Database Users

[Q] Should I buy the HD2? Jan 11

Hi guys.
i know some people will say this has been asked before, but i am posting from the date from today.
I want to buy a HD2, but i don't know whether it is the right time...
Because now it has the success of WP7 and Android, I'm wondering if ti is still worth it. The hardware seems abit old now, but it is essentially the same as a HD7.
ATM, i have a TG01, (snapdragon 1GHz WINMO, resistive) So i'm experienced with the speed But however, in our forum, there are soo few active members and cooks - not much support. the resistive touchscreen and Also the lack of RAM is driving me insane. (only 55mb on boot with sense 2.5 + winmo 6.5.x) So one reason of the HD2 is the RAM and the screen... On the other hand i have a tab. It isnt just mine specifically it is my family's. So i dont get to use it all the time and personalize it. (the orange san francisco isnt mine anymore btw, i gave it to my brother)
So i only really have a TG01. I have been using Winmo for a long time, but now everyone is making the switch to Android. So if i get the HD2, will i have good battery life performance etc. I will probs be using WP7 and Android. Is WP7 working perfectly yet? i know we can access the live sevices but will microsoft be continually be patching it? All my friends are using android.. should i use android on the HD2 or just get an android device?
And the hardware... do you think it is still powerful enough? how much longer will the community last for? When i got my Tg01, within 3 months the XDA forum was empty! they all sold and got an Android device or HD2.
So i get it know will the timing be right? Will devs still be cooking for WM and upgrading Android etc? Or will they move on? Because i see alot of members selling their HD2 for a DHD or other android devices. I dont think i can afford a DHD...
I'm really stuck here... I don't know if i should get the device or not... Should i wait? Or wait for what device? I know when the dual cores come out, they will be far too expensive!
Where can i get a cheap HD2 from? Can any one point me to one £150-£180?
Thank you to all who reply!

Quite a few questions there, no?
First of all, HD2 is still on par with most devices on the market. In other words, hardware-wise, no issue. My unit was bought at introduction time, it´s doing what it should without any problem since more than 15 months now.
That is quite impressive, I´d say. But the very age of the model, as of today, is no sign that it´s outdated.
As far as I know, TG01 was never on par with HD2, even if it comes with a similar CPU. However, I don´t think there is a massive difference.
The key difference is the capability of using multiple OS platforms, and you already described all other points which are worth mentioning.
One thing is clear, however: The WinMo threads in the HD2 forums have become a bit quiet, since there are only few updates for WinMo and Sense these days, so no need and options for chefs to re-do what they greatly did in the past.N Also, tweaking and modding has slowed down a bit.
Clearly, the Android threads in the HD2 section are quite busy, and WP7 to some extent, too.
Returning to the very age of the model, it is natural that many people, chefs and users, move on. Windows Phone Classic may be a dead end, who knows. Windows Phone 7 might be a failure for Microsoft, who knows. The fun part is that with an HD2, you can use all of them.
My guess is that there will be quite some development for HD2 Android solutions in the coming 6 to 12 months, steadily fading to small activities over the time. Also, WP7 has quite an impact inside the HD2 user community, but I believe there are certain limits.
Once newer, much stronger hardware specifications will become upscale smartphone mainstream, most users will change. But remember, there are not too many people willing to spend €500+ every 12 months - one more reason to stick with an HD2 once you bought it and you´re fine with it.
You most probably will find used units on ebay or such at your target price.
I think if you really want to play around with things a bit, you won´t be disappointed. But, if you are more a casual user, I don´t know what to recommend.
Myself, I think I will stick to my HD2 for another year or so - this will set a new record, to be honest. But I am perfectly fine with that great device. And as of now, I am completely fine with WinMo 6.5/Sense; for the fun of it, WP7 from time to time. I don´t like Android, at least not the current versions, but I am extremely happy my device gave me the opportunity to try all options at no extra cost.

To be honest with you, I haven't read anything past "...success of"
But It's better that you wait till MS's update and see what happens then.
That's if you want WP7, but if you want Android its HD2 is currently awesome at Android

tictac0566 said:
Quite a few questions there, no?
First of all, HD2 is still on par with most devices on the market. In other words, hardware-wise, no issue. My unit was bought at introduction time, it´s doing what it should without any problem since more than 15 months now.
That is quite impressive, I´d say. But the very age of the model, as of today, is no sign that it´s outdated.
As far as I know, TG01 was never on par with HD2, even if it comes with a similar CPU. However, I don´t think there is a massive difference.
The key difference is the capability of using multiple OS platforms, and you already described all other points which are worth mentioning.
One thing is clear, however: The WinMo threads in the HD2 forums have become a bit quiet, since there are only few updates for WinMo and Sense these days, so no need and options for chefs to re-do what they greatly did in the past.N Also, tweaking and modding has slowed down a bit.
Clearly, the Android threads in the HD2 section are quite busy, and WP7 to some extent, too.
Returning to the very age of the model, it is natural that many people, chefs and users, move on. Windows Phone Classic may be a dead end, who knows. Windows Phone 7 might be a failure for Microsoft, who knows. The fun part is that with an HD2, you can use all of them.
My guess is that there will be quite some development for HD2 Android solutions in the coming 6 to 12 months, steadily fading to small activities over the time. Also, WP7 has quite an impact inside the HD2 user community, but I believe there are certain limits.
Once newer, much stronger hardware specifications will become upscale smartphone mainstream, most users will change. But remember, there are not too many people willing to spend €500+ every 12 months - one more reason to stick with an HD2 once you bought it and you´re fine with it.
You most probably will find used units on ebay or such at your target price.
I think if you really want to play around with things a bit, you won´t be disappointed. But, if you are more a casual user, I don´t know what to recommend.
Myself, I think I will stick to my HD2 for another year or so - this will set a new record, to be honest. But I am perfectly fine with that great device. And as of now, I am completely fine with WinMo 6.5/Sense; for the fun of it, WP7 from time to time. I don´t like Android, at least not the current versions, but I am extremely happy my device gave me the opportunity to try all options at no extra cost.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply man! Yeh the TG01 is no match for the HD2. The only reson i got it is because it was a bargain; £150 PayG at Orange UK (Feb 2010) Presumably because it was a poor device in terms of software. I would consider myself a flash junkie. I am constantly trying to find the best ROM for speed, stability and RAM. (as the stock ROMs were really bad!) However , nowadays I'm too busy to be doing all that. I have exams and things going on, and i can't put up with the unstability of my TG01. I want to get a HD2, but keep it on a WP7 Rom, or Android. Then i can switch back and forth. Or if i want,
Winmo 6.5. I won't have to keep on reflashin, as these are pretty much stablw right? The HD2 seems like the ideal device for being cheap and flexibility. Yeh i agree too, the hardware is on par with todays tech. My only concern is the dual cores arriving, but i won't be able to afford them anyway!
Now, my only other problem is battery life... I have mixed reviews on this. Some say it is good, others say it is bad. Can someone please be honest and state what it is? Is battery life better on WM+Sense, WP7 or Android? Because on my TG01 has crap battery; it is only 1000mah powering a 4.1 inch 1ghz device. I'm sick of charging my phone every night.
So if i buy an extended battery, it would solve my problems? Because i read somewhere that Android will not support extended batteries?! Is this also true with WP7?
Thanks man for the time for replying!

Power consumption is something massively individual.
I got used to turn off Wlan and automatic data downloads (not only, but also because I don´t have a data flatrate) off, an easy step in each OS.
My worst experience was with Android (which sucked energy like hell, but there were strong improvements), while WinMo/Sense and WP7 are now on par (as an "average" user with some phone calls, some text messages, and some limited surfing, some offline navigation, too) for me - I charge every second day. On vacation (much less of above mentioned usage) it´s even good for 4 days.
But then again, if you´re also gaming, take long-time internet surfing sessions and such, you´ll be charging an HD2 every day, too.
Btw, dual boot only works with WinMo 6.5 and Android (as you can install the latter on your SD card), means you would have to re-flash to switch between WP7 and Android or between WinMo 6.5 and WP7. Then again, the flashing process is a matter of a couple of minutes, and if you use different SD cards, the setup is done quite quickly...
EDIT: Just forgot, the enhanced battery. It won´t work under Android or WP7, when I understand various threads correctly... but would have to check that...

tictac0566 said:
Power consumption is something massively individual.
I got used to turn off Wlan and automatic data downloads (not only, but also because I don´t have a data flatrate) off, an easy step in each OS.
My worst experience was with Android (which sucked energy like hell, but there were strong improvements), while WinMo/Sense and WP7 are now on par (as an "average" user with some phone calls, some text messages, and some limited surfing, some offline navigation, too) for me - I charge every second day. On vacation (much less of above mentioned usage) it´s even good for 4 days. f
But then again, if you´re also gaming, take long-time internet surfing sessions and such, you´ll be charging an HD2 every day, too.
Btw, dual boot only works with WinMo 6.5 and Android (as you can install the latter on your SD card), means you would have to re-flash to switch between WP7 and Android or between WinMo 6.5 and WP7. Then again, the flashing process is a matter of a couple of minutes, and if you use different SD cards, the setup is done quite quickly...
EDIT: Just forgot, the enhanced battery. It won´t work under Android or WP7, when I understand various threads correctly... but would have to check that...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks alot my friend i think it pretty much sloves my problem. on my tg01 with sense and wm6.5 battery lasted 2 hrs with heavy wifi usage on opera. this is why i had to go 'old school' with touchflo 3d and wm6.1 fkr battery performance. so the hd2 battery is better i read somewhere that some extended batteries work with the hd2 (i think the official ones ddont work) any way thanks alot man, you've made me really happy, im trying get one cheap now, just need to save up a bit more...
Im still open to suggestions from other users on their opinions

believe me friend,hd2 is best mobile ever created.2 of my friends have hd7 and DHD,both of them keeps looking at my hd2 for what it can do!!the only + point on their device is that the screen of both the handsets is better than hd2..but it dnt matters..also,it is half the price of both of them.
so i suggest you to close your eyes and get an hd2..hehe

that is whole lot of words there...
Sent from my HTC HD2 using Tapatalk

olyloh6696 said:
Thanks for the reply man! Yeh the TG01 is no match for the HD2. The only reson i got it is because it was a bargain; £150 PayG at Orange UK (Feb 2010) Presumably because it was a poor device in terms of software. I would consider myself a flash junkie. I am constantly trying to find the best ROM for speed, stability and RAM. (as the stock ROMs were really bad!) However , nowadays I'm too busy to be doing all that. I have exams and things going on, and i can't put up with the unstability of my TG01. I want to get a HD2, but keep it on a WP7 Rom, or Android. Then i can switch back and forth. Or if i want,
Winmo 6.5. I won't have to keep on reflashin, as these are pretty much stablw right? The HD2 seems like the ideal device for being cheap and flexibility. Yeh i agree too, the hardware is on par with todays tech. My only concern is the dual cores arriving, but i won't be able to afford them anyway!
Now, my only other problem is battery life... I have mixed reviews on this. Some say it is good, others say it is bad. Can someone please be honest and state what it is? Is battery life better on WM+Sense, WP7 or Android? Because on my TG01 has crap battery; it is only 1000mah powering a 4.1 inch 1ghz device. I'm sick of charging my phone every night.
So if i buy an extended battery, it would solve my problems? Because i read somewhere that Android will not support extended batteries?! Is this also true with WP7?
Thanks man for the time for replying!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The hd2 will take a lot of time and effort to get it working the way you want, keep that in mind. Battery life on the android and wp7 ports are not nearly as good as a native device, and it will take some work getting the battery to a manageable level. Also, getting wp7 working properly is getting much harder to set up with the problems unlocking it and the fact that you have to call microsoft and lie to them about what phone you have to get an activation code, which recently microsoft has been catching on and is now usually requesting a hd7 imei and proof of purchase... plus who knows what will happen when they update.
If I were you, I would save up your money until the next generation of phones comes out and get something then, cause odds are most major devs will move on when better devices come out. They've already been developing the hd2 for over a year, and while at this point the hardware is still top of the line, soon it will not be. Many HD2 owners do not want to admit that fact and they claim the hd2 runs android as good as a native phone with as good of battery life, but that's just not true. The HD2 is a great phone for the fact that it can run multiple os's, and you can dual boot wp7 on nand with android on sd and no other phone can do that... and I wouldn't trade my hd2 for anything right now because I like running 2 OS's on my phone... but when new hardware comes that will change. And the hd2 doesn't run wp7 or android as good as native devices.
So it's up to you and what you want. If you have a lot of spare time to tinker and get things working well, then it can be a great phone... but if you want a phone that will work good out of the box or just want to run one os really well, go for a native android or wp7 phone. Like I said... I would save up money for a few months and see whats out then once you have some more money saved up or can sign a contract with a carrier to get a cheaper top of the line phone.

zarathustrax said:
The hd2 will take a lot of time and effort to get it working the way you want, keep that in mind. Battery life on the android and wp7 ports are not nearly as good as a native device, and it will take some work getting the battery to a manageable level. Also, getting wp7 working properly is getting much harder to set up with the problems unlocking it and the fact that you have to call microsoft and lie to them about what phone you have to get an activation code, which recently microsoft has been catching on and is now usually requesting a hd7 imei and proof of purchase... plus who knows what will happen when they update.
If I were you, I would save up your money until the next generation of phones comes out and get something then, cause odds are most major devs will move on when better devices come out. They've already been developing the hd2 for over a year, and while at this point the hardware is still top of the line, soon it will not be. Many HD2 owners do not want to admit that fact and they claim the hd2 runs android as good as a native phone with as good of battery life, but that's just not true. The HD2 is a great phone for the fact that it can run multiple os's, and you can dual boot wp7 on nand with android on sd and no other phone can do that... and I wouldn't trade my hd2 for anything right now because I like running 2 OS's on my phone... but when new hardware comes that will change. And the hd2 doesn't run wp7 or android as good as native devices.
So it's up to you and what you want. If you have a lot of spare time to tinker and get things working well, then it can be a great phone... but if you want a phone that will work good out of the box or just want to run one os really well, go for a native android or wp7 phone. Like I said... I would save up money for a few months and see whats out then once you have some more money saved up or can sign a contract with a carrier to get a cheaper top of the line phone.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the input! I'm only limited to five thanks per day :/ (but sill thank you tommorow!.)
you said that devs will move on to other devices... i know the other devices have more powerful hardware than the HD2, but most run android. as far as i know, no Android phone can dual boot WinMo, or WP7 and there is no development for it. You see, i like WP7 OS, it looks so nice and elegant.. but i dislike the restiction. so the WP7 devices are useless to me. But if i get a HD2 , i can dual boot between WP7 and Android (for tweaking!)
About the battery life issue.. i heard some ppl with claims that WP7 on the HD2 has begged battery life, as it cannot multitasking etc. WinMo with sense is a resource hog. Androidd too.
That sucks about the Microsoft getting suspicious. I would like go use the live services, but only for the free apps. But hopefully XDA can be patching this so we can use live sevices Would it also be possible to use my friends' HD7 Imei?
Also i understand youur point about tinkering the device a lot. as i have said in my orginal post, i don't have much find and all that and frankly I'm too lazy nowadays! Also i have never owned a HTC WinMo device, so flashing is very different and new to me! I still don't understand half these terms :S Hopefully i can just keep it stable between WP7 and Android. I can request from the seller to put these on
Hmmm. Should i save up for another devise
or get the HD2.. i like the freedom of the HD2... And I'm quite impatient!
I hve been dreaming about it all night...
Thanks mate!

A good rule of thumb is always, buy if you need it now, if you can wait then wait.
I've mine since last year and it always performed beautifully under WM6.5, but now with Android is like I have a brand new phone, seriously. I'd say go for it only if you need it now, if you can wait and either gather more information or wait for a specific release that you might have the eye on, then do that.

yelsew_aknor said:
A good rule of thumb is always, buy if you need it now, if you can wait then wait.
I've mine since last year and it always performed beautifully under WM6.5, but now with Android is like I have a brand new phone, seriously. I'd say go for it only if you need it now, if you can wait and either gather more information or wait for a specific release that you might have the eye on, then do that.
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Click to collapse
thanks for the reply! (sorry my thanks limit is full!)
But when you say wait... wait for what device? i prefably don't want a phone contract. I'm happy with my network with unlimited internet. imagining it on the HD2 will be amazing!
like i said, i can't afford the dual cores, but as the other member has pointed out, i can save up. I'm sick with my tg01 and want a HD2 so bad. if other ee devicefs get released they won't be able to dual boot.
thanks!

olyloh6696 said:
Thanks for the input! I'm only limited to five thanks per day :/ (but sill thank you tommorow!.)
you said that devs will move on to other devices... i know the other devices have more powerful hardware than the HD2, but most run android. as far as i know, no Android phone can dual boot WinMo, or WP7 and there is no development for it. You see, i like WP7 OS, it looks so nice and elegant.. but i dislike the restiction. so the WP7 devices are useless to me. But if i get a HD2 , i can dual boot between WP7 and Android (for tweaking!)
About the battery life issue.. i heard some ppl with claims that WP7 on the HD2 has begged battery life, as it cannot multitasking etc. WinMo with sense is a resource hog. Androidd too.
That sucks about the Microsoft getting suspicious. I would like go use the live services, but only for the free apps. But hopefully XDA can be patching this so we can use live sevices Would it also be possible to use my friends' HD7 Imei?
Also i understand youur point about tinkering the device a lot. as i have said in my orginal post, i don't have much find and all that and frankly I'm too lazy nowadays! Also i have never owned a HTC WinMo device, so flashing is very different and new to me! I still don't understand half these terms :S Hopefully i can just keep it stable between WP7 and Android. I can request from the seller to put these on
Hmmm. Should i save up for another devise
or get the HD2.. i like the freedom of the HD2... And I'm quite impatient!
I hve been dreaming about it all night...
Thanks mate!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't suggest having the seller install those for you... to get things working good it takes a lot of testing and trial and error. Especially if you want to dualboot... that's not simple. The SD card needs to be partitioned in a certain way, and wp7 needs to be installed on nand, and then you have to use an android build that can run from SD card, and most SD builds will have to be modified to be able to boot with magldr. And then you're gonna have to learn how to set it up and use it so that the battery drain isn't too bad with the SD android build. And for wp7 it takes a lot of work setting it up, changing the registry and successfully getting an activation code from Microsoft. Also you have to make sure you have an SD card that's compatible with wp7 and that runs android builds well.... sandisk class 2 seem the best, but they're not guaranteed to work. It's not a simple setup and it takes work to keep it working and updated. It takes hours just to correctly setup when you know exactly what you're doing and don't run into many issues... but many run into issues and it takes days getting them worked out.
Then you're gonna want to keep your builds updated, so you're gonna want to know how everything is installed so you can do updates when available.
It's not a simple, troublefree setup and issues are still popping up. Just keep that in mind... most sellers will not know how to set it up and if they do, it probably wont be setup well and you have to do a lot of testing and trial & error to get a setup and builds that work for you. There's many different android builds with different issues, and most SD builds are not very updated recently... but if you want dualboot you have to run a SD android build. You wont have recovery with SD builds and not everything works as well as nand builds.
You should definitely spend a few days doing research before deciding to get a hd2 so you know what you're getting yourself into. Its not a phone that can be quickly setup and used without problems. Only get it if you're willing to put a lot of time into it to learn how to set it up to work good for you.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

zarathustrax said:
I wouldn't suggest having the seller install those for you... to get things working good it takes a lot of testing and trial and error. Especially if you want to dualboot... that's not simple. The SD card needs to be partitioned in a certain way, and wp7 needs to be installed on nand, and then you have to use an android build that can run from SD card, and most SD builds will have to be modified to be able to boot with magldr. And then you're gonna have to learn how to set it up and use it so that the battery drain isn't too bad with the SD android build. And for wp7 it takes a lot of work setting it up, changing the registry and successfully getting an activation code from Microsoft. Also you have to make sure you have an SD card that's compatible with wp7 and that runs android builds well.... sandisk class 2 seem the best, but they're not guaranteed to work. It's not a simple setup and it takes work to keep it working and updated. It takes hours just to correctly setup when you know exactly what you're doing and don't run into many issues... but many run into issues and it takes days getting them worked out.
Then you're gonna want to keep your builds updated, so you're gonna want to know how everything is installed so you can do updates when available.
It's not a simple, troublefree setup and issues are still popping up. Just keep that in mind... most sellers will not know how to set it up and if they do, it probably wont be setup well and you have to do a lot of testing and trial & error to get a setup and builds that work for you. There's many different android builds with different issues, and most SD builds are not very updated recently... but if you want dualboot you have to run a SD android build. You wont have recovery with SD builds and not everything works as well as nand builds.
You should definitely spend a few days doing research before deciding to get a hd2 so you know what you're getting yourself into. Its not a phone that can be quickly setup and used without problems. Only get it if you're willing to put a lot of time into it to learn how to set it up to work good for you.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Thanks! But as you see, the seller here is a xda member with android currently installed. He asked me what rom to have on it, but we haven't confirmed if I am buying the device yet. I though that wp 7 install was relatively easy, but I guess I'm. Wrong. I have been reading threads on it, and it isn't so easy to dual boot between the both. I have also read threads on the bad points of wp7 on the hD2. I guess it will require alot of time and effort to set my device up with all that HSPL, microsd magldr work :/ I was hoping it would be easy. Oh well I guess if I get it, I could play around with winnow as o Abe never experienced sense on the hd2 before with all that ram. Then use a micro SD build. That process seems relatively easy.
Thanks for the input
Sent from my Orange San Francisco using XDA App

I buyed my HD2 in December and I'm very happy with it.
Hardware is so-so. DHD is said to have much faster GPU, but on the other hand, HD7 have same processor. And there are dual core devices coming. But i would not see that as big problem. Everyone is still at single-core processors, which means that most games and apps will still support them until most people switch to dual-core. And that will not happen quickly.
Performance is OK. Android can be a bit slow sometimes, but that may be case for android, not the HD2. And WP7 builds can even beat native WP7 device.
Battery life: My HD2 lasts about a day with moderate-heavy usage. Friend have DHD and reports similar battery life. But it have flaws. For example, today i watched 15min SD video from the SD card and it somehow drained 10% of the battery (WiFi and everything was off). In fact, it's actually hard to get thin smartphone that will last much longer than that and dual-core phones will probably have even smaller battery life (and AFAIK batteries are not evolving much these days). I'm used to charging my phone everyday, so it's not really a problem for me. As for extended batteries, some Android builds support official HTC extended batteries.
Community will surely slowly shrink, but based on current activity, i say that we still have a lot time.
So, if you want to buy new phone, you will have to buy high-end phone to beat HD2. And based on your price range, i would say that HD2 is currently your best choice.

matejdro said:
I buyed my HD2 in December and I'm very happy with it.
Hardware is so-so. DHD is said to have much faster GPU, but on the other hand, HD7 have same processor. And there are dual core devices coming. But i would not see that as big problem. Everyone is still at single-core processors, which means that most games and apps will still support them until most people switch to dual-core. And that will not happen quickly.
Performance is OK. Android can be a bit slow sometimes, but that may be case for android, not the HD2. And WP7 builds can even beat native WP7 device.
Battery life: My HD2 lasts about a day with moderate-heavy usage. Friend have DHD and reports similar battery life. But it have flaws. For example, today i watched 15min SD video from the SD card and it somehow drained 10% of the battery (WiFi and everything was off). In fact, it's actually hard to get thin smartphone that will last much longer than that and dual-core phones will probably have even smaller battery life (and AFAIK batteries are not evolving much these days). I'm used to charging my phone everyday, so it's not really a problem for me. As for extended batteries, some Android builds support official HTC extended batteries.
Community will surely slowly shrink, but based on current activity, i say that we still have a lot time.
So, if you want to buy new phone, you will have to buy high-end phone to beat HD2. And based on your price range, i would say that HD2 is currently your best choice.
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Click to collapse
Thanks! i guess i will settle for a HD2 then! (Hopefully) I understand your point, that the dual cores will be useless as most phones are single core, but isn't mobile tech advancing so quickly? anyway, the flagship nexus s is single core so most people will be inflection core. and when i get he HD2 my next upgrade after that will be next summer. By then dual cores will be primarilzed and i can upgrade from there?
Thanks!

Tech is advancing quickly, but masses are not changing phones that quickly. It will take time until mainstream android will move to dual-core. There will be bonuses of dual-core of course, but many people will still be on single-core devices, which means that most stuff would still be usable on older phones until majority of devices will be dual-core. And thanks to devs, who are always providing latest OS to our phones, i think we will hold on even longer
That is just what I'm thinking, but i may be wrong.

Im only gonna touch battery issues. The thing is, there arent any anymore LOL. With HD2 you get to change the radio of the device. Which means that you literally change the way HD2 uses its network and wifi. By switching to a previous radio, i have increased my battery to 1.5days(XBOX live games 30mins, Zune 60+-30mins, Basic web, email, 20 texts, 20mins call) without affecting performance. So you can experiment and do wonders with this devil. In addition, I dont think you need to worry about android's battery life at all. My ast android build(in sd card, not nand, nands are better) ran for two days on 1.5ghz oc'ed and I never use app killers(these kill battery) or setcpu. So, you know you will be fine with HD2. Worst case scenario, you buy an extended battery with kickstand and get a kickstand
radio i use is 2.14, latest is 2.15.

matejdro said:
Tech is advancing quickly, but masses are not changing phones that quickly. It will take time until mainstream android will move to dual-core. There will be bonuses of dual-core of course, but many people will still be on single-core devices, which means that most stuff would still be usable on older phones until majority of devices will be dual-core. And thanks to devs, who are always providing latest OS to our phones, i think we will hold on even longer
That is just what I'm thinking, but i may be wrong.
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Click to collapse
Yeh thats great ! i hope devs sill continue to support the phone all the way through the evolution and development of WP7!

akbisw said:
Im only gonna touch battery issues. The thing is, there arent any anymore LOL. With HD2 you get to change the radio of the device. Which means that you literally change the way HD2 uses its network and wifi. By switching to a previous radio, i have increased my battery to 1.5days(XBOX live games 30mins, Zune 60+-30mins, Basic web, email, 20 texts, 20mins call) without affecting performance. So you can experiment and do wonders with this devil. In addition, I dont think you need to worry about android's battery life at all. My ast android build(in sd card, not nand, nands are better) ran for two days on 1.5ghz oc'ed and I never use app killers(these kill battery) or setcpu. So, you know you will be fine with HD2. Worst case scenario, you buy an extended battery with kickstand and get a kickstand
radio i use is 2.14, latest is 2.15.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I'm assuming this is running on WP7? that sounds great! i aint be using my phone too much for music and games, probably only once in a while (i use my ipod for that) but i will be using it a lot for web browsing and texting! those results sound great! (much better than my tg01) but is there a problem with running on WP7 that you cannot let the battery drain fully and your device won't boot?

[Q] Thinking about buying a HD2

I’ve currently got a HTC Touch Pro and I’m thinking about maybe buying a HD2 which I can get on eBay for about £170 - £200 and that’s quite a lot of money so I want to be sure before I buy it. What has mainly gotten me interested in this phone is the fact it can run Windows Phone 7 which looks lovely. A few things I’m unsure about is the size and the fact this phone doesn’t have a hardware keyboard, I’ve used a friend’s HD2 before but only for a few minutes. Anybody here upgrade to the HD2 from a phone with a hardware QWERTY keyboard how did you find getting use to the onscreen one, was it better?
Thanks

It can run WP7, but it's a bit of a hack, you basically can't "activate" it to get apps from the marketplace or other xbox live services without calling Microsoft and getting a gullible representative on the line, which are hard to come by because by now they've mostly been briefed on this.
Also, who knows when nodo comes out in March if the old ROMs will still function indefinitely, nodo itself will have to be hacked in order for it to accept sideloading which Microsoft has stated they'd close. Also half the reason why the closed-source WP7 works so well on the HD2 is because it was prototyped on the HD2, the ROMs available now are based on those prototypes, after nodo, that also won't be the case, necessitating the making of drivers for a closed-source OS with no native SDK.
I don't want to sound negative, but my experience with WP7 is that it's not a "daily driver" on the HD2, and unlike Android on the HD2 is very much an unfinished work with an uncertain future due to Microsoft locking up the platform. It is fun to play with though, and I think you'd enjoy the HD2 in general, but if what you want is a WP7 phone, you probably should buy a WP7 phone.

I bought the HD2 for use as a student/scientist to be able to communicate with work effectively through email along with mobile office and all the great features it has. The lack of qwerty keyboard is made up for by the large screen. It gives a touch screen keyboard a lot of real estate to work with. But I just recently decided to install android on it instead of upgrading to WM7. That has made me love this phone. You can keep WM6.5 on the phone as well as install android for all the fun quirkiness you need. It has made this phone perfect for me. This phone is like a mullet: Business in the front (windows), party in the back (android, and by back I mean SD card).

I had a Desire and moved on to the HD2 about a month ago - the larger screen makes using the touch keyboard easier.
A side effect of booting Android off an SD card (as I do) is that a *full* backup of the installation can be made by simply copying the contents of the relevant directories on the SD card. Also, the data.img file (equivalent to the data partition on a phone where the O/S is installed in EEPROM) can be resized (with some care) to a larger size if needed.

Should you buy an HD2?
YES.
Firstly WP7 works properly and is EASY to activate via MS helpline.(1 phone call approx. 2 mins). There is a ton of support for you and any questions or problems you have, right here on this site.
A bit of a hack?... Yes, well this is XDA and I'm pretty sure you know that and are comfortable with it already.
WP7 on the HD2 works better (faster) than on the HD7!!!!
Secondly if you don't like WP7 as an everyday OS (are you ill?) then you can have WM6.5, Android, Ubuntu, Meego and even Win 95/98 or I think I read somewhere XP????
Why would you even ask if you should buy one?
£200 is cheap (£400+ rrp) compared to anything else on the market especially when you look at the specs and performance of those devices compared with the HD2.
I've had to upgrade my SD Card for £30, but I didn't have to fork out £300 for HD7, and I was going to upgrade anyway to fit more music on.
As for the soft keyboard...what can I say? It's bigger than the hard keys you've got at the minute and the Touch Screen works great.
The only question you should be asking is;
Why hasn't everyone got an HD2?
No matter what you prefer as an OS, the HD2 has got you covered thanks to the hard work of some great people on XDA, Cotulla and Bepe @ DFT and lots of others, too many to name here.
Essentially the HD2 will do what you want it to do when you want it to do it. And if what you want to do is sell it, for a new iPhone or HD7 (seriously, you may want to book some time with your GP), then plenty of people on here will want to buy it.
BUY... BUY... BUY....

Negativity
PloniAlmoni said:
It can run WP7, but it's a bit of a hack, you basically can't "activate" it to get apps from the marketplace or other xbox live services without calling Microsoft and getting a gullible representative on the line, which are hard to come by because by now they've mostly been briefed on this.
Also, who knows when nodo comes out in March if the old ROMs will still function indefinitely, nodo itself will have to be hacked in order for it to accept sideloading which Microsoft has stated they'd close. Also half the reason why the closed-source WP7 works so well on the HD2 is because it was prototyped on the HD2, the ROMs available now are based on those prototypes, after nodo, that also won't be the case, necessitating the making of drivers for a closed-source OS with no native SDK.
I don't want to sound negative, but my experience with WP7 is that it's not a "daily driver" on the HD2, and unlike Android on the HD2 is very much an unfinished work with an uncertain future due to Microsoft locking up the platform. It is fun to play with though, and I think you'd enjoy the HD2 in general, but if what you want is a WP7 phone, you probably should buy a WP7 phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WP7 on HD2 is a hack, yes, but this is the XDA site, and if you're here, you're probably already comfortable with that fact.
WP7 works properly and is EASY to activate via MS helpline.(1 phone call approx. 2 mins). There is a ton of support for you and any questions or problems you have, right here on this site.
HD2 was the test bed for WP7 on HTC devices, and HD7 is a slightly worse re-worked version of the HD2, so any future HD7 updates will be portable to HD2 which, if experience is an indicator, will run them better than HD7.
The Chevron7 unlock guys have been talking with MS about their sideload app, and although MS are going to close the loophole, Windows is Windows...infinitely hackable.
You may not be trying to sound negative, but you're not doing a very good job.

Definitely buy a HD2 and run Android (NAND) and you'll never look back.

Hi! I'd like to buy an hd2 too. My questions (in part you have already answered) are the following: i would buy an used hd2 to run above all android (and maybe occasionally i could try wp7 or the original wm6.5). But worth buying an hd2 for an unofficial rom? and android on hd2 is stable as the official one? has it problems (maybe it freezes...)? thank you very much!!!

jackal992 said:
Hi! I'd like to buy an hd2 too. My questions (in part you have already answered) are the following: i would buy an used hd2 to run above all android (and maybe occasionally i could try wp7 or the original wm6.5). But worth buying an hd2 for an unofficial rom? and android on hd2 is stable as the official one? has it problems (maybe it freezes...)? thank you very much!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Running WM6.5 I stuck with HTC ROMs, but WP7 means Custom is the new Standard. I don't know about Android, there is a seperate forum, I've never used it, too happy with WP7 (WM6.5 is also very good functionally), which works perfectly if you do it properly. See the posts on this forum about SD Cards.
In short, if you've thought about buying an HD2 you've made a mistake. JUST DO IT, you (probably) wont regret it.
I offer no guarantees on your experience when you decide to purchase. My experience has been awesome.
I am not paid by HTC to advertise their product, however if they offered to pay me, I would gladly advertise the HD2.

I have a Touch Pro & bought the HD2 about a month ago. It is a good device. In my opinion Android is not that special & WM7 is not worth the hassle.
I find Energy WM6.5.x build ROMs superb, rock solid with great GUI of sense & CHT.
The only thing better in Android is available games, Android platform itself is far from ground breaking & graphically dull as dull can get.
On screen keyboard options are good with WM although I still prefer a hard keyboard but the HD2 is good becuase of the huge screen & of course the SnapDragon.
Viewing websites is also far easier with the large screen & Opera 10 or 9.7.
You won't go far wrong with a HD2 if you are up to speed on modding WM, W7 & Android will leave you with problems (W7) or dull OS (Android).
Everyone is different but at least with the HD2 you can have many platforms in one device if you so wish.

ok. thanks a lot!! last question: i already tried to change bootloaders and roms in previuos winmo phones, luckily always all was ok. But in the hd2 is enough simple change bootloader/radio? i know that there are always risks but i've seen a lot of threads about "bricked" and "dead"/no more usable hd2. My question then is: if you follow carefully instructions of cookers is enough improbable that you brick your phone?? is this true? sorry for my bad english!
ps: can i trust buying used hd2 that already have android or however unofficial roms? This doesn't mean that these phones are "bricked", is this correct? even better then i may not have to change radio, correct? thank you very much!!

First Time
I only found out about Custom ROMs, flashing and Bootloaders 3 weeks ago, the first time I flashed everything worked. The HD2 is very stable, the ROMs on this site can be very stable.
Read the instructions carefully, make sure you have everything you need and a few hours spare to do the work. If you do this everything will be fine.
The Radio, MAGLDR and HSPL are as easy to install as a stock ROM, once you've read the instructions available.
NOW GO BUY YOUR HD2!!!!
NOW INSTALL WP7!!!

Thank you all for the replies and your be happy to know that I brought a HD2 yesterday on eBay for £177 I can't wait to get my hands on it =-D

jackal992 said:
ok. thanks a lot!! last question: i already tried to change bootloaders and roms in previuos winmo phones, luckily always all was ok. But in the hd2 is enough simple change bootloader/radio? i know that there are always risks but i've seen a lot of threads about "bricked" and "dead"/no more usable hd2. My question then is: if you follow carefully instructions of cookers is enough improbable that you brick your phone?? is this true? sorry for my bad english!
ps: can i trust buying used hd2 that already have android or however unofficial roms? This doesn't mean that these phones are "bricked", is this correct? even better then i may not have to change radio, correct? thank you very much!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would prefer to buy a stock device rather than one that could of been subject to a lot of flashing ect.
Also try to buy the revision model identified by having yellow reset button rather than red.
These are reported to have better motherboards & screen assemblies (HTC revised model due to large amount of motherboard & screen fault warranty returns)
If buying used don't buy anything that sounds a bit iffy, HD2 is not a cheap or simple device to fix.

[Q] Planning on buying one...

Hi. So i've been thinking about buying and HTC HD2 for a while, and finally decided that i will buy one.
I'm looking on Amazon at the moment and after looking at the reviews, the only problem seems to be that they are shipping T-Mobile USA versions of the phone instead of International. Which i'm completely fine with since i live in the USA and T-Mobile USA is my carrier.
The price is $299.99. I"m wondering if this device is worth that price considering that it came out like 1-2 years ago.
Would this be a good purchase? or would it be better to just look around more on ebay or something like that.
Thanks for the help .

i love this phone. i live and breathe it (for good or bad) but paying 300 bucks just might be worth it. i mean it is great. but you are paying for a WM phone to put wm7 or android (assuming you don't want WM). seems like you could get a lot of phone for that kind of cash. now the fun factor is worth it, but i see a lot of android native phones and happy people. personally, i would look around, check out native devices and the tweaks available here and go from there. now, it isn't a bad choice for a phone, but it ain't no spring chicken.

I already have an Android device. I was gonna get the HD2 back when i upgrade in November. I don't know why i didn't lol.
I figured $300 might be worth it. I've never used a Windows Mobile device before. I know it isn't exactly an amazing operating system. But if i don't like it i could stick Android or Windows Phone 7 on it. Which is another reason I kinda want to get this because I was thinking my next device would be a Windows Phone 7 device anyway. And it's not like i'm wasting an upgrade with T-Mobile anyway so I could still upgrade to a newer device later down the road.
I might just do it. According to Amazon i can return cell phones within the first 30 days of purchase. So i could probably just get a refund if I have problems with it or something.

I bought one for 380 about 3 or 4 months ago, and I definitely thought it was worth it.
There's so much you can do with this phone. Take off wm6.5 and put android on there. And at least 6 different really good versions of android. And it's so easy to switch from one android rom to another.
And after you've found the one you really like, then you can customize the hell out of it.
I'm a student in graduate school and this phone is the primary way I study. I installed studydroid, and this is 90% of what I do to study for an exam. If I had known how helpful this phone would be in my day to day activities, I would have bought it a year early for twice as much.
It has a calender, note taking, syncing contacts with google, very decent camera, mp3 player, and you can make the phone look very pretty.
If my HD2 broke right now, I would probably buy another for 300 usd immediately.

zackdroid said:
Hi. So i've been thinking about buying and HTC HD2 for a while, and finally decided that i will buy one.
I'm looking on Amazon at the moment and after looking at the reviews, the only problem seems to be that they are shipping T-Mobile USA versions of the phone instead of International. Which i'm completely fine with since i live in the USA and T-Mobile USA is my carrier.
The price is $299.99. I"m wondering if this device is worth that price considering that it came out like 1-2 years ago.
Would this be a good purchase? or would it be better to just look around more on ebay or something like that.
Thanks for the help .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to be really Honest..once you start using Windows Mobile after using Android there is a 99% chance you wont like it. Its just lack of support thats all. I however still use WM cos it fulfills my basic needs.
1) SMS
2) Internet(Opera Mini)
3) Watching Movies
4) Making Calls
5) Battery Life (its amazing...I have 3G off and use automatic brightness and at the end of the day after nominal use my battery meter is around 70%)
So I am sure you will feel like putting Android/WP7 on it but since you already have an android phone you would go for Wp7
if thats the case
i would advice you to rather go buy the HD7 cos no matter how much of tweaking they do to the WP7 on HD2 it wont be as good as native Wp7 on HD7 ( is what I feel...battery issues...driver issues...magldr issues)
so yeah...go for a HD7..its an amazing phone...sleek and better display than HD2 (more colors) !! and i think an Android port will be soon there for the HD7 tooo !!!

Thanks everyone for the input. I just ordered it, it will be here friday .

Zackdroid,
Congratulations on your purchase! Just my 2 cents: while it's fashionable around these parts to knock the Windows Mobile 6.5 OS and for (well-meaning) people to advise you: "just take that off and install Android", let me just say that:
If we're talking about stock WinMo + stock Sense as the phone comes out of the box, then yes-- it's crappy. Considering that Microsoft is very good at building things with potential, but ultimately releasing them half-assed and half-brained, it's no wonder. But thanks to the incredibly smart, dedicated, creative, and inventive folks here on XDA, you can skin, stabilize, and mod WinMo into an entirely different beast (or install a custom ROM that does it for you). I started off like most people, whining about Windows on the HD2 and wanting to do something about it. However, unlike many others, I had to keep WinMo because I have need for several apps that have no Android equivalent (including a few that I wrote myself). So for me it started as necessity. But now, I'll say to anyone who'll listen, that a custom WinMo6.5 running the new Cookie's Home Tab Suite (with Editor, GUI, and Loco) is an entirely different experience. It's like the OS that Microsoft should have built, but didn't. In reality, it's not really even a mod but a bona fide re-write of the operating system (and it certainly blows the newer Windows Phone 7 out of the water). Truthfully, I love WinMo + CHT so much that when I'm in Android I can sometimes feel guilty that I'm not using CHT (and btw, I LOVE Android). So before you dismiss WinMo out of hand, give that some thought.
I cant say I really understand a lot of the advice here like "when you get your phone wipe Windows and install Android". This is NOT because of my previous statement defending WinMo, but rather because:
if its strictly Android you're after, there are newer (and cheaper) phones that have Android already installed, or that you can root and install your own custom flavor, but most importantly...
one of the most beautiful things about the HD2 is its unique status as a powerful, versatile, multi-OS phone. This thing is just not meant to run one OS!
NOTHING beats somebody asking me,
"Hey, what kind of phone is that?"
It's an HD2, I say.
"Oh, what is that, Android?"
Well...yes...I run Android. And a custom version of Windows Mobile. Oh, and Ubuntu as well. Yep. 'Matter of fact, if I wanted to I could run MeeGo, Win 95, and a few others I can't think of.
And then I can watch their jaw drop. I have had hardcore geeks practically foaming at the mouth in envy after I give them a quick multi-boot custom ROM demo and tally off all the relentless hacking I've done to this phone. It's awesome.
The bottom line is most of us here installed other stuff on our phone because we weren't satisfied with the stock phone, and could do something about it, because of the people and tools present here on XDA. But we already owned an HD2. I'm not sure I would go out and buy an HD2 if I was just going to turn it into a run of the mill phone like all the rest... get me?

RDionysus said:
Zackdroid,
Congratulations on your purchase! Just my 2 cents: while it's fashionable around these parts to knock the Windows Mobile 6.5 OS and for (well-meaning) people to advise you: "just take that off and install Android", let me just say that:
If we're talking about stock WinMo + stock Sense as the phone comes out of the box, then yes-- it's crappy. Considering that Microsoft is very good at building things with potential, but ultimately releasing them half-assed and half-brained, it's no wonder. But thanks to the incredibly smart, dedicated, creative, and inventive folks here on XDA, you can skin, stabilize, and mod WinMo into an entirely different beast (or install a custom ROM that does it for you). I started off like most people, whining about Windows on the HD2 and wanting to do something about it. However, unlike many others, I had to keep WinMo because I have need for several apps that have no Android equivalent (including a few that I wrote myself). So for me it started as necessity. But now, I'll say to anyone who'll listen, that a custom WinMo6.5 running the new Cookie's Home Tab Suite (with Editor, GUI, and Loco) is an entirely different experience. It's like the OS that Microsoft should have built, but didn't. In reality, it's not really even a mod but a bona fide re-write of the operating system (and it certainly blows the newer Windows Phone 7 out of the water). Truthfully, I love WinMo + CHT so much that when I'm in Android I can sometimes feel guilty that I'm not using CHT (and btw, I LOVE Android). So before you dismiss WinMo out of hand, give that some thought.
I cant say I really understand a lot of the advice here like "when you get your phone wipe Windows and install Android". This is NOT because of my previous statement defending WinMo, but rather because:
if its strictly Android you're after, there are newer (and cheaper) phones that have Android already installed, or that you can root and install your own custom flavor, but most importantly...
one of the most beautiful things about the HD2 is its unique status as a powerful, versatile, multi-OS phone. This thing is just not meant to run one OS!
NOTHING beats somebody asking me,
"Hey, what kind of phone is that?"
It's an HD2, I say.
"Oh, what is that, Android?"
Well...yes...I run Android. And a custom version of Windows Mobile. Oh, and Ubuntu as well. Yep. 'Matter of fact, if I wanted to I could run MeeGo, Win 95, and a few others I can't think of.
And then I can watch their jaw drop. I have had hardcore geeks practically foaming at the mouth in envy after I give them a quick multi-boot custom ROM demo and tally off all the relentless hacking I've done to this phone. It's awesome.
The bottom line is most of us here installed other stuff on our phone because we weren't satisfied with the stock phone, and could do something about it, because of the people and tools present here on XDA. But we already owned an HD2. I'm not sure I would go out and buy an HD2 if I was just going to turn it into a run of the mill phone like all the rest... get me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty much the main reason I wanted to buy this phone is because of all of the OS's. I've heard people say that Windows Mobile is a horrible OS but honestly it doesn't look as bad as people say. I'm deffinantly not just buying this just to put Android on it considering I already have a rooted Android phone lol. I've always wanted to mess around and use Windows Mobile. And it's a device that could probably last me a while. I really can't wait until it gets here . lol.
EDIT: I also forgot to put on here that I think some of the Windows Mobile ROMs are pretty cool and nice looking.

I had my share of WM devices over the years and find HD2 simply amazing. When presented with a choice, I went for HD2 due to various OS ports available and options/customisations presented. In fact, I am in the process of parting with every other phone in my collection, bar HTC Universal, but I am keeping that one for sentimental reasons.
So yeah, i'd part with $300 if I had to replace mine. I am looking for a main board to stick into another HD2 I have, just so that I can have 1 set up and operational for daily use and another for flashing and playing around. Anyone wants to part with their broken, yet still alive HD2 - give me a PM.

As a matter of fact, I might have to shell out for a new HD2 myself. After a year and a half my phone has developed some reception/antenna problems, which if I cant figure out how to resolve it (like, by cracking open the phone and seeing if there's something "obvious" I can fix) I will have to retire the phone.
At that point, it will be tempting to grab something from the new crop of sweet Android-only phones, but I know for sure I'd be jonesin' for some multi-platform action and my HD2.
I'm starting to look now; I just hope I can find one for the right price.

RDionysus said:
As a matter of fact, I might have to shell out for a new HD2 myself. After a year and a half my phone has developed some reception/antenna problems, which if I cant figure out how to resolve it (like, by cracking open the phone and seeing if there's something "obvious" I can fix) I will have to retire the phone.
At that point, it will be tempting to grab something from the new crop of sweet Android-only phones, but I know for sure I'd be jonesin' for some multi-platform action and my HD2.
I'm starting to look now; I just hope I can find one for the right price.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sucks :/. When I was looking around ebay i saw some for cheap prices. I figured i should play it safe by buying off of amazon though so that's what i did. I paid $299US for it.
Meanwhile, if you are looking at newer Android devices, and you're on T-Mobile USA, and don't mind keyboards, I would wait untill the myTouch 4G Slide is released. And HTC is supposed to be unlocking the bootloader on the Sensation 4G so that's another choice .

enigma1nz said:
I had my share of WM devices over the years and find HD2 simply amazing. When presented with a choice, I went for HD2 due to various OS ports available and options/customisations presented. In fact, I am in the process of parting with every other phone in my collection, bar HTC Universal, but I am keeping that one for sentimental reasons.
So yeah, i'd part with $300 if I had to replace mine. I am looking for a main board to stick into another HD2 I have, just so that I can have 1 set up and operational for daily use and another for flashing and playing around. Anyone wants to part with their broken, yet still alive HD2 - give me a PM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why I went for the HD2. My other choice was gonna be the Touch Pro2 since it was cheaper and you can put Android on it. But i think the extra money will be worth it.

zackdroid said:
That sucks :/. When I was looking around ebay i saw some for cheap prices. I figured i should play it safe by buying off of amazon though so that's what i did. I paid $299US for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, there's a lot of phones on Ebay, but many are of questionable quality. You'll pay more on Amazon, but I'm assuming you got a warranty, so that's piece of mind.
Meanwhile, if you are looking at newer Android devices, and you're on T-Mobile USA, and don't mind keyboards, I would wait untill the myTouch 4G Slide is released. And HTC is supposed to be unlocking the bootloader on the Sensation 4G so that's another choice .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I hadn't given any thought to the myTouch. And obviously the Sensation is the new "it" phone, but honestly, apart from the excitement factor, it's served me well not to jump on the latest stuff, preferring to let the real early-adopters see what kinds of flaws and bugs are present and whether they can be fixed. I've avoided quite a few lemons this way (although you can't always avoid them all ) There are some grumblings RE the Sensation which I'm keeping my eye on: possible "deathgrip" flaw (which may turn out to be a red herring), wide swings in reception-quality on the TMOUS network (which the HD2 also suffered from!), so we'll see....
In the meantime, a few of my friends are taking any opportunity to rave (which can get a bit annoying) about their T-Mo G2X's, so that's a prospect if I go the non-HD2 route....

RDionysus said:
Yeah, there's a lot of phones on Ebay, but many are of questionable quality. You'll pay more on Amazon, but I'm assuming you got a warranty, so that's piece of mind.
Thanks, I hadn't given any thought to the myTouch. And obviously the Sensation is the new "it" phone, but honestly, apart from the excitement factor, it's served me well not to jump on the latest stuff, preferring to let the real early-adopters see what kinds of flaws and bugs are present and whether they can be fixed. I've avoided quite a few lemons this way (although you can't always avoid them all ) There are some grumblings RE the Sensation which I'm keeping my eye on: possible "deathgrip" flaw (which may turn out to be a red herring), wide swings in reception-quality on the TMOUS network (which the HD2 also suffered from!), so we'll see....
In the meantime, a few of my friends are taking any opportunity to rave (which can get a bit annoying) about their T-Mo G2X's, so that's a prospect if I go the non-HD2 route....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you sir, are a fountain of wisdom

Thanks DPMAce, I have my moments
But really, any wisdom comes from listening to and learning from all the folks around here who are smarter than me

RDionysus said:
Yeah, there's a lot of phones on Ebay, but many are of questionable quality. You'll pay more on Amazon, but I'm assuming you got a warranty, so that's piece of mind.
Thanks, I hadn't given any thought to the myTouch. And obviously the Sensation is the new "it" phone, but honestly, apart from the excitement factor, it's served me well not to jump on the latest stuff, preferring to let the real early-adopters see what kinds of flaws and bugs are present and whether they can be fixed. I've avoided quite a few lemons this way (although you can't always avoid them all ) There are some grumblings RE the Sensation which I'm keeping my eye on: possible "deathgrip" flaw (which may turn out to be a red herring), wide swings in reception-quality on the TMOUS network (which the HD2 also suffered from!), so we'll see....
In the meantime, a few of my friends are taking any opportunity to rave (which can get a bit annoying) about their T-Mo G2X's, so that's a prospect if I go the non-HD2 route....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. It's not always the best to jump in to new devices. I'm trying to force my self to wait to get the Galaxy S2 whenever it gets launched in the US. lol. I got really lucky getting the myTouch 4G almost right after it launched. A lot of devices were shipped with bad screens and bad emmc chips. The G2X looks nice although i've heard it has rebooting problems and stuff like that. But considering it's currently out of stock on T-Mobile's website, they're probably working on fixing it.

UPDATE
UPDATE: It came in the mail today . Everything seems to be fine. It's the T-Mobile USA version. The only odd thing was that it came in a myTouch 4G box...lol. But I got the device and that's all that really matters.

zackdroid said:
UPDATE: It came in the mail today . Everything seems to be fine. It's the T-Mobile USA version. The only odd thing was that it came in a myTouch 4G box...lol. But I got the device and that's all that really matters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol that's funny.
First thing is flash HSPL2.08 and get Android/WP7 on that bad boy!!!

orangekid said:
lol that's funny.
First thing is flash HSPL2.08 and get Android/WP7 on that bad boy!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm gonna do some reading first. I want to try the Android on SD Card thing first. It only came with a 512MB SD Card though and my other SD card is being used for my other phone. So i'll have to go out and buy one.

zackdroid said:
I'm gonna do some reading first. I want to try the Android on SD Card thing first. It only came with a 512MB SD Card though and my other SD card is being used for my other phone. So i'll have to go out and buy one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's pretty weak.
This is hands down the best ROM you can use on your SD card.
once you get your card just download the ROM, extract it, move it to your SD card (the Android subfolder).
then you just click CLRCD and then Haret and you're running Android!
http://www.multiupload.com/M92WB5L9V3

[Q] Should I buy a HD2?

Hello! I've currently got an HTC Desire and I'm not that happy with Android. I'm tired of the laggy, inconsistant and boring UI of both Sense and stock Android. I've had an iPod Touch and I've got an iPad and I'm a big fan of iOS, but I want to try something new.
I've been reading about WP7 a lot and it looks very interesting, I've also tried different WP7 phones in stores and I fell in love with the smoothness and consistant Metro UI.
The phone that I'm thinking of at the moment is the HD2, I think that it would be a good choice for me because it is able to run a various number of platforms (I like modding my phone and trying new stuff). So I've got a few questions about the phone:
The phone is almost 2 years old, is it hardware good enough to meet todays and tomorrow's requirements?
How is the screen of the HD2 compared to the Desire's (WVGA, 3,7", AMOLED)? Does multi-touch gestures work well? Is it dual-touch or does it support more than two fingers?
Is Spotify available for WP7 yet?
Are any key features missing in the WP7 port for HD2 (such as camera, headphone jack or WiFi not working?)?
What other platforms than Android, WM 6.5 and WP7 does the HD2 run? I saw that there are sections for Ubuntu and MeeGo here at XDA, are those platforms stable enough for daily use? How well does Android run?
Should I buy a used one or a new one?
How is the battery life?
What are your opinions? Would you buy a HD2 today? Opinions and recommendations about other phones are welcome as well!
Thanks in advance

1. I'd say yes. It might get a little more outdated when two core or even quad core processors roll out. One the other hand, there is no operating system that could use more power than HD2 has.
2. Screen is the weakest part of HD2, AMOLED technology is a lot better in terms of picture quality as well as power saving. I'd say it is just OK.
3. No idea.
4. No idea.
5. HD2 can currently run WM6.5, WP7 and Android - all stable and all working. Meego and Ubuntu are rather proof of concepts and not useful for daily use.
6. Now this is up to you. If you're short of money, go for used one. If you can afford a new one, get a new one.
7. Depends how much you use the phone, what operating system you're running etc. I managed to get about 4 days of standby(stock battery!) on Android with automatic internet connection and mail syncing every 30 minutes and 3G off. I consider it pretty good for a smartphone.
However, the most important thing about this phone is the number of supporters here at XDA. There are hundreds of ROMs to choose from, you can try a new one every day And well, I do not think there are many phones that can multiboot two systems(there are some that can handle different systems, but each change requires reflash).
I am a person who can afford any phone any time. If someone told me that there is a HD2 with amoled screen, quad core cpu and 4 gigs of ram and (it still can multiboot) for $2000, I'd buy it right away. Back to reality - in my opinion there is no better phone out there.

Well, it's hardware is now pretty old compared to most of the phones out there. But it still works I haven't seen any place where I'd be like oh crap I wish I had another phone this is just too slow.. Never.
Screen = Big Let Down. You won't be all that happy with the screen rest assured
Multi-touch works well but not so well in WP7. I believe it is dual touch.
Spotify is available on WP7 last I checked it will take you a spotify wp7 google search.
Meego, Ubuntu not for daily use development has as far as I remember become extremely slow.
Key feature missing in WP7 for HD2 is camera gives green tint when used with flash. And imo camera quality is never as good with android or wp7 than with WM6.5 for hd2.
Take a used one from craigslist. Should be good enough.
Battery life not as good due to the aforementioned screen and 1250 mAh battery.
But, I still personally love my HD2 and won't part with it till the development from this community stops and I honestly believe WP7 would surely work perfect on the HD2 in the near future. Peace

Thanks for the responses! The only thing that makes me doubt atm is the screen.. Really love the blacks on the Desire's AMOLED display, but I guess that I'll get used to the HD2's display.
Anyone done the jump from AMOLED/S-LCD/S-AMOLED to LCD?

Kinda.. My bro has a Galaxy S another has a S2 a friend has Sensation.. So seen many pretty nice screens must admit my hd2 looks pretty sad in front of those displays.. But, when I show them Android CM7, Sense, WP7 and all.. They all say please tell us how to do it

Go get an hd2 it will be the best thing that ever happened to you cell phone wise

I won't make another topic for the same question, so I just reply to this one. I hope it won't call as digging up...
After XDA threads answering 90% of my questions, I still have one:
I will be able to afford an HD2 in March-April 2012. That said, I don't want to end up thinking "Gosh, why did I buy it?" after 3-4 months; is this phone still able to survive another year of support here, at XDA? I don't have enough cash to buy another $400 phone after half a year, so it is quite important.
Thanks in advance.

Schocker1 said:
I won't make another topic for the same question, so I just reply to this one. I hope it won't call as digging up...
After XDA threads answering 90% of my questions, I still have one:
I will be able to afford an HD2 in March-April 2012. That said, I don't want to end up thinking "Gosh, why did I buy it?" after 3-4 months; is this phone still able to survive another year of support here, at XDA? I don't have enough cash to buy another $400 phone after half a year, so it is quite important.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to be honest, it is a guess at this time. i mean in 6 months from now, there might be some new amazing things on the market. i would just come back and check in 5 months or so. and nicely done, not starting a new thread!

If i were u i wont even think of getting this phone.
Ya in 6 months from not there will be more new stuff out there. So talking of the current market i think compared to other newer phones the HD2 is really good. 4.3 inch display, capability to rum multiple OS's. And it's blazing fast in wp7 and android
BUT...
Just google the number of HD2 users suffering with the same fault it has. I'm a victim of the same and i feel like dashing this crap on the floor. I'm sick and tired of this. Even after performing a mtty still it restarts.
So..
Either u have to be really like others to get a good phone without any faults or you too will be suffering like the rest of the HD2 owners. WHY TAKING THAT CHANCE? IF I WERE YOU I WOULD NOT EVEN IF IT CAN RUN 1000 OS's..

I am really happy with my HD2 & it has been faultless for me on my personal setup WM6.5.x, but if you are likely to be going Android you are better looking at newer devices that are native Android.
Most hardware failures & bugs are on those users running Multi OSs or Nand Droid/W7 .

Thinking of Buying an HD2?
Thinking of Buying an HD2?
Read here,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1284389
and here,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1271507
Those of you suffering WP7 restarts/freeze etc, get yourselves a new SD Card. There's plenty of data on this in the WP7 forum.

Thanks for answering, it really means a lot to me.
Ok, time to explain my history (which is a long and complicated one):
I am 15 years old, so I just have to rely on my parents' money. I got my first mobile when I was... 9? Something like that. I remember, how everyone in the school was excited by color screens! And l was proud of having a camera, even though the quality of the photos was pretty bad. But, hey, it was a camera! In the mobile!
In 2007 I got my first "smartphone". It was Nokia 6120 classic with Symbian. But I was scared about losing the warranty, so I didn't do much with it (that is, I didn't "hack" the Symbian, which is still nothing compared to modding Android). Still, I was happy with it for 2 years.
But then comes 2009 and "touchscreen time". God, how the prices of those phones dropped then! I bought a Samsung Corby. Yeah, it was a downgrade from Symbian, but at least I was able to get used to the touchscreen. I sold it in March 2011 for an acceptable price.
And here comes the "smartphone age". I bought my Galaxy Spica in July 2011. I know, probably You haven't heard of this phone, but in Poland and Russia it is quite popular. I bought it simply because of the mods - right now it is considered "The slowest phone ever" on some Polish Android forum, but, guess what? I am happy with it. It is running CM6 right now and is currently lying on my left, charging happily.
If I'm happy - why should I replace it? Well, first of all, the battery got klilled. One day I can go through 8 lessons and the phone will still be at 100%, and next day, without even touching it - bam, drops to 52%. I know, replace the battery and so on, and so on. But it really sometimes makes me mad when I have to do a "battery reset" for the third time, because it won't unlock...
I remember how I was scared before the first root of my Spica... And it went great, start to finish! Everything goes great when You follow the guides, that's what I learned in the past few months. No phone can be compared to HD2 when it comes to modding (at least IMHO), and it gives you the "WOW" factor among your friends, hehe! Nothing better then coming to a group of people showing off their 199$ Android phone and showing them the HD2's dual-boot!
What really made me excited about the HD2 is not only a modders paradise it offers, but also the wonderful support here. Heck, the HD2 Android board has more posts than most other phones section added up! And more, and more posts are coming up everyday. I would really like to have, like, 4 smartphones in my house - Android, iPhone, WP7 and probably another Android... But I just don't have the money for it. (*blames his country for its poor wages*) I do not demand every new version of Android or WP7 being ported to HD2 (because it's just too much), but I'd be happy with, let's say, one-two next major versions of Android and the next major version of WP7.
In one sentence: I definitely enjoy modding everything, I love the big choice of ROMs available here and I just hope the development doesn't stop on Mango and Gingerbread - if it's so: HD2, here I come!
If You really read the whole story (written in a very poor English - sorry, I'm a native Polish speaker), then congrats, and I hope You will be able to answer my question: Will HD2 as a multi-OS phone satisfy my needs, which are not connected to display or dual-core, but tot the software only? And sorry for the chaotic post, I shouldn't have replied in the midnight. ^^

Get one. I broke mine and am currently looking for another HD2. I could go get the new GSII but I don't really want it.

stepthehen said:
Thinking of Buying an HD2?
Read here,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1284389
and here,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1271507
Those of you suffering WP7 restarts/freeze etc, get yourselves a new SD Card. There's plenty of data on this in the WP7 forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, that is enough for me, I am going for it... After I get the money of course.
BTW: @stepthehen: I've read the second story before and that's why I asked - if this phone has gone through two years and can mean so much for people...

It is a great phone & if the price is right then still a trenendous bit of kit.
The flip side : if you are not likely to want WM6.5.x or multi-boot & are paying high end price then it is not the best option.

Mister B said:
It is a great phone & if the price is right then still a trenendous bit of kit.
The flip side : if you are not likely to want WM6.5.x or multi-boot & are paying high end price then it is not the best option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My mum says it is quite expensive, but, hey! Many phones nowadays have similar, if not worse, specs, but they are being sold with a higher price tag, simply because "they're new".
And I do want the multi-boot and I do want to play with OSes. Actually it's my #1 reason. ^^

[Q]- What Makes Hd2 This Special...?

i bought a hd2 last week, since the i have tried like 20 different roms both wp7 and android ones, and i m loving it,, but i m curious to know that how come this is the only phone that can do this, i mean wat is in it ( or not there in it) , that makes it support different operating systems.

One word DFT!
OK so I guess it is actually three Dark Forces Team. A group of devs including Cotula that dove head first into the phone once we found out that Micro$oft was going to leave us high and dry when it cam to WP7. They and all of the other devs that flocked to this phone, mostly because of its top of the line specs at the time and even still for the most part, are why this phone is still a beast!
Really all our phone doesn't have is a front facing camera, better screen resolution, and higher ram. And truthful the last one is really not that far behind what is out in the "top of the line "phones coming out today, and none are true deal breakers
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA

yes i totally agree,its still not far behind in terms of performance, i tried out Shadowgun game in galaxy s2 and was amazed by its graphics, but then i tested it on hd2 ics 4.04 , i was surprised to see that it gave me almost same graphics as s2 , and ran really smoothly..
And wen i thought of reason exactly same reason struk my mind that, this was an awesum device getting ruined on wp6.5, so i order to have wp7 in it all this development happened..
But wat i want to know is if some developers gives his everything to some other phone , like they gave everything to hd2 , can some other device of today replace hd2 in terms of multiple operating systems support....

I really don't have high hopes for any other phones following the course of the HD2. People now are really one way or another (either love android or WP7 not both and most "hate" the opposing OS). Heck if I knew how to do it I would love to see IOS and the new BB10 on here just to prove once again HD2 is king!
The reason I think we got all of this was the fact that when they found out wp6.5 was dieing they wanted to get something that would be supported for longer. Android was in the beginning of its boom and WP7 was still in development at MS so some devs got together and got Android to boot on SD using HARET. People fell in love and DFT started working on nand. During this time devs started using the base we were given to get Linux and Windows running from SD. DFT got nand working with magldr then WP7 dropped and I have a feeling Cotula really likes it (since that seems to be the bulk of his posts lately) so he reformatted magldr to be able to run both. Then meego came out and development sounded promising but never got the attention from the right devs plus it was dropped by nokia (I think) so I don't see that going anywhere.
I think the main reason we have all this is that the SPL was torn down and fully understood meaning that they were able to turn the phone into a blank slate with the ability to control every aspect of it with the right code (magldr) . Leaving it possible to do whatever they wanted. Plus the open source nature of android helps!
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA

@tobiascrystal
thanks for the mini-history of our HD2, i too was wondering like amitoj about the HD2. I guess coz it was the last line in the wp6.5 series with still so much power in it that it became what it was now.
I was also searching the net for a similar phone that can run magldr & other bootloader but found none or a few is in development. I was thinking since a lot of other phones out there have similar spec as the HD2 can't they do the same for those?

I would say that anything is possible with enough time, brain power, and motivation (and maybe some cash) . All these newer smartphones are nothing but mini computers and could, in theory, all do the same thing as the HD2 but like I said you have to have someone(s) that is really devoted. If I remember correctly it took over a year of coding for DFT to get magldr ready for the masses. I am not sure what the next super phone is going to be that catches that kind of developer attention. I tell you one thing though, the day I hear about it I don't care if I have to pay full retail I will be next in line to buy it!
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA

Indeed, I fear the time when my HD2 will die and I will be forced to use new phone with stock roms Hopefully till this time, some phone will get as much attentions as our beloved leo.

@delwing
i guess, other phones do accept custom roms , but not of a totally different operating system.
We are lucky that this device got so much attention from developers , but really after using it , i dont think ill ever like any phone more than this. and i guess hd2 is gonna be one of a kind for years to come. But i really wish that there comes a phone which is as beautiful as HD2 and which can match high end specs of today's phones. At present its specs are more than wat are required , but in an year or two we will need some phone like this with better specs.

I am in the Philippines and am currently using htc One X. But I have been searching for a brand new HTC HD2 for a long time now and I can't seem to find one I miss this beast of a phone. This is the first time I have used android by the way. Call me old school, but I like WM6.5 better. Even better than WP7.5. Personally I think the possibilities in customization on HD2 is endless. hehehe..of course hardware wise it got left beind but still...anyone know where I can get a bnew one?

Thailand still has them available including new boxed TMOUS models ...
WM6.5 is the king of customization & good settings, only software development made Android popular, the actual OS is ****e ...

there will never be an HD2 again, the market is so diluted with *cough-****e-* cough that developers and would be developers are spread out to thin.
The HD2 was king simply because it was THE phone to have, there was very little similar to it, and the power within its S1 SoC was way ahead of anything else, thus we ended up with a situation where the HD2 was the place to be. The fact that soft SPL then hard SPL was done quickly followed by Android booting from within WM cemented its fame, the final rise to power was MAGLDR, allowing pretty much anything to be done. Live it up guys, as sure as bears crap in the woods, this will never happen to a device again so long as they keep pumping out so much crap in to the markets and doing everything to lock them down.

very simple answer to the question.
it can only run
wm 6.5, wp7, all the versions of Android, meego and Ubuntu

enyaj said:
I am in the Philippines and am currently using htc One X. But I have been searching for a brand new HTC HD2 for a long time now and I can't seem to find one I miss this beast of a phone. This is the first time I have used android by the way. Call me old school, but I like WM6.5 better. Even better than WP7.5. Personally I think the possibilities in customization on HD2 is endless. hehehe..of course hardware wise it got left beind but still...anyone know where I can get a bnew one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ebay HK still have some new ones & they ship worldwide, give it a search

G.O.A.T.
I have been waiting to see the HD2 in the Guinness Book of World Records for the number of OS's on one Phone.
I am just as pleased or more so today as I was when I woke up early to be at T-Mobile when the doors opened to be the first to have one. I work for AT&T and I see lots of new phone come and go. As best I can tell most people love their OS. Unlike most of us HD2 owners here who love our phone.
I would also like to thank the developers for their hard word and staying ahead of the pack. For Example, I was running a stable version of ICS months before the newer phones received their updates or pre-installs appeared in the work place.
I truly believe that the HTC-HD2 will be looked at as one of the G.O.A.T.. (Greatest of all Time)