[sjh858]

I got the HTC Hero also from Best Buy yesterday. I had an HTC Touch Diamond before this phone and couldn't stand how slow it was. I had hoped for a huge speed pick up and received it with this phone.

I initially downloaded Pandora and Shazaam from the Android Marketplace. Downloads were speedy and the software ran great. I did notice some lag with running Pandora and browsing the phone, but nothing terrible. I agree with princem131, this device would be a monster with that 800mhz processor (next gen) the Samsung Moment will have.

Overall, though, I think I will stick with this phone as the Sense UI is undoubtedly much nicer than the standard Android UI.

The keyboard is nice, reminds me of TouchFlo's default keyboard (coming from a Diamond) and in both landscape and vertical modes it fairs quite well. There is a bit to get used to with the touch feedback on the phone, it seems much more sensitive compared to my Diamond, which I am finding I like a lot. It's word prediction/auto-complete function is a great implementation and I've begun using it instinctively already in my first 24 hours with the phone.

I had no idea how extensive the Android Market was and I am impressed with how many free applications are available. Google Stars is definitely my favorite so far as you can move the phone around the room and see the sky below you or above you. I guess I am surprised because I didn't realize it could orientate itself based on all tilts including north south east and west. Everything is on the fly with this phone. I have only utilized three of my screens (out of 7 with Sense UI), which makes me happy knowing that eventually I will be able to bog my phone down with fun apps in the future. I may suggest getting a task manager (free from the market) that allows you to shut down apps on your own that otherwise sit in the background hogging system resources.

I hope that whoever is responsible (Sprint, Google, HTC) will roll out the 1.6 Donut Android OS with Sense UI soon. Although, in most of my frequents to the Market I've noticed not all of the applications work with 1.6... but I'm sure soon I will find apps that don't work with 1.5.

All in all this phone is great, I highly suggest running over to your local Sprint retailer and picking yourself up one of these badboys. It is definitely the best phone I have owned to date, considering I had the Samsung Instinct and HTC Diamond.