Review by T. Hudson for HTC Hero Android Phone (Sprint)
Rating:
I initially had gone for Blackberry’s new 8350 Curve after switching from an iPhone. I made the switch because Sprint is the only service with repeaters in our hospital and so is the only service readily available throughout. The new Curve is a functional, cost-effective phone but I genuinely missed the ability to read webpages as they are and the features of a touchscreen in general. I read of the battery issues with the HTC Hero but was convinced that if I avoid the native messenging system that it would be fine and that has turned out to be the case. I can easily use the phone all day on one charge–no problem.

The iPhone compared to this device is much more simplified–the same patterns of button pushing get you wherever you want on the iPhone. That said, the Hero outdoes the iPhone in its adaptability, navigation, camera, multi-tasking and built-in applications. I did not expect that I would be as impressed as I am with this device but it’s snappy, has great screen resolution and is just so intuitive that even though it’s more complex than the iPhone–you’ll be flying through it in no time.

Review by EW for HTC Hero Android Phone (Sprint)
Rating:
i’ve had my phone for about 5 months now. i bought it within the first two weeks of its release. i still really love it. it’s actually been transformative in my daily life.

this is my first smartphone, so i don’t have much to compare it with. but i was looking for a few things in my phone.

first, i wanted to be able to develop apps for it without having to buy a mac or pay some fee. so android was pretty much it. secondly, i didn’t want to be on the ATT network since i felt that it was probably getting slammed by all of the iphone usage. i’d heard too many people complain about poor service especially at large events.

anyway, i read reviews about this product prior to purchasing it, and i haven’t found any of the common problems to really bother me that much. typing was something that people complained about, and that hasn’t affected my usage. although honestly, i don’t type too much on it. just a few short messages a day. some had complained about lag time in screen response, but i have not noticed any problems. the screen is very responsive maybe once a day or so, it gets a little slow, but nothing that i get frustrated over.

it’s a great size, very slim.

takes great pictures.

and i’ve never had any service issues with it.

the one thing that i think could be improved is the battery life. but even that is managable.

i just plug it in to my computer for maybe an hour or so during the day, and charge it at night when i sleep, and it’s been fine.

all in all, it’s a great device.

i’m definitely happy with my purchase.

additionally, the sprint monthly service contract is so cheap. i have 450 min/mo, with unlimited data, unlimited mobile to mobile (any carrier not just sprint), and nights/weekends start at 7, for 69.99. can’t beat the price.

Review by Martin Anderson for HTC Hero Android Phone (Sprint)
Rating:
I both love and hate this phone. I love the Android operating system. It’s very elegant and easy to use. The Market is filled with Apps, and I was able to find an app for everything that I needed to do. I’ve used several different Android phones and generally found that the Android OS is reliable and stable. The phone and the user interface is also visually appealing. Simply put, the phone and the OS are beautiful.

HTC is known for adding its own modifications to the internal OS on all of its phones, and this one is no exception. HTC has modified Android on this phone to make it better looking and in some cases easier to use. However, those modifications may also have introduced problems, as I’ll explain, below.

There also seem to be some serious build quality issues at HTC. The first phone that I got experienced an intermittent problem that caused the voice recognition feature to never work the first time. If more than 30 seconds passed and I tried to use it, it would be wrong the first time, no matter what I said. This was a minor issue, but there’s really no reason why it should have occurred on one phone and not on another. I got a replacment phone, and the voice recognition now works, but it takes forever (up to 20 seconds after I stop talking) to work at times. There are a ton of posts on the internet about voice dialing problems on this phone, and so I’m not the only one complaining.

Voice dialing is a major issue with this phone because the phone lacks any tactile keys. When you’re driving and you want to make a call, you can dial on a phone with a regular keypad by touch. Since this phone has no keys, you either have to look at the keypad, or you have to use voice dialing. Voice dialing on other phones (including the Samsung Moment and even my very old Motorola RAZR) can work very, very well. Unfortunately, on this phone, it just doesn’t.

HTC also makes the Google Nexus One, and it too has had a mixed reception on quality issues.

Even worse, my first Hero also had repeated crashes of software that should have worked fine, including the application that you use to program the phone with your phone # and MSID. These are basic phone functions, and they really shouldn’t crash.

My second phone continues to have application crashes for apps that I know should work fine, and do work fine on other phones. For example, today, the telephone dialer application crashed. The telephone dialer application is the application that gives you a dialpad so you can use the phone. It’s a basic application, and shouldn’t EVER crash. Yet, on the HTC Hero it crashed for me today.

I suspect that HTC’s modifications to Android are responsible, as the problems have occurred on two different HTC Hero phones, and I’ve found that other Android phones are very reliable.

While HTC’s modifications make the Android OS visually appealing, they also replace text based labels which are easy to understand with often confusing icons. HTC’s modifications also make the phone take about 30 seconds longer to boot-up. There is simply no reason why HTC needed to do this to its customers. Honestly, I’d rather they at least give me the option to disable their enhancements…

(Update: Apparently, you can disable at least SOME of them: Go to the Home Screen, Press MENU button, Press Settings, Press Applications, Press Manage Applications, wait for the OS to compute application usage, Scroll down the list until you see HTC Sense and select it to go to the Application Info page, Press the Clear Defaults button, Press the HOME button. You will be prompted to select which app to compete the action with. Select Home and chose to make this the default action. If you want SenseUI back, follow the same steps, but instead of selecting “HTC Sense” from the applications list, select the application called “Home” (not the HOME button), and then clear the defaults.)

The processor may also be a bit slow. I’ve noticed on several occasions that the phone seemed to miss the fact that I pushed on certain buttons. For example, in order to answer calls on an HTC modified phone, you have to swipe your finger down the screen. On several occasions, I’ve actually missed calls because the phone didn’t register my swipe until the call went to voicemail.

Why not just use the hard buttons? Good question! The layout of the call and answer buttons makes them very hard to use for someone with medium to large size hands, so its difficult to push one of them without also pushing one of the other nearby buttons. The speakerphone volume is also a bit low, making it almost useless when you’re in a car.

Also, if you have a bluetooth headset and you’re used to using the button on it to activate voice dialing, you’re going to be disappointed. For some reason, HTC didn’t properly implement that feature. So, if you push the button on your bluetooth headset or speakerphone, nothing happens. Again, this is a basic feature built into most phones nowadays, and it surprises me that HTC didn’t implement it on their flagship Android phone.

I’ve also used a Motorola Cliq (which also runs Android) and the Samsung Moment and found them to be quite reliable. The Moment definitely has a better screen, is a little larger than the Hero, and has a slide-out keyboard. Given my experience thus far, I think that I like the Moment better. Although it’s a bit larger and I don’t really care about a slide out keyboard, I can’t stand the apps crashing on the HTC Hero..