Sprint's HTC Hero and Samsung Moment on track to get Android 2.1, not 2.0
By Chris Ziegler 
posted December 17th 2009 8:29PM
posted December 17th 2009 8:29PM
So Sprint's backtracking on its promise to deliver Android 2.0 to its Hero and Moment in the first half of next year, but it's backtracking in an awesome way for a change of pace -- they'll actually be getting 2.1. That makes tons of sense considering that the leaked Hero builds have all been on 2.1 and 2.0 will be all but obsolete by the time HTC gets around to releasing anything -- so yeah, we probably could've predicted this anyway, but now it's official. Unfortunately that 1H 2010 window hasn't been reigned in at all, but here's hoping this is a case where they under-promise and over-deliver.
Now, between these two phones Moment and Hero, which one is better? One has a keyboard but some people say the battery is very poor. The other has many features but no flash and it's a little bit slow sometimes.
Which one you guys think is No. 1?
@pedmart
well I haven't tried the Moment, but am very satisfied w/ the Hero. It's really not slow at all, and Sense definitely has a leg up on stock Android.
@(Unverified) I've got the Moment. There is some battery weirdness. The physical keyboard is must IMO. Stock Android is the way to go. Sense definitely looks nice, but I'd take better hardware over better looks.
@HotBBQ but Sense isn't only looks, it adds a ton of functionality.
The Hero can be a little slow here and there but overall performance is good. I'd take Sense and the Hero unless you really need a real keyboard. The Hero has good haptic feedback and you can always type in landscape, the onscreen keyboard does a great job.
@pedmart
I haven't used the Moment. But I really like my Hero. If you don't NEED a physical keyboard, the HTC keyboard is much much much better then the stock Android. I notice a bit of sluggishness only during OTA syncing and when I powering up the radios (after going into airplane mode...which I do often because I spotty service in my building at work). I really feel like Sense UI ties the GUI together, as opposed to a hodge podge of widgets on stock android. Just my $.02.
I'm not going to lie, I'm looking forward to a high powered HTC Android device on sprint though.
@ljm Yes, I'm about to buy a Sprint phone, tomorrow or in 2 weeks, but i think there will be no difference. There is no new cell phone (>Hero/Moment) for sprint coming. I do like cell phones with kb, but i do fine when i type in my itouch. So I would think there will be no problem. One question to those who own these devices: I have hotmail, i can open jpg files on my current phone, are u able to open files on your phones? A relative has a G1 and whenever i sent pict msg to her she can't open them full screen, can you do that in your phones? Thanks
@ljm sorry, she can open pict msg full screen now. but hasn't been able to open jpg file from her hotmail account in the browser
@pedmart
go to a real sprint store (not one in the mall) and they will have working phones to play around with!
Personally i think android sucks without sense.
@JONNNathannn A ton of functionality? What can it do that stock Android cannot? Not being snarky here, but what else is there?
I'm glad we'll be getting 2.1 (I'm on a Sprint Hero, love it except for a few hardware flaws).
However... if we don't get it by March or so, I'm sure 2.1 will be on its way to being outdated as well. Surely by May Google will have 2.2 or 2.5+ in the works and getting leaked on XDA!
Yay, I bought the Samsung product listed today. Good to get the upgrade. IT sucks to be the salesguy with me around. I led them into one of my twisted conversations.
Me: "So, do you have a case for this thing?" Salesguy: "No, we don't have the case for the Moment right now.", Me: "You don't have the case for the Moment?", Salesguy "No, not right now for the Moment.", Me: "Okay, well, if not right now for the Moment, then when?", Salesguy: "Not right now but soon", Me: "Oh, not right now for the Moment but you'll have one soon for the Moment. How long will it be available?". Salesguy "Well, probably for a couple of months." , Me: "I'll keep it in mind. I should keep an eye out for the case for the Moment because it may only be out for a brief time. Thanks."
@RupanIII
It sucks to be a customer around most cell phone sales people, you might as well have some fun.
We picked up a Moment for my wife a few weeks ago and the saleslady was telling us how the Moment's only feature was the keyboard, and that the Hero was a faster phone.
I left and sat in the car for the remainder of the process.
There really isn't a huge difference between 1.x and 2.x at this point. I'd rather see HTC take their time and get it right. They're probably adding some new features to Sense at the same time. They should at least get a 1.6 update out for application compatibility in the meantime.
I think Android shows a lot of promist although I've tested 2.0 and it still doesn't offer some of the business features I need so for now I'll stick with WM although the iPhone also has the business features I need but is on ATT and I need to be able to use my phone for both calls and data - neither of which ATT does well.
At the moment neither Verizon or Sprint have any hardware I want. I'd like something like the HD2 - hard to get excited about most other phones after seeing the HD2 hardware. Although by the time they get something like the HD2 android 2.3 might have the business functionality I need.
The news about 2.x was what I was waiting to hear. I picked up a Moment last weekend. Honestly it was down to the Moment or a Droid and the Moment qwerty was just better. The Droid keys are too flat and have almost no feel when pressed.
Anyhow, so far the Moment has been pretty decent. The major hardware complaint is about how it likes to hang up on people when I try to answer calls. The "hang up" button is also the one that turns on the screen. It then tries to dial out to my contact list. The closeness of the menu button to the 911 button is nuts. WHO designed that? Not sure if that's Android or Samsung but geez people!
Other than that, I wish the browser or "Listen" app could cope with Flash sites or any kind of streaming audio. My old Palm Centro could do .PLS files. The Moment cannot. Sad. Maybe 2.x will fix this.
Just did a test on my Moment. Yes, you can open jpegs in Hotmail from the email client.
@JONNNathannn Tons of functionality? What can I do in Sense that I cannot do in Android?