HTC Hero

mobius42 · 24-07-2009 12:55pm

PH4T wrote: »

Same here, and that was after giving up on the N97 earlier just to it's poxy OS. Looks like I'll just have to bite the buller and get an iPhone 3GS as no one seems to be able to match Apple's OS right now.

I've decided against the Hero as well; I'm waiting for the Palm Pre. I've been testing it out with the emulator and it's fantastic. The multitasking is amazing. Let's hope there's a few more updates and apps before it's released here. The lack of multi-tasking and background apps is really starting to kill the iPhone for me. The slowness of opening and closing apps is frustrating.

chalkitdown · 24-07-2009 8:25pm

With regard to multi tasking the Toshiba TG01 might be worth a look.

PogMoThoin · 24-07-2009 9:10pm

Bah, feel so let down now, was hoping it'd be my next fone.

Professey Chin · 25-07-2009 1:30am

mobius42 wrote: »

I've decided against the Hero as well; I'm waiting for the Palm Pre. I've been testing it out with the emulator and it's fantastic. The multitasking is amazing. Let's hope there's a few more updates and apps before it's released here. The lack of multi-tasking and background apps is really starting to kill the iPhone for me. The slowness of opening and closing apps is frustrating.

Id read up about the pre 1st.Apparently the hardware itself is pretty ****e.I do love the webOS but the SDK cripples development

Easy Rider · 25-07-2009 12:01pm

Maybe it is good to wait for the 2nd generation....but going for the Pre? Nah, the pre has had fairly bad reviews and the actual hardware is meant to be cheap...

Mr E · 25-07-2009 2:10pm

After sitting on the fence for the last few days, I've decided not to cancel my Hero order. I still think it looks a great phone, and the pluses far outweigh the minuses. If you load the homescreens with 6,000,000 widgets, of course it'll be slow. Some more reviews:

Geeks.co.uk (largely positive)
Phandroid (largely positive, although admittedly from an Android fan site. Lots of videos too.)

mobius42 · 25-07-2009 6:27pm

Easy Rider wrote: »

Maybe it is good to wait for the 2nd generation....but going for the Pre? Nah, the pre has had fairly bad reviews and the actual hardware is meant to be cheap...

That's not the case; most reviews have been positive, though naturally it has some failings. The stories about high return rates due to bad build quality are inaccurate as explained here. They were just the result of speculation by "analysts". The only major issue I have with the Pre hardware wise is that 8GB is the max memory you can get.

Dingatron · 25-07-2009 6:37pm

Mr E wrote: »

After sitting on the fence for the last few days, I've decided not to cancel my Hero order. I still think it looks a great phone, and the pluses far outweigh the minuses. If you load the homescreens with 6,000,000 widgets, of course it'll be slow. Some more reviews:

Geeks.co.uk (largely positive)
Phandroid (largely positive, although admittedly from an Android fan site. Lots of videos too.)

I'm inclined to agree and I still hope to get it. The you tube 7 day review was very positive and the only slowness of note was when browsing the pics and he said himself that there were 2000 pics on the card.

Edit. Just watched the phandroid reviews and he concedes there is some sluggishness but again could be related to the widgets. I love the interface. Camera is cr@p by the looks of it but not a show stopper for me.

Mr E · 25-07-2009 7:43pm

I guarantee there will be hacks, tweaks or a firmware upgrade within a month to address some of the issues too. Seems to be a very active community.

smackyB · 26-07-2009 11:45am

Interesting, 3 have a HTC category in their shop but nothing is listed when you click on it.. http://www.three.ie/handsets_new/prepay-htc-mobiles.htm

Anyone know if that has been there for long? Would be amazing if that was the hero..

EDIT: doesn't matter, was looking at the wrong price plan! They've got some old winmob HTC phone... boring!

Kevo · 26-07-2009 12:14pm

I had high hopes for this phone. The UI is superb but the hardware isn't up to scratch. Apparently it is very slugish.

Senenpeter · 27-07-2009 11:04am

Its a tough call... with the same processor and similar RAM to the Magic, and the fact that Sense UI will be available as a download for the Magic, it does seem like HTC are cheating Hero buyers and just pumping out phones with minor upgrade tweaks

Granted they've added a funky chin, multi-touch and a 3.5mm phone jack, but surely the experience will be largly equivelant to the Magic?

Jamie32 · 27-07-2009 11:19am

Senenpeter wrote: »

Its a tough call... with the same processor and similar RAM to the Magic, and the fact that Sense UI will be available as a download for the Magic, it does seem like HTC are cheating Hero buyers and just pumping out phones with minor upgrade tweaks

Granted they've added a funky chin, multi-touch and a 3.5mm phone jack, but surely the experience will be largly equivelant to the Magic?

I just went for it, mainly due to the fact that I haven't had a smartphone before and it's something that i've been wanting to do for a while now and if it is a case that there is some "inefficiencies" well then I would be probably less likely to notice them as much because i'm a smartphone virgin! But from what I read about the Hero and the video reviews, it really is a great smartphone and it ticks all of the boxes for me. There's always something lacking with every smartphone but the majority of what the hero has for me is spot on!

Professey Chin · 27-07-2009 12:10pm

Senenpeter wrote: »

Its a tough call... with the same processor and similar RAM to the Magic, and the fact that Sense UI will be available as a download for the Magic, it does seem like HTC are cheating Hero buyers and just pumping out phones with minor upgrade tweaks

Im not too sure about that.The Magic is one of the "with Google" branded phones and I dont think HTC will be pushing Sense to those.The Hero is HTCs stand alone one.

Of course rooty-rooty, hacky-hacky always solves these things

Senenpeter · 27-07-2009 12:23pm

Ultimate Chin wrote: »

Of course rooty-rooty, hacky-hacky always solves these things

As always! :P ...but it does look like Sense will officially get on the Magic or G1

http://tech.uk.msn.com/news/article.aspx?cp-documentid=148168076

Professey Chin · 27-07-2009 12:32pm

Senenpeter wrote: »

As always! :P ...but it does look like Sense will officially get on the Magic or G1

http://tech.uk.msn.com/news/article.aspx?cp-documentid=148168076

And I counter with this rumor(which does sound really plausable when you take the Exchange service into account)
http://gizmodo.com/5302816/rumor-existing-android-phones-wont-get-htcs-sense-ui-for-lame-licensing-reasons

Dingatron · 27-07-2009 1:00pm

Ultimate Chin wrote: »

And I counter with this rumor(which does sound really plausable when you take the Exchange service into account)
http://gizmodo.com/5302816/rumor-existing-android-phones-wont-get-htcs-sense-ui-for-lame-licensing-reasons

Me too. I'd say it's unlikely HTC would update the Magic with Sense UI while they are promoting the Hero as its a big selling point of the Hero. It may hit the Magic at some stage but not before the Hero is fully released etc.

Dingatron · 27-07-2009 7:52pm

I assume the best place on-line to get it is the Expansys Uk site?

Jamie32 · 28-07-2009 8:23am

Dingatron wrote: »

I assume the best place on-line to get it is the Expansys Uk site?

Well I got mine from expansys.IE but that's just because I got it VAT free so I saved a fair bit(and I ordered 2 of them). I didn't order off an english web-site because being Irish, I couldn't get them VAT free. However, just going from my own research I found that www.clove.co.uk were the best priced out of the various web-sites.

Mr E · 28-07-2009 5:16pm

For the faithful, Expansys have gone from their "Estimated 5 days" (which they've had for the last fortnight) to "Estimated 4 days". The phone could hit the sim-free market by Saturday.

elderlemon · 28-07-2009 5:29pm

Anyone know where I can get the black version? My E71 needs replacing and this Hero might do it.

thanks

Mr E wrote: »

For the faithful, Expansys have gone from their "Estimated 5 days" (which they've had for the last fortnight) to "Estimated 4 days". The phone could hit the sim-free market by Saturday.

Dingatron · 28-07-2009 8:14pm

Ordered

Jamie32 · 28-07-2009 9:42pm

Mr E wrote: »

For the faithful, Expansys have gone from their "Estimated 5 days" (which they've had for the last fortnight) to "Estimated 4 days". The phone could hit the sim-free market by Saturday.

Clove.co.uk have now confirmed it as "in stock".....come on expansys get the finger out:mad:

http://www.clove.co.uk/viewProduct.aspx?product=35D4C1DC-2957-4045-B55A-54A3EF22C2F1#

Easy Rider · 29-07-2009 12:11am

In stock with pixmania too...non white...

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/r/htc-hero

stu3mb · 29-07-2009 12:50am

pixmania seem to have the best price (477 inc vat), but I'll wait til T-Mobile UK releases it and people start selling off their contract phones, heh.

Mr E · 29-07-2009 12:26pm

My Hero just shipped from Expansys. Hopefully they're sending from Ireland and I'll have it before the weekend.

elderlemon · 29-07-2009 2:03pm

Great (for you

) . Let us know how you get on, especially the UI response. Read a couple of reviews that said it can be poor but I tend to believe real world users more than online review sites.

My E71 is giving some trouble so this may be my next handset (or the Palm Pre!)

Mr E wrote: »

My Hero just shipped from Expansys. Hopefully they're sending from Ireland and I'll have it before the weekend.

Dingatron · 29-07-2009 2:22pm

Had to cancel order. Seemly if I ship item to an address I don't live in I have to provide

- Copy of a Utility Bill
- Driving Licence
- Company Letterhead

With my name on it.

Even when my credit card company have verification of this address. No joy with customer service so requested a cancel of order this morning and it still has not been done.

Jamie32 · 29-07-2009 2:48pm

Mr E wrote: »

My Hero just shipped from Expansys. Hopefully they're sending from Ireland and I'll have it before the weekend.

Mr.E, just out of interest, when did you order yours? I would imagine they're shipped on a first come first served basis.

Mr E · 29-07-2009 2:52pm

Yep, they are standard fraud prevention measures. Very common for new customers ordering expensive consumer electronics. Other sites do it to (I came across it on Dabs and advancedmp3players.co.uk recently). I've ordered my last 4 phones from expansys, and they only asked for this the first time.

You do it once, and you'll have no issues with ordering from them again. Stick your drivers license/passport and the letterhead for a utility bill on a photocopier, take the single page to a fax machine and send it off to them. Bit of a pain in the ass, but you'll only have to do it once.

HTC Hero

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