HTC Hero mobile phone review

Comments

• [quote]It even applies to the main clock, which needs to spin round to the right time when you arrive at the screen. [/quote]
  
  isn't that just some stylish thing? ..
  
  Posted by EJ Oltvoort, The Netherlands
• I'm dead jealous! I cannot wait to get my Hero! I don't have much to add to your review, perhaps when I get mine and find something extra of interest I will add it. I am just answering because I am the FIRST to reply. Posted by Tony Hedges, UK
• EJ Oltvoort - if it is then you could consider it a bonus! Posted by chrishall, United Kingdom
• Odd, no mention of slow performance like the gizmodo review... Posted by Des Smith, UK
• Des - we didn't notice anything dramatic like you see in some handsets - yes, there is this odd sensation of arriving at a screen and it not being current, which we mention, but we presume would be improved with a performance boost. I couldn't hand-on-heart say the performance let the device down, but I do point out there is room for improvement.
  
  Every device has go-slow times, whether it's due to lack of processing power, data latency (device and carrier) or poor software and they always manifest themselves in different ways. Contrasting the Toshiba TG01 and Apple iPhone is a good example of this - an experience driven by software rather than raw hardware power. Sense UI is first-generation software, so we're really interested in how HTC supports it moving forward. Posted by chrishall, United Kingdom
• But you can you state hand-on-heart that the device wasn't sluggish and compares favourably when navigating through menus etc with the iPhone? That's the main gripe other reviewers have shared...I don't want a snail phone... Posted by NickA, England
• NickA - Sense UI means you spend less time navigating the menus like you do in the iPhone. Sure you have to open and close applications, but Sense delivers many day-to-day applications through the widget pages, which do experience that updating problem that we mentioned. Sweeping between them we found to be slick, especially using the trackball, which felt more direct. Of course, with so much customisation on offer experiences will differ depending on what you want the phone to do.
  
  I still acknowledge that there is room for improvement with Hero and say is a realistic competitor to the iPhone, moreso than other touch devices on the market. If you are looking for the iPhone 3GS experience, then that's probably the handset you should get. Posted by chrishall, United Kingdom
• Magic, thanks - I'd really rather steer clear of the iPhone because I think it's overpriced, I just wanted to try and gauge just how pedantic some other reviewers were being in criticising some of the lag in flicking between home screens. Useful review, thanks. Posted by NickA, England
• I am reasonably confident that Chris's review is the most up-to-date review you will find about this phone. Any others you read will be based on the pre-production phones they gave to journalists at the press launch. These are not necessarily the ones that will/are going on sale to the general public now.
  
  If the other reviews (that are based on the pre-production models) say there is some slowness in places and now Chris, with a new Hero in his hand says there is no outwardly noticeable slowness per se, then perhaps (joy joy) they have been able to rectify the problem that was causing the first batch to go a little slowly.
  
  I managed to get a dummy Hero in my hand at my local Orange store, but Orange for some unknown reason will absolutely not allow me to upgrade before my upgrade is available (in sept), I even offered to pay an upgrade fee, 'no dice'.
  
  I have been with Orange for over 20 years and it obviously means bugger-all to them. I'll just have to sit and stew and curse Orange and look for ways around this... And be immensely jealous of anyone that gets a Hero before me! Posted by Tony Hedges, UK
• @tony - have you tried threatening to terminate your contract?
  
  to the review comments above, i too worried when i read some reviews of this phone, saying there was too much lag and that let the experience down. i must say, allll of the videos i've seen of this device (both official and impartial) seem to run just fine with the occasional buggerup. but then, even my 2.16 3GB ram laptop buggers up occasionally... so i'm pretty confidant that i'm not going to be greatly disappointed tomorrow when mine arrives in the post!
  
  :] Posted by beth, uk
• OhMyWord! Supra shoes must win an award for the most tenuous link ever! Posted by Tony Hedges, UK
• Deleted now, thanks Tony. Posted by elliott, United Kingdom
• FYI, I managed to have a play with one in an Orange store today and I'm pretty impressed - sure there's a little bit of a judder occasionally when you flick around from one home screen to another, especially if you go back and forth very quickly, but I think it's trivial really. Responsive touch screen, easy browsing, gmaps opened at an acceptable speed...and the quick update the clock has to do when you re-open the main home screen is actually pretty neat, whether intentional or not. Great interface, comfortable in the hand - only downside was the inordinate amount of time it took to turn on, but the sales guy assured me it was just because it was the first time (no innuendo intended...). Posted by NickA, England
• NickA - first time start-up is long admittedly, but it is on many devices, BlackBerry especially, but after that, you shouldn't really need to turn it off, with flight mode easily accessed through the same power button. Posted by chrishall, United Kingdom
• @Tony Been with Orange over 20 years? They celebrated their 15th birthday this year ;)
  
  No problems with lag here and I've been using one for 2 days. Really impressed. Gmail/GCalendar integration is really well done. Shame the camera isn't slightly better with a flash but other than that it more than ticks all the boxes... Posted by Chris, UK
• Chris! So I may have exaggerated slightly! (Then again I may have exaggerated how much I exaggerated). Flippers are damn determined not to let me have a Hero until my first upgrade date in september. I suggested to the woman at the orange shop that perhaps I could pay the two months due to take me up to the upgrade month, she said yes and phoned to find out, the people on the phone told her no. Oh woa is me!
  
  So is Chris, Chris Hall, author of above article? If yes, two questions.
  
  1. Does the built in compass have any effect on google maps?
  2. With the android market as it is, is this phone the fabled long-awaited iPhone killer? Posted by Tony Hedges, UK
• Tony - no, that Chris is not this Chris, I wrote the review. Posted by chrishall, United Kingdom
• This review, gives me hope. Thanks for posting Chris. Was that a class 6 miniSD card that you put in? I've heard they improved the phone's performance as well. Posted by ruffneck, United States
• You can use a MicroUSB cable to charge and access it from your PC I am actually doing it now so just discard the HTC one and use a cheap MicroUSB cable. Orange also install a 2gb MicroSD card in the phone, well at least they did with mine. Posted by Jon, UK
• Got your Hero now?
  
  Don't forget us that have to wait. Tell us about how good (or not) it is. What apps have you added, are they good/bad? Posted by Tony Hedges, UK
• I was reluctantly going to buy an iphone not because I wanted one but because it seemed that everyone and their pets had one so I didn't want to be left out. Then I stumbled on a web article about the HTC Hero and within an hour of checking out reviews and youtube videos I knew that it was going to be my next phone.
  
  I'm still waiting for mine to be delivered - I think I have to wait another working day or so but I know it'll be worth it 'cause the Hero just looks so amazing in the videos.
  
  The iphone is still king of the smartphones and the sales figures back up that fact but the HTC Hero has features that iphone users could only dream about at the moment. Posted by Skyrocket, UK
• Well put Skyrocket, I'm dead jealous! Come back and let us know your first impressions, how you get on with the phone.
  
  If we see a white Hero, does that mean someone has paid over £400 cash for it? Or can we get a white Hero elsewhere? Anyone know? And also, what is the difference between Oranges' 'special colour exclusive' and the brown moccha one that you have written articles about? In photo's I would say it looks very very similar.
  
  Still no joy with getting out of my contract - 34 days or so 'til I can upgrade... Posted by Tony Hedges, UK
• I have just got my hero only to find out it doesn't support line 2! Does anyone know how to activate it? Posted by aitch, uk
• I got my 'brown' HTC Hero from mobiles.co.uk yesterday and have to admit, in the short space of time I've had to play with it that I'm very impressed.
  
  It was on an Orange contract but unlocked, unlike buying from Orange direct. On my tariff it didn't cost a bean and I've got extra's, as an upgrade on Orange it would have cost me £97.50 with no extra's!!! It comes with a 2GB Micro SD Card although I've put an 8GB in mine.
  
  I'd say compared to an HTC Touch HD, the screen is as sharp although a little smaller. It's quite easy to navigate using the Sense UI. I've yet to see how well it functions with my Mac but will give it a go a bit later when I get time. A major plus for me also is on Orange and Vodafone, I can get a 'very' good signal, something I couldn't get with my Touch HD or any of my Blackberry's!!
  
  Anyone sitting on the fence for an HTC Hero should jump off and give it a shot. It looks like it'll be a worthwhile experience. Posted by Jay, United Kingdom
• Anyone sitting on the fence for an HTC Hero should jump off and give it a shot. It looks like it'll be a worthwhile experience. Posted by Tommy, UK
• It was on an Orange contract but unlocked, unlike buying from Orange direct. On my tariff it didn't cost a bean and I've got extra's, as an upgrade on Orange it would have cost me £97.50 with no extra's!!! It comes with a 2GB Micro SD Card although I've put an 8GB in mine. Posted by Jaun, USA
• I finally got my HTC Hero! And the way I managed to get it could be of interest to other Orange customers in the same position I was.
  
  If you are a pay monthly customer of Orange, and your not due for an upgrade for a while, but you hanker after a Hero, there is a way to 'get out' of your contract early at no penalty! You have to rush though, it's a time-limited offer! All pay monthly customer should receive a text from Orange, explaining that there will be a change to your T&C's. If you do not like changes you are within your right to cancel your account, effective within 24 hours and with no cost to you. This will leave you to start a new contract with a nice new HTC Hero!
  
  My first impressions are good. The phone looks and feels good in the hand. The onscreen keyboards are all good, though I find myself using the full qwerty in landscape the most. Even the full qwerty in portrait (due to the suggestions that pop up as you type) is quick and easy to use.
  
  The Android market leaves a little to be desired. Surely it can be organised better than into a number of long lists? Search is a godsend here in particular.
  
  As with any touchscreen device, the quality of the screen is important, and the hero's screen is pretty crisp. Anti-fingerprint smudge finish? Don't make me laugh! Nice idea but sadly it does not work.
  
  After 24 hours I am happy and slowly adding more android apps and coming to grips with the OS. I have to say I am happy with the phone, and anyone in any doubt - go for it, you wont be disappointed.
  
  The iPhone is for sheep who want to follow the herd. The Hero is for people who have a brain! Posted by Tony Hedges, UK
• I just put a bigger micro SDHC card in my Hero. I went for an 8 gig card, but more noteworthy, I looked around until I found a class 6 version. True enough (not sure if I read it here or not) it does speed up the phone. Finger swiping between screens is noticably faster. The menu screen flashes up much quicker than before. Posted by tony hedges, UK
• Two weeks ago one of my colleagues turned up to work with a Hero. Now the office of 16 people has 4. Another friend has ditched his iPhone for a Hero.
  
  Compared to my old N95 8GB, it's infinitely more snappy but compared to an iPhone you do just about notice a teensy amount of hesitation on occasion. It's definitely not enough to spoil the experience in any way though and with a ROM update which apparently speed thing up is close to being relaesed I really wouldn't worry about that issue.
  
  The iPhone might have the Hero beat on entertainment but the Hero is a far better communication device.
  
  The only real disappointment for me is the camera which is nowhere near as good as my old N95...
  
  Ah well. You can't win them all. Posted by Mr. D, UK
• Couldn't agree more, it really is a great phone. I've upgraded the ROM and notice no lag at all. Not sure what it was like before as I did the ROM upgrade as soon as I purcahsed it.
  
  My only grip (apart from the average camera and camcorder) is I'm not being able to stream .asf and .asx files at present. This wasn't an issue on my old WinMo phone. Hopefully an app will appear soon that will sort this problem.
  
  Apart from that minor issue, this is a really, really good phone. Posted by Nick M, UK
• Can anyone tell me how the smal amount of lag compares to a blackberry storm? Ive been thinking of getting a hero but dont want to just swap to another phone that will be just as sluggish Posted by Colin Hogg, UK
• Colin, with the updates there is NO LAG to worry about. I would say that you should get one rather than a Blackberry, but I have never had a Blackberry, never been interested in a Blackberry. I know the Hero and I think it is an excellent phone. Posted by Tony Hedges, UK
• My old phone is a blackberry and its performance will not be able to match the Hero! The hero doesn't have any lag during the operation Posted by Bee, USA
• Found the unlock hero for about £300 in here with out contract!
  http://www.warehouse123.com/store/product_information.php?pid=21363
  For ppl who worry about the lag, i found this phone actually run so smooth and the processor is fast enough to handle different tasks! Love it so much!
  
  Posted by Rick, UK
• Got this phone today. Very, very impressed. They way you can customise it to suit your needs is fantastic. Really easy to set up and use, call quality is good and build quality is very good. Ive found the track ball usefull for quite a few things, its a nice extra addition to the responsive touch screen. I never thought i would be so enthusiastic over a phone,lol
  
  Only thing that could be improved is the camera and im sure they will on the next model but its still fine for daytime pictures and amazingly easy to send to facebook etc. Even though its not as good as my old nokia camera phone which im still going to use on nights out and keep my hero safe at home, im sure i will use the hero camera much more as you can do more with photo sharing options etc so i can more than accept it for this alone and after all its not pitched as a camera phone so its a bonus and as good as the iphones ,havent tried video yet.
  
  One downside ive found is i cant send photos via bluetooth to my pc so if anyone knows if its possible i would love to know how! Im sending them to facebook though instead which is great.
  
  Organising emails is a breeze and the whole layout of the menus works a treat. I would highly reccomened this phone! Posted by Harry, U.K