It’s been about two weeks since I’ve been enjoying the wonders (and some frustrations) of running Android 2.2 on my originally Windows Mobile 6.5 HTC HD2 smartphone.

I’m loving the Android Market apps, the speed and the seamless, effortless, almost magical connectedness that Android has.  My various email accounts sync without stressful set-ups, all my calendars are sync’ed into a single calendar application, duly colour coded so I can tell my work appointments from my kids’ stuff.

I’m not loving the occasional freeze and the battery drain.  I can get through most days without a midday charge, but I don’t like being out and about with only 20% left on my battery, so I will watching for updated ROMs from the wonderful individuals who brought Android to HD2.

Disclaimer: if you have never messed around with your phone, you might be want to work with a friend who has.  You may brick your phone (I didn’t – but you never know), so proceed at your own risk.

Now to the how.  You will need:

• An SD card.  The Android operating system will run off of your SD card.  This is incredibly useful, so that when you choose to go back to Windows, you can by simply powering off and restarting.

• Battery charge of 50% or higher.  Frankly, I start with 90% or higher when I plan on messing around with my phone as a result of a long-ago experience with another Windows phone

• A radio of 2.08 or higher.  You can find this out by checking the software versions on your phone before you start.  If you don’t have 2.08 or higher, use this video to upgrade your radio version first.

At this point, all that is remaining is to download the actual Android build.  You can choose from several that are floating around.  I went with Darkstone’s Froyo build, which can be found here.

Once you download the file, unzip it and transfer the Android folder on to the root of your SD card.

On your phone, navigate to the Android folder:

• Tap the file named CLRCAD.  This is required to ensure audio works correctly.  It may seem like nothing is happening, and that’s fine.

• Tap the file named HARET.  Your screen will go black and Linux will start to run, with a whole bunch of tiny white lines scrolling quickly past on a black background, and the cute penguin sitting at the top of it all.  This is normal.  If you don’t get past the first few lines on booting up Android and the screen stays stuck there, you likely have an old ROM.  You must have 2.08 or higher.

The first time you do this, it will take quite a while to finish running.  This is expected.  Be patient.  In about 3-7 minutes, you will see the Android logo come up, and your phone is now running Android 2.2!

Whenever you turn off your phone and restart it, it will boot back into Windows.  Simply fire up your File Explorer, navigate to the Android folder, and run the two files as above.

The Windows button maps to Menu for Android.  Pressing it when on the Home screen will bring the settings for the phone.  One which you will likely do immediately is the 3G setting, and perhaps the MMS.  To set them for Etisalat, go to Settings, Wireless & Networks, Mobile Networks, Access Point Names.  You will be looking at a blank screen.  Press Menu (with Windows key), and New APN.  Set them as follows:

Press Menu again, and add another APN for MMS:

Name: etisalat
APN: mms
Proxy <Not Set>
Port <Not Set>
Username: mms
Password: mms
Server <Not Set>
MMSC: http://mms/servlets/mms
MMS proxy: 10.12.0.30
MMS port: 8080
MCC: 424
MNC: 02
Authentication type: <Not set>
APN type: mms

That’s it! Now off you go the market to download all sorts of fun apps.  Enjoy!!