HTC HERO Arrived today :D

[kopite]

I rang orange yesterday because my sony ericsson c905 earpiece has died. They told me that I was due an upgrade so I just asked if the hero was out and they said yes

Its now sitting on my desk charging. Must say its a very well built phone. Havent had time to play around with it properly yet but when I do I`ll post my thoughts

[Funkstar]

HTC do know how to make a decent smartphone

[SiM]

This would be perfect phone if only it didn't have a low res screen.
Closely matches the HD otherwise, but with Android.
http://www.esato.com/phones/compare....one=483&cp=423

I want to move to Android (after 5 years with different WM devices)... probably will wait for android phones to come with high res screens. Until then my HD will do

[kopite]

Although its not high res the screen is still pretty decent

The more I use it the more i`m loking it. The interface is brilliant. each screen can be set up in a different way which is cool.

Also loving the email which works with my own mail server with no problems.

The weather is also immense, uses GPS to see where you are and then gives you the weather for that area. I live in a small village and it gave me weather for that Driving to work and the weather details changed as i drove in and is now showing the weather at work.

I'm really impressed so far and havent even looked into the customization options and the app store

[DeludedGuy]

The thing which I dislike the most about that phone is the bit at the bottom which sticks out, I just cant help but wonder how uncomfortable that must be to have in your pocket.

But other than that, it does seem like a good phone, there is a lot of competition out there at the moment, Windows 6.5 needs to come out (officially) soon.

[Bleak]

Originally Posted by DeludedGuy

The thing which I dislike the most about that phone is the bit at the bottom which sticks out, I just cant help but wonder how uncomfortable that must be to have in your pocket.

Completely agree about that. I was deciding between a Hero or Touch Diamond 2 and couldn't make my mind up between the higher res screen or Android + 3.5mm headphone jack. In the end it was the bottom bit sticking out that put my off the Hero.

Apart from that the Hero did look nice though, hope you enjoy it.

[Areku]

I have been trying to get hold of this since yesterday morning. Was on the phone at 9.30 and had one but didn't have my card details on me as I left it at my desk while I made the call.

Annoyingly it sold out about an hour later when I could try and call again. So now need to wait until it is back in stock.

So when are you going to give a Hexus in depth review on this?

[kopite]

Well I am working the next couple of days I think Monday would be a good time to do a write up on it Should also give me the chance to get some apps on it

[bk7]

I desperately tried to justify to myself forking out extra for a decent smart phone, was really keen on the HTC android offerings, even the g1 with its poor battery life. In the end I couldn't justify the £30 on contract any of those phones would have cost and got lumped with an lg renoir.. great phone but im a tinkerer at heart and the LG is locked down beyond belief.. you can't even drop a new theme on it as you can with SEs or other phones.

HTC hero looks like a fantastic phone, interesting to see the battery life performance on it.

[crazy]

Quite disappointed by the specs, it's almost identical to the Magic on the inside

[kopite]

WEll Ive got some really cool apps on it now including an FTP client which works really quickly and easily

The predicative qwerty keyboard is brilliant means even my with my chubby fingers cant type quickly without worrying about making too many mistakes.

[crazy]

Engadget's review of the HTC Hero

The Hero represents a valiant effort from HTC -- though unfortunately, the company appears to have bitten off more than its last-generation hardware can chew. If this build of Android were to be loaded atop the guts of a 3GS or Pre, the performance would likely be astounding, but fused with the two-year old architecture of previous devices, it's mostly disappointing. We're not saying this isn't the best build of Android on the market -- we think it is. What we are saying is that this build is a bit too much for a device like the Hero to handle, and that makes for an uneven, sometimes frustrating experience. Going into the review, we desperately wanted to love this phone, but given the combination of a few poor hardware choices and an OS which outclasses the device it runs on, we can only recommend that you enter at your own risk. HTC has an explosive entry in the smartphone category with what its done on the software side... now it just needs the hardware to match.

kopite have you noticed any sluggish performance from the Hero?

[kopite]

it does start to lag when you are using a lot of apps(doesnt close down each app when you finish)

But everything else has been fine. video playback is spot on with no lag and now i`ve found out that in texts you can switch the keyboard sideways everything gets easier

When you are swiping through pages it seems nippy enough and when flicking through emails/texts its pretty nippy as well

The battery is running down quite quickly but then i`ve spent the past day messing about with it all the time

The other thing is I got it free on contract and it is my first smart phone(i`ve have had a mess with mates Iphones but never really liked them) And I love it

[j.o.s.h.1408]

our workplace should be getting a bunch of these phones next week. im already playing with the Magic phone and its brilliant! i made a music player for it

i will tell you some things that maybe slowing down the performance of the phone. Some apps you sue may not have an actual quit button and even if you press the END key or the menu button it is still running in the background. Also, some apps run a object called a "service". this object could be run even when the main app is destroyed and can drain your battery depending on what this service is doing. this service could be doing some network intensive stuff for example so you must make sure you close this service just in case.

Some apps are just downright slow and rubbish because of the way it has been coded. Dont forget, android is a new mobile programing framework so expect some apps to be unoptimized. Let me tell you this, android has the potential to be the number oen platform for mobile developing. its sooo easy to develope and program stuff on it and is VERY powerful. So powerful that the whole OS can be customized and programed to suit your taste.

Sony erickson and samsung are actually building their own custom OS using android. The company im working for is hoping to do the same sort of thing

[Nadeen]

Hi
Please excuse my ignorance , I am totally useless with phones.
I got the htc hero yesterday, I have been messing about with it and can make calls, send texts, all the easy stuff, I took photos and uploaded them to facebook, major achievement lol
I never got a disc with my phone and no user manual, just a very thin quick start guide.
Did any of you get a disc? The man at Orange told me I have to download drivers or something but I dont know where to get them from.
I dont see the phone in MY COMPUTER
How do I put music on it if I cant even see it
Thanks xxx Nadeen xxx

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Originally Posted by Nadeen

Hi
Please excuse my ignorance , I am totally useless with phones.
I got the htc hero yesterday, I have been messing about with it and can make calls, send texts, all the easy stuff, I took photos and uploaded them to facebook, major achievement lol
I never got a disc with my phone and no user manual, just a very thin quick start guide.
Did any of you get a disc? The man at Orange told me I have to download drivers or something but I dont know where to get them from.
I dont see the phone in MY COMPUTER
How do I put music on it if I cant even see it
Thanks xxx Nadeen xxx

Umm strange but here is a way to download and install the drivers. http://developer.android.com/sdk/1.5_r3/index.html download the SDK and inside that folder their should be a folder called usb drivers. ignore the rest of the sdk stuff unless you feel liek developing apps for it