Extending your HTC Desire’s battery life

I’ve been asked for suggestions on how to do this a ton of times; here are several tweaks I use for my HTC Desire that easily extend its battery life to get me through the day. And with charge to spare. Do these (in no specific order):

• Disable 'Background Data' from Settings | Accounts and Sync. This notorious setting sucks battery life big time by keeping tons of Google apps (Gmail, Contacts, Calendar etc) continuously in sync. Better to just let these apps update only when you need them.
• Install Advanced Task Killer--a super little app that lets you 'kill' unnecessarily running apps as often as you need. I invoke this several times a day; especially after extended bouts of using multiple apps. This one's a must-have.
• Disable any radios when you don't need them (WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS). I've installed nifty shortcut widgets to these radio settings on my home screen--beats having to poke into the Settings screen each time.
• Beware of installing unverified apps--some of these run continuously and suck battery life.

Bonus tip: If you know you’re going to be in a location with no cellular service, switch your phone to airplane mode. This disables all radios (including cellular,) and prevents your phone from ‘searching’  for a signal and draining its battery in the process.

Not just for the HTC Desire—these tweaks should work with virtually any Android device. Made a huge difference for me, but your mileage may vary.

Google's Android - The New 'Simple'

Simplicity is the key to adoption. Apple has more than proved this through its iPod and iPhone. But it looks like Google is poised to become the new 'King of Simple' with its new mobile operating system--Android. Personified in the T-Mobile G1, this phone is a must-have for any Google addict. But with its 'always-connected-to-your-information' approach, and by dissociating your data from the actual device, this looks like the first true Web-centric device for pretty much anyone who needs access to their data at all times--even if the phone itself is busted! Check out the video of this phone's cool capabilities here:

Google's Android on the T-Mobile G1

However, there does appear to be a few drawbacks in its current v1 avatar--there's apparently no straightforward support for Outlook mail, and it appears that none of your data is stored locally on the phone. I'm thinking the latter could prove to be quite a drawback in situations where you don't have network coverage. But I'm betting Google's already pondering these issues.