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HTC HD2 vs HTC Desire, user and developer point of view

Hi I want to buy one of this two devices, but I can't decide which one. I am looking at this dilema from two perspectives. A user perspective and a developer perspective.
1. User perspective:
I will use the phone for every functionallity there is. I will install a lot of apps, customize everything. Play movies, play games, use GPS navigation, take pictures, even read some documents. Every aspect of the phone is important to me.
HTC HD2:
pros:
* 4,3 screen
* windows mobile is mature system with lot of good, mature apps
* good divx/xvid players
* great GPS navigation apps
* great emulators including DOSBOX!
* psx emulator
* great customization
cons:
* system is old and rusty in some places
* not finger friendly in many cases
* developers will slowly abandon this platform
* marketplace sucks, you have to find everything yourself
* not a lot of touch friendly games?
HTC Desire:
pros:
* AMOLED screen
* great momentum with apss, lot of new developers
* good marketplace, lot of apps free
* modern system
* everything is finger friendly
* widgets are great
* faster then HD2 WinMo
cons:
* lack of decent free xvid/divx player
* lack of dosbox and psx emulator (some emulators are ok though)
* although there are some ok GPS navigation apps not as good as WinMo
* less freedom than WinMo
Winner? Desire as soon as it gets dosbox, divx player and maybe some other apps it will be a better phone for me, but we don't know when it will happen, right now it's about a tie, but android has better perspectives.
2. Developer perspective:
Right I am windows .net developer for few years now. I want to develop some apps on mobile phones. Firstly this will be free apps, but after some time I'm thinking about starting to develop paid apps if its working good.
HTC HD2:
system:
* WinMo
pros:
* .net and Visual Studio
* freedom
* great support from xda-developers
cons:
* still no SDK for WinMo 6.5
* no good marketplace to give/sell my apps
* a lot of API is device specific
* WinApi
* will be outdated by WinPhone 7 - wich on the other hand will have very good API support.
HTC Desire:
system:
* Android 2.1/2.2
* future upgrades?
pros:
* good system API, almost everything you would need to develop apps
* open source
* monodroid? Mono for android
* great and vast marketplace where I can instantly put my apps
* some xda-developers support (probably even better in the future)
* widgets
cons:
* java and eclipse -but still better than WinApi
* not so much freedom for apps, they run in isolated environments and there are some security bounds
Summarizing WinMo has better developer-community support (for now, it will probably change soon) and better tools. But Android has a lot better API, will probably soon (Q3) have monodroid, and has a good marketplace. Thats about a tie, but here android has better perspectives.
All-in-all I just really can't decide which phone to take (both of them are about 150$ from my operator with 2 year agreement - Play in Poland). What would you suggest?

TAke the desire. Likeyou said at a developer point of view the phone is on it's last legs and then you'd have to rebuild the apps for windows mobile 7. Android sure you would have to update it with each OS but its still a growing platform. From a user perspective I can see android winning out because first the OS is finger friendly. I also can seethe all store being much more well used vs the windows marketplace. Honestly in the nd it comes down to.your personal choice. O play with both and see which you like more
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App

User sugestion
As a User I would take Leo
As Dev I would choose Leo
You mentioned all why´s on your 1st post
All will come to decide if you want to go to new unfinished Android or stay in WM.
Let us know what you finally got

I would lean toward the Desire for many reasons stated all over this forum. But as orb said, we can't decide for you...

for God's sake, go with the Desire.
I got an HD2 at launch and traded it for a Nexus and love it.
WinMo is slowly dying and Android is just getting better and better.

I went for Desire. Found a good offline GPS navigation and converting to mp4 is a little pain in the ass but not that bad. Hope coreplayer android will come here soon.
Android SDK > WM6SDK

Confused...
Hi there guys..
I'm planning to buy either one of these PDA's and I'm quite in dilemma in here. I don't have much experience on neither Windows Mobile nor Android.
I'm a senior university student in here (Turkey) on Computer and Educational Technologies. I'm an amateur computer programmer and planning to go on on this major. I'm also planning to go ahead in the area of mobile software development. This is why I'm quite confused which PDA to buy... I'll both learn to develop for this PDA and will also use it as my portable device.
As a portable device, since I'm a student, I'm quite in need of a PDA which can read and edit Office Documents, play MP3 and/or other media formats, display e-books (pdf, etc.), send-recieve e-mail's efficiently (actually push-mail can be quite of use here) and have Wireless access. I'm not planning to heavily use 3G or EDGE, but since campus has free wireless access, I'll be using Wireless internet a lot. Also, since a few my courses are requiring online-participation, web browsing quality is also important (flash support etc.). I'm also planning to use PDA to remote-access my pc (right now using PcAnywhere but not necessarily this one).
On the other hand, I'm quite a computer geek and I love technological stuff; so I'm sure I'm going to make this phone inside out . I like tweaking, playing with the insides of devices etc.
As a developer, I use C++ and C#.NET. I don't know Java and I'm not quite comfortable with it - I don't like languages which require intermadiate virtual machines or stuff (it's why I don't like to use C# much either). For all this years I've developed for Windows and quite happy with it - Linux systems are always been too confusing for me.
When I add these things up, I think of HD2; but Android platform also looks quite promising (the SDK is said to be better, I don't know based on what discussion). The other thing is, WM6.5 which is quite old now - don't care much about grey old-fashined buttons but - and it seems won't be supported in future. I use Windows at home, quite happy with it and it's why I'm tended to pick a WinMo device however this "dead end" future is really creeping me out.
I've though that since Android Rom's are developing continuously for HD2, it's better for me to pick that and if I feel WinMo is not well for me, I can switch to Android but this option doesn't make me feel confortable - why should I bother myself with such workarounds to use Android when I could buy an Android device directly?
Shortly, in the light of these specifications I made about myself, should I aim towards Android and pick Desire, or should I get a HD2 and switch to Android from there if and only if I need to? Or, with different words: Can an Android device (Desire, actually) give me ALL possibilities of a Windows Mobile platform (which is HD2) and also something more?
(FYI, screen size of HD2 seems quite attractive for me, since I'm also going to use PDA for remote-access to my pc but I don't know if Android is also rich about these areas.)
PS: I cannot wait for Desire HD - since it will be quite expensive when it comes out in here - and also I need a PDA quite much already. Actually, another point which makes the HD2 interesting is the news which pop up about "The Desire HD rom in HD2".
Please, can you help me to pick?

theGanymedes said:
Hi there guys..
I'm planning to buy either one of these PDA's and I'm quite in dilemma in here. I don't have much experience on neither Windows Mobile nor Android.
I'm a senior university student in here (Turkey) on Computer and Educational Technologies. I'm an amateur computer programmer and planning to go on on this major. I'm also planning to go ahead in the area of mobile software development. This is why I'm quite confused which PDA to buy... I'll both learn to develop for this PDA and will also use it as my portable device.
As a portable device, since I'm a student, I'm quite in need of a PDA which can read and edit Office Documents, play MP3 and/or other media formats, display e-books (pdf, etc.), send-recieve e-mail's efficiently (actually push-mail can be quite of use here) and have Wireless access. I'm not planning to heavily use 3G or EDGE, but since campus has free wireless access, I'll be using Wireless internet a lot. Also, since a few my courses are requiring online-participation, web browsing quality is also important (flash support etc.). I'm also planning to use PDA to remote-access my pc (right now using PcAnywhere but not necessarily this one).
On the other hand, I'm quite a computer geek and I love technological stuff; so I'm sure I'm going to make this phone inside out . I like tweaking, playing with the insides of devices etc.
As a developer, I use C++ and C#.NET. I don't know Java and I'm not quite comfortable with it - I don't like languages which require intermadiate virtual machines or stuff (it's why I don't like to use C# much either). For all this years I've developed for Windows and quite happy with it - Linux systems are always been too confusing for me.
When I add these things up, I think of HD2; but Android platform also looks quite promising (the SDK is said to be better, I don't know based on what discussion). The other thing is, WM6.5 which is quite old now - don't care much about grey old-fashined buttons but - and it seems won't be supported in future. I use Windows at home, quite happy with it and it's why I'm tended to pick a WinMo device however this "dead end" future is really creeping me out.
I've though that since Android Rom's are developing continuously for HD2, it's better for me to pick that and if I feel WinMo is not well for me, I can switch to Android but this option doesn't make me feel confortable - why should I bother myself with such workarounds to use Android when I could buy an Android device directly?
Shortly, in the light of these specifications I made about myself, should I aim towards Android and pick Desire, or should I get a HD2 and switch to Android from there if and only if I need to? Or, with different words: Can an Android device (Desire, actually) give me ALL possibilities of a Windows Mobile platform (which is HD2) and also something more?
(FYI, screen size of HD2 seems quite attractive for me, since I'm also going to use PDA for remote-access to my pc but I don't know if Android is also rich about these areas.)
PS: I cannot wait for Desire HD - since it will be quite expensive when it comes out in here - and also I need a PDA quite much already. Actually, another point which makes the HD2 interesting is the news which pop up about "The Desire HD rom in HD2".
Please, can you help me to pick?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am an out-and-out android person, but I know both C# and Java, and you can easily pick up one from the other, from my experience. Syntax is very similar, and the documentation will help you.
Eclipse is the recommended IDE, and you can use the android emulator to play about with coding etc (it's not fast, but it works). That should let you try out android from a development perspective.

[Q] OS Level printing

This is really a question on Honeycomb, not so much the Xoom. Why has there not been OS level printing support (CUPS) added to Android? This only makes sense as the last part needed to replace my laptop/netbook for everyday use.
I know I can use cloud print for a few things or even use the less the stellar apps available n the market but if there was a real printing option available in Android, apps could be written to make use of it as a standard.
Any theories or comments?

Developing for Android and iOS - 2 native apps or just 1 with cross-platform toolkit?

Hi,
I want to develop an app for both Android and iOS and was considering using a cross-platform toolkit. Currently I'm tending towards Appcelerator Titanium as it uses native widgets.
However, since I only really want to target 2 platforms, is it worth doing that? Or should I get myself a cheap Mac Mini (or run OSX under a VM or something) and just develop it natively for both?
Opinions of people who have developed for both platforms would be very helpful.
Regards,
Asfand Qazi

iphone / iOS now has "Alien" which can be used to run android dalvik code directly on the device, I suppose it depends what you are developing?
If your app uses ndk I don't think alien will help because the two devices are not the same inside, but pure Dalvik apps would run through alien and this would halve your dev time worrying about cross-platform issues.
I would have said flash or AIR but I have heard aple has spat the dummy again over AIR and flash apps on it's store so I'd skip that.
Also worth thinking about is something like web apps because both android and iOS support apps ased on webpages. remember it does not have to be the next microsoft office to make bucks.
Just some ideas to get the ball rolling

I'm primarily going for a native look and feel for each platform, so although those options are interesting, I don't think they would suit me. Interesting anyway though, maybe I'll use one of those for a future project.

Android for academic research...

Just got my first tablet recently, and it's an Android-based one (Transformer Prime).
I love the tablet, but I'm trying my hardest not to be disappointed in the lack of research/academic related applications for Android. I'm looking for a research paper organizer/citation manager, similar to Papers for iOS. There is Droideley for Android, which syncs your Mendeley library to your phone, but it's not really well-optimized for tablets.
Do you guys have any good recommendations for tablet-apps for research article organization/annotations, and just general apps for an academic/research environment?

tbns said:
Just got my first tablet recently, and it's an Android-based one (Transformer Prime).
I love the tablet, but I'm trying my hardest not to be disappointed in the lack of research/academic related applications for Android. I'm looking for a research paper organizer/citation manager, similar to Papers for iOS. There is Droideley for Android, which syncs your Mendeley library to your phone, but it's not really well-optimized for tablets.
Do you guys have any good recommendations for tablet-apps for research article organization/annotations, and just general apps for an academic/research environment?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you ever find a solution, or combination, that works for you?
16 Months later, and the answer still appears to be Naught - or at least close to it.
Recently moved from Windows Mobile (6.x), and am similarly disappointed in the lack of Text-Based Information Managers for android.
(In this case a Galaxy Note 2)
May have to start carrying around one of my "old" WinMo devices simply for the ability to use PhatNotes.
Referey might be worth a look, if you use Mendeley & Dropbox - and/or can get over the installation hassles.
At at least seems to suggest the possibility of Local Search on the Android, unlike the other two Mendeley android apps (although those do both use the Mendeley API - trades offs all around!).

The Future of Android ...

So, Heres what I'm seeing..
Windows eventually removing their heads from the warm dark places which inspire them, and bridging the gap between Win 8 and WinPhoney.. and giving users back a powerful PDA-like experience where we can once again do powerful things on our devices besides swipe & play games
iPhone6 or iPhone7 actually functioning more like a tablet, the iPad functioning more like a macbook, and people actually getting work done on their phones again.
Both the above phones docking into docking control stations which go to myDP out to Flatscreen + mouse & keyboard, for a Full Office Pocket Computing Combo
and Android clinging to their obsolete wanabe iPhone, pain-in-the-butt smartphone experience they seem overjoyed about... without anyplace to progress to but the dreaded Linux OS, losing all of its users but the current Linux users when the bridge from Phones to Desktops is complete
Google, Apple, & MS working like crazy to be sure phones stay as far away from desktops as possible for as long as possible, by continued slothful micro-trickling of RAM, ROM memory, Internal Memory, GPU & CPU speeds, and very un-user-friendly software which keeps phone users confined to a small phone box to expand their profitability
the rise of Hardware companies like ASUS, Huawei, etc, who offer devices able to support Win8.. Apple quickly changing their game to follow suit, and the inevitable end of this little current SmartPhone-only empire
and Android left diddling themselves making a few diehard Desktop Linux OS Phones
and I dont see Android having much of any future at all in that rapidly approaching time period they seem completely oblivious to.
anyone agree with that forecast & assessment?

Android is very popular among all the OSs & the combination of a cool software & high end latest hardware makes it endlessly happening.

ak070 said:
Android is very popular among all the OSs & the combination of a cool software & high end latest hardware makes it endlessly happening.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok.. so the "cool apps" you feel will make it to be "endlessly happening", regardless of the generation or era?
and "the latest hardware" remember is all relative...
You dont think INCREASED hardware capabilities able to support a larger more fully functioning, & more useful OS will make these little apps seem a trivial waste of time?

chinarabbit said:
ok.. so the "cool apps" you feel will make it to be "endlessly happening", regardless of the generation or era?
and "the latest hardware" remember is all relative...
You dont think INCREASED hardware capabilities able to support a larger more fully functioning, & more useful OS will make these little apps seem a trivial waste of time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never mentioned cool apps. I'm talking about the overall OS. Its Open source. So there are many manufacturers that use this OS & come up with their own ideas & devices with different designs which gives users a very wide variety to choose from. And as far as new hardware is concerned, manufacturers like Samsung & Sony use new hardwares to add new features which were never implemented before & completely redefine the 'Smartphone' experience.
I'm not saying that other OSs are bad. It's the matter of one's own taste finally.

Seems to me your assessment is based on your usage/desired usage.....in reality many many people don't really even need a Windows pc, and use the internet primarily for media/social applications, which android favours.
So there will always be a market out there regardless I reckon

Nice fortune telling but i really dont agree ...

ak070 said:
I never mentioned cool apps. I'm talking about the overall OS. Its Open source. So there are many manufacturers that use this OS & come up with their own ideas & devices with different designs which gives users a very wide variety to choose from. And as far as new hardware is concerned, manufacturers like Samsung & Sony use new hardwares to add new features which were never implemented before & completely redefine the 'Smartphone' experience.
I'm not saying that other OSs are bad. It's the matter of one's own taste finally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ya... but is it really just about OSs? or do u think the manufacturers play a larger role in it?
For example, if Samsung & HTC were to create the majority of their devices for use with a new "Windows Mobile 7" because of its design & functionality & usefulness exceeding that of Android - which would inevitably happen, because even though Android is useful for certain things, a Phone OS who encompassed those things, and surpassed it in many others, creating a wider-use platform able to satisfy a broader user base would have to dominate - Dont you think that the number of Android users would dwindle to near nothing?
if every new HTC & Samsung was built with, say, a "Windows Mobile 7" which out-performed Android, and was preferred by companies like ASUS, Huawei, HTC, & Samsung, because of the OS having more use in Government & Job-specific applications that Win CE is often used for, which WinMo 6 started to see a bit of before it was sat on.. Users would of course move from Android to WinMo7, and I really dont see that there would be many android users left at all
Linux is Open Source, yet very few there are who use it & develop for it..
Windows is the largest OS on earth.. Like it or not - like MS or not - developers still create freeware and awesome programs according to the specifications of the device. and if that device allowed for more control, functionality, & customizability, it stands to reason that most devs would migrate as well

If this is a arguent thread well here we go..
i walked into the windows store and messed with the 41mp phone and all i did was spend 10min scrolling down and up to find apps
end of my argument...

androidfoshizzle said:
If this is a arguent thread well here we go..
i walked into the windows store and messed with the 41mp phone and all i did was spend 10min scrolling down and up to find apps
end of my argument...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ya, it can get a bit silly... apparently they are alphabetized, and i think you can sort different ways too..
For 100% sure, WindowsPhone will never amount to anything unless its a full Win8 they call WinPhone some day
but I do think win MOBILE 7 is whats needed, and what could sink android.

Android won't sink..Ubuntu will have a phone out that has a full desktop OS by the time windows does anything.. Android is a mobile operating system anyways
sent from 9 month old nexus 4

open source
i agree with androidfoshizzle..linux (android ubuntu) is open source and have many supporters..its free but gives high end support and availability of features.they understood that linux has to become user friendly and it has come to a very reasonable level!

chinarabbit said:
So, Heres what I'm seeing..
Windows eventually removing their heads from the warm dark places which inspire them, and bridging the gap between Win 8 and WinPhoney.. and giving users back a powerful PDA-like experience where we can once again do powerful things on our devices besides swipe & play games
iPhone6 or iPhone7 actually functioning more like a tablet, the iPad functioning more like a macbook, and people actually getting work done on their phones again.
Both the above phones docking into docking control stations which go to myDP out to Flatscreen + mouse & keyboard, for a Full Office Pocket Computing Combo
and Android clinging to their obsolete wanabe iPhone, pain-in-the-butt smartphone experience they seem overjoyed about... without anyplace to progress to but the dreaded Linux OS, losing all of its users but the current Linux users when the bridge from Phones to Desktops is complete
Google, Apple, & MS working like crazy to be sure phones stay as far away from desktops as possible for as long as possible, by continued slothful micro-trickling of RAM, ROM memory, Internal Memory, GPU & CPU speeds, and very un-user-friendly software which keeps phone users confined to a small phone box to expand their profitability
the rise of Hardware companies like ASUS, Huawei, etc, who offer devices able to support Win8.. Apple quickly changing their game to follow suit, and the inevitable end of this little current SmartPhone-only empire
and Android left diddling themselves making a few diehard Desktop Linux OS Phones
and I dont see Android having much of any future at all in that rapidly approaching time period they seem completely oblivious to.
anyone agree with that forecast & assessment?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fortune teller!

androidfoshizzle said:
Android won't sink..Ubuntu will have a phone out that has a full desktop OS by the time windows does anything.. Android is a mobile operating system anyways
sent from 9 month old nexus 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it already does
The problem with Linux is its just over complicated and not much fun to use.. everytime you want to do something, you have to pull out your programmers reference book.. or google it.
I had thought early on that Android would be a way to enter Google into direct competition with Apple & Windows Desktop OSs, and give us all another viable option..
the problem is two-fold..
1stly, Linux Devs are overly left-brained. and they dont have any creative oversight or people in charge of non-geeky usability engineering.. making Linux the choice of OS for people who enjoy doing what would only be done by IT guys if your computer had serious problems on other OSs
2ndly, Google's own shortsightedness.. their Android dev team has created an implementation of the Powerful Android Platform that is really anything but powerful... and these google OS's are designed inside and out to be phones, and have little use outside the mobile phone market, except as equally-functioning tablets, which make them little more than large phones, without great calling ability
the Ubuntu OS is starting to be developed for Android, rather than the other way around.. its looking more and more like a Phone interface.. It actually seems to be optimized for touch screens, and if not, the developers think "making Linux more user-friendly" means making it work like a phone..
Users want an OS thats fun to use.. we're not all retards... i dont think the devs get the difference.
at any rate, Ubuntu is definitely NOT replacing Win7 or Win8 or OSXs anytime soon, thats much has been made painfully transparent by google..
further, google really wants to make you know you are using a Google product.. it has Google DNA on it from top to bottom.. which is great if you think Google is the way you should be doing all of your computing.
I think, still, a powerful Windows Mobile 7 Solution would quell Android, and take all wind out of its sails, and eventually pretty much squash it for all but Ubuntu Desktop users

But Even given its complexity and difficulty of use, how many of us would still prefer to have a Linux Desktop on our Phone, rather than a Google Phone for our desktop???
I most certainly would