# Best Deal on the Desire HD?



## UnderAnOpenSky (Nov 16, 2010)

Decided I want a new phone so it's into bargaining mode. First call to Orange (who I'm with at the momemt), would give me the Desire HD for £30 on an 18 month contract, 600mins, unlimited txts and 500 meg of data, but they want me to pay £60 for the phone.

Has anyone seen any better offers I can come back to them with like a free phone with a similar deal?

Ta


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## Callum91 (Nov 16, 2010)

That's not a bad deal tbh, I'd take it.


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## BassJunkie (Nov 16, 2010)

IME you'll never get the best deal from your present provider until you've asked for your PAC code.  Then they'll be ringing you with a much better deal.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Nov 16, 2010)

BassJunkie said:


> IME you'll never get the best deal from your present provider until you've asked for your PAC code.  Then they'll be ringing you with a much better deal.


 
That's always the first shot in the negations. 

Apparently as I had a two month disconnect recently as I was abroad, they can't offer me a better deal till Jan, when they'll do the handset free. I might phone them tomorrow and crank the pressure up. Anything else worth asking for?


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## newbie (Nov 18, 2010)

I'm in much the same boat.  Orange have offered me 24 month contract, 600 minutes + unlimited landline, 1GB, 100 texts for £25/month but they want £150 for the Desire HD.  A quick spreadsheet shows your offer comes out at £33.33 per month and mine at £31.25 but for a longer contract.

What I'm really trying to work out is whether the Desire HD is too big for my pocket... anyone got one?


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## grit (Nov 18, 2010)

Anyone know what the situation would be for me, I'm on a sim only rolling contract with O2. Will I be considered a new customer if I went and bought a desire HD and signed up for the fixed term contract?


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Nov 18, 2010)

grit said:


> Anyone know what the situation would be for me, I'm on a sim only rolling contract with O2. Will I be considered a new customer if I went and bought a desire HD and signed up for the fixed term contract?


 
No, but you should be able to get the same deal if you play tough and say you're leaving...if you've been on a rolling contract for a while it may well count in your favour.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Nov 18, 2010)

newbie said:


> I'm in much the same boat.  Orange have offered me 24 month contract, 600 minutes + unlimited landline, 1GB, 100 texts for £25/month but they want £150 for the Desire HD.  A quick spreadsheet shows your offer comes out at £33.33 per month and mine at £31.25 but for a longer contract.
> 
> What I'm really trying to work out is whether the Desire HD is too big for my pocket... anyone got one?


 
That seems like a lot for the phone on such a long contract. Don't think I'm going to get a better deal tbh, question is now is fork out the £60 or wait till the end of Jan when I'll get it free. It would make sense to leave it, but I'm impatient and want a new toy. 

I've not handled one, but looked at pics of the thing next to an iphone to get a good sense of scale. I like big phones though and normally wear things with decent sized pockets.


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## The Octagon (Nov 18, 2010)

I've got a normal Desire and was chatting to a guy in the pub last night with the Desire HD, it didn't seem much bigger (slightly fatter perhaps to account for the keyboard), it's definitely still pocket-sized.

Didn't get long to play with it but it looked the business.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Nov 18, 2010)

The Octagon said:


> I've got a normal Desire and was chatting to a guy in the pub last night with the Desire HD, it didn't seem much bigger (slightly fatter perhaps to account for the keyboard), it's definitely still pocket-sized.
> 
> Didn't get long to play with it but it looked the business.



Keyboard? Do you mean the Desire Z?


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## The Octagon (Nov 18, 2010)

G_S said:


> Keyboard? Do you mean the Desire Z?


 
Shit, yeah ignore me  I'm getting confused because he initially called it "the HD one".


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## timeforanother (Nov 18, 2010)

My mate just got a Desire HD. I have a Nexus 1 - very like the Desire. The HD looked very nice, but a bit big for me to want in my pocket!


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## mwgdrwg (Nov 19, 2010)

A colleague of mine has a Desire Z and it is a truly gorgeous phone, I'd love one. Weights a ton though.


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## grit (Nov 19, 2010)

timeforanother said:


> My mate just got a Desire HD. I have a Nexus 1 - very like the Desire. The HD looked very nice, but a bit big for me to want in my pocket!


 
Hmm as also being a Nexus one owner this concerns me, is the desire absolutely fucking massive?


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## Callum91 (Nov 19, 2010)

grit said:


> Hmm as also being a Nexus one owner this concerns me, is the desire absolutely fucking massive?


 
It's bigger but not so big as to put you off. As long as you don't have the hands of a child it fits nicely into your palm.


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## povmcdov (Nov 19, 2010)

Check out mobiles.co.uk on a Tmobile tarrif:

£50 for the handset, then £25/mo for 1Gb data, 600 minutes and 500 texts. Thats a 24 month contract though. You do have to undubscribe to a couple of services that they make you join (insurance and a helpline). I had no problem getting them to cancel them.

The handset is extremely nice, although the external speakers are poor and the camera software is very short on options - much less advanced than the software on the standard desire. However that's nothing headphones and an app download cant fix. Speaking of which, can anyone recommend a decent replacement camera app on android 2.2? Something with self timer, white balance, exposure settings etc as the default one doent have these features.

Its not too big for a pocket at all, although I am used to carrying a lot of crap in mine. It is very heavy for a phone though - probably to do with the aluminium case. Battery life is a bit of a problem. I'm charging mine every day if I use it at all really, I'll probably have to invest in one of those external recharable batterys.


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## newbie (Nov 20, 2010)

povmcdov said:


> Its not too big for a pocket at all, although I am used to carrying a lot of crap in mine.


 
thanks for that, it's exactly what I wanted to hear


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## MadDruminFerret (Nov 21, 2010)

EDIT--Wow... posted on the wrong thread


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## timeforanother (Nov 21, 2010)

It's not hugely massive, but the nexus felt big to me.. It's about the same thickness, and the bigness is all bigger screen. I like to keep my phone in my pocket, and I don't want a tablet in my pocket. The HD is pushing the boundaries of phone size for me, but this is personal. It looks cute and will be better for doing browsing etc.

I imagine it will be a better satnav.

Maybe they put in a bigger battery to fit the screen. That would be good in itself.


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## Refused as fuck (Nov 21, 2010)

My boss has a Desire HD and she gets extremely shit battery life out of it (i.e. dead by 3.30pm) so I'm waiting for the next generation of androids. My contract runs out in 12 months yet so hopefully there'll be some even sweeter phones out by then.


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## povmcdov (Nov 25, 2010)

actually I think it has a 50mAHr smaller battery than the regular desire for some reason. if you're using the browser a lot it barely makes it to the end of the day. I have found that closing applications using task cleaner pro helps a lot though.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Dec 11, 2010)

Took my time, but just ordered on T Mobile. Free handset, 600mins, data, Unlimited texts, 18 month contract. Now impatient and waiting for it to arrive. I suppose it's time to head to ebay to look for an extended battery and maybe a 32 gig memory card.


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## Wolveryeti (Dec 11, 2010)

povmcdov said:


> Check out mobiles.co.uk on a Tmobile tarrif:


 You're taking a risk when you deal with the bargain basement phone/contract brokers IMO. They don't have an established reputation to ruin and act accordingly. Look at these online reviews, for instance: http://www.ciao.co.uk/Reviews/mobiles_co_uk__87437 They look like complete cowboys.


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## editor (Dec 11, 2010)

G_S said:


> Took my time, but just ordered on T Mobile. Free handset, 600mins, data, Unlimited texts, 18 month contract. Now impatient and waiting for it to arrive. I suppose it's time to head to ebay to look for an extended battery and maybe a 32 gig memory card.


Sounds good but what's your monthly cost?

Only three months before I'm free of my old iPhone contract! Woohoo!


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Dec 11, 2010)

Happy Days! 

It's costing me £30 a month, which I found through a web search.


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## Badgers (Apr 17, 2011)

Anyone recommend a good case?


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Apr 17, 2011)

I just went for a £3 job from ebay that does the job fine.


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## Badgers (Apr 17, 2011)

I can get a cheap one but am very droppy with phones


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Apr 17, 2011)

I'm not convinced the more expensive ones give much more protection then the rubber cases for dropping, but can see how they might help reduce crush damage.


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## Badgers (Apr 21, 2011)

I think I am going to invest in the OtterBox HTC Desire HD Defender or Commuter cases. 

Cost over £25 each but I smashed two iPhones over the last 2.5 years so worth it I think.


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