Comments on: Review: HTC Hero

By: Prashant Agrawal

Prashant Agrawal — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 03:37:57 +0000

Loved this phone and this review. Wrote a short post on it.
http://prashantagr.blogspot.com/2009/09/hero-is-born_21.html

By: Russ

Russ — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:42:55 +0000

Got to love the comment “lumbering windows mobile” in the review. Um as the tech sites have already pointed out from the final build of Hero for Sprint which is leaked and floating around, all task — ALL — are slower on the Hero than windows mobile phoens like touch pro 2.
Want to read a incoming email: Here takes twice as long as WM Touch pro2, twice as long as WM touch pr, twice as long as WM treo Pro.
Ditto calling up navigation, ditto getting to simple dailer, ditto for calander ditto for web browsing, diotto for use of camera, ditto for lookign at pictures.

There is NOT one fucntion this has over same relase frame windows mobile, while in fact wm phoen ssuch as TP2 can do manyt things the Hetro cannot, and all the features the Hero does it dowes SLOWER.

Lumbering WM? LOL.

Adn does this review actually portray widgets COPIED from extant widgets in HTC own Windows mobile TF3 as “innovations” in Andriod!! WTF.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:06:21 +0000

I work for Sprint and it is coming to sprint not AT&T. Due out some time in october.

By: John Ward

John Ward — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:20:33 +0000

Folks,
Be wary of the HTC hero. I bought one a couple of weeks ago and recently discovered that I was not receiving all text messages. A few people thought I was ignoring them – a few others probably still do.

I contacted HTC and they don’t have a fix yet. This is documented on the android forums.

http://androidforums.com/htc-hero/8155-do-not-receive-100-my-texts-htc-hero.html

I’m putting this up because while I was thinking of buying the HTC hero this review got me off the fence. I think its only fair to warn people.

Its a great UI and slick device but its a phone first.

John

By: Cool Fx

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:26:36 +0000

I am Just waiting for the Hero to show up on Sprint – Pre is nice, I think the Touch Pro 2 will be too much, the Tour’s reviews are not promising, but HTC and Android? Gotta be a sure bet. I’ll be checking out this site to see how it settles out. Yeah, I know – GSM to CDMA, yada yada yada, but I’m looking for users real-world observations on the device as a whole. Still chillin’ with my trusty Q9c! Discuss about HTC Hero at http://www.HTC-Hero.com take care.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:42:15 +0000

@10things.me

You can check more images here: http://www.nyemobiltelefoner.dk/ny-nyeste/htc-hero-mobiltelefon.html

By: wale

wale — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 06:34:42 +0000

it is going to sprint, i researched it

By: JusticeLeague

JusticeLeague — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:17:21 +0000

Hi, I just Noticed That the HTC Hero (sim free) has hit the UK, you can buy @ cleverkit.com

By: Jay

Jay — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 06:59:01 +0000

I think with the “lesser” processor and still having a strong performance across the board says a lot. Now with the minor gripe(widgets issue) fixed, the Hero should perform even better.
Also, 3GS’s processor/battery life makes it very tough to last through one day. As per coolsmartphone’s mention that Hero’s battery can a day easily, I think this is all very promising for this handset.

By: Angus

Angus — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:57:17 +0000

Last week’s software update HTC pushed out fixed the lagging widgets, it’s a non issue now.
This review must of taken place before the update was applied.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:11:43 +0000

Alex,

Prepared to be pissed:

Evidence A:
http://gizmodo.com/5310109/t+mobile-straight-out-says-no-htc-hero-from-them

Evidence B:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/02/htc-hero-hits-fcc-with-us-3g/

So it looks like it has AT&T 3g and T-mobile is sticking with the less beautiful mytouch 3g.

Sorry to break it to ya!

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 06:03:08 +0000

With respect to the slowness, I’d venture a guess and say it’s probably not so much a CPU speed issue, but rather a mechanism to conserve battery. Presumably, widgets just won’t update when not visible, so it seems that it’s only once you swipe to a screen that the system even begin to do the updates.

By: Darth Helmet

Darth Helmet — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:52:02 +0000

Very solid, thorough review. I question the 1.5 days of battery life through a combination of daily 3G usage on voice and data (with potential for some minutes of WiFi). I’m betting you barely get a day which is a huge downfall for this device.

I would also look at the media playability for music – its not an ipod, but simple finger gestures and layouts make it just as easy as the ipod…

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:45:52 +0000

Your slobs-vs-snobs metaphor is amusing, although not particularly accurate, John. Palm is a tiny, tiny little speck of a company teetering on the brink of ruin. Bit of a stretch to call them the rich snobs!

By: Agent48

Agent48 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:09:11 +0000

Can’t wait to upgrade from my Mogul.

By: Yaniv C

Yaniv C — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:43:12 +0000

Wow… John Biggs… I just want to say this…. AWESOME article.
Finally someone that understands what we want to know. I dont care what apps are available, I dont care about alternate desk tops, I care how fast is this machine? How does it fair up to its competition? How big is this sucker? Is it worth getting?
So far ONLY John has answered these questions for me.

Thanks man.

By: Name*

Name* — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:25:57 +0000

How well does it play Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook?

By: Conrad

Conrad — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:27:13 +0000

Information regarding 3g bands was unofficially released when it got approved by the FCC. A number of sites reported it, but you would only have noticed it if you have been tracking HTC Hero news.
example – http://phandroid.com/2009/07/02/htc-hero-through-fcc-att-bound/
2 – http://www.pmptoday.com/2009/07/03/htc-hero-with-8501900mhz-att-3g-bands-approved-by-fcc/

By: Joel Lovato

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:05:00 +0000

The pics you posted are only meh. Woulda expected better from a 5 megapixel camera. The Palm Pre pics are superior and the Hero has no built-in flash. A year or two back, I would have said who cares about the camera, but now I find myself wanting something that will take a nice pic when I don’t have my DSLR with me so that issue for me now.

By: Laughing John

Laughing John — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 09:28:50 +0000

John,

Good work, at last a review!

Can I just second the questions from Alex on the general usability/quality of the camera. Startup time/shot to shot and maybe some comparisons photos with a Nokia or other half decent camera phone of similar spec.

Also can you comment more on the slowness, is it a deal breaker or do you think you could live with it?

Thanks!

By: Servaas Schrama

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:42:53 +0000

it sure looks good…white would be nice. I found android (on my g1) to be very simple to use. But I’m a techie…

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:42:24 +0000

Thanks for the review John.
Just one thing, I notice you comment about how bad the widgets perform.
Have you applied the update that HTC pushed out last week for you folk lucky enough to have a model to review? The update was specifically fixing performance issues like the one’s you have encountered.
I suspect that much of the review was done before the latest update was pushed out.

By: Wubinator

Wubinator — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:44:49 +0000

If you want a very complete video diary on using the phone … with more information on searching, installing apps, using,removing widgets and many more things. (I hope I can link to this website here) At coolsmartphone the lucky bastard had the HTC Hero for a week and shot a video every day about it, answering questions and just showing the phone on every day usage. The link below links to the search page about the vids.

http://www.coolsmartphone.com/results/?cx=partner-pub-8070718282955104%3A5z2ob1fobl7&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=A+week+with+the+HTC+Hero&sa=Search#1151

By: Qunt

Qunt — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:37:26 +0000

Amazing review! Thanks for this.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:16:08 +0000

Do you mind telling me where you heard this from? I’ll be pissed if this goes to AT&T. I have a g1 and I want this phone and I’m with t-mobile.