Sprint HTC Hero now on sale to everyone
By Nilay Patel 
posted October 11th 2009 1:57PM
posted October 11th 2009 1:57PM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted October 11th 2009 1:57PM
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i agree with the gmail thinig and seeing which programs are running in the background.
webOS is great for that.
to see or close running apps u have to get "Task Manager" app
I'm confused about the "with Google" label on the ad, too. This has sense ui, and "with Google" devices are supposed to stay vanilla. Does this mean that unrooted g1 and mytouch owners will be allowed to flash sense? After all, they are htc products.
Oh and to that Guy who said you have to set up Gmail to push, it does sync pretty regularly. Do you really need your Gmail the exact second it hits your inbox? And to sync other mail, there is an app just called email, which I have connected to and syncing with my Hotmail currently. Works like a charm.
sprint wanted it for marketing. it is NOT a google experience phone.
Hopefully HTC releases an update for the G1/ M3G to upgrade to Sense. I have a rooted G1 and had Sense ported onto it running decently. Sense is a great UI, I really like the customization options and connectivity.
Engadgetmobile did say that Sense is not coming officially to Google branded phones though, sorry (Try root, it's fun):
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/06/25/htcs-sense-ui-not-coming-to-any-google-branded-phones/
Oh, and my when my G1 is on, and I'm on my computer, my emails hit the G1 screen and Gmail screen within 3 seconds (unless I let it sleep and WiFi sleeps)... I don't really need that, but it is cool.
The Hero, Samsung Moment, and hopefully HTC Dragon? Man, awesome time to be a Sprint customer =D
upgrading to Hero baby
soo whn i am eligible i think in a couple week
The Hero is simply fantastic.
The iPhone is fantastic-er.
The Hero provides the closest experience to the iPhone without having to get AT&T.
The Android Marketplace is CHOCK full of great applications.
I'm a little disappointed in battery life, I just have to selectively turn on/off WiFi and GPS (when I need them) until the donut upgrade which will supposedly cure some of the battery issue.
I've used an iPhone and I am SEVERELY impressed with it, the hero is definitely equally impressive.
As an aside, I've been using a Blackberry for the last 7 years ... this thing is a dream in comparison.
As much hype as Android gets until the Sense UI its felt pretty familiar to me. People complained about too many menus and clicks to do things in WinMo and Android suffers from the same thing. The Sense UI while real nice is a home skin just like TouchFlo with added widgets for weather clock e.t.c.
You have the ability to install custom ROMs most posted at xda developers. In order to do so you need to root your phone and make sure you have the right radio so you don't brick your device. From the very same active forum that you do the same for WinMo.
The original draw was the idea of it being open and people being able to install the OS on any device as they please. However thats not exactly the case as you are rooting your phone to do so. When an update like 1.6 comes out different devices have different options to update. Some can do it OTA and others require testing by the phone manufacturer and compatibility checks delaying the updates by months.. just like WinMo. Who makes the best WinMo phones? HTC. Who makes the best Android phones? HTC. The Hero is rocking the same 528mhz processor that has been making Diamond users cry for years now.
Android is like WinMo just prettier and with the backing of the Google brand. Now that isn't a bad thing far as I am concerned just a little confusing seeing the exuberant Android love and all the WinMo hate. Now if I could get the Samsung Moment with the faster processor, OLED screen, keyboard AND the Sense UI... that will be the money phone for me.
well my sprint plan is $30/mo cheaper than the equivalent A&TT iPhone plan, so I make that $80 bucks up in less than 3 months. Plus the $99 iPhone isn't even the new 3GS... also, thousands of apps? Android has that too, plus a non-locked down UI.
anyword if it can tether to a laptop yet? and by tether I dont mean the lame ass service(read as - pay to undisable feature) sprint offers
I was so close to getting this phone until Samsung announced the Moment. That higher clocked CPU was all I needed to hear to change my mind.
I'll be interested to see some real customer reviews on how quick it is though.
Same here. The Hero has a higher megapixel camera, but 3.2 MP is fine for the things I want to do with a phone.
Every now and then comes a comment so full of WIN, it must be acknowledged. gbeastiekid, your time has come.
I got the Pre day one and love it. I also got a chance to play with this phone a couple weeks ago before it was released. My first impressions of the phone were very positive. I can't say long term that I'd go for it over the pre or not, but it was definitely a solid device. I'm not sure I could ever go without a physical keyboard, but the keyboard on this and it's feedback was pretty good (at least in landscape mode).
It's definintely worth looking into.
if you play with the Hero and the Pre, you realize that the Pre is impressive, and better.
Your not gonna get the same OS updates and support from HTC as you get with Palm.
The Pre is a better phone, no questions asked. The Hero is nice for someone who is an instinct user looking for a similar experience.
Spoken like a true fanboy! Stick your Palm Pre in your mouth and suck it like it's Jon Rubinstein's sack. Mmmmm Palm sack.... tastes so good!
I looked at the Hero today, and as a Touch Pro owner, I have to say - Pre is the clear winner.
damn, idont know, ther'e both so great. i am going to flip a coin. :)
I had the Pre for a month and I'm going to test out the Hero for a month and then make my decision.
I originally thought I was going to hate the TINY keyboard on the Pre, but I didn't. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. It was more usable that I thought. It would have been better if it were landscape rather than portrait.
My two beefs about the Pre were the lack of apps (that should change soon) and the battery life. The battery life sucked and still sucks and the only way to make it not suck is to buy a larger battery that destroys the form of the Pre and makes the touchstone useless. Even with email turned off, my Pre went down to 20% or less after 8 hours and that was unacceptable. It's a smartphone, and the only way to keep the battery partially alive was to dumb it down and turn off all of it's features. I always had to charge it because that 20% wasn't enough to make a phone call for my 30 minute commute home. Come on Palm! You built a great phone, you are spurring interest in Palm again, but you put in a wimpy battery that doesn't allow the phone to do what it's supposed to do.
I think overall that the webos is a better OS than Android (that's in my limited experience). Webos is more polished in it's first round than Android is in it's 1.5/1.6 version. Webos is true multitasking where Android is pseudo-multitasking. It's better than the iPhone, but true multitasking like webos. There's no way to quickly switch between open apps that actually keep running while they're open.
Anyway, I love the number of apps available for the Hero and battery life is a lot better. I'll know more tomorrow after a day of work, but the basic apps (mail/browser/messaging/contacts/calendar) seem to be better and more polished on the Pre than on Android (even with Sense overtop).
I'll let you know what I think at the end of the month and tell you which way I decide: pre or hero???
Pre. All the way. Can't deny the value of a physical keyboard and app management.
Samsung Memoir.
Oops. I meant Samsung Moment.
Tried the Hero today in my local Sprint store. Seemed pretty nice. I'm going to wait until I hear more real life battery life reviews.
wait...what happened to the good looking hero? this one is atrocious.
I have had the hero since Friday. I switched to Sprint from Verizon to get it and couldn't be happier. It is every bit as responsive as my ipod touch. The keyboard is awesome. It is the perfect size for a phone. I really think it is the first phone to not only compete with the iPhone but beat it. Yes really.
I had the first gen iPhone, then the 3G.. Switched to the Pre because I felt AT&T was ripping me the F#%k off, which was the truth... I love the Pre.. I didn't at first, but man, it grew on me so fast! the only thing the iPhone has over it is the App store. other than that, Plan and Phone, the Pre wins.. For ME.
Maybe things will change when other carriers get the iPhone, but I'm gonna stick with Sprint, the lesser of the top 3 evils. And my plan gives me the option to upgrade in a year. Looking forward to a better Pre with a better build quality.
@Quantumphysics
@Quantumphysics
man...i cant tell if youre being serious or not...but youre just so wrong
i own an apple laptop
i own an iphone
theyre both great products, but seriously the next phone i get will be a blackberry or the nokia n900, check that phone out, it is much better than the iphone in every way....sure there is limited apps but who cares about stupid apps like "family guy quotes"
"family guy quotes"
I get so tired of people calling out useless apps for no reason, like that's all the app store is good for.. There are a lot of good apps out there for the iPhone. Apple's App store is the best out there hands down. I just refuse to roll with AT&T and their insane bills.
I own a MBP and a Pre now.
Chin or no. When i first saw it i din't like the chin. When i decided to buy (the EU version) i thought i could live with it but it's actually not a bad idea. Makes it fit well in pockets hand etc. (At least better than my other phones). The trackball is pretty cool compared to other phone trackballs. Not sure i'll use it a lot but it does the job it's supposed to. App store may not be same volume as Apple's but so far i found good apps/widgets for all i looked for and they are free :-)
Definately a cool phone. Some slight lag a few times but no biggie with latest fw. Compared to my Omnia i'm very pleased with the keypad on the Hero :-D I have only good things to say about it so far
Got my Hero on Friday thru Best Buy (instant rebates was the selling point) and I've been enjoying it a lot. A bit of lag every now and then thru extensive usage (was updating my contacts manually from a GSM phone) and yes, I could have just done that thru my google contacts but I wasn't home most of the time so I had time to kill while the girlfriend was shopping.
Here does NOT need a slide out keyboard. Holds its on very well.
Hero predicative word system better than IPOD. Hero's keys are a little tighter to hit than IPOD.
Hero navigation a little more confusing than IPOD..but appears to be cooler/does more.
There are plus/minuses to both systems. I missed features on one that I have on the other.
Have had the HERO for 1 day now, and I love it over my 4 year old sanyo mm8300 flip.
If you need keyboard - wait for Samsung next month on Sprint. Palm is toast.
Neither, I'm getting the Palm Pixi.
I had the choice between a Pre and a Hero. The local Sprint store had both phones on display, both running.
I tried everything out and, despite both phones being fantastic, decided on the Palm Pre. I like the smoothness of the internet browser, I like the cards system.
I think both are great alternatives to the iPhone. It's also good to see Sprint catching up with the opposition in terms of hardware.
I have a Palm 700 on Sprint. I'm waiting to see the Samsung Moment before I decide between that and a Palm Pre. I like a physical keyboard.
I got it a day early and I've been very happy with my decision. I've had crap phones up to this one and I must say shelling out for this was a fantastic idea. Given the immense coder and modder base for the Android platform I can see myself holding on to it well past my upgrade date. (Unless something ridiculous comes out of course) Waiting for cyanogen to work his magic for this phone not because its laggy (quite the contrary) but just to see what he can do.
Hero looks great, but I'm waiting for the Samsung Moment. It will have a physical keyboard and also a faster processor.My contract is over in December and I will get all disounts to purchase the Moment, unless a newer better phone comes out by then.
I'm still rocking my Sprint Centro despite a serious upgrade itch. I was waiting to see what Palm came up with; and planned to get the Pre until I learned that it didn't have removable media, was stuck at 8gb, couldn't sync locally, and felt a tad cheap. I like the Pixi's form factor coming from a Centro and Treo 650, but I'm bummed that it has a slower processor, crappier camera, and still no microSD card slot. I think I'm going to jump off the Palm ship although I hope they do well and continue to make improvements to WebOS and future hardware. Android is looking better and better with both the Hero and (soon) Moment on Sprint, but I think I'm going to hold out just a bit longer and wait to see what HTC does with the Dragon... A 1ghz processor with an 800x480 could be my dream device.
Bought 2 on Sunday, first smart phone. Easy to set up. We both love it.
If the Pre is the better phone, that is depressing... I had it for a couple of months and decided to eBay it while I could still get my money back out of it. IMHO, it is great at messaging and decent with web browsing, but that is about it. Got very laggy at times which was seriously annoying. For me it was not worth having to pay for the data plan just to be able to get on the web while I was out doing something. I really like Sprint service so far though, I don't want to go back to AT&T for the 3GS...
Got the Hero for my B-Day. The Last phone I had was an Unlocked HTC Kaiser on T-mobile Flexpay. The Sprint Hero is fast,m customizable and it really is up to the owner to tweak and calibrate the keyboard and even the G-Sensor to enhance the experience. Its faster OS wise to the Apple 3gs, and Palms WebOS.
Hardware wise:
- The touch keyboard is amazing. I thought this would be a pain in the but after having the slide out Keyboard of the Tytn II but its great.
-Multitouch Zooming
-5Mpeg Camera (No Flash)
- 3.5mm stereo plug is a great improvement.
-Removable battery and an Sd card slot allows you to have up to 32gb of microSd storage plus space on the phone itself.
-Volume can be incredibly loud and crisp/clear (friend was playing call of duty and you could hear the music on the phone clear. It was a suprise)
-The keys of the face and the trackball are all well designed and illuminated.
-Battery life depends on the user and your settings. Autodimming and other features are there. 50% brightness and constant bluetooth Wi-fi use can give you a decent day/ about 12 hours of use. Theres a battery graph app to help watch and figure out what your usage is.
Software Side:
Super fast OS. beats out the Iphone and web OS. Any feature you find lacking you can usually find an App on the market to fill in the gaps where HTC or Sprint missed. They didnt miss much. THe phone comes loaded with widgets already from both companies. Seven Customizable screens are great. You can have a desktop for work, Multimedia, games, internet, photos and all your apps for your desktops a flick away. Multitouch zooming is excellent. Google Streetmaps is awesome. and there are alot of voice aps like yellow book and even google search that make this phone pure fun.
Cons:
-The phone lacks a flash on the camera and steadying can be difficult but Ive got really great shots a few times.USing the screen as the zoom and the click is nice!
-If you are not happy with a setting theres usually an app to fit your needs.
Battery life seems to be better on a set light level instead of autodim!?
-Downloading more than 3 apps at a time can crash the OS!? Update to fix this coming soon supposedly
-Video playback can be alittle blurry not annoyingly bad but I think this is a software issue as the menus and webpages and other screens are crisp. Maybe its because its the first iteration of Flash Player.
AND FINALLY:
LEARN TO CUSTOMIZE THE PHONE AND TO ENJOY IT!!!
I have the Hero, And I am loving it. I enjoy all the apps available that don't cost an arm and a leg at every turn. Pros- Completely Customizable , Strong signal , Loud Speaker, better than iPhone. Cons- (mine) Poor Battery life (averaging about 5 hrs. best, i think i have a problem.), The Phone actually gets hotter than any phone I have ever held before. And as for cost, It was $302.32 upfront w/ $100 cash-back mail-in rebate.