Database Users

Major advantages of Desire HD over HD2 with custom Android rom?

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!
Click to expand...
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

[Q] Would you buy NOW an HD2 to use it ONLYwith Android?

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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)
Click to expand...
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...

[Q] Switch to WP7 or stay on Android

Hello
My dilemma is the following
I currently have Android via Nand and its setup as I like it, but more importantly its setup how my little one likes it. Its got loads of games on it that she plays and was one of the main reasons for switching to Android.
Now I have got a Windows license key and am all ready to go to WP7 but wonder if its the right move.
With current troubles with WP7 I'm reading and the need for kids games should I stay on Android or move to WP7?
Don't really want to go dual boot.

Games on WP7 are expensive. Something to keep in mind.

Thanks for taking to the time to do poll and reply.
Stopped me from put wp7 on, will wait and see what people think tomorrow.
Ian

That and there really aren't too many wp7 games. The android market has been around longer.
Swyped from my Evo on steroids.

Why don't you want to dual boot? Then you can try out wp7 and still have android on your phone. I'm dual-booting and it works great... both OS's are smooth and fast. Getting decent battery life with wp7 and great battery life with android (3-6ma on standby... sometimes as low as 2ma). That's what makes the HD2 special.... you can boot multiple OS's on it.

You have some great points, perhaps I should rethink.
Does anyone else have experience of dual booting both.

If you want games than WP7 is your choice for sure. The selection may be not that great in numbers and there is no Angry Birds yet, but the quality is overwhelming. I'm playing The Harvest for 3 days now and still can't believe this is a mobile game

I took WP7 for a spin for 4 days and I absolutely loved it. Smooth as silk after the initial install and activation. Had a few minor problems like the phone locking after a sync with Zune but this was known and I belifve that there is a fix available.
So, that was really the good side. My take on it is that there are relatively few (few in comparison to other OS) apps. My biggest concern was tethering while being away on a business trip but I could not find a way to do it.
So although I went back to Android, all in all I think WP7 is great. It just needs time to mature in terms of the home brew offerings and Marketplace apps.
Good luck.

I absolutely loved Android, but after using wp7 since it was out I can't use Android again, I will switch back but then flash wp7 before the day was over. Wp7 is great for its silky smooth UI and speed, GPS works instantly...and it looked funny running Android with a windows start button lol joke.

Until I use Windows 7, Android was very fast and preferred OS for me.I like the speed and quality of WP7. But Its too early to choose because lack of application's availablityin WP7.Android has thosands of apps meanwhil WP7 has not many apps.I will decide to use which OS in 6-9 months.until then I will use dual boot(WP7 and Android)WE HD2 OWNERS HAVE ALWAYS 2 OS ON THE PHONE THAT IS WHY HTC CALLED THIS HANDSET HD------- 2(2 OS)that is the speciality of HTC HD2

I have wp7 & android. I find myself using wp7 80% of the time, because of the snappiness. I switch to android only when I need to take a picture or use apps that wp7 doesn't have.

I tried several Android roms both sd and NAND even a few ram versions however once I used the win7 I loved it. True there's not as many apps and games but how many do you actually use? I lost pandora but gained Netflix and found alternatives to pandora. The ui is awesom on win7 ,smooth ,nice hd resolution ,great FB and gps I'm in with the win7 now just sitting back and waiting on updates.

If WP7 could give you even the slightest bit of Multi Tasking, perhaps allow three apps to be held in ram
If the camera worked OK under low light flash conditions
Gsensor needs fixing as its 10 degrees out when playing games like Need for speed
And there needs to be a few more very important apps available.
All of these will be sorted via XDA or Microsoft, fingers crossed for the first point.
OK Android may be slower and feel a bit old fashioned and clunky, but its app market is brimming like the Apple one, multitasking seems to work better, although never as good as WM6.5
Any issues with cameras for me totally destroy the whole build, this is why I waited to go over to Android until they eventually sorted the camera issues, with WP7 the camera is annoying as its brilliant ok slightly greenish in daylight but use a flash and the thing cant focus and totally green blurs the whole image.
I could even just about cope with out multitasking, shame as you cant even have resco radio running while you do other things.
Please get these things sorted because WP7 blows all the other UI's out the water with:
GPS fix instant and accurate
Keyboard wonderful
UI fast, fun and interesting
Games are unbelievable
Calendar is quick and simple to use
Office, even better than WM version
Sound quality is outstanding
Don't mention dual booting to me, can you imaging your in a meeting, my choice of UI would be WP7 for its quick calendar and super fast and brilliant office application, then comes the point for a quick snap of what we are discussing, before the fast passed meeting fly's onwards, "errrr hold on everyone while I boot up Android so I can take an indoor picture of this product"...

LOL ... 'retard' moment
THUDUK said:
Don't mention dual booting to me, can you imaging your in a meeting, my choice of UI would be WP7 for its quick calendar and super fast and brilliant office application, then comes the point for a quick snap of what we are discussing, before the fast passed meeting fly's onwards, "errrr hold on everyone while I boot up Android so I can take an indoor picture of this product"...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

psyCORe said:
LOL ... 'retard' moment
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funnily enough this actually happened to me the other day, bloomin thing just wouldn't focus or take a decent picture...thus why I am back with Android for now

want to re-purchase hd2 for android ... questions

hello all.
to start with i used to own an HTC HD2 a while back during the days of WinMo6.5 ... i loved the unit (of course i hated winmo). it had a jumbo screen, fast and reliable. well not so because of the fact that the battery would not charge anymore no matter how hard i tried. new battery or old battery it just wouldnt charge. even changed winmo 6.5 and it still didnt work. so i got rid of the hd2 (with tears in my eyes).
then i delved into the Android phone market and started with x10, htc phones and now i have a samsung galaxy s at home while i carry a htc desire in my pocket ...
well now that the hd2 can run android i am considering repurchasing a new one...since now they are cheaper (if i can find one lol).
my main questions are:
1) does everything on this device work in android? wifi/bluetooth, etc?
2) i noticed the internal ram is nothing more than 103 megs or so left free. according to the phone specs the hd2 has 448 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM. so will a solution like data2whatever or work?
3) and finally are there any other issues?
Thanks!

cylent said:
hello all.
to start with i used to own an HTC HD2 a while back during the days of WinMo6.5 ... i loved the unit (of course i hated winmo). it had a jumbo screen, fast and reliable. well not so because of the fact that the battery would not charge anymore no matter how hard i tried. new battery or old battery it just wouldnt charge. even changed winmo 6.5 and it still didnt work. so i got rid of the hd2 (with tears in my eyes).
then i delved into the Android phone market and started with x10, htc phones and now i have a samsung galaxy s at home while i carry a htc desire in my pocket ...
well now that the hd2 can run android i am considering repurchasing a new one...since now they are cheaper (if i can find one lol).
my main questions are:
1) does everything on this device work in android? wifi/bluetooth, etc?
2) i noticed the internal ram is nothing more than 103 megs or so left free. according to the phone specs the hd2 has 448 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM. so will a solution like data2whatever or work?
3) and finally are there any other issues?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello mate, me too i had it with winmo and had to sell it 'cause winmo, now that my nexus is coming out of warranty i came back to the hd2 with android for the same reasons: big screen, overral pleasant unit, someway cheap unit...
I like it with android Froyo, for me everything i tried so far is workig good except the gps... it doesn't work in any way but i guess it's something related to some units because many reported therir is working.
I guess developers are at really early stage of this and with some time it may be fixed.
If you don't care so much about gps then go with it, you'll love it again!
Cheers.
edit: forgot to say that you can move appz to SD, just make an ext3/4 partition on it.

I agree with cabalist.
The storage space is not an issue anymore with the different partitions on the sd-card. Ok you will lose that space on the card, but an 8 or 16GB card is cheap.
Wifi and BT work absolutely fine.
The GPS works for me but there seems to be an issue with the driver so it works like an ancient SIRF1 or 2. It picks up the sats very slow. Takes up to 2 minutes.
I am not a fan of the GPS in the HD2 (neither in WINMO) since it has alot of jitter in the signal making it move around a spot all the time.
Now I used an application 'bluetooth gps provider' which works perfect with my external BT GPS which is always on in the car and picks up sats fast and reliable. As a matter of fact you can still leave the internal GPS on so you don't have to switch when your BT GPS is not around (walking in a strange city etc).
There are other quirks that might not make you a not so happy owner of the HD2 with Android.
Some people have a 2 sec lag when turning on the screen and some have other issues.
It is up to you to decide if you buy a second hand one but I can imagine that if you don't like it you can easily resell it at the same price you bought it for.
I bought mine for the GPS (screen) and to play around. Now after a couple of months this has been one of my best purchases ever since it keeps me more than busy and full of surprises all the time.

internal ram shortage wont be a problem if you use a tmoUS version, and everything works in pretty much every mature builds..

Dont get me wrong, HD2+Android is very good, especially if you get T-Mobile version of HD2. but why not buy native Android device ? With better battery, with front facing camera, with more internal storage ?
Personally I would wait for Atrix 4G (expected end of Feb 2011).

If you want to just run android, then this is not your phone. Sure everything works, but if you compare a HD2 rom we are using to a similar rom on an android native device with similar specs, the native android device will perform better. Also, partitioning of sd card, flashing radios, HSPL, MAGLDR, CWM, all of this may be a hassle to you even if you've followed instructions or not.

Kailkti said:
If you want to just run android, then this is not your phone. Sure everything works, but if you compare a HD2 rom we are using to a similar rom on an android native device with similar specs, the native android device will perform better. Also, partitioning of sd card, flashing radios, HSPL, MAGLDR, CWM, all of this may be a hassle to you even if you've followed instructions or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks all for the quick reply .. the hd2 i have now works great with android and actually i am noticing it faster running android then a native device (except the Samsung galaxy s) ...
we'll see how this device fairs with android... but so far its a pleasant journey and i am finding android on the hd2 to be quick.

Thinking of purchasing, need some opinions

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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.