How To Root HTC Desire Android Phone

Paul from Modaco has released the full guide on steps to root HTC Desire. Unsurprisingly, the rooting tutorial guide comes with several caveats with the most important one being that rooting will completely wipe your phone off and that there is no way at present to backup your device ROM. You can follow the complete tutorial here

Here is a gist of how to go about it

Step 1 : Backup your microSD card and turn it to a goldcard (A GoldCard is a special SD card which, when inserted into your device, allows you to flash RUU files with a different CID to your own device.)
Step 2 : Download a copy of ‘rooted update‘ and copy it on to your SD card
Step 3 : Turn off your HTC Desire and turn it back on by pressing the back button down. The screen will now display ‘FASTBOOT‘
Step 4 : Download ‘Test Ruu‘ to your computer. Connect your phone to your PC and run the file. Wait for it to complete the upgrade
Step 5 : The phone will now be turned off. Unplug it and press the volume button down to power it back on. You will see ‘HBOOT‘ displayed on the screen. Use the volume and power buttons to navigate through the options and select ‘RECOVERY‘.
Step 6 : The phone will display a Red triangle. At this point, plug your phone to a Mac OS X or Linux computer
Step 7 : Download ‘Push Files‘ and extract them to a folder on the computer. Run the ‘recovery-linux.sh‘ or ‘recovery-mac.sh‘ file as is appropriate
Step 8 : Use the optical trackball to navigate through ‘Wipe -> Wipe data /factory reset‘ then ‘Flash zip from sdcard‘. Select the rooted update and confirm.
Step 9 : The update will begin. Once the flash is complete, reboot the phone and your are done.

HTC EVO 4G Price : $199?

There is nothing, absolutely nothing that will verify the authenticity of this claim. However, an interesting rumor doing the rounds is that HTC EVO 4G shall be made available on Sprint with a 2 year contract at a price of $199.

According to Darrin Morton from Ozcarguide, the information was revealed by a ‘Geek Squad’ member at Best Buy. Morton writes,

“A Best Buy rep, from the Geek Squad, had advised that they will be selling the HTC Evo 4G on a $199 Sprint contract plan. He had no further information other than this but we can deduce it must be the 2 year plan. So now that we know it is priced similar to the Verizon HTC Incredible (and the now defunct Verizon Nexus One), it looks like the final decision would be based on which carrier you prefer.”

Take the news with guarded skepticism for now.

[via OzcarGuide]

MyTouch Slide Launch Date Deferred To June

HTC MyTouch 3G Slide was supposed to launch on May 17th. However, there are now indications that this launch date may be deferred till the 2nd of June. According to reports on TMoNews, the rationale behind the delay is not known and the website speculates if this has got anything to do with inventory shortfall issues similar to those faced by HTC HD2.

However I would tend to believe that it is more so as a way to offer a buffer time to avoid a similar situation that HD2 suffered. Also, could the recent Volcanic Ash from Iceland likely to have caused logistical delays? Just saying..

[via TmoNews]

HTC HD Mini Tech Specs And Features

HTC HD Mini may not be the uber-cool gizmo with all the latest features. It runs on a Windows mobile platform that is soon to be outed with Windows Phone 7. The CPU processing speed is not breathtaking. Nevertheless, the device itself is impressive and should be an ideal handset for a majority of us.

Dimensions : 2.27″ x 4.09″ x 0.46″
Display : 3.2″ 320 x 480 HVGA screen
Platform : Windows Mobile 6.5 with HTC Sense UI
Processor : 600 MHz
Internal Memory : 512MB ROM and 384MB RAM
Storage : Up to 32GB microSD
Camera : 5 megapixel with auto focus and widescreen photo capture
Connectivity : Tethering enabled, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Battery : Up to 435 minutes talk time and up to 500 hours of standby time

[via HTC]

HTC Droid Incredible Pre-Order Page And Demo Video

HTC Droid Incredible was unveiled by Verizon last week to much positive acclaim. The device features Android 2.1 OS with Sense UI, brings an 8 megapixel camera and is powered by a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor.

Starting today, Verizon shall also be opening up their portal for pre-ordering of the device. Follow this link here to go ahead and make your purchase.

Meanwhile, folks at Boy Genius Report have now been able to get hold of a walkthrough video which gives you a great glimpse of the new HTC device all set to launch on April 29th. Apple, let’s see what you can bring to the table.

[via BGR]

HTC Incredible Features And Technical Specifications

Folks at Boy Genius Report have scooped upon the entire features list of the upcoming HTC Incredible. As you can see from the spec sheet below, HTC Incredible truly lives up to its name. It indeed is incredible.

Dimensions : 4.63? x 2.3? x 0.47?
Mobile OS : Android 2.1 “Eclair” with Sense UI
Processor : 1GHz Snapdragon QSG8650
Internal Memory : 8GB
Display : 3.7? WVGA OLED capacitive touch screen
Camera : 8 megapixel with auto focus and video
External Storage : microSD up to 32GB
Connectivity : 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Here is the complete spec sheet

[via BGR]

HTC HD2 Users Get Credit For iPhone Trade-In

T-Mobile is learnt to be running a new promotion that will encourage iPhone users to trade-in their working mobile phone while purchasing a new HTC HD2 to enjoy up to $350 in credit.

Folks at T-Mobile have posted a new memo to T-Mobile dealers has announced this new offer that is scheduled to run from April 1 to May 19 whereby T-Mobile dealers who wish to opt-in to the program can offer $100 to $350 worth credit to users who wish to purchase a HTC HD2 if they trade-in their fully functional iPhone instead.

No idea how many users would be willing to take up this offer though it appears to be an aggressive marketing ploy for T-Mobile to get hold of iPhone users for their new launch.

[via TmoNews]

HTC Windows 7 Phone To Launch This Year

HTC has been churning out an impressive line of smartphones these days. More impressively, the Taiwan based handset manufacturer has also been diversifying its risks by partnering with more than one platform developer.

Speaking to Forbes in an interview, HTC CEO Peter Chou has revealed that his company shall unveil a Windows Phone 7 based handset in the latter half of this year. He said,

“They’re putting in tremendous effort to make Windows Phone 7 very appealing and competitive.”

However, this does not mean HTC will be terminating the manufacture of Windows Classic phones. Chou has insisted that his company sees both the versions of Microsoft’s mobile OS to co-exist in the times ahead.

Meanwhile, HTC is also optimistic on the Android front. While there have been doubts cast on the success of Google’s Nexus One phone, Chou sees the device as a success and feels Nexus One’s innovative design will help HTC garner new business despite how consumers perceive the device.

[Forbes via IntoMobile]

HTC Evo 4G Technical Specifications

The new HTC Evo 4G is a pretty close competitor to Nexus One, if not better and is much better than Motorola Droid. Here are the tech specs of HTC Evo 4G listed below

Operating System : Android 2.1 with Sense UI
Processor : 1GHz SnapDragon
RAM : 512 MB
Screen Size : 4.3 inch
Resolution : 800 x 480
Touchscreen : Capacitive Multitouch
Keyboard : Virtual QWERTY Keyboard
Internal Memory : 1GB (with external microSD)
External Camera : 8MP with Flash
Frontal Camera : 1.3 MP
Video Recording : 1280 x 720

HTC Touch Pro3 Launching In Summer

With Windows Phone 7 handsets expected to launch post September, can we expect smartphones running on the older Windows phones to still be churned out in numbers in the mean while? Rumors say so.

According to unsubstantiated rumors, the third iteration in HTC’s Touch Pro series may be launching in the summer of this year and they are expected to launched in Europe by the third quarter of this year. A forum poster on the XDA Developer forum writes

“Just had a dinner with a friend of mine who is the main distributor for HTC in Europe, and he informed that they will receive the first shipment of Touch Pro3′s this summer and they will be on sale in Europe third quarter of this year. This is my main contact for HTC devices and he arranges a Touch Pro2 for me 4 months before it was officially released…He told me that the device will be much smaller and thinner, and soon he will provide me with the evidence including the full specifications. Do you guys think this would be something you would purchase or would you rather wait for the Windows Phone 7?”

What do you think? Is this likely?

[XDA Developers via BGR]