late 2009 early 2010. There are some great deals for the phone now that its several years old but I really feel this phone is going to last a long time to come.
htccraze said:
I'm running the latest Jelly Bean build without overclocking and I think it runs rather smooth. At times it can pause for just a slit second but this isn't very often.
If your looking for a great phone that can do just about anything (but Sense 4) then this is the phone. Because this phone has a very high developer following it
often has new ROMs being released. This is one of the biggest reasons why I got the phone myself. I came from the HTC Touch Pro 2 so I picked this phone up
back in late 2009 early 2010. There are some great deals for the phone now that its several years old but I really feel this phone is going to last a long time to come.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm looking to use the phone mainly for text messaging, perhaps some facebook and light gaming.
Right now I'm choosing between the HD2 and the S II.
They both seem to have a bit of developer backing (obviously the HD2 has more), but is the S II worth the extra $150ish over the HD2?
Hmm thats hard to say. Both are great phones but personally I like HTC phones a little more. Mainly because I like HTC Sense. Samsung though is my second favorite so you really can't go wrong with either. I really like the Galaxy S II and the screen is a lot better then the HD2 as well as the camera. Some of its other specs are a little better then the HD2 but the big selling point is choice. With the HD2 if you start to get tired of Windows Mobile 6.5 (stock) you can switch to Android. Then if you ever get tired of that you can go to Windows Phone 7.5. I've bought several phones since I bought my HD2 some even that were dual core but I've always seem to end up going back to the HD2 so that should say something. I would check out some videos on youtube about both phones you're looking at to try and get an idea of what you feel you'll like best.