HTC Desire at work #TelstraDesire

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 Bevins’ headings on this topic, as per his post.

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 ussability of this app;

Evernote turns your Android phone into an extension of your brain. This award-winning app lets you remember and recall anything that happens in your life. From notes to ideas to snapshots to recordings, put everything into Evernote and watch as it all instantly synchronizes from your phone to the Web to your PC.

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…

Mind Mapping for Android! Portable Mind Mapping has never been so much fun! Keywords: Mind Map, MindMap, Thinking-Space Vlad, wes: Freemind support is already included

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.

Check out Ben Bevins‘ and the 25 #TelstraDesire reviewers‘ HTC Desire at work review here: http://goo.gl/vH43

Are you App Happy? #TelstraDesire Top 5 Apps

My #TelstraDesire Top 5 Apps for Android; I do have to say that this list changes, but currently, here goes:

The Gmail client
Why, my main email address is a gmail one – this app, provided by default in most Android flavours, gives me instant access to all my emailing needs, and if your Gmail contacts are synced with your phone, well, access to all your contacts too.

TweetCaster – twitter client from Handmark.com
I’ve gone through Twidroid, Seesmic, Swift, and a few more, but TweetCaster, is for me, an excellent app – all the basic twitter features are there: list, re-tweet (both old-school and the new one), a good UI on trends, shrink URL links, add picture, geotagging, …; It supports multiple accounts (without having to re-login to an account) and some other interesting features such as: quick follow, filter tweets on keyword, tweeps nearby (through current location or ZIP code), the all so useful “Jump To Top”.
Find TweetCaster here: http://goo.gl/3elL

Aldiko – an ePub reader
Very easy to use, simple touch interaction to scroll through pages, view embedded images (if any), quick access to your “Recent Reads” and your “Bookshelf” and my most important feature, provides access to  a numerous amount of Books, free (from Public Domain and freebooks.com, well arranged and sorted), purchased, Books from independent authors, High School Reading… etc,. I use this app regularly; recently read a book about when Holmes and Watson were first introduced to each other & The Three Musketeers.
Find Aldiko here: http://www.aldiko.com/

My Tracks (From the My Tracks Team at Google)
This cool app records my GPS track when I go for a jog, a hike, cycling, or even on a kayaking run of The Upper Yarra River (phone safely secured in a dry-bag, still gets GPS signal) – This app gives you your activity statistics such as time, speed, distance and evelation (the latter not so accurate, but then this stands true for all GPS enabled devices) and you can also upload the track to your Google Maps account, the stats to a Google Spreadsheet and share all that with the whole world.
Find My Tracks here: http://mytracks.appspot.com/

SMS Backup
This is more of a utility, running in the background. In the settings, you set a Gmail Label, enter your Gmail credentials enable “Auto Backup”, choose “Mark as read” option if you want, set the Max number of items per backup, and hey presto… your SMSes gets backed-up straight in your Gmail account under the chosen (default is “SMS”) Gmail Label – one way to never loose your precious SMSes…
Find SMS Backup here: http://goo.gl/BiL1
or: http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:tv.studer.smssync (link for your phone)

Check out Ben Bevins‘ and the 25 #TelstraDesire reviewers‘ Top 5 Android Apps here: http://goo.gl/mfh8