HTC Hero Reviews

[RichTJ99]

Originally Posted by thacounty

Haha its all good. I know where you are coming from.

Thacounty - I also came from a 700wx, 800w, Treo Pro & I am trialing a Touch Pro 2 right now. I am finding i miss the Dpad & I rarely use the hardware keyboard - the gigantic screen is really nice though. Overall its pretty nice with the HTC TouchFlo but I am finding its underwheling & hard to navigate.

I bring the TP2 into the mix as I think its going back. i was thinking of trying a blackberry but I am not excited about that prospect though I think it will be more stable than Winmo.

So with that being said, are you missing WM6 less & less?

One other thing, is there such a thing as a winmo emulator on android? I have a application (its actually a wm2003 app) that is keeping me stuck on WM at this point. I am definately thinking of trying this one out though.

I was wondering about how you like it after another week or two. Your perspective is just about perfect in terms of device similarity.

Thanks,
Rich

[snowplow54]

great reviews guys, i have a couple questions about this phone before i commit to buy it though.
1) how is the flash on it? how does it perform, and what will it and won't it play? would i be able to watch the live feed of sunday night football on nfl.com?

2) along those same lines, how well does the NFL mobile app work? as compared to the WM one.

3) is there any way to use it as a wifi router yet? I think PDAnet works for this, but would that allow me to connect to something like and ipod touch or just the computer i have the program on.

4) I would be buying this while still under contract, so i would be paying about $300-350. do you think it is worth that price, or i should just stick with my diamond and wait it out?

[thacounty]

Originally Posted by RichTJ99

Thacounty - I also came from a 700wx, 800w, Treo Pro & I am trialing a Touch Pro 2 right now. I am finding i miss the Dpad & I rarely use the hardware keyboard - the gigantic screen is really nice though. Overall its pretty nice with the HTC TouchFlo but I am finding its underwheling & hard to navigate.

I bring the TP2 into the mix as I think its going back. i was thinking of trying a blackberry but I am not excited about that prospect though I think it will be more stable than Winmo.

So with that being said, are you missing WM6 less & less?

One other thing, is there such a thing as a winmo emulator on android? I have a application (its actually a wm2003 app) that is keeping me stuck on WM at this point. I am definately thinking of trying this one out though.

I was wondering about how you like it after another week or two. Your perspective is just about perfect in terms of device similarity.

Thanks,
Rich

I would look and see if there is an app that is comparable on android. At this point there is no emulator on Android for Winmo. I don't need a d-pad and I find myself loving the trackball for any action I needed the dpad for!

As far as WM6, I loved the ability to customize, but we will have that back once the Hero is rooted. So yes, I miss WM6 less every day! The form factor of the KB up front on the Treo's is nice, but this is a very intuitive soft KB on the Hero and it seems to get the job done for me pretty well!

I love the phone and I will be keeping it over the moment because it is much smaller and I hear the pad up front instead of the trackball is hard to work with. I won't be going back to WM unless 7 is a game changer because everyone is pushing Android and IMHO it is already better than WM6.5.

[mrzieman]

Originally Posted by snowplow54

great reviews guys, i have a couple questions about this phone before i commit to buy it though.
1) how is the flash on it? how does it perform, and what will it and won't it play? would i be able to watch the live feed of sunday night football on nfl.com?

2) along those same lines, how well does the NFL mobile app work? as compared to the WM one.

3) is there any way to use it as a wifi router yet? I think PDAnet works for this, but would that allow me to connect to something like and ipod touch or just the computer i have the program on.

4) I would be buying this while still under contract, so i would be paying about $300-350. do you think it is worth that price, or i should just stick with my diamond and wait it out?

1) Flash is pretty good, but not infallible. I'd give it a 7.5/10 in terms of what it can load and the overall speed. It takes a while to load in some cases, but most of the stuff I've thrown at it can handle eventually. If I were to compare it to skyfire coming from WM, I'd say perhaps a little slower, about the same in supported content, but much better resolution.

2) NFL mobile app works great on the whole. It's about the same as the WM one in terms of functionality, but a bit more finger friendly and it includes a convenient widget for the desktop. I've found it can be a little flaky at times, as I've encountered a force close once or twice and sometimes it gets kind of choppy - but that's about the same experience I had with the WM version. Overall I like it more than WinMo's contribution, if nothing else, just for the finger friendliness.

3) I don't believe there is any app yet which will work as easily and hassle free as Wifi-Internet Sharing was on WM. Even PDANet can't match the ease of that program. That is the lone feature of my TP I am missing with the Hero.

4) I bought my hero new off contract on eBay for just over 350 after shipping and it has exceeded my expectations and has been worth every penny. I hated a lot about my touch pro, from the lag of WinMo to the piss poor build quality and the Hero has corrected every beef I had with my previous smartphone. The UI is zippy, the build quality is extremely solid, the capacitive touchscreen is a joy to use, the 3.5mm headphone jack and multimedia capabilities are surprisingly good, and did I mention - a seemingly limitless app store with mostly everything for free. The added value of the free apps alone is amazing. If you like your Diamond a lot (which I also owned prior to the TP and can say it was an infinitely better device) and don't have problems with WinMo, the Hero experience is roughly similar to the Diamond (as you don't have a physical keyboard), except everything is smoother, faster, more finger friendly, and just a bit sleeker. If you are close to upgrading and can wait it out, Sprint's bound to have a 2.0 Android device with a Snapdragon processor by Q1 of 2010, but if you are having a miserable experience with your WinMo device as I was and still have lots of time left in your contract (1 year+), I think the upgrade would be totally worth it.

I hope that helps.

[thacounty]

Originally Posted by snowplow54

great reviews guys, i have a couple questions about this phone before i commit to buy it though.
1) how is the flash on it? how does it perform, and what will it and won't it play? would i be able to watch the live feed of sunday night football on nfl.com?

2) along those same lines, how well does the NFL mobile app work? as compared to the WM one.

3) is there any way to use it as a wifi router yet? I think PDAnet works for this, but would that allow me to connect to something like and ipod touch or just the computer i have the program on.

4) I would be buying this while still under contract, so i would be paying about $300-350. do you think it is worth that price, or i should just stick with my diamond and wait it out?

Flash is not perfect, works on youtube and most embeds, but when it comes to higher end videos with I guess flash 9 and 10 it doesn't work.

I like NFL mobile app it is intuitive but I never tried it on WM. Sorry. It does have gameday radio and live action so it is good for me.

No wifi router until rooted. Once it is rooted this will be an option. Only can connect to computer with phone, but you could then set up PC as router if you wanted to with PDANet

I would give 300 for the phone because I love having the latest tech. See what you can sell Diamond from and you can subtract that from the price. So you'd probably be closer to 150-200. I upgraded and was in that price range, and I will not be looking back!

[snowplow54]

Originally Posted by mrzieman

1) Flash is pretty good, but not infallible. I'd give it a 7.5/10 in terms of what it can load and the overall speed. It takes a while to load in some cases, but most of the stuff I've thrown at it can handle eventually. If I were to compare it to skyfire coming from WM, I'd say perhaps a little slower, about the same in supported content, but much better resolution.

2) NFL mobile app works great on the whole. It's about the same as the WM one in terms of functionality, but a bit more finger friendly and it includes a convenient widget for the desktop. I've found it can be a little flaky at times, as I've encountered a force close once or twice and sometimes it gets kind of choppy - but that's about the same experience I had with the WM version. Overall I like it more than WinMo's contribution, if nothing else, just for the finger friendliness.

3) I don't believe there is any app yet which will work as easily and hassle free as Wifi-Internet Sharing was on WM. Even PDANet can't match the ease of that program. That is the lone feature of my TP I am missing with the Hero.

4) I bought my hero new off contract on eBay for just over 350 after shipping and it has exceeded my expectations and has been worth every penny. I hated a lot about my touch pro, from the lag of WinMo to the piss poor build quality and the Hero has corrected every beef I had with my previous smartphone. The UI is zippy, the build quality is extremely solid, the capacitive touchscreen is a joy to use, the 3.5mm headphone jack and multimedia capabilities are surprisingly good, and did I mention - a seemingly limitless app store with mostly everything for free. The added value of the free apps alone is amazing. If you like your Diamond a lot (which I also owned prior to the TP and can say it was an infinitely better device) and don't have problems with WinMo, the Hero experience is roughly similar to the Diamond (as you don't have a physical keyboard), except everything is smoother, faster, more finger friendly, and just a bit sleeker. If you are close to upgrading and can wait it out, Sprint's bound to have a 2.0 Android device with a Snapdragon processor by Q1 of 2010, but if you are having a miserable experience with your WinMo device as I was and still have lots of time left in your contract (1 year+), I think the upgrade would be totally worth it.

I hope that helps.

Thanks for the response, I think based on this I might as well wait until my contract is up. It ends this April, so hopefully i'll be able to hold out. I really have no real gripes with my diamond. I am just having a case of phone envy. I guess by time my contract is up they'll have the snapdragon processors, wifi internet sharing, a slingplayer app, and maybe even a flash update as well.

[pegs]

BB then new BB then HTC Touch pro. then went back to BB then got a HERO. Wife has a LG lotus.

This phone is more that I would have ever believed it could be. I had gotten accustomed to the hype and BS associated with the release of a new phone. But this thing freakin rocks. No one can really encompass what this phone is.... because it can be 1000 different phones depending on how you set it up. I have had it for 3 days and am still coming across "WOW" features.

The only problem I have had is the screen keyboard. I think it must be heat sensitive because you can't use a pencil or other inanimate object to click the keyboard.

The problem is... I have big fingers and you can't use landscape in every application... so for those I can't use landscape... I have a really difficult time trying to type on the much smaller portrait screen LOTS of mistakes.... buy I'm hoping there is a learning curve here and I'm at the beginning of it.

I would guess anyone with long fingernails would have a difficult time as well. I doubt finger nails will work either. But other than that.... this phone absolutely rocks.

[thacounty]

Originally Posted by pegs

BB then new BB then HTC Touch pro. then went back to BB then got a HERO. Wife has a LG lotus.

This phone is more that I would have ever believed it could be. I had gotten accustomed to the hype and BS associated with the release of a new phone. But this thing freakin rocks. No one can really encompass what this phone is.... because it can be 1000 different phones depending on how you set it up. I have had it for 3 days and am still coming across "WOW" features.

The only problem I have had is the screen keyboard. I think it must be heat sensitive because you can't use a pencil or other inanimate object to click the keyboard.

The problem is... I have big fingers and you can't use landscape in every application... so for those I can't use landscape... I have a really difficult time trying to type on the much smaller portrait screen LOTS of mistakes.... buy I'm hoping there is a learning curve here and I'm at the beginning of it.

I would guess anyone with long fingernails would have a difficult time as well. I doubt finger nails will work either. But other than that.... this phone absolutely rocks.

Screen is capacitive not resistive. You must make a ground which a pencil or stylus or your fingernail won't do. You can, however, buy a stylus that is compatible with capacitive screens. They are much more responsive, and this is the only drawback. I don't think its a big deal but some people do.

[suzannaski]

It was a little tricky to figure out how to close out the apps, but it didn't slow down until I was running about 15 of them.
HOWEVER: WTF is with the ads at the bottom of the screen???? I want to throw my phone across the room, especially when it pops up when I'm trying to select something. I'm paying enough for my phone & service, I don't want to be assaulted with ads while I'm trying to make calls. Or playing sudoko This is primarily my work phone.
Google, you suck IMO right now.

[thacounty]

Originally Posted by suzannaski

It was a little tricky to figure out how to close out the apps, but it didn't slow down until I was running about 15 of them.
HOWEVER: WTF is with the ads at the bottom of the screen???? I want to throw my phone across the room, especially when it pops up when I'm trying to select something. I'm paying enough for my phone & service, I don't want to be assaulted with ads while I'm trying to make calls. Or playing sudoko This is primarily my work phone.
Google, you suck IMO right now.

Ads are only part of apps. They aren't built into the phone. If you don't want ads then buy pro versions of programs which aren't ad supported. If ads are coming up for no reason you have a problem and may want to start backing out of programs instead of just hitting the home button.