HTC Desire at work
Filed under: Android, apps, gadgets and gizmos, HTC Desire social review, lifestyle, mobile handsets, mobile internet, mobile phone, reviewers, smart phone, social media
HTC Desire makes for a pretty awesome consumer mobile — but how does it stack up as a business phone? Here’s my take.
Email Sync
First of all for business people, email is king. So access to work email on the go is essential in a business phone.
Luckily, HTC Desire provides good support for Microsoft’s Exchange server – which many businesses run their email on. You can use this to set up Microsoft ActiveSync push email.
I usually sync a month’s worth of email and all my sub folders, I set my email to real time push. I also love having the Global Address Lookup (GAL) for anyone’s email address who hasn’t made it to my contacts yet!!
For some the lack of physical QWERTY keyboard will be a deal breaker. But if you can handle using a virtual QWERTY keyboard to email and tap out messages, this does a good job.
Calendar Sync
Desire also supports calendar sync via Microsoft Exchange. This is perfect for managing a busy schedule. You can accept/decline meetings, select the time period you wish to sync and dial numbers directly from the invite!! Also you can set reminders that will appear on your idle screen or notification bar.
Contact Sync
This is the most useful thing ever. I am fanatical about keeping my contacts up to date. Fully sync’ed with my phone I can call/text/email/tweet or Facebook directly from my contacts.
Corporate Security
The coolest thing HTC have done with Microsoft Exchange is to make it secure for corporates. You are forced to have a password when you sync to your exchange server. More than that, if the password is entered incorrectly 8 times then the device will erase all data stored on the device……COOL.
Productivity apps
Yes there are productivity apps on Android too.
There’s already software that will let you read/edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and attachments. Plus there’s a PDF reader.
But you can also head to Android Market and get yourself some useful tools (although it’s not a huge range at this stage). For instance, AK Notepad, which lets you take notes or ‘Got To Do’ which is an application for managing tasks.
Also, if you need a business-quality GPS solution, check out Whereis Navigator for Android. You can access a 7-day, free trial by clicking on the Whereis icon in your programs list. It’s one of the best GPS apps available anywhere.
Even if you don’t get as excited as I do about corporate security, what do you think about using the Desire as a business phone? Does it have the kit needed for you to convince your boss it’s work worthy?
Hi Ben, nice article. As a Zune HD owner – I’m wanting to ride out a few more months until WIN7 Phones are here. Are we likely to see any this year in Australia, or will it be Q1 2011? They look great – and I saw Telstra featured prominently at the US WIN7 launch on the rear wall with TELCO partners….
I’m hoping this is THE convergence device for business and personal phone !
Interested in your thoughts….
I’ve switched from QWERTY to virtual and love it on the HTC Desire. The only trouble is that the Desire’s screen seems a little thinner than the iPhone/iPod Touch, and so the virtual keyboard can be a little tricky to use on the go (like trams).
That said there are keyboard apps you can download that “fatten” up the buttons for you, so I’ve been a bit lazy in that regard not sorting out which one is best for me.
The real bonus is the ability to open word/excel/pdfs from this phone and having a screen easily big enough to accomodate them. I’d tried this before on a Nokia E63 and while it was possible, it was far from ideal, while the Desire makes this much easier.
In my first review of the phone I have posted some information about how the phone can be used for business. It also has a list of applications which I think are essential for the phone.
http://blog.wheatland.com.au/2010/05/its-here.html
I really wish we could wipe the Telstra pseudo apps off the phone. They are getting annoying.
This is one aspect of the phone I really wanted to try out, but just didn’t get the opportunity – I had hoped I’d be able to sweet-talk our IT folk into letting me hook the phone up to our Exchange network, and they pretty much told me to get bent.
So I tried the next best thing – Google allows you to sync data with the cloud using the Exchange protocol – perfect for testing it out!
Having discovered this – the experience was seamless! Email came down to the phone instant-quick, contacts and calendars were just there, and everything just worked. The ease of use, and setup, was almost frightening.
If using Google via Exchange was this easy, I can only expect that it would work just as well with a real Exchange environment.
The only catch for new players would be the battery drain – but if we’re talking about business users who occasionally sit near desks or other sources of power, carrying around a retractable USB charger is neither here nor there. I’ve had one for my N1, and I used it with the Desire as well – it’s the best $5 I ever spent.
Hi Scott………..its all hush hush I am affraid but there are plenty of rumours if you search the web
It is aimed at being a personal phone and is probably more closed than Android. I think Android may develop into a more Business centric device with FroYo and Gingerbread releases.
Saying that I cannot wait for WP7 – I love the devices, I love the UI, I love Zune and I especially love……..XBOX LIVE
I’ve set up my work email on the HTC Desire, and it was a cinch to set up (I’m struggling to get it working properly on Apple Mail!).
Annoyingly, when I synced up with Outlook contacts, it created duplicates in my contacts list…
I’m one of those people who likes to be able to check work email when I’m not in the office, but I’ll usually wait until I’m at a computer to reply. I’m not all that keen on using the onscreen keyboard to type anything more than a few words.
Elly you can select which contacts you wish to view……I select to view only Exchange Contacts……..easy……..solved
Hi Ben
Thanks for sharing this as not a lot has been written on how to use Desire as a business smartphone.
I have been connecting to my work E-mails, Calendar and Contacts (Corporate Lookup) within a week of getting my Desire and loving it. The great thing is, the emails drop into Desire Inbox a few seconds earlier than my Laptop Outlook Inbox.
I had to jump through a few hoops to get this connected as due to security reasons Corporate IT permissions are required for MS ActiveSync Connection.
There are also some APN settings, Server address etc that need to be confirured at the backend to get the connection working.
One thing I noticed that when someone sends me an Intranet link via email, I am unable to open the Intranet link. I wonder
if this is broken by design or I need to enable something at the backend.
I know BlackBerry can open Intranet link..
I’ve been working on the HTC Desire Social Review with Ben and wanted to share the following info.
I’ve just learned that there is limited stock that has just become available of the following accessories:
- HTC Desire Case
- HTC Desire Screen Protector
- HTC Desire Battery
To start, the following stores will stock the accessories listed above:
Sydney – 400 George Street, NSW
Sydney Airport – Shop 18, Departure Level, Shires Avenue, Mascot
Melbourne – 246 Bourke Street (Cnr Swanston & Bourke), VIC
Melbourne Airport – Shop 1.15 Qantas Melb Domestic Airport, Departures Level 1st Floor, Airport Drive, Tullamarine
Hobart – 44-46 Elizabeth Street, TAS
Perth – 667 Hay Street Mall, Perth, WA
Chadstone – Shop B103 Chadstone Shopping Centre, 1341 Dandenong Road, VIC
Checkout our store locator for more details: http://telstra.com.au/shoplocator/index.cfm?sl_state=Please+select&sl_suburb=&sl_postcode=&sl_tlife=&x=29&y=19
All other stores are expected to have stock of the Case & Screen Protector from 22nd June when further stock becomes available from HTC .
As of writing this, there is no ETA when further stock of the battery will become available.
thanks for adding the shops list… will have to head into town to get me some accessories goodness I see
Elly,
There is your problem. Apple mail…
I still haven’t come across a web and offline client based email system which comes close to what Gmail was 10 years ago for quality and productivity gains. Make the switch. You will never look back.
Today is the last day of the HTC Desire Social Review. I’ve had an interesting experience, my first product/service review, and maybe more to come. Now talking about the HTC Desire in the workplace, or at University (both for I). I have been using the Android platform for a while now and I can say, the being able to sync your data with a variety of Google Services is very useful and helps me to do things faster, with added ease and peace of mind (my data being in the cloud). I will use Ben’s headings on this topic, as per his post, above.
Email
With the HTC Desire, you get to sync the device with a multitude of Gmail email accounts. Easy access to both POP3 and IMAP is also well supported. And with HTC, they’ve added an extra, most welcomed Exchange ActiveSync support to connect to your work Exchange Server. (note: The latest version of Android, FroYo, or version 2.2 adds Exchange Mail support by default)
Calendar
The initial Google Calendar sync with the Android platform was, and is still one of my favourite features. Being able to be on the road, having your calendar with you, and furthermore, being able to add to it, modify existing entries on the go is a big time saver. Google Calendar is also a very versatile calendar service, with reminders, access to other calendars, be it public, shared (co-workers, clients, etc…), scheduling meetings with email notification options. Having the ability to have this service in the palm of my hands, wherever I was (with or without connection, as it allows for offline access & syncs on connection availability). HTC also adds the Exchange ActiveSync for Calendar Sync features.
Contacts
Having a single source for my contacts details is awesome; no more multiple contacts sources, finding some software online to merge/sync them together. With the Gmail contacts, I get to store all my contacts details in one single place, online, and the HTC Desire syncs to this seamlessly. HTC, with the inclusion of the Exchange ActiveSync, allows contacts from your Exchange Server to sync to your phone too. Furthermore, the HTC Desire gives you the option to link both Gmail contacts and Exchange ActiveSync contacts.
Productivity
The HTC Desire comes with a couple of neat apps that would suit most work-related environments.
QuickOffice, to view Excel and Word documents. I receive a lot of Word documents through email, and a simple touch on the attachment link, gets the file and launches QuickOffice – the viewing experience is a breeze.
PDF Viewer, to view PDF documents; this app works very well indeed. Pinch & Zoom is awesome. Tried it using the HTC Desire User Manual, a 211 page PDF file, it was a fluid read. (note: Adobe also recently released an official Adobe Reader for the Android Platform; They have some work to do: getting more familiar Android Platform SDK, as the experience with this app was not as smooth as the one provided with the HTC Desire, and suprisingly the HTC Desire PDF Viewer “contains Adobe Reader LE 2.5, from Adobe Systems Incorporated).
Furthermore, the Android Market is a source of a variety of Productivity apps.
Evernote; those familiar with the desktop and iPhone Evernote apps have a good idea of the features and usability of this app;
Documents To Go 2.0 Main App, an alternative app to QuickOffice. Does virtually the same thing, viewing Excel, Word documents on the free version. Buying the full version unlocks access to Editing, Creating, PowerPoint, Adobe PDF, Zooming, Charts, Passwords & more…
Thinking Space, This is a great Mind Map app that I use regularly. It’s compatible with Freemind 0.9, & Xmind (through Freemind support), allows you to share your maps via email or via the cloud, and more…
The Android Market has a range of different apps you can check out, some free, some you buy (with returning app/refund policy option). AppBrain.com, linking to the Android Market, is also a great place to look into.
For links & some screenshots related to this post, see my blog post on “HTC Desire at work” here: http://goo.gl/5zfI
The syncing of my calendar, contacts and email and the ability to share anything easily was the one true win of the HTC Desire. If only the rest of the phone was as easy and intuitive.
I’m still rather cut that I cannot use Hotmail via IMAP insteal of POP3. I cannot push any folders through and there’s no app on the marketplace that can do what I want. Rather disappointed since this is also partly the reason why I’m not using the Desire as my main phone straight off.
Anyone know if there’s a hotmail solution somewhere? I’ve been looking (I may be wrong and haven’t looked hard enough) and haven’t found anything except for people saying you can’t as the short answer.
Mike: heh. I’ve already ordered a screen protector, pouch and a dock for the desire.
This phone has serious faults if you actually intend to use the calendar and Google services as intended. DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE. ie… Gmail etc…
can anyone tell me if the desire is able to sync and run a mirror image of my laptops Microsoft outlook program that has many folders and a few gigs of emails? I know you can on the iphone, but HTC have told me you can only do contacts and calender?
Here’s something I found which I need help with:
If I create a meeting request and invite someone from MS Outlook (Exchange Contact) using HTC Desire, it shows up both in Desire and at my desktop MS Outlook Calendar which is great but if I create an event via my HTC Desire Calendar and don’t invite anyone, it does not show up at my desktop MS Outlook Calendar??
Also when I create a Calendar event I get the following options to choose from:
• My Calendar
• Pc Sync
• Gmail
No option for creating an event in MS Exchange Calendar ??
Does anyone know how I can get around this?
Ideally I should be able to create a meeting or an event from HTC Desire Calendar and it should show up both in Desire and Desktop MS Outlook Calendar.
Hi I have bought the unlocked desire from telstra but mail and some other apps are not working! anyone knows what i should do?
Overall, I can see that if you moved your entire world to Exchange or Google, you’d be fine. Drink the Kool-Aid! But this was a review. I didn’t want to restructure my whole information flow. I wanted the Desire to work with what I had.
Email:
I was scared off when the HTC email client lost an email during testing. My email is hosted on my own server. I set up my MacBook Pro with Apple Mail to sync to that using IMAP, and the HTC client to do the same. But the two programs obviously had different ideas on where the Trash would be and how it’d be handled. Moving an email to the Trash on the phone caused it to disappear entirely.
I can see that the K-9 Email client might offer better control, and I continued to use that for the secondary account I’d set up. And it worked fine. But the lesson for me was that “just turn it on” email synchronisation is still a dream unless you’re using Google or Exchange. expect to spend an hour or two fiddling to get everything bedded down.
(That, by the way, is normal. I still tell clients to expect to do some work when working with new devices. The idea that it just magically happens is a sales myth — unless your set-up is basic.)
Calendar / Contacts:
No HTC Sync for Mac. Bzzzt!
SSH:
Yeah, I need to occasionally log into remote Linux servers. ConnectBot, a freebie from the Market, did just fine.
General:
The on-screen keypad is quite good, and the auto-correct seems to learn fast enough. But it’s only OK for brief bursts. No editing contracts here! I certainly wouldn’t want to read any more than a few paragraphs on a small device — but that said it is a remarkable crisp display. I’m just getting old.
In terms of Email, Calendar and Contacts sync, makes things easier for yourself and just move all these to Google. It’s so simple when it’s all there.
For HTC Desire Accessories, I’m more than happy to help all out especialy the #TelstraDesire 25. Please hit me up with an email if you want to try our renowned HTC Desire Screen Protector
Arnold, I wrote about my reluctance to migrate to Gmail and other Google Apps in the comment stream off my original blog post. In brief, I’m concerned whether Google — or any other mass cloud provider, for that matter — can provide the same flexibility, transparency and responsiveness as I have with my existing arrangements.
http://stilgherrian.com/internet/experiencing-the-desire-1/#comment-32417
That said, I do understand that The Android Dream is all about the Google operating system connecting to the Google cloud service connected to the Google search environment and Google everything from top to bottom. I’m not entirely sure that sort of vertical integration is A Good Thing.
@Stilgherrian G’day mate. Yes I understand that some people may be reluctant to combine all their services under the Google “cloud” or change their current setup. I was merely suggesting that option for peeps who don’t have time nor want to investigate all the options but want something really really easy.
Thankfully I incorporated all my accounts in Google so going Android with the HTC Desire was quite a pleasant experience
Are you still doing your Ustream shows? Miss the fun we had back then…
First of all, I am happy to advise that my 2 way sync issues between HTC Desire and MS Exchange (Outlook) has been resolved. Something must have gone wrong when I first set up the Exchange Account in Desire. Anyhow, after removing the Exchange account and adding it back into Desire somehow resolved my sync issues.
Now Arnold, moving away from Exchange is not an option for me (and not an option for a lot of other people out there) as Exchange is the main application for emails. corporate directory and calendar for majority of the corporations. If Desire did not support Exchange, it would have been a deal breaker for me as I don’t want to keep one device for work and another device for play.
Once Android devices are able match blackberry’s capability in relation to ‘opening intranet links’ embedded within the emails, I believe Android will be No. 1 in both the Consumer and Enterprise market.
Arnold, you’re right about the move-to-Google strategy as a long-term thing. And I have been recommending that clients simplify their email. They really don’t need theirname@ and info@ and sales@ for every single domain they own. I was just flagging that it’s not solely a turn-on-the-phone task.
As for my Ustream video work, well… and this is WAY off topic… it kinda fell by the wayside. But I’m re-thinking.
Nemo, surely whether links to the intranet work or not depends on whether the appropriate VPN link is set up?
Roadsync has an alternative solution for exchange connectivity and a believe a free demo version is available. It might fix your inability to click on link issue but I haven’t tried it.
the most important feature I wanted was synching to my pc and connecting to the company microsoft exchange for emails and calender.
Have installed the latest update and it just doesnt function
Anyone got a solution?
I ditched my iphone because so many sites were beginning to not open or crashing. The news sites is I used the ABC always opened and the BBC crashed and now it is reversed.
Just found out from htc that the phone does not support outlook synching to 64 bit system. So much for being able to back up phone to my new laptop.
I am very happy with this phone. Easy to use and it does everything without raising a sweat or worse quitting altogether. I had an HTC TyTn 2 before which was a great phone but had some real useability issues. I had to use Opera browser as IE was pretty useless.
I do quite a bit of messaging and receive emails for my business and private email on the phone and very happy with that.
One issue which HTC confirmed is a bug is that it won’t sync the calendar with outlook unless HTC Sync is set as the only calendar. When the google and phone calendar are enabled as well it just doesn’t work.
The browser works very well and the Telstra network is better than the 3 network that I was on before with zero connectivity or performance issues while on the web.
I love the home pages and now that I have it worked out have everything I need including my power saving widget where I normally turn off WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS but is very easy to renable using this application. Turning these off will double the battery life.
I miss the physical keyboard but the virtual keyboard is quite OK especially in landscape mode.
Grant
I have to re-enter password to microsoft exchange half a dozen times a day or more. Synching to my laptop just doesnt register. Says it has synched but nothing changes. Telstra and HTC havent helped and it is three weeks in. Otherwise it is a really good phone.
I’ve been using an HTC Desire for a couple of weeks, and it took a while for the mail and calendars to get sorted.
I use GMail/GCal for personal stuff and Exchange for university email/calendar. The two work well, BUT I don’t use the built in GMail app. The built in app doesn’t allow for multiple identities, and I have my own domain so I prefer that address. The solution was K9 Mail which works well with GMail IMAP.
It would be nice if the email apps followed the schedule of HTC Mail so there was no announcements of new mail in the middle of the night, but I use Juice Defender to kill the APN/Wifi at night.
One thing sorely missing is Exchange Task or Google Task sync. Astrid ToDo syncing with Remember the Milk is the closest I’ve got, but hopefully Froyo or HTC will bring in task syncing. I had this on my USRobotics Pilot 1000 13yr ago for goodness sake!
The best keyboard I’ve found is SlideWriter. If it is still available in the Market, grab it! Swype is getting all the press at the moment, but SlideWriter has been around for some time.
Great phone, but still has a few rough edges.
Nice article,
I bought the Desire for business. Now how do I change the default voicemail number without getting a “Voicemail number change unsuccessfil. Please contact your carrier if the problem persists” message?
I have had the phone for almost two months now and I have to say it is a wonderful phone. The voice search feature is fantastic and really impresses people although many users don’t even know it is there! The accuracy of the voice recognition is also in a class of its own. I can pick up the phone and voice search and have the google results in less than 10 seconds from turning on the phone. This is the result of the voice recognition accuracy and the fast Telstra network. Impressive!
I’ve also discovered the power control so I turn off WLAN, bluetooth and GPS when these aren’t being used. This saves a lot of power and means battery life is never an issue for me.
Overall what’s not to like? So glad I didn’t buy the new iphone.
You can enable Activesync in Google Apps, if you have Premium account. It works awesome!
Hi
I recently purchased a HTC Desire, but i am struggling to sync it with my work emails?
Can anyne help?
Ben
I love my new Desire, but I really need the WiFi tethering capability in Android 2.2 – does anyone know when Telstra will roll this out?
Hi
Can anyone help me out?
Does anyone know if the Desire (wonderful handset btw im selling them like hotcakes!) has a HTC-to-HTC free messenger like the blackberry does???
If not is there an app that can be downloaded???
Thanks
I just got a new HTC desire from telstra. Its great, only thing is when you answer an incoming call from the locked mode, it dosnt answer! the people calling in are there but Im speaking and they are not hearing. this could cost me money as I use the phone for sales.also I have to call everyone back. anyone know the answer?
Ive called the telstra shop from where it came, Ive called htc, left messages with them and fonebiz, no calls back only email from this blog.
@ David – mate I’m having the same problem. Not sure what the go is but it’s annoying. Everything else is awesome. Anyone know when this 2.2 update is out?
Hey Brad, i dont know much about these phones or updates, i just needed a new phone and the telstra shop had them. Its had the fault right out of the box.
Telstra shop have not called, they dont answer phone there!
HTC dont answer, they leave you in a que till you explode, then you call back and leave a number which they dont call, and phonebiz dont have the option to ask a technician if the problem is hardware, software? whatever. I rebooted the thing, done all the normal stuff. Im sure its a fault.
Hi David, I’ve sent you an email and we have asked for someone from HTC to call you asap.
Hi Ben I had that problem using exchange and teltsra and htc were no help. It seems it is easy to just blame the other and leave the customer in the lurch. Finally trialled and then paid for a program form the Android Market called Touchdown.
One thing the phone wont is synch to a my work servor and my laptop in the way that my htc windows based phone did.
Its a great phone though and has been absolutely stable since Touchdown installed
John
Hi David, Ben, John, Brendan
I bought 3 HTC Desires in the Telsra shop a week ago. Everything fine till today, when I encountered the same problems i.e I drag down to unlock/answer and I cannot hear the other party nor can the other party hear me.
Is there a special technique to drag down?
Peter.
Hi Davis, Ben, John, Brendan
Further to my message above, only one HTC Desire showed the problem of not properly connecting coming out of locked mode.
One thing I noticed was that it seems to happen mainly when the battery is (very) low. Today the battery was fully charged and I changed my drag down to a very gently touch. No problem sofar.
Peter.
Like David, Ben, John, Brendan and Peter, I am also having the same problem with my phone. Is there any way of getting this fixed without buying the Touchdown app? It happens a lot to me – level of charge makes no difference.
Ineke
I called everyone on the day I bought it. HTC told me to take it back to the point of sale, which was Woden Telstra shop in Canberra. I called up and 4 days later recieved a call back with the young lady saying that they would have to send the phone away for repairs. i dont think so! Under department of fair trading regulations if I purchase a product which is faulty straight from the box it will need to bne replaced with a new item. Girl at Woden Telstra shop said, “oh thats not the way we do it”. What? the way you do it is not abide by fair trading rules?
Im a real estate agent and if i make one mistake or dont have something in place I get a fine!
The phone should be replaced!
Dosnt matter what level of charge, some times I answer slow, sometimes faster. I do think that if you answer and then lay the phone back and then forward thet may do something.
Anyway, should have bought the Samsung!and not from the Woden Telstra shop. Where if you leave a message on the answering machine they take 4 days to call you!
David,
Could you please send through your customer/service details (Telstra account number, mobile phone number) via the contact us form. I’ll pass these on to our Customer Support team once received.
Cheers
Tania [Telstra Exchange team]
Hi David,
I understand Steven from our Customer Support team has been in touch, and the problem has been resolved. Please let us know if any further issues.
Cheers
Tania [Telstra Exchange team]
Hi Tanya (Telstra Exchange Team)
Further to my previous posts, this is my final post documenting my problems with answering my HTC Desire out of locked mode. Now the last 5 out of 5 calls have experienced described difficulties with the addition that one call (talking to my wife) just cut-out in the middle of our conversation; she couild hear me, I could not; I had to ring back again. Another phone call to her did not show (on her phone) my ID.
Please advice.
Peter.
Hi Peter, I’ve emailed you this morning. Please reply so I can get someone to call you from HTC support.
I have a HTC Desire which I love….well I think I do at least.
Is anybody aware of a bug/issue that does not update the time on the phone to Daylight Saving Time automatically????
It is set to update from the service provider (Telstra) however my phone is still an hour behind as at 1030 on Monday morning?
I can change it manually of course…but the auto update has always worked on previous phones…no worries?
Any helpers? Am I just a dill?
Thanks for the heads up. My Desire had put the time forward automatically here in Brisbane, so I was able to set it back 1 hour (but haven’t bothered with 20yr that goes with it).
Hahaha…hey what the heck??? The time stamp on my previous post is also an hour behind.
The Computer time is correct here at 1034 hrs!
Hi Damien, Thanks for letting us know. We have reset the time in WordPress. have a great week
Brendan