My new HTC Desire has arrived [squeak with excitement emoticon]

[Kewcumber]

It looks so lovely I want to sit and stroke it. But it needs to charge first

So a quick question - the first of many...

Is there any point getting a newspaper app on it or will it be too small to have any point and I should just stick to reading the news on the web like BBC news?

don't try to poil my honeymoon Niceguy - My Desire is wonderful and I won;t have a word said against it yet - wait for the seven week itch...

spoil of course (can't even blame that on HTC as I'm on my PC)

My Desire has spent the last 6 months being dropped, had stuff spilt on and more. It hasn't missed a beat, HTC build quality is excellent.

If you want to pay a couple of quid for an app, get Beautiful Widgets. completely customisable clock and weather app.
I second the need for the Dolphin browser and Handcent for texts.
I recently ditched my taks killer app, it's a waste of time. If you use the back button (left arrow), to exit an app it takes you out and closes the app. If you just press home button, it leaves app running in background.
Essential apps for me:
Tweetcaster
Dropbox
Vlingo (beta) for in car use or for having texts read out to you.
ColorNote for jotting down notes or lists.
Sky Remote
Google Maps and Navigation for free accurate Sat Nav.

useful tip on theleft arrow vs home button. i decided against task killerafter reading the pros and cons

How customisable do you need a clock to be?!

Is tehre a beter keyboard - people have recommended swype?

Swiftkey for the keyboard - is fantastic - a million times better than the one it came with.

(Am with you on the £ thing by the way - with swiftkey you can hold down the x key to get the £ option from the first screen.)

Can anyone advise whether it's worth getting one of the free anti-virus apps?

I don't have antivirus on mine, at all.

Customisation is one of the highlights of Android. Once you play around with the home screen and the clocks, you'll be customisating constantly!

Is there a point to AntiVirus on a Smartphone? I do not use the banking facility on mine as it is, but if I were to should I need it then?
Kew, you will be able to get constant updates on how England are hammering Wales ar rugby! (taking my two kids to Twickenham in August to see Eng v Wales by the way)

I wondered that too, BigGitDad. Android is Linux based so should be pretty secure.

Android phone.

Just marking my place as I have no doubt that one day I will get one and want to be able to find useful threads about apps people consider of value. Thanks all, for your great tips!

have downloaded smart keyboard trial and you can choose english UK which gives you a £ on a long press of D (in fact it gives you the option of £ $ and Euros)

I think I'm getting an HTC Desire today. This thread has pushed me over the edge!

Can I recommend the ToddlerLock app? It distracted DD1 (3) long enough for me to actually blow dry my hair this morning!

Thick question here, but if I buy an HTC Desire from, say, T Mobile, can I keep my existing number (with Virgin PAYG)? And how do I make that happen?

Yes think you can. You need to ask for you PAC code from virgin (at which point they will try the hard sell to keep you but they can't actually prevent you from having it).

You then give pac code to t mobile when you order

Have downloaded Pulse - notreally used it properly yet but it looksgood. Also added a join the dots game for DS and somephonics games.

Any other recommendationf for a not very techy 5 yr old (we've checkde out pingu on youtube too). Keeps him busy in the car!

Kewcumber- try zoodles. Age appropriate games that change all the time. It does need a connection to work though.

edam, do you actually want to change networks? If not, buy a sim-free phone and just put your current sim in it, making sure that your tariff will cover you for data downloads.

I got someone's new unwanted upgrade off ebay. It was originally a t-mobile but accepted my O2 sim fine. (After I'd stupidly paid for a sim unlock separately). The phone worked out about £70 cheaper this way.

Payg is unlikely to be cost effective for a smart phone.

But other tariffs may be more cost effective that way.

Thanks - I've realised PAYG isn't that much cheaper for the amount I'm spending so am happy to move to a contract.

I have a Desire S!! Just setting it up now, can't wait to get customising and downloading some apps.

To whoever suggested Pulse - thank you so much - I LOVE IT !
NB I don't have an HTC, but a Google Nexus S - so a Samsung build and Android OS. It is very fab.

While looking around various sites today I came across TechRadar's suggested Android Apps (140 apps, many of them free, inc some for Android v3).

I have not yet looked at the whole article but will be interested to see if any of the apps are popular with those of you with Android phones...

Thanks Netwr=ork guy. Have downloaded Pinball Delux on the back of that link and I quite like it.

Another game which I quite like to pass away 5 minutes or so is "Slice-it!"

Love mine.

Favourites are....

Lying in bed watching tv on iplayer
Spotify for mobile (costs but I love it)
Swype (cannot live without it)
Color note for note pad
Gosms for better texting
Amazon mp3 (so easy to buy tunes, almost too easy)
My MN bookmarks
Connecting my printer to it so I can print wirelessly from my mobile