I have been reviewing Mobile Phones for several years now, as well as individual handset reviews, I ...
I have been reviewing Mobile Phones for several years now, as well as individual handset reviews, I will be publishing a number of lists here on Ciao, including my Top 10 handsets of 2009/10.
Member since:01.07.2009
Reviews:8
Members who trust:1
The HTC Hero
I test and review a lot of mobile phones, but in a mobile phone market dominated by Apple, Blackberry, Samsung and Nokia, I can't help but have a soft spot for HTC; I think it is a British thing, a love for the underdog… But as much as I admire HTC, I can't help but worry that in trying to take on competitors like the iPhone their new HTC Hero is punching above its weight. So I turned it on to find out…
Appearance
When I was told that I was finally going to get my hands on HTC's latest handset, I thought I'd better do a bit of research… but when saw the publicity pictures I feared the worst… It looked a lot like its predecessor the T-Mobile G1, with that Jimmy Hill like chin. This was a bad start for me; I love the design of all of HTC's handsets, except one… the T-Mobile G1, so I wasn't expecting love at first sight when it turned up, but that’s exactly what happened.
The Hero's trim is a subtle brushed metal with a matte surface on the case, while the whole bevelled shape is made of fingerprint resistant Teflon. All of this results in a phone that you can be proud to show off.
I was completely sold on the looks, but a pretty face isn't enough if it wanted to stand toe to toe with its competitors and survive. The real test was what it was like to use.
User Interface & Features
The Hero isn't the first handset to use the Android OS, but it is the first to try to improve it,
HTC call this new tweaked system 'Sense', and I was very impressed.
Obviously the home screen was the first thing that I got to have a look at when I turned the Hero on, on top of a customisable wallpaper, you can add a range of shortcuts and widgets, including Android widgets, to a choice of seven home screens, which can be interchanged with a simple swipe of your finger. As well as a large choice of home screens, you can also change the whole configuration of the Hero by creating your own themes - HTC call these 'scenes'. While this sounds like a novel toy, it is actually very useful, for example when you are at work you can set the Hero to display your work calendar, clock and appointments widgets, and with a flick of your finger change it to display your MP3 widget and a wallpaper of your favourite celebrity or Page 3 girl.
The Hero doesn’t just offer its user the same old widgets, several have been specifically built for the Hero. You are able to navigate through your email directly from the home screen, and fans of Twitter will love the inclusion of a Twitter widget, which shows a live stream of tweets.
The Hero's alternative to the iPhone's App Store, is the Android Market, initially I was slightly disappointed with what I found. Although I'm sure there are loads of great free Apps available, they are more difficult to find and most lack the slickness of those on the iPhone, But I would encourage you to persist because you will eventually find a good one and when you do they are very easy to install.
The Hero's connectivity is very good; it includes Wi-Fi and 3G which is made even faster due to 7.2Mbps HSPA. When combined with its very accurate browser, using the Hero's internet connection is a very nice experience. One great new addition to the Hero is a multitouch capability, by pinching your fingers you can zoom into pages to get at any smaller links; this multitouch function is also very good for viewing pictures. The only issue I had with the Hero's browsing function is that it had a little trouble with Flash Video, so you may have to depend on the beebPlayer app, which isn't great. I tried to watch videos on the YouTube site with no success, however, the YouTube app built into the Hero worked perfectly so this was not a big deal.
For some reason which I can't quite figure out, HTC decided to include a trackball, very much like what you would find on a Blackberry, I can honestly tell you that I didn't use this once, even when using the browser function. The Hero's touch screen is so good, so responsive that you just won't need it.
Touch Screen Typing
I have reviewed a lot of touch screen phones, and the user friendliness of the keyboard often makes or breaks it. Without the existence of physical buttons to fall back on it is essential that you could live with the keyboard available, and the Hero doesn’t disappoint.
The Hero's on screen keypad is the best that I have tested for a long time; it is a joy to use in both portrait and landscape. Its QWERTY layout and predictive text function is simply brilliant. Another excellent feature of the Hero is that you can do 'text training', this allows the handset to learn your particular style of typing - I don't care what anyone says… that's pretty cool!
The iPhone 3GS is the only other phone that even comes close to the Hero's typing ability, like the 3GS, the Hero supports cut, copy and paste and although it is turned off by default, I even stumbled across a spell check function.
Camera Function
The Hero comes with a 5 megapixel camera - which is good enough but it won't replace your digital camera. While the Hero will take a good picture in good light, due largely to its lack of sensitivity, low light conditions result in poor quality pictures. The video camera function, is much the same, it is OK but can be a little sluggish. Which leads me neatly onto the next section of the review
Some Room For Improvement
Putting files onto the Hero is unlike any phone I've tested, due mainly to the lack of dedicated syncing software for the Hero, it relies on connecting to your PC like a flash drive, via USB. This leads to the annoyance of mounting the Hero each and every time you connect to a computer in order to access it. While this is quite nice for charging while at your desk, as the computer doesn’t register it, if you like to regularly transfer data, this could become irritating.
I was disappointed to see that HTC have decided to burden the near perfect Hero with its Qualcomm 528MHz processor. While the keyboard function is very, very good it does demonstrate the Hero's apparent lack of muscle. Switching between portrait and landscape isn't as smooth as I would have liked, and the Hero seems to hesitate slightly when changing between the home screens. The Hero's processor is the same as is found in the earlier HTC Magic, but I am glad to say that unlike the Magic the Hero didn't crash or freeze on me, however, the existence of lag may frustrate you for day to day use.
Verdict
I liked
(Pretty much everything actually)
Very customizable
Well designed widgets
3.5mm Head phone jack
Excellent Keyboard
Flash Support
Android Market was a pleasant surprise
FaceBook Integration
Multitouch Ability
I disliked
Can be a little sluggish
Flash Video can be a little erratic
No dedicated software to back up or restore data
Would I Buy One?
With the Hero, HTC have released the best Android handset ever, with a shed load of useful features, excellent user friendliness and enough power to take on the mighty iPhone… Contrary to my first impression I also think its very nice looking, I've come to like that big chin, it helps to define the Hero, like Marylyn Monroe's beauty mark, or J' Lo's big ass.
The Hero is the best phone that I have tested for a long time, but with a sim free price of around £400 would I buy one..? Yes, and I am, you can expect to see an unlocked iPhone 3GS on Ebay very soon!
The Hero seems to be a very apt name; it may be the only handset that can drag the world out from its iPhone addiction...
Take a bow HTC…
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: Well made, interface is surprisingly good, Android apps are excellent Disadvantages: Battery life could be better, no bluetooth data transfer capability
conradburns 09.10.2009 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of HTC Hero
Advantages: customizable UI, 5.0 megapixel camera and high resolution display. Disadvantages: It is mostly oriented to appearance rather than performance.
sime92 16.08.2009 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of HTC Hero
Advantages: Well made, interface is surprisingly good, Android apps are excellent Disadvantages: Battery life could be better, no bluetooth data transfer capability
conradburns 09.10.2009 ·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of HTC Hero
Advantages: customizable UI, 5.0 megapixel camera and high resolution display. Disadvantages: It is mostly oriented to appearance rather than performance.
sime92 16.08.2009 ·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of HTC Hero
Advantages: Nice design, has a QWERTY keyboard, easy to connect Disadvantages: Bad camera, you need a Google Mail account to use the phone (you can make one on it, however)
HabsAZillion 13.09.2009 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of T-Mobile G1
very helpful by (100%):
