Impressions on the Hero after a week.
So we have had the hero for a week. What is your Pros and Cons to it? Here are mine.
Pros:
1.Apps, Apps, oh and Apps.
2.Feel of the phone nice weight and build quality.
3.Reception and Call quality.
4.Sense UI
Cons:
1.BATTERY LIFE!!!!
2.Having to kill task
3.Heat
4.No phisical keyboard.
5.Back button placement.
6.Processer speed.
I have enjoyed this phone so far but the Battery life is making want to exchange for the tour because that is number 2 after reception on my must have list for a phone. I also think that HTC should have put the snapdragon in this phone it would make the experiance more appealing.
I hate we only have 14 days to try it out but I am going to give it a few more and hope for the best.
Oh and one more thing is the killing of task this is what I hated about windows mobile and what made battery life so poor. Why is this an issue with android? Because trust me if you don't kill them you will see serious lag and lockups.
Pros:
1.Android OS & SenseUI
2.Apps and Web browsing
3.Hardware quality & Device Weight
4.Voice Quality & Reception
5. Open Source environment
6. Phone Design
7. Accelerometer
8. No mechanical keyboard.
9. Display & Picture quality
Cons:
1. unneeded trackball
2. No BBM (understandably)
3. inefficient Power Management
4. No camera flash.
5. Lack of MMS support from CS
Android is not Windows..... There is no need to worry about constantly ending tasks as with Windows or BB OS... I've yet to have any lockups or lag whatsoever. Processes and memory allocation/management is handled way differently. Memory leaks, however, due to bad programming can be an issue... as true with ANY platform. I'm SO very glad that CS has finally expanded their smartphone line to more than WinMoblie and Blackberry. I couldn't be any happier with my new Hero and look forward to what 2.0 brings to us! Android is certainly not for "beginners".... WinMobile & Blackberry fill that void much better IMO.
My battery last pretty much all day, with lots of use. Are you using the HTC messaging application, or an app from android market?
pros:
- the UI and it's customization
- the potential after rooting the device (looking forward to this)
- options, settings, and tweaks that Android offers... it seems endless.
- the "people" phonebook / contact manager and social app integration
- WiFi and GPS
- phone build quality
cons:
- button placement, in general
- no BBM, but threaded SMS helps overcome it
I couldn't be any happier with my new Hero and look forward to what 2.0 brings to us! Android is certainly not for "beginners".... WinMobile & Blackberry fill that void much better IMO.
-gillthan
I completely agree with this, and I'm worried that the Hero will gain enemies because of cellular south recommending it to people that are incapable of using it.
No I have changed every setting I can I am using chompSMS. I am just a heavy user so maybe thats it I know it is not suppose to last as long as my curve (2-3 days between charge). But how's the battery life on the tour is it good or does it eat up like the hero?
I found this on the HTC site HTC Sync upgrade (V2.0.8) for HTC Magic, Hero & Tattoo
My bad on this post post I looked over the Sync upgrade part of this. I guess I saw the 2.0 part and thats all I saw. Sorry about that.
The battery life on this and the the virtual keyboard is horrible. They needed to make the casing the size of the Iphone. This would have made the virtual keyboard easier to use IMO. I was a BBerry> Iphone> BBerry>Hero user... Loved the Iphone but No more AT&T...
I am really torn b/w this and going to the TOUR.
the virtual keyboard is horrible
-brokedaytonadriver
I disagree, but to each their own. Did you run the virtual keyboard calibration. I have also found that relying heavily on the predictive text makes thing a lot easier, but I'm sure that coming from an iPhone, you already know this.
I completely agree with this, and I'm worried that the Hero will gain enemies because of cellular south recommending it to people that are incapable of using it.
-asmith001
When i was picking up the second hero on my account i saw people in the cellular south store getting them that had no business with a smart phone. One poor lady was having to get an explanation of what an app was, and another guy mentioned that he had to get help from his daughter sometimes for his BB. Sorry, hero is not for you. I feel bad for the phone because it will be back in the cellsouth store within the week. Just a waste.
As for the trackball, it does come in handy for fixing typing errors that aren't auto corrected.
Also, my battery life was initially bad, but it has truly gotten better and better. I'm pretty happy with it. Right now i'm at 50% with 8.5 hours up time and 3.5 hours awake time (41%). I've used it fairly heavily for a work day. My girlfriend hasn't even been charging hers at nite and she still has power when she gets up the next day.
Changes to both phones:
Handcent - great app
always mobile off.
power manager
auto task killer- i have this installed for emergencies, but to be honest im using it less and less. I've used linux before and when i read up on how android keeps apps cached for quick access but they're not actually running i started to take it easy on task killer and haven't noticed a degradation in battery life.
I use my phone for:
gTalk all day
SMS
Web browsing
Exchange Sync
Some Gaming
And am loving my switch from blackberry. To each his own, the Tour is obviously a great phone but I couldn't be happier with my Hero!
How I feel thus far:
1. Battery life sucks but one thing that I've found that makes a significant difference is turning down the screen brightness settings. It is barely noticeable to you, but makes quite a difference.
2. I haven't actually had time to just sit down and make scenes. I want to change my backgrounds but I'm having trouble finding backgrounds that I'd actually want to use.
3. LAG! I absolutely hate my phone at times due to lag. Sometimes (even after closing all of my apps) my phone will run slow to the point that functionality is practically impossible. When this happens, I have to do a battery pull and things return to normal. It has only happened once so far, but it is pretty annoying that the phone can't just run the way it is supposed to.
I don't understand the inconsistencies that everyone is experiencing. I've never even taken my battery out. I have even gotten to the point where I very rarely kill tasks with taskiller. I'm using 9 widgets and lots of program shortcuts on 5 screens, in 1 scene.
- Are you using peep?
- Are you using the default sms app?
I don't understand the inconsistencies that everyone is experiencing. I've never even taken my battery out. I have even gotten to the point where I very rarely kill tasks with taskiller. I'm using 9 widgets and lots of program shortcuts on 5 screens, in 1 scene.
- Are you using peep?
- Are you using the default sms app?
-asmith001
I am using peep and the default sms app. I am also using the facebook widget.
If you stop using peep, and the default sms app, I'm certain you'll notice a difference. From what I've read and understand, both of those apps keep the phone from going to sleep properly, resulting in a rapid battery drain. I've been using Twidroid for twitter, although it doesn't have the nice widget that Peep has. I'm also using Handcent for SMS. I tried chompSMS for a few days, but like Handcent better for the customization. Give this a try and see if you notice a difference in your battery.
Before you make these changes, go to settings > about phone > status and let me know what you see for "up time" and "awake time".
67% awake time... There's my problem. I'll try out handscent. I just stopped using twitter completely.
handcent is a great app. make sure to add it as a widget to your homescreen (if you want it there) and not just a shortcut.
Maybe "horrible" for the keyboard is a little harsh. Yes I calibrated, but I still think it needs a large casing to help with texting.
Question I have tried to remove defualt SMS but when I go to all apps it still says its there. What am I doing wrong?
i don't think you can remove it. if you clear the cache of the messaging client, and have another app installed when you go to your contacts and select one to sms it will ask you what app to use. check "make default" or whatever (don't remember the exact phrase) and choose whatever alternate app you want to use from the displayed list and you're good to go. also make sure to go into the default sms app settings and choose to not have notifications anymore. let your new app do all that.
Battery Check:
60% left
8:20 uptime
2:15 awake time - 27% (played some robo defense after lunch) :D
Oh well I'm back to the darkside and happy as can be.
I owned the Hero for 6 hours. Took it straight back and got the Tour... Took it back after 1 week and now back to my curve. And no, I'm not a beginner. I just didn't find that either of them were worth giving up the reliability and familiar workings of my Curve. The Tour froze up constantly and the print is TINY on the browser..
When the Hero works out issues with battery life and adds a flash to the camera... I'm sure i will be back.
The tour way surpasses the curve. don't get me wrong I loved my curve but it just doesn't compare to the tour IMO.
