Ordered a Hero!

[runner7395]

Well I'm a current iPhone 3GS user and I just placed my order for a Hero. I really like what I have been seeing on this devise. I hope that I like it. I will be using it on ATT and I know it will only be 2G on it but I think it will be okay. Looking forward to trying this new phone and my very first android phone ever. I am a BB and iPhone user.

Now the waiting begins.....

 

[anon(697)]

You won't be disappointed, especially as soon as HTC release their v2 update - it makes the phone so much faster than before!

 

[slbailey1]

I have placed a pre-order for the Sprint Hero. One of the major road blocks for me was no task syncing thru Exchange. If I cannot sync tasks thru Exchange, I've found a workaround I can live with - Astrid syncing with Remember the Milk(RTM).

Edit: Astrid will allow me to create repeating tasks with alarms!!

 

[runner7395]

You won't be disappointed, especially as soon as HTC release their v2 update - it makes the phone so much faster than before!

I hope not, the UI looks really nice to me.

 

[anon(697)]

I hope not, the UI looks really nice to me.

It doesn't change the UI contents, just speeds thing up a hell of a lot. No more lag for me - flipping between the lock and the home screen there's no pause, flipping between apps and the home screen there's no pause, scrolling between the seven home screen pages is seemless and it seems to have fixed the stuttering I was experiencing in the music player.

I would guess the Sprint Hero will ship with the latest version so there'll be no need to upgrade - check for Build Number 2.73... or higher under About Phone in the Settings menu.

Dave

 

[Networx2002]

I Should have my HERO sometime this week or next week. Cant wait, Go Sprint

 

[n0cud06]

I Should have my HERO sometime this week or next week. Cant wait, Go Sprint

how come? I thought it would only come out mid October?

 

[n0cud06]

It doesn't change the UI contents, just speeds thing up a hell of a lot. No more lag for me - flipping between the lock and the home screen there's no pause, flipping between apps and the home screen there's no pause, scrolling between the seven home screen pages is seemless and it seems to have fixed the stuttering I was experiencing in the music player.

I would guess the Sprint Hero will ship with the latest version so there'll be no need to upgrade - check for Build Number 2.73... or higher under About Phone in the Settings menu.

Dave

hey Dave can you answer some of these question since you're familiar with the phone?
1- on the PRE all my facebook and google contacts sync automatically to my phone every # of hours including their facebook profile picture (so when I look at my contacts I get a thumbnail of their fb profile pict) which is a feature I really like will the Hero do this for me too?

2- am I able to link profiles, lets say I have my friend who is on my contact list but he's also got a facebook and a gmail account - can I link all three profiles into just one?

3- do apps run in the background or I should say can the Hero multitask so if I'm writing an email and need to make a phone call of open a different app when I go back to my email app (I hear THC has its own email client) will my email still be there? Ps: same question applies to other apps

4- one thing I like about the Pre is that I have the option to actually close an app by sliding up something the iphone won't do. Am I able to close running apps?

5- are we allow to txt picture from your phone?

6- updates: do updates come from HTC and google or HTC updates sense and android at the same time? I guess they don't do a lot of updates but this is interesting.

7- cnet claims the Hero to be under power and sluggish for a lot of things but they did say their test unit had an much older version of the sense UI - any comments on speed or camera???

8- Tether - a little hack on the Pre and I can tether of course the Hero should be able to do this but wanted to make sure since this is something I need everyday at work.

9- I have a mac and I know itunes won't be a problem anymore since the new version will allow third party phones to sync up but what about USB or sync options for the Mac?

Thanks

 

[anon(697)]

1. Yes, all your Google Contacts and Calendar events automatically sync to your phone. Then, if you give the phone your FB login it will match up the contacts with your FB friends and download their profile pic and birthday and updates.

2. As far as the above answer goes, yes.

3. Yes, apps run in the background.

4. Some apps have an option to manually close them in their menu, most others close when you press the 'back' key to return to the home screen.

5. Yes, if you have a plan that allows MMS

6. Google update Android, HTC update Sense. Android versions 1.6 and then 2.0 are due out - possibly both this year. I wouldn't be too surprised if HTC release one more update for Sense this year.

7. Speed is awesome with the v2.x update from HTC. I can understand all the reviews saying the Hero is sluggish as they are all based on v1.x. The camera is a little better now as it has touch focus, but it is still slow and not very good quality (nowhere near as good as the one my previous phone - Nokia 5800)

8. On the SD card you get with the Hero is the HTC Sync application (or you can download the latest version from HTC). This apparently allows you to tether. You can also download tethering apps from the Market, which work on rooted phones.

9. I don't have a Mac - I transfer all my files directly over USB to the phone from Windows no problem though. But I don't have anything that syncs music automatically.

Dave

 

[gilroykilroy]

Actually didn't answer the question about tethering. That is a buy/no buy item for me.

 

[anon(697)]

Er, answer 8. Yes you can tether.

There is even an option in the Settings menu, under Wireless Controls called 'Mobile Network Sharing' - this enables tethering through HTC Sync, that I mentioned.

 

[gilroykilroy]

But will Sprint allow it, that is the real question (which you probably can't answer unless you actually have a Sprint Hero.) Sprint has not allowed it on any of their smart phones that have the unlimited data plans (Instinct & Pre) but workarounds have been found for both.

However only the Instinct works USB tethering with Mac OS X 10.5 & 10.6 because of changes to the USB driver (I myself use it that way so I can positively vouch for that.)

So the question is: Will *Sprint* Hero USB tether to Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) either "out of the box" or via a "modification".

 

[anon(697)]

But will Sprint allow it, that is the real question

Fair point. They might not allow it using HTC Sync, but a work around to that would be to root the phone and download one of the apps from the Market to allow it. But I don't know how much control Sprint can/will have over the software that HTC puts on the phone - it's possible they can block those methods somehow

 

[n0cud06]

actually my blackberry did have tethering on it provided by sprint and my lg flip phone had it too but I had to pay an extra $15/month. My pre works too but I had to root and do all that good stuff so I wouldn't mind doing that on the Hero.

Hey my sprint rep says the phone will cost around $300-$400 which is not bad considering I was thinking it would cost over $500.

 

[n0cud06]

thanks David! Sounds like it works the same way as the Palm PRE's synergy as far as syncing your contacts from facebook and google.

1. Yes, all your Google Contacts and Calendar events automatically sync to your phone. Then, if you give the phone your FB login it will match up the contacts with your FB friends and download their profile pic and birthday and updates.

2. As far as the above answer goes, yes.

3. Yes, apps run in the background.

4. Some apps have an option to manually close them in their menu, most others close when you press the 'back' key to return to the home screen.

5. Yes, if you have a plan that allows MMS

6. Google update Android, HTC update Sense. Android versions 1.6 and then 2.0 are due out - possibly both this year. I wouldn't be too surprised if HTC release one more update for Sense this year.

7. Speed is awesome with the v2.x update from HTC. I can understand all the reviews saying the Hero is sluggish as they are all based on v1.x. The camera is a little better now as it has touch focus, but it is still slow and not very good quality (nowhere near as good as the one my previous phone - Nokia 5800)

8. On the SD card you get with the Hero is the HTC Sync application (or you can download the latest version from HTC). This apparently allows you to tether. You can also download tethering apps from the Market, which work on rooted phones.

9. I don't have a Mac - I transfer all my files directly over USB to the phone from Windows no problem though. But I don't have anything that syncs music automatically.

Dave

 

[anon(697)]

thanks David! Sounds like it works the same way as the Palm PRE's synergy as far as syncing your contacts from facebook and google.

Note that, as far as I can make out, it doesn't sync all your Facebook contacts to the phone - it certainly syncs your Google contacts over and then joins them (automatically or manually) to you Facebook contacts so it can retrieve their pictures, updates and birthdays.

Not sure if that's the same as the Pre. I for one prefer it this way though ... I wouldn't want or need all my Facebook contacts in my phone's phonebook.

 

[Networx2002]

This phone is the bomb.

 

[Networx2002]

As of right now, I don?t see tethering

 

[Networx2002]

I just get mount drive, doesn’t mean there won’t be an update at launch