HTC Hero

Mr E

So whats the verdict, Jamie? You've had it for nearly 24 hours at this stage.

Jamie32

Mr E wrote: »

So whats the verdict, Jamie? You've had it for nearly 24 hours at this stage.

Sorry folks I wanted to post this last night but decided to go on the p*ss instead!! Recession? What recession?! New phone and p*ss up all in one day!!

Anyway, down to business....

As a person that has never had a smartphone, i'm well impressed with the hero, and absolute quality piece of kit. Some people are concerned about the speed of the device, but i've learned that when browsing the net, it's just as quick as my laptop. I was on Facebook and YouTube quite a bit yesterday with no issues whatsoever. I connected to 3 different wifi networks yesterday without any hassle at all! Haven't downloaded any apps or anything as i'm still trying to get familiar with the device but so far so good.

I suppose one drawback is no flash on the camera, that would be useful on nights out and I have to say, I could have done with it last night. But that's my only issue with it.

Overall i'm well happy with it, it's quick (despite some internet reviews), it's really user friendly, the missus got 1 as well and she would be of the same opinion as me. Still have to load on my music and some movies and have already loaded some of my photos already and that was very simple and quick.

I will keep posting positives (and negatives if there any:)) as I get used to the device.

If you're considering this device, I would certainly recommend it.

rabbitinlights

No flash would be a deal breaker for me.....

Dingatron

No flash would be a deal breaker for me.....

It does have support for flash although not fully by the looks of it.


Picking mine up at 4 or 5 today. Can I import my contacts as vcf or does it need to be csv? Don't have an option to export them as csv.

rabbitinlights

Sorry I meant camera flash!

Mr E

Dingatron wrote: »

Picking mine up at 4 or 5 today. Can I import my contacts as vcf or does it need to be csv? Don't have an option to export them as csv.

Are your contacts in Outlook? You can install a HTC sync app to sync your contacts and calendar with the phone.

Dingatron

Transfering from k800i phone. sim is full. Figured it out I think. vcf => wab => csv => hero

elderlemon

as the saying goes "I got to get me one of these"!. Where are people buying the Hero? Is it mostly expansys? I see phonesonline.ie have it for 519!

Dingatron wrote: »

It does have support for flash although not fully by the looks of it.


Picking mine up at 4 or 5 today. Can I import my contacts as vcf or does it need to be csv? Don't have an option to export them as csv.

Dingatron

Picked the Hero up last night and I've had a play around with.

First Impressions
Nice looking and weighted phone and I do like the chin. It really doesn't need the scroll ball but I like the built in light notifying you of updates etc.

Screen has a nice resolution and emails and txts look very clear on it. The interface is very smooth even with a load of apps running. Note I have a 8 GB class 6 micro sd in it. Like the qwerty keyboard and its very accurate considering I'm only using it a few hours.

Wifi/Bluetooth/GPS a doddle to set up and no shortage of settings. GPS very accurate from initial tests.

Internet Browser. Very good although at times pages can be slow to load but as someone else mentioned it appears to wait for full page to load on occasions.

Apps. Installed a few apps and well impressed with the development of them and its only in its infancy. Shop Savvy is a great example of what android is about.
Aradio is another one I was impressed with. Radio streaming over the net and the built in speakers aren't that bad for non audiophiles. Need to try the head phones still. The youtube app is also good and the quality of video was high.
As expected the Google maps street view in compass mode is a definite head turner.

Contacts. I like the way this is put together and is impressive. I'd a support call this morning consisting of phone/txt and emails and wow this is great the way it groups it all together. I had not even thought that much about it when choosing the phone but I'm going to get good use out of it.


Only minus at the minute is I've still not being able to sync my phone contacts yet but I'm sure its setting some where I have turned off. The HTC sync app on Vista can't see the phone although I can mount the SD card on the PC. It won't install on xp laptop due to the security policy. I'll sort it out anyway so not concerned just yet.


Oh yeah and sound quality on phone calls is also great.

Mr E

Dingatron, I had the same problem with syncing. Make sure you download the 2.0.4 app from the HTC site (the version that comes with the phone was 2.0.2). Grab it here:

http://www.htc.com/hero/m/en/downloads.html

Once installed, you need to initiate the sync from the phone itself (the sync can be run from the notification area once USB is attached).

elderlemon

Hero owners - whats the email client like? I heard that HTC have a custom version on the hero and its supposed to be good.

thanks

Oafley Jones

Any ideas if any of the carriers are picking this up?

knoxor

I ordered mine thru handtec, works out a bit cheaper than pixmania but you get a free car charger, free leather case as well so worth it. They are also doing both the white and grey versions although grey version is not out yet.

http://www.handtec.co.uk/product.php/2156/htc-hero

elderlemon

Looks like vodafone UK are getting the Hero. Wonder if we'll see it here?

http://www.mobilephonesdirect.co.uk/...d-w#tabsAnchor

Get0fix

Let's hope Vodafone IE and a few others follow suit. Not sure I can afford to buy this puppy outright, but I really would like it! Needed a new phone for quite some time now!

rejkin

does anyone know where to get a class6 16gig microsd card for this? Iv found class 2's but no class 6's at the moment,would it really be a big difference in speed if i went for the class 2?

fmul9798

Any of you folks that have received them have any additional observations now that youv have been using the phone for a few more days?

Thanks,
-fm

Mr E

Yeah, I feckin' love it. My data package kicks in tomorrow I think, so I'll be able to take the training wheels off and use the phone properly.

Some other observations:

1. I don't think a class 6 card makes any difference to the speed of the phone. The speed itself is fine, but gets a bit juddery with alot of apps loaded (easily fixed - just close some of them!)

2. There are lots of great android apps in the market, but we can't buy any of the full versions - we can only see the free/trial/lite versions. Something to do with licensing and unlocked phones or something like that. I'm going to contact the developers of some apps that I like to see if I can get the full versions direct from them.

Gotta run, I'll post more later.

rejkin

Mr E wrote: »

Yeah, I feckin' love it. My data package kicks in tomorrow I think, so I'll be able to take the training wheels off and use the phone properly.

Some other observations:

1. I don't think a class 6 card makes any difference to the speed of the phone. The speed itself is fine, but gets a bit juddery with alot of apps loaded (easily fixed - just close some of them!)

2. There are lots of great android apps in the market, but we can't buy any of the full versions - we can only see the free/trial/lite versions. Something to do with licensing and unlocked phones or something like that. I'm going to contact the developers of some apps that I like to see if I can get the full versions direct from them.

Gotta run, I'll post more later.

Thanks for that,gonna get a 16gig micro sd card so i can put music on it,thats quite weird with the apps not being available on unlocked phones since the fact is, theres countries that only sell unlocked phones; im sure this will be fixed soon. Would be severely useless if they didnt change this, can the htc hero be jailbroken? Though tbh there probably is no reason to jailbreak it

Oafley Jones

Mr E wrote: »

2. There are lots of great android apps in the market, but we can't buy any of the full versions - we can only see the free/trial/lite versions. Something to do with licensing and unlocked phones or something like that. I'm going to contact the developers of some apps that I like to see if I can get the full versions direct from them.

Did not realise that; looks like i may be sticking with Nokia.

mobius42

Are you sure that the reason you can't buy full apps is because your phone is unlocked? I thought it was because there isn't an Irish Android Market yet and therefore you have no way to pay for them.

Sconsey

rejkin wrote: »

does anyone know where to get a class6 16gig microsd card for this? Iv found class 2's but no class 6's at the moment,would it really be a big difference in speed if i went for the class 2?

http://www.memoryc.com/flashmemorycards/sdsecuredigital/16gbadatasdhccl6.html

I've bought off these guys before, based in Ireland, fast delivery.

Mr E

mobius42 wrote: »

Are you sure that the reason you can't buy full apps is because your phone is unlocked? I thought it was because there isn't an Irish Android Market yet and therefore you have no way to pay for them.

I think its a combination of the following:

1. Copy protected apps don't work on unlocked phones.
2. Android apps can only be sold in the countries listed on this page - Ireland is not one of them.

mobius42

Mr E wrote: »

1. Copy protected apps don't work on unlocked phones

Well that sucks. It's stupid stuff like this that's holding Android back.

Professey Chin

People people.Do not fret.The XDA team are your friends.

Android + Root access = Unlimited potential

Root is your friend

agent_smith

I'm very disappointed to hear this.the htc hero was my my top choice for next phone. I was going to buy it from expansys unlocked. I dont see / understand how it is any of googles business who my telecom provider is beit meteor, o2, three or vodafone. If i buy an unlocked phone surely i should be allowed untethered access to the android market place.
In some ways this is worse than apple. At least with my current jailbroken and unlocked iphone 2g i can access the apple app store. Never thought i would see the day when i would suggest google as being more restrictive than apple :S

Mr E

Ultimate Chin wrote: »

Android + Root access = Unlimited potential

Doesn't it also mean voided warranty?

elderlemon

Its not just specific to unlocked phones. Users on some UK forums who are with T-mobile and Organge (locked phones) also can't get access to a lot of apps. There are also some vodafone users with unlocked phones that can access and buy apps.

agent_smith wrote: »

I'm very disappointed to hear this.the htc hero was my my top choice for next phone. I was going to buy it from expansys unlocked. I dont see / understand how it is any of googles business who my telecom provider is beit meteor, o2, three or vodafone. If i buy an unlocked phone surely i should be allowed untethered access to the android market place.
In some ways this is worse than apple. At least with my current jailbroken and unlocked iphone 2g i can access the apple app store. Never thought i would see the day when i would suggest google as being more restrictive than apple :S

Nonoperational

So the only way to get apps on an unlocked phone is to root the it(and void warranty)... that is a complete disaster!

elderlemon

This isn't just a problem with the Hero - if affects all sim free/unlocked android phones and I think its something that Google will have to address quickly. There are more and more android handsets hitting the U.S. and most of these will probably be sim free and I can't see Google turning its back on this market.

The unlocked phone block was a sledgehammer fix for the problem. Google needs to come up with a proper fix.

gpf101 wrote: »

So the only way to get apps on an unlocked phone is to root the it(and void warranty)... that is a complete disaster!