It was written that a great Hero would rise from the East. He would be clothed in the sun and his unique user-interface would redefine the user experience for countless fans of social networking and his majesty would reign over all over Android phones forever. That Hero is here, and he’s on Sprint.
I love the Hero, even in the form that the phone took in Sprint’s able hands. While the comparisons to another Sprint phone will be rampant, I’m here to tell you that this isn’t the Palm Pre and that this phone is my favorite phone, other than the phone that starts with “i” and rhymes with iPhone. The Hero, in this incarnation, is a perfect mix of form and function.
First, for an earlier look at the Hero drop over here for my original review.
The old Hero, the same as the new Hero
When we looked at the Hero a few months ago it was very similar in size and shape to the T-Mobile MyTouch. The first thing you’ll notice about this version is that the chin is gone, replaced by a jowl. The jowl bumps out delicately, tipped in a white trackball, and the buttons have been integrated into the phone’s metallic base.
The phone has a 5-megapixel camera and runs on Sprint’s 3G network. There is no SIM card slot – don’t ask if it will run on AT&T or T-Mobile – and it has a MicroSD card for expansion.
Sprint is famous for stuffing all sorts of extraneous stuff onto their phone decks and this phone is no different. The kit includes an NFL widget, exclusive to Sprint, along with Sprint’s Navigator and NASCAR apps. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on your position on extraneous junk programs, Sprint TV is missing from the front page along with Sprint’s media store. Instead you have the Amazon MP3 store.
The phone runs on Sprint’s high-speed network; browsing was pleasant and email a breeze. A certain subset of users will also notice that the traditional rooting and tethering systems are disabled on this phone.
As for the old Hero lag, I’m proud to report that this phone is now a monster. The screens, even with a few hearty widgets like Twitter and email, are snappy and all of the apps respond with an intensity thus far reserved in bellboys at major luxury hotels. Even the touchscreen is responsive and bright. The keyboard, however, takes a little getting used to if you’ve been using the iPhone or another Android model. In short, however, this is a nice phone.
The camera and camcorder are fairly standard but the autofocus is quite nice. I did have a problem with the model I received. The focus was fairly poor and it seemed that there was some sort of film over the lens. This was, however, an early model and could have suffered a factory defect.
Battery life has been a mixed bag but with email and messaging running I’ve seen about a day per charge.
The rest is just gravy. The Hero’s social networking integration is its most important feature and the speed with which the Hero links Facebook and Twitter profiles is impressive. Unlike the Pre, which chokes on anything more than a few hundred contacts, my entire 300+ contact library was sucked in from Google and easily connected with the attendant Facebook contacts.
The Hero is the future of feature cellphones. It is well-built, runs a free and customized operating system, and it does everything the average user could need. It’s not the perfect smartphone – like the iPhone it doesn’t quite play well with corporate Interwebs in its current incarnation – but that will change. Android, too, is the future of feature phones, something Microsoft and Nokia will ignore at their peril. Your Mom’s next phone, even if she doesn’t know what she’s getting, will probably be an Android phone. The OS is that versatile.
Bottom Line
The Hero is Android perfected and it is an excellent phone. I would recommend it over the Palm Pre and, dare I say it, something like the iPhone 3G. $180 isn’t too much to pay for the best Android phone on the market.
Android’s easier to develop for too. No XCode, no objective C, just easy java in an Eclipse plugin.
I developed for both and I much prefer the Android SDK and Eclipse.
Android is the Windows of Cell Phones.
windows is the windows of cell phones.
@silentbob awesome comment.
Have you ever tried developing in XCode?
It’s nice when documentation is correct and up-to-date :-)
God, I roll my eyes at comments like these. While XCode can indeed be quite cool, Java/Eclipse is a much more complete pairing, not to mention Java is a lot less cryptic and more readable than Objective-C… I program in both and by far prefer Java’s simpler syntax, which is, you know, standardized.
Dude, XCode is just an IDE.
The issue is lame ass ObjectiveC which is just a weird language. BTW, I use/have used C, C++, Java, C#, Ruby, Perl, ActionScript, JS, etc. so I’m not afraid of learning languages, but ObjC syntax just made me puke.
The review doesn’t explain why the Sprint Hero is better than the Palm Pre. This comparison would be especially useful for Sprint customers.
The Palm Pre is able to do a lot of things that the Hero is not capable of (Universal Search, Synergy Contacts, Combined Communications, etc.). The Palm Pre also comes with 8GB of storage, the Hero comes with a 2GB SD card which you cannot install apps on. You are limited to app storage on the device itself thanks to Android. So why is the Hero better than the Palm Pre? An explanation would have been nice.
Never touched the Pre. It could be the best thing since sliced bread, but I’ll tell you what: I absolutely love my Hero.
Only thing the 8gb of storage are good for on the Pre are for flash drive functions, such as storing music, photos, files, etc.. – NOT APPS!!! The Apps on the Pre get stored on the the Pre’s limited RAM!! But on the Hero one can always purchase a larger memory card if they desire a greater amount of music, photos, files to store and then are not limited to the 8gb the Pre imposes it’s users.
Also BB was not able to transfer my contacts over for some reason so I had to do it manually. I also like that you can link your facebook friends profiles to their contact. My wifes pre does this but its an all or nothing or at least thats the only way we could do it.
Palm Pre does not have video capeabilities. It only has a camera.
What I don’t like is that I have to remove the SD card to transfer data from my laptop to my Hero.
I installed MS word reader on Heros so I can at least review written documents from MS word 2007.
I can’t just connect my hero to my laptop to transfer files as well.
yes you can. When I plug the USB cable to my laptop on the top bar of the hero screen a usb symbol appears. Pull down the top bar and press connect USB and mount the SD to your computer… you can transfer all you like then.
Ahhh… yes. The Palm Pre vs. Hero conversation!
I recently switched from my 3rd Palm Pre… yes, my 3rd Palm Pre (All three started shutting off as the slider was closed and two of the three had speaker issues) – to the Hero.
Let me tell you. I loved WebOS… hands down, it was a great program. After having so many hardware issues with the Pre I had to get out before I left Sprint completely.
The “synergy contacts” is a crock of bull. I had to manually input all of my contacts from my Pre onto my Hero. The reason? Sprints magical transfer machine is currently waiting a patch to be able to transfor numbers from the Pre to other devises. A big pain in the rear.
The Hero allows you to store your numbers and contacts into your Google account. This is great – the information is all online and you never have to worry about losing it.
As far as speed – the Pre is really slow in comparison to the Hero. It works seamlessly between apps. Yeah, the Pre can “Multi task” – but doing it causes the battery to go dead in a few hours. Android has it’s own version of “Multi task” – it allows you to go back to the exact application you were on by holding down the “Home” Button… it will allow 6 applications and will bring you right back to the screen you left from.
Another huge bonus of the Hero Android is the App store. Thousands of apps vs. only a few hundred you get with Palm.
Like I said before, I love WebOS. However, I am really glad that I made the switch.
Looks very nice! I’d love to get my hands on one of these.
The device is nothing short of impressive and feels great in the hand too
And bearing in mid the Sprint Hero is still running 1 series firmware (although an optimised version) it’ll get even better when the series 2 firmware is released.
Sorry… Has it been confirmed the the HTC Hero from Sprint will run for approximately $180? Thanks in advance.
@Tyler, http://www.sprintenterprise.com/hero/?id9=CG indeed confirms pricing.
$179.99 after discounts and MIR.
The fine text: $429.99 – $150.00 (two-year activation) – $100.00 (mail-in rebate) = $179.99 (final price). Plus taxes/fees.
Thank you very much for this info, Justin. Been following the Hero for months now and I’m glad it won’t cost me an arm and a leg. Again, thanks for confirming and relieving my fears. xD
if you get it from best buy you don’t have to wait on the 100 dollar mail in rebate its instant in store + they have better insurance options than sprint stores
The insurance thing is false. Best buy offers the same $7 a month insurance that sprint does. Afterall, it is a sprint phone, so sprint would have to cover it under their insurance. Best buy has nothing to do with their insurance.
Best Buy does have different insurance than sprint and it is better. It is called black tie. It has no deductible and the only thing it doesnt cover is if you lose your phone.
Really excited features which I am looking.
I can’t wait to get it but un fortunate it is not available in my country.
The Pre, regardless of its slider issues, is a WAY BETTER phone.
Wow, what an ignorant thing to say. You base this subjective statement on what?
This is certainly not my place to lecture you or tell you what to do. What I stated above was my personal opinion, based on public reviews as well on the fact that I use the Pre every day and I can see its real potential.
From the start, WebOS premature as it is, it has tremendous potential. Beside that, Pre is faster (better proc) and uses a real keyboard (real plus for me). Yes, both phones have many similar features. But I’m convinced the Pre potential is higher. Just look at the recent WebOS 1.2 enhancements, then you will understand. This is a brand new OS. On the other side, Hero uses 5MP cam with a bad lens… Things like that forced me to say Pre is better.
webos has more potential than android? do you have any specific reasons for this opinion? i haven’t used the pre yet.
Which public review you are referring to. This particular review have placed Hero over Pre. The reviewer said that Pre chokes for the large number of contacts.
That said, I do like the physical keyboard Pre has. But all in all, Hero seems to have so much nice things that I might be overlook not having physical keyboard. And I see more potential in Android.
“Wow, what an ignorant thing to say. You base this subjective statement on what?”
And John Biggs hasn’t been blatantly subjective over the Palm Pre ever since it was announced?
Bingo.
you’re so right. no one should have an opinion.
Onscreen keyboard? No thanks. But it does look like a sweet phone.
I said the same thing about the onscreen keyboard, but this has the best onscreen keyboard I have ever used , I love it and will be keeping this phone for sure, give it a try you will love it too
I’ve read a few online reviews of the sprint htc hero. All of them got posted almost at the same time tonight. Each review seems to be running the new rom and Android 1.5.
Will htc hero ship with android 1.6? If not can I upgrade it, and keep the sense Ui and Sprints custom apps?
The reason I ask is because google just announced android 1.6. Google said that there will be devices running android 1.6 in “early October” which coincides with the htc hero oct 11 launch.
Well it has to be running some parts of 1.6, because CDMA support isn’t supported under cupcake
You guys seem to be the only ones that (a) rave universally about improved UI speed, and (b) mention the absence of SprintTV. Every other review I can find includes mention of improved speeds over the GSM version with the caveat that it’s not as perfect as it’s made to sound here, and CNet’s video review even shows SprintTV up and running on the screen. What’s the deal, duders?
Sad ..I bought an Apple iphone just few months back .. Now I cant buy this one .. but I want one .. hope I can get one … seems nice … cool features …
Cheers,
Daina
I don’t understand why my American friends have been deprived of premium Android phones for so long. Now you have one. There will be religious arguments over this device, but at the end of the day, it really is a very very good phone. It’s not likely that it will leave you disappointed. In the UK, we still have the chin, which I actually prefer.
I want the chin back…….lol
What premium android phones have there been other than the Hero? I’m not aware of any that match or exceed the Hero, and it doesn’t matter what country–We’d still hear about it!
Fair point. There isn’t exactly an exhaustive line-up. It did take you awhile to get the mytouch, however, which is nothing to sneeze at. And we’ve had it here for some time already. (a.ka. Magic)
I guess I don’t fully understand why we get these great phones so much sooner than you do. Apart from the fact that we seem to have better 3g and HSPDA access.
So if you won’t recommend it over an iphone 3gs, what is it lacking?
Its not an iPhone.. Duh!
You aren’t the coolest phone owner/person in the world unless you own an iPhone.
And its a shame that AT&T is so stuck on the iPhone that they wont even adopt any phones with Android.
Being a tech geek and loving new technology and always wanting a new phone and gadgets to play with… AT&T has lost me as a customer.
Has anyone else noticed that AT&T hasn’t really come out with a cool new phone since the iPhone. Don’t get me wrong, the lost “sheep” masses LOVE anything that is Apple but man, talk about beating a dead horse.
“Being a tech geek and loving new technology and always wanting a new phone and gadgets to play with… AT&T has lost me as a customer”
You know, you may have a point. However, as one of those “sheep”, all I can say is that since I’ve had my iPhone, I’ve not really wanted anything else. Do I like new technology? Love it! Do I always have the latest and greatest gadgets to play with? Nope. But I will admit, begrudgingly, that I have upgraded my iPhone through each of the versions. I really do like this phone. I will also admit that the HTC Hero is one of the few other phones that I wouldn’t mind looking into and probably would be a fantastic iPhone alternative for me.
you know, since my grandmother learned to use the landline phone she never cared about wireless either. after all wireless could do pretty much all she needed a landline to do.
So basically you like change for the sake of change, instead of improvements? Seems a bit silly, no?
The iPhone 3GS, and the Pre, both have a Cortex A8 processor, instead of the same old qualcomm 72xx series found in the the 3G and every other phone from 2008. The Cortex A8 is TWICE as fast, and coupled with a better GPU, makes the iPhone and Pre run circles around this thing.
I’m still waiting for a device like the HTC Leo to run Android (1 GHz Snapdragon processor).
I’m also waiting for something like that, but the new Htc Hero update sometimes makes even the 3gs look slow. The CPU isn’t everything
Can you please direct me to the benchmarks showing the Cortex A8 is “TWICE” as fast as the ARM 11 CPU @ 528mhz?
http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3595&p=2
Read the entire article to get the full understanding of mobile processor packages, clock speeds mean next to nothing.
If you choose to just get an answer, go to pages 5 & 6 of the article.
This looks great!
You know, if I didn’t really like my iPhone and wasn’t locked down to AT&T, I would be all over this nifty little mobile device. Truth be told, it wouldn’t take much more for AT&T to piss me off enough for me to drop them like a steamy bag of feces. If that happens, maybe I’ll look into the Hero.
Looks almost like the HTC Falcon (6 years old) but with 3G, wifi, and bluetooth. I TOLD YOU YOU WOULD BE BACK HTC! WHY DIDN’T YOU DO THIS 5 YEARS AGO? I remember, everyone said “Ewww that phones too big!”
check it out http://www.sizlocore.blogspot.com/
Can I do mafia wars on facebook with this? lol. I have been eye’ing this phone for a while. Oct. 11th cant come soon enough!
the more I see this phone, the more I want it and I’m an iphone user. Something about this phone is extremely appealing.
It really does make for a superior communications device in comparison to the iPhone. However, it just doesn’t have the horsepower iPhone has; and, of course, it can’t hold a candle to iPhone’s gaming capabilities.
i read cnets review, and they mention you can set the phone to automatically check for new emails….does this mean the phone does not have push email?
Android phones have push Gmail.
JayBee excellent write up as usual you have convinced me that I need this gear. I have been using my Moto Q9C for 2 years now and I have been out of contract for 3 years. This phone is the one thats going to make me jump back into business with sprint. Not like I havent been doing business with them these last 3 years but now I will be ina contract again. This phone looks amazing and I only hope that Sprint doesnt force me to change my plan. If they do then I wont jump into a new contract and I guess I wont get the new phone. D00d when you are paying $75 for 2 lines with unlimited everything why would you change that? Well keep up the good work CG pe@ce!
Ha, nicely written:
The screens, even with a few hearty widgets like Twitter and email, are snappy and all of the apps respond with an intensity thus far reserved in bellboys at major luxury hotels.
looks nice, but after 2 years on a 1st gen HTC Touch (as well as a lot of time spent on an ipod touch) I need a physical keyboard even if it adds bulk or does not slide in/out well.
“The keyboard, however, takes a little getting used to if you’ve been using the iPhone or another Android model” – what do you mean by this?
hero has its own virtual keyboard design that is slightly different from android’s virtual keyboard.
Jason, have to ask what issues did you have with the keyboard ( i have blackberry 8900) and i have some concerns about the switch to tuch keyboard not done by apple. Also how is the push email? Feel like you reviewed everything but left my mouth watering for more info!!
I WANT ONE NOW!!!… i switched from the Bold to the PRE… and now switching from the PRE to this one for suuure!
I would install TouchPal keyboard on this. It’s a fantastic soft keyboard.
Nice article. How do online videos look? I read that the Hero has Flash built-in.
Don’t forget the same hardware that is on the hero is on the mytouch. So T-Mo fans, don’t get worried that sprint is taking away your phone. I have a mytouch phone running hero just as smooth as the sprint one, if not smoother w/ apps2sd.
Hey since Apple is so stuck on AT&T, and people like me from the ole skool don’t like AT&T period! I’m be buying this phone instead, it looks good too. I’m tired of waiting for Apple to finally broaden their foot print and get with the other carriers. Who decided to settle for that business plan anyway??? Apple could have shut the cell phone business down! Anyway to bad, so sad!
Does anybody know for sure if it’s a world phone or not?
Check it out aty best the retail is 599.99/ SKU: 9509784
Thanks for this review; I’ve been looking for an opportunity to get an Android and T-Mobile isn’t available in Madison, WI. SS
Does the screen have an oleophobic coating? That’s something I really like about the 3GS, but I’m so tired of dropped calls that I’m planning to switch to the Hero when it launches.
Yes it does. At least the model here in the UK does.
A sexy one indeed..!! But I bet it cant beat Iphone 3G…!1 Android will be a gud exp though..!!
Both the phones have their pros and cons. HTC hero is indeed smarter than 3GS on some counts. And add the ability of of running apps in the background and wider tariff and network options scores quite well for HTC Hero
I own a HTC Hero and it is the best phone I have ever had. It is definitely rich in features and syncs nicely with my web presence..
Does the Sprint Hero support Exchange out of the box? Supporting it would be a first step to being the ideal business phone (and my next one, at that)
Yes, but some people have had issues. Check out this trhead:
http://androidforums.com/htc-hero/7096-exchange-activesync-htc-hero.html
The last couple of places I’ve worked don’t allow cameras on site, so that rules out any camera phone as a business phone. Some phones have non-cam versions for this reason, or I guess you could drop a blob of epoxy over the lens.
Can someone explain the icons in picture 2?
Theres a birdy icon and another cd icon, what do they mean?
This is the notifications and ongoing process toolbar. You can pull it down with a touch and swipe in the downward direction, revealing a control panel with further details and options. Not sure which each icon means, but the bird is a notification from the twitter app, showing that the user has new tweets. The leftmost icon shows that an app has been downloaded and is ready to install, etc…
GET A LIFE … ALL OF YOU!!!!
IT IS JUST A BLOODY PHONE
No it isn’t.
PayPhoneUser:
if it was “just a BLOODY phone” why does it cost $600?
i’ve been watching this phone for 1 week aand it blows me away!! i currently have a samsung instinct and i really want a actual slide out keyboard, but when i saw this phone on youtube i knew i had to have it!!! BEST PHONE TO DATE!
I’d still say get a Palm Pre. The HTC Hero is an excellent device… I just think the Palm Pre appeals to a broader audience because it’s more user-friendly. I also think its Synergy, Multitasking, Universal Search, and real keyboard make it the superior phone… but it’s a matter of taste.
I have both the Hero and the Pre, and I’ve been playing with the Hero all day today. I can tell you that the Pre has NOTHING on the Hero, except the keyboard. The Hero simply trumps Pre in so many ways, especially the battery life, that the Pre ends up being simply pathetic. And I’m not trolling, I really do have both and the Pre stands no chance.
u suck pro2 rules the game loser
WOO HOOO ordered my Hero today. CANT WAIT!!
This this a world phone. If you travel can you put in a sim card outside the US?
Got my HTC Hero yesterday at Best Buy and didnt even Pre order it. I traded in my Instinct HD for it. So at my best buy I was the first HD sold, first one returned then the first Hero out the door.
Its my first android phone and it blows the instinct out of the water in basically everything except for the camera, but I’m not buying a phone as my primary camera anyways.
There is no lag, it just transitions so smoothly, downloading apps is a breeze, setting up the phone is super easy and I’m not to tech savy.
The only I have to say is the keyboard is smaller on the Hero than the HD, but I like the feedback and word prompts on the hero, so in time I will adjust quickly. Also BB was not able to transfer my contacts over for some reason so I had to do it manually. I also like that you can link your facebook friends profiles to their contact. My wifes pre does this but its an all or nothing or at least thats the only way we could do it. This one you can take each friend and link it only if you want.
Overall I am very happy with the phone and looking forward to learning alot more about it.
Oh one more thing I did not get a Micro SD card adapter with mine. Did anyone else? Share your thoughts at http://www.HTC-Hero.com a dedicated site for HTC Hero. Take Care!
“Unlike the Pre, which chokes on anything more than a few hundred contacts…”
Dude, what are you talking about? I have nigh 500 facebook contacts and >1,200 Google contacts that synced and connected with no problems (and maybe ~1-2% of which I had to manually connect in Synergy). The FUD is thick in here.
If you are looking to switch to Sprint or upgrade to this phone or any other phone on Sprint, don’t go to the store, call me because I do free account management for sprint customers with account analysis (And I will check if you are eligible for discounts :). http://www.l2wireless.com support@l2wireless.com or 800.581.5001 ext 201