Ordered an HTC Desire HD

My T-Mobile G1 is now over two years old and will not upgrade beyond Android 1.6. Its also not running as well as it should with updates sticking for some applications. The lack of an earphone socket is a constant niggle and the camera is not as good as it should be for a phone of this calibre especially in low light situations.

With these issues in mind I have looked at all the available phones and quickly dismissed the Samsung Galaxy based on user reviews and the fact that it has intermediate firmware rather than being pure Android. The HTC Desire or Desire HD seemed to be closest to what I need with the HD’s larger screen making it more useful as almost a “mini tablet” for basic word processing or reading documents. I am on T-Mobile. The coverage is pretty good, the pricing is keen and I find their online system easier to use than Vodafone. However, the desire HD was not showing as an upgrade option so I have been popping into the T-Mobile shop for the past month to see if they have them in stock. They have never had any so I phoned up customer services and they offered me one on a 24 month contract at £40 per month with not as good a contract as my current one (£30 and with better Internet bandwidth). In any case they did not have one in stock and would need to go on a waiting list.

I noticed that Amazon had unlocked Desire HD’s in stock so I looked at the figures given that T-Mobile would give me a 20% discount on my current plan to extend it for 18 months with no change of phone. The cost of buying the phone and paying the reduced rental is about the same over 18 months as getting one from T-Mobile and paying the higher price plan, but with the following advantages:

• The phone was in stock.
• Amazon could deliver to my work which T-Mobile could not.
• I get to keep my Google G1 Internet bandwidth limits (very generous fair use policy).
• Its an 18 month contract rather than 24 months.
• It is slightly less leaving my account per month (but I have the phone costs up front).

Its a good deal so I decided to go ahead and order. As a bonus Envirofone will buy my G1 (they are quoting me £43 today). Still a shed load of money, but I use my phone for so many things, from blogging to tuning musical instruments, word processing and watching TV. I hope that the new phone with its larger screen will make a better document reader and a more useful MP3 player.

Update:
Interestingly T-Mobile added 18 months to my previous expiry date which means my new contract is actually only 14 months. They also reduced my bill by a bit more than expected. Seems like I have made the right decision assuming the phone itself is satisfactory.