HTC Hero Sim Free - Part 2 - Performance & User Opinion

[ecartman12]

The 2.1 update htc pushed out for the Hero completely ruined the phone.

[ecartman12]

That wallpaper you have on this phone looks really colourful Dave. Where did you get it?

[davomrmac]

@ecartman12 Standard HTC Sense at the time.

[ecartman12]

@davomrmac Is that wallpaper on todays HTC handsets?

[davomrmac]

@ecartman12 I don't think it is.

[eggypadua]

wonderful

[themightysmiff]

wts the network orange/vodaphone/t-mobile

[davomrmac]

@themightysmiff This one I had on O2.

[davomrmac]

@themightysmiff Although it was supplied unlocked.

[TomJackson986]

That is a total lag, maybe your slow.

[lordofthespoons123]

it looks super laggy compared to my 3Gs

[davomrmac]

Check out my unboxing and overview of the Acer Liquid, it is fast fast fast.

[Blessup13]

@lordofthespoons123 Because its using the old ROM, the update fixes it.

[davomrmac]

I can confirm, the latest update does indeed improve performance.

[UnrealGlider]

Pff you can't compare the performance, the iphone runs 1 app at a time, this thing runs like 5 on each homepage!

The iPhone is dead, well, until the bring out a new one.

[Samzsite]

@UnrealGlider So, is it still dead? Crapple brought out a new one, and it FAILED! :D

[loppar3]

when my screen locks the phone restarts, anyone with the same issue?

[ForViewingOnly]

Excellent review, very thorough and helpful. 5 stars.

[Joan3RS]

Great reviews of HTC Hero, 5 Stars, going to chek your channel out right now!

I will get this phone in some days, thanks for making me see all the good points.

Could you please tell me what video editing software u used for the baners you put below?

[davomrmac]

This particular video was done in iMovie 09 (Mac) with the standard banners. My other video titles (the blue ones) are done in Photoshop then edited in FInal Cut Express.

[Joan3RS]

Thanks Allot, keep up the good videos

[tafsen]

Very nice review. This was exactly what I was looking for. I'm going to buy myself one :)

[davomrmac]

Thanks for the comment.

[hippostereo]

also, how does the bluetooth work on the phone? i've been told by many that it doesn't support file transferring.. so i don't know what the point of having bluetooth on the phone is then :(

[perfectdonk]

there are free apps that make bluetooth file transfer possible

Not yet sure if these work on the Hero..

(I'm using the Magic and it worked. Now I installed a Hero rom and havent tested it yet)

[hippostereo]

how is the functionality of watching and streaming videos?

[davomrmac]

Pretty good.

[MaliMal11]

hi does the email show full html??

[AdilSaumtally]

yes it does

[TheDragonMech]

hi there,can you show me how to use bluetooth to send picture to other mobile please?because i don't know how to use with my hero,thank's

[saxophoneman23]

Do you think the handset wouldn't be as good if you had a contract which didn't have unlimited mobile internet because of the certain widgets and not wanting to update them because of cost?

[davomrmac]

Yes, I think this phone and the like of the iPhone all benefit a great deal from having unlimited internet access. It saves you searching out wifi or worrying about the cost.

[lakikaki]

Awesome review! Thank you very much for it.

[scraplife]

Ordered mine today in white. Tomorrow. Can't wait. I rooted and installed the Hero Rom on a MyTouch and while it looked cool, it wasnt useable.

[PondexProductions]

Can u still makes calls and stuff without the sim card?

[davomrmac]

No, you cannot.

[PondexProductions]

Then, please tell me you have a SIM card, because you'd be crazy to buy a $500 phone, when it won't even work as a phone.

[davomrmac]

Yes, I put in an O2 sim card. Any network sim card would work with this handset.

[diedy5]

I need to wait a few more days to get it in urban brown, goodbye iPhone !

[ceterafan123]

So, THE Apple fanboy, has switched over to another device! That's crazy! But I think I fell in love with this thing when I saw the interface! So I can totally understand!

And again a GREAT review from Geekanoids.

P.S What do you think of the touch screen (in comparison with the iPhone???)????

[davomrmac]

The touch screen is very good, not quite as responsive as the iPhone. If I had to give the touch screen a percentage in comparison for responsiveness it would be 92%.

[TacticaLGS]

You said 90% in another post.

[davomrmac]

Things change, over time my % has waivered.

[amidamaru01]

I have an iPhone 2G and was thinking of buying a new phone. The only problem is that I will have to buy it unlocked since I will be using it in Brazil and phones over here are incredibly overpriced, even with a new plan. So I was thinking of the HTC Hero, the Omnia HD or the LG KM900. Overall which of them is better for its price?

[SuckMyDom]

august 17th for me !

[henrik85]

Nice review, although I must say that they've borrowed a lot from the iPhone... the whole interface looks and handles almost exactly the same...

[jmb1709]

Excellent review! The only thing putting me off this phone was the lag that has been mentioned in other reviews but I'm glad to hear that it's fixed now, roll on august 10th for my upgrade :-)

[nafester]

I finally got my mits on one of these in a t-mobile store today. I was quite disappointed with the performance. Flicking between home screens was OK, a bit jittery, but I went to the music player and changing the tabs there was quite difficult as it would freeze up frequently.

I've no doubt they had a bog standard class 2 microSD in there so hopefully a class 6 is all it needs, but I'm going to need a bit more evidence of this before I switch.

The on screen keyboard is fantastic though.

[animelova11]

so youre saying it came out in america for t mobile? yessss i love this phone and since i have t mobile im getting this phone so is it coming out for t mobile or not cuz im lik biting my fingernails off

[backdoorman1971]

Good for you ..switching over from the iphone. I'm switching over from a Palm Pre. This phone is superb !

[Smeniac]

i have a question....

Sense the first iphone came up i wanted to buy it but then a sony ericsson with 5 mpx camera came up so i bought that then when the 3g came i wanted to buy it but i didnt and i bought the samsung pixon and now the 3gs is available but i saw this htc and looks fancy i am really confused....

what should i buy???

[dominicsneekgeek]

i like how it has the unlock thingy instead of code u make a pattern awesome wish ipod touch had something like that.

[nafester]

Out of interest, what class of microSD card were you using? I hear Android stores a cache file on the microSD and slower cards can cause lag. Class 2 or 4 cause issues like that and Class 6 can make thing pretty swift.

[davomrmac]

For my video I was using the one supplied by HTC, so I would imagine this is a class 2 or 4 to keep costs down.

[nafester]

Ah that's good to know. I'm eager to see how it behaves with a Class 6 SD card. Perhaps it would eliminate the minor stutters when flicking screens. I'll have to pop to an Orange/TMob store and check out how it performs. Videos are great but it's always better to get yer mits on it directly.

[davomrmac]

I would say that the stutters between flicking screens is the processor being pushed by the SenseUI. The Hero is using its internal memory for the UI and apps.

It is only the video, photo and media performance that a fast MicroSD card would improve.

[nafester]

Well potentially the widgets are slowing it down and the stutter could be caused by loading that info. If Android does keep a cache file on the SD it's conceivable that a slower card would cause it to pause briefly while it access that info.

This is just third hand information from a comment on the SlashGear review so I don't know how reliable it is but I can see the logic behind it.

[davomrmac]

Totally, thanks for sharing the info.

[animelova11]

will this come out in america for t mobile? if it is then when?

[Mienaikage]

You can use Gmail on the widget with IMAP. If you haven't already go to your Gmail account on a PC, go to Settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP and enable IMAP.

[chrizutd]

my hero arrived today and i upgraded from an iphone, best upgrade ever

iphone is a childs toy compared to this

graphite rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BigJoe2711]

Very jerky graphics, iPhone performs much better :)

[lorik1641]

Nice! It looks like a really nice phone

[anon321]

How can you say there's no lag, or there's tiny lag. That is some monstrous lag!

[James1o1oUK]

I dont think there was any lag. From what I saw there was a small delay But there is delay on all mobile phones. Im sure a software update will proberly minimilize the effects.

[davomrmac]

There was no lag, just a tiny stutter sometimes. If you take a look at the Nokia E75, it lags, the E97 does also. When you switch between screens of icons on the iPhone, it also lags sometimes. It just depends how much work the handset is doing at the time you tap an icon.

[James1o1oUK]

I looked a little on Google and the tests that showed "lag" where running all the heavy widgets and all.

[anon321]

When you drag your finger over the interface on the iphone or pre, it moves with your finger unless the phone is loading something.

Here the screen updates after you finished swiping. You finger is no longer on the screen and this is when it starts responding to your swipe. You don't think that's pretty poor?

Maybe it's better than the E75 but very poor :(

[foroze]

iphone doesnt have 20 widgets on its homescreen

[korn74]

Nothing to do with the E75, it cant be compared because its not a touch screen.

[capdvd]

Davomrmac do you know if you can get skype on it? Does it support it only on WiFi like the iphone or even on 3G? thanks

[davomrmac]

Yes you can, but not tested yet.

[jmar0015]

this shouldc v been the mytouch...\

what carrier will support this phone..

[EmoGamer]

I think this phone will be even better once people figure out how to root, then overclock this phone... If only it had a physical keyboard. =/

[xAlexCT]

Looks liek a sweet phone.. I want :(

[Zepplinne]

i dont really understand what you mean by sim free?

[davomrmac]

Sim free, or unlocked is the term. It means you should be able to use with a sim card from any carrier.

[flooq]

He means this particular version wasn't bought from a carrier on a contract (tied to their SIM).

[yoyo10231995]

Nice video! I wish I had an iPhone...

[darkside97]

nice review

[pelleliten]

You can use gmail via POP3, so using gmail togheter with the mail gadget shouldn't be a problem!

Great review. Can't wait for part 3!

[nbwo]

Excellent review!

[James1o1oUK]

I suppose this is the First Proper Rival to the Iphone?

Which do you like better Dave? This or Iphone 3GS?

[davomrmac]

I love the simplicity and UI design of the iPhone. However, I think the Hero is really nicer to hold as it is a bit smaller and curvy. I also love the fact you can multitask and the live widget notifications for Twitter, FaceBook etc.

Which do I like best. At this moment in time... the Hero.

[ferrari24680]

can i have your iphone if you are switching?