Is Hero enough for me?

[me_2D]

Hi all. Shopping for a new phone and looking for input. Thinking about the Hero and want to know if it's going to be a good phone for me. I've read tons and tons of reviews that get very technical (I'm an analyst by trade and have a bad habit of researching the heck out of everything) and now I'm in information overload.

Let me just say upfront I'm not a techie. I do use technical software all day at work, and am not afraid to push buttons to figure out how things work, but basically, I just want my phone to do the things I need it to do and not really concerned about having the most elaborate toy and a million apps. This will be my first smartphone - my last phone was purchased 4+ yrs ago and doesn't even have a camera, so anything is a far cry above what I have now. (Words like "rooting" and "ROM" were completely foreign to me as I began to read the posts on this site.) I know everyone is wild about the Evo, but I feel like me going right to Evo is like going from an old Ford Pinto to a Ferrari. I am thinking perhaps I enter into the smartphone world with something like a Hero, and then in a year, maybe the Evo (my city is scheduled to have 4G service very soon.) Good idea? Bad idea?

What I need to be able to do in a timely manner:

access internet
send/receive email
send/receive calls
send/receive text - reluctantly (I don't currently text)
take an occasional picture
view an occasional photo or video
use a few apps

I am a Sprint Premiere customer currently eligible for upgrade. Planning to switch to the Everything Data Plan. I just want a phone that's not going to be totally slow, not cost me a fortune, and allows me to check email during the day since the firewall at work does not allow me access to my home email.

Any advice or tips you can give will be appreciated. You all know much more than me about this stuff.

Thanks!

d

 

[trooper54]

ok, so before i become the lightning rod of hate, i manage wireless telecommunications for an engineering company. From what your needs are, and if you are considering using this phone for work. I would probably suggest getting a blackberry curve. I have every one in the office on of these. Its easy to use, with a very short learning curve. Its super reliable, built extremely well, has a full physical qwerty keyboard, and will handle everything in your above post well, except for browsing the web. (the Blackberry browser sucks.)

That being said he hero would be a good touch screen equivalent. It does have a lot more bells and whistles and is much more customizable. Fairly easy to use, and sprint can even teach you, and set up most of your features for you. It is a touch screen, and the learning curve could be a little steeper.

Now thinking ahead, the evo is a great phone, and one that you probably wont feel the need to upgrade in a year. Potentially the two options mentioned above are on their way out, and being replaced with phones such as the evo. It will accomplish all of those things you mentioned above, and then some.

Just some food for thought.

Feel free to PM me if you need additional help.

 

[RoadBicyclist]

I came from the BB camp, had a Curve 8330, not bad, but faraway from what the Hero does and now with the 2.1 update, is becoming a different animal (better obviously). Internet is a little faster with the new update and that's something you don't get with a BB, a full screen of internet. Pictures are OK on the Hero, unless is a little dark, do not do it!

If you need it for business, yes, BB is better, if you want it for personal use, go for the Hero. As for the EVO, I would love to get one when is out, but there's a higher monthly cost associated with it and to convince my wife would be hard. Maybe in a year this 4G charge will go away...yeah right, more like 2 or 3 years down the road. And probably Sprint will be the first to get rid of it. So, yes, my vote for you is Hero, unless is for business.

 

[bmwguy]

I would NOT recommend the Hero. I have it now and am not happy with it. I feel like it is slow and laggy and the 2.1 OS has way too many bugs. Not to mention its outdated. With the EVO coming out in 1 week I cant see getting a Hero which is on its way to retirement. Id recommend getting an EVO or if you want a Blackberry then maybe a Curve 2.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

I would NOT recommend the Hero. I have it now and am not happy with it. I feel like it is slow and laggy and the 2.1 OS has way too many bugs. Not to mention its outdated. With the EVO coming out in 1 week I cant see getting a Hero which is on its way to retirement. Id recommend getting an EVO or if you want a Blackberry then maybe a Curve 2.

It does everything he would need. Have you looked into what may be causing your lag issues? Check out the tips section.

 

[me_2D]

Thanks for all the info. I appreciate the help. The phone will be strictly for personal use. I mainly am making the jump to a smartphone so that I can have access to the internet and personal email. I'm president of a non-profit org in my off-work hrs and need to check messages a few times a day, but my paying job's firewall prevents that.

After seeing a post this morning that Hero has dropped to $79.99 for the weekend, I'm about 95% decided that's the way I'll go. I know a lot of folks would say why get Hero when you can Evo, but I just don't know that I need all that phone (do I?)

Couple more questions. If I get the Hero...

2.1 upgrade - should I go custom or official?

Total Equipment Protection plan - get it or not? (and if I do, I assume I have to stick with only official upgrades and such?)

Thanks again for the help. This is all pretty new to me.

d

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

the reply to that is $30 at Best buy, no rebate.

 

[voghan]

You are probably better off buying the Evo. The Hero is a nice phone once it's been rooted but is based off last year's tech. Buy the Evo and you'll have a phone you can keep for another four years.

 

[KSmithInNY]

@voghan
I know quite a few people are jumping ship to the EVO but I for 1 am sticking around with hero atleast for a little while. With the advancements in OC, JIT, and apps2sd ... this phone will suit the needs of 99% of users, atleast until the next gen hits (nvidia chips are rumored to hit cells in time for the holidays). To the OP, buy a used hero on Craigslist after the EVO exodus then use your upgrade this winter ;-)

 

[flipfone]

Thanks for all the info. I appreciate the help. The phone will be strictly for personal use. I mainly am making the jump to a smartphone so that I can have access to the internet and personal email. I'm president of a non-profit org in my off-work hrs and need to check messages a few times a day, but my paying job's firewall prevents that.

After seeing a post this morning that Hero has dropped to $79.99 for the weekend, I'm about 95% decided that's the way I'll go. I know a lot of folks would say why get Hero when you can Evo, but I just don't know that I need all that phone (do I?)

Couple more questions. If I get the Hero...

2.1 upgrade - should I go custom or official?

Total Equipment Protection plan - get it or not? (and if I do, I assume I have to stick with only official upgrades and such?)

Thanks again for the help. This is all pretty new to me.

d

Custom all the way and i personally dont pay the money for insurance because 7$ * 3 phones on my plan per month = 21$/month so in 1 year i pay 300$ and when i DO lose or break a phone its a 100$ deductible to replace it. So @ 400$/year , thats 2 EVO's i could pay for in 1 year. interesting eh?!

 

[jtowndawg]

This seem like a good thread for me. I now have a blackberry 8330 on alltel and will be able to upgrade in a few months. Alltel just to the Hero and as far as I can tell it is there only android phone. I am a heavy user of my berry but find much to be desired on the web. I download apps and customize it as much as possibe. I like my friends moto droid but Alltel dosent have it and Version doesn't have great signal where I live. I don't know that much about the Hero and will hate to give up blackberry messenger but I need a better web than what bolt or opra mini or the stock browser give me. So my qusetion is the same. Is the Hero enough for me?

I also I was just reading about 2.1 having bugs in the forums. That was a few days ago so have they been fixed yet?

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

I though VZW bought Alltel (at least they did in Gainesville, FL)

 

[jtowndawg]

I though VZW bought Alltel (at least they did in Gainesville, FL)

Not every where. They bought something like 90% and the rest was bought buy altantic-tel or something like that and they are keeping the alltel name. They are behind on the phones and I have though of switching to vzw but "can you hear me now?" doesn't work as well here.

 

[KSmithInNY]

I though VZW bought Alltel (at least they did in Gainesville, FL)

If i recall correctly, the deal went something like VzW gets to keep all the towers from alltell that covered areas they didn't already have coverage and had to sell the rest to other carriers (regional carriers)

It's been a while though so I could be mistaken.