For those who went Pre --> Sprint Hero

[fossill]

Hello everyone. I'm a new member and I am currently a member over at precentral.net. I'm happy overall with my Pre, does everything I "need" it to do, but it just doesn't do much else beyond that.

I use my phone for work and personal use extensively. I really want a phone that can do everything I want it to do as well, and I love the widgets of the Spring Hero. I've read a lot of reviews of the new Android 2.0 coming out for the Hero once all is said and done which makes me feel more comfortable with a purchase.

I have a couple questions for those who are currently users of the Hero that came from the Pre, but anyone is more than welcome to chime in.

1. The Hero doesn't have a hardware silent button correct? I do love that the Pre and iPhone had this... Is it easy and fast to switch between silent and otherwise?

2. I haven't seen a single video going over the email client on the Hero. This is the thing I use the most on any given day. Hundreds of emails I go through. How is the email client compared to the Pre?

3. Realistic battery life, I've read the reviews, what is it compared to the Pre? I get roughly 10 hours of normal use on my Pre before a charge is needed. Sad huh?

4. What do you miss about your Pre if you owned one?

5. How loud is the speaker on the Hero? The Pre is a bit too quiet for me. I have a hard time hearing it in my pocket or even in the other room. And I have excellent hearing...

Any other feedback you guys have to add? I'd be buying this full retail, and I know going and trying it myself would be the best thing. But I'm just too busy to take the hour out of my day to do that right now with work. Any videos showing the emails, etc would be appreciated.

Thanks!!
Mario

 

[dullgeek]

I have a couple questions for those who are currently users of the Hero that came from the Pre, but anyone is more than welcome to chime in.

Well that'd be me. Sorta. I bought a Hero on the presumption that I had 30 days to return it so that I could review it. I plan on returning my Hero then taking Pre #4 - which now has screen bleed problems - to sprint and asking if they'll let me just swap it for a Hero.

1. The Hero doesn't have a hardware silent button correct? I do love that the Pre and iPhone had this... Is it easy and fast to switch between silent and otherwise?

Not that I've found by default. However there is a free set of widgets available in Android Market called "Beautiful Silence Widgets". There are two widgets: One silences the device (no rings, no vibrate) and the other puts it into vibrate mode (no rings). These work great directly off the home screen, and they're almost, but not quite as convenient as the hardware switch on the Pre.

2. I haven't seen a single video going over the email client on the Hero. This is the thing I use the most on any given day. Hundreds of emails I go through. How is the email client compared to the Pre?

There are two differences that jump out at me. First, Hero doesn't seem to include images on HTML emails. It just shows the text. I like the Pre's rendering of emails a lot better than the Hero's. If there's a setting for this in Hero's Mail app, I can't find it.

Second, there is no support for IMAP idle - e.g. push for imap. This means that you have to set your email to poll every X minutes. Hence IMAP based emails don't get delivered to the Hero as fast as they do on the Pre. It's a pity that Hero doesn't implement this. Because for most people it'll also save battery.

I don't know if Hero handles push in EAS. I don't use EAS on either my Pre or my Hero. However, I understand (from these forums) that the Hero's EAS doesn't support remote wipe and password enforcement rules. I think the Pre supports remote wipe, but I don't know about password enforcement

3. Realistic battery life, I've read the reviews, what is it compared to the Pre? I get roughly 10 hours of normal use on my Pre before a charge is needed. Sad huh?

I think the battery life on the Hero is a lot better than on the Pre. First, the Hero has a 1500mah battery vs Pre's 1150mah stock battery. Second, the Hero seems to have activated some sort of CPU sleeping. This appears to be what the Pre's cpu-scaling hack should be if it worked better..

There is a known problem with some applications (most notably the default SMS app) that cause the CPU to lock into wake mode. This drains the battery quickly. When the CPU is locked awake, I got worse battery life than the Pre. This has a workaround. And it works well. When the CPU is allowed to sleep, I get a *LOT* better battery life. For example, it's roughly 9pm. I pulled my Hero off the charger this morning at 7am. And I'm at about 60% battery still. I've left my Pre sitting most of the time since I got the Hero, and at the end of the day, after not being used at all, my Pre has less battery remaining than my Hero.

4. What do you miss about your Pre if you owned one?

The list of things I prefer on the Hero and miss on the Pre is a long list. I've got a full comparison blog post that I'm working on that'll be completed later this week (I think). I'll repost to this thread when I've got it out.

5. How loud is the speaker on the Hero? The Pre is a bit too quiet for me. I have a hard time hearing it in my pocket or even in the other room. And I have excellent hearing...

There are two speakers on both phones. The speaker phone speaker is about the same on both. The other speaker, the one you hold to your ear when you're on the phone is a lot louder than my Pre's "hold to your ear" speaker.

Any other feedback you guys have to add?

Two things. First, go to best buy and buy one on a new line. That way you can get it w/out having to worry about the $100 rebate. You have 30 days to try it. Either way, you can try it and see for yourself. Then, before the 30 days ends, cancel the line and return the phone. If you really like it go negotiate with Sprint. It's almost certainly going to be cheaper to pay the $200 ETF for the Pre than it will be to purchase the Hero at full retail.

At this point, I prefer the Hero to the Pre. If this continues for the next week or so, I'm going to ask Sprint if they'll let me trade my Pre for a Hero. I already have 3 defective Pre's on my account. And my current Pre has another hardware problem. I've read people who have had success negotiating with Sprint to let them swap after multiple device failures.

Good luck and I'll let you know when my comparison blog post gets finished and posted.

 

[fossill]

Wow! Thank you for taking the time to write me back with such a detailed response!

Unfortunately or fortunately I guess, my first Pre has been flawless since I got it 2 months or so ago. I haven't had a single issue with the software or hardware and seriously, I use it continuously. I rooted it and have been using PreWare for the software.

The soft keyboard hack is utterly useless, it has some serious lag. But the default phone has been flawless.

Let me know when you have your review up, and what happens with Sprint. You're right with the ETF response. If I wait a while, and they drop the price further, it may make sense to cancel, sell the pre, pick up a new line etc. and it will end up cheaper. Or just wait a while, it'll end up cheaper on ebay. Guess when/if the options come up, I'll dive in

Thanks again!!!
Mario

 

[dullgeek]

I rooted it and have been using PreWare for the software.

One of the things that I think I will miss from the Pre is the ability to easily get into the underlying OS. That said, the reason that PreWare is useful is because it makes available more apps than are in the App Catalog. Android Market doesn't have that problem. Although, I've found that none of the twitter apps on Android are nearly as good or full featured as Tweed or Twee. If you don't use twitter, then you won't care. But it does give me pause to wonder if other android market apps are going to be less functional to some of the webos equivalents.

That said, one of the apps that I really like in Android Market is Locale. It allows you to change phone settings based on where you are. So, for example, it can automatically silence your phone when you walk into church (or anywhere else that requires silence). Or it could turn on wifi automatically when you get home.

I've only started playing with it and it's pretty darn cool.

The soft keyboard hack is utterly useless, it has some serious lag.

No joke.

Let me know when you have your review up, and what happens with Sprint.

Will do

 

[Quis89]

1. The Hero doesn't have a hardware silent button correct? I do love that the Pre and iPhone had this... Is it easy and fast to switch between silent and otherwise?

No...there is an app to silence it but as far as whats on the phone stock, there isnt a fast way to do that.

2. I haven't seen a single video going over the email client on the Hero. This is the thing I use the most on any given day. Hundreds of emails I go through. How is the email client compared to the Pre?

Gmail sucks...which is weird seeing as how its Google Android. All other email clients are really user friendly. The email client overall isnt as nice as the Pre. It doesnt have one single place where you can access all of your emails as the Pre does.

3. Realistic battery life, I've read the reviews, what is it compared to the Pre? I get roughly 10 hours of normal use on my Pre before a charge is needed. Sad huh?

MUCH BETTER THAN THE PRE!!!!!!!!!!! 15+ hours with normal usage. Just make sure you leave things like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS off if you arent using them.

4. What do you miss about your Pre if you owned one?

The cards...multi-tasking was SOOOO much easier and more user friendly on the Pre. I REALLY miss the cards.

5. How loud is the speaker on the Hero? The Pre is a bit too quiet for me. I have a hard time hearing it in my pocket or even in the other room. And I have excellent hearing...

Decent...havent really used it too much though.

 

[ERDude]

1. Yes you can hold down the "end key," a menu comes up where you can select to silence the phone. Or you can use the volume button to get to vibrate.

2. The native mail app is pretty good, you have your choice of IMAP or POP3

3. Can't compare it to the Pre, but I have gotten up to 20 hours with moderate use. To be fair I don't leave GPS, BT or WiFi running, only turn them on when I need them.

4. Nothing, never had one.

5. Handset Speaker is phenomenal, have yet to increase it from its lowest setting. Speakerphone speaker is a little bit better than I had with my Treo, Curve & Tour.

 

[mikef1182]

Im doing a huge 30 day showdown between my Pre and my Hero. If you are interested the link to my blog is in my sig. I should have some videos up soon.

 

[GoofyGirl]

I too moved from the Palm Pre to the Hero. Pros and cons to both but the Hero is and will be my phone of choice. Possibly after updates and more apps I'll consider the Pre again - but right now Hero does what I need.

As far as silencing your phone quickly - if a call comes in - just turn it over. That will silence it. Battery life is much better on the Hero than the Pre in my experience. My email works fine - I have yahoo, gmail and hotmail all on there. I don't think using the account list to switch between email accounts is a problem. Overall I am extremely pleased with the Hero!

 

[dullgeek]

The cards...multi-tasking was SOOOO much easier and more user friendly on the Pre. I REALLY miss the cards.

Really? Not me. I think that android managing the apps without me having to do it is more advanced than cards. Sure it's satisfying to swipe away a card. But I don't actually think it works better.

How many times have you received that notification that you had too many cards open? WebOS demands that the user manage resources. Android does it for you.

Im doing a huge 30 day showdown between my Pre and my Hero. If you are interested the link to my blog is in my sig. I should have some videos up soon.

I'm very interested in your videos. But I don't see a sig on your post. I went and checked and I have view signatures turned on in the forum settings. Is there something obvious that I'm missing?

Edit:Nevermind. I found it: Mobile Mike

 

[mikef1182]

Really? Not me. I think that android managing the apps without me having to do it is more advanced than cards. Sure it's satisfying to swipe away a card. But I don't actually think it works better.

How many times have you received that notification that you had too many cards open? WebOS demands that the user manage resources. Android does it for you.

I'm very interested in your videos. But I don't see a sig on your post. I went and checked and I have view signatures turned on in the forum settings. Is there something obvious that I'm missing?

Edit:Nevermind. I found it: Mobile Mike

I will have my Week One video along with some other impressions up later tonight.

Its a tough call between these two.

 

[fossill]

I am a bit confused by the two email options. Gmail and a regular email client all on the Hero together? Why would they have two?

What are the differences? Will Gmail NOT work with the regular client and are you forced to use the Gmail client specific on the phone?

Thank you everyone for all your feedback!!!!
Mario

 

[gottria]

I will have my Week One video along with some other impressions up later tonight.

Its a tough call between these two.

Looking forward to the video and comparison. I bought the Hero used on CL and have been using the Pre for about 3 months. Can't wait to see what your thoughts are.

 

[dullgeek]

The Gmail app is a dedicated client for Gmail. Kinda like a twitter app can be a dedicated client for Twitter. It appears to render HTML email a bit better than the default mail app.

 

[mikef1182]

Here is the link to my 30 day Hero vs Pre showdown review:

Mobile Mike: 30 Day Throw Down: Hero vs Pre: Week 1

 

[dullgeek]

Here's my initial thoughts: Dull Geek: HTC Hero vs Palm Pre

 

[gottria]

Here is the link to my 30 day Hero vs Pre showdown review:

Mobile Mike: 30 Day Throw Down: Hero vs Pre: Week 1

Good job Mike, I'll have to watch it again and take notes. Biggest things I miss from the Pre to the Hero.

1) Unified inbox, I have 3 mail accounts, Gmail, Yahoo, and EAS. Having them in all one place is great.

2) Multitasking and the cards, swipe it off the screen and the apps closed, slide the cards over to open another program.

3) Universal search, slide up the keyboard and start typing what your looking for, contact, application on the Pre, or a Google search, all from one place.

4) Synergy. Synergy. Synergy

 

[pacha248]

Good job Mike, I'll have to watch it again and take notes. Biggest things I miss from the Pre to the Hero.

1) Unified inbox, I have 3 mail accounts, Gmail, Yahoo, and EAS. Having them in all one place is great.

2) Multitasking and the cards, swipe it off the screen and the apps closed, slide the cards over to open another program.

3) Universal search, slide up the keyboard and start typing what your looking for, contact, application on the Pre, or a Google search, all from one place.

4) Synergy. Synergy. Synergy

I also miss the unified inbox and multitasking of the Pre. As for universal search, it's included in the Android 2.0 update and I think it's also in the Android 1.6 update.

 

[gottria]

I also miss the unified inbox and multitasking of the Pre. As for universal search, it's included in the Android 2.0 update and I think it's also in the Android 1.6 update.

Yea, I'm holding onto the Hero until 2.0 comes out and I'm sure the Pre will have an update by then. Then we can review this comparison and see where were at. Right now for me it's the Pre.

 

[mikef1182]

Yea, I'm holding onto the Hero until 2.0 comes out and I'm sure the Pre will have an update by then. Then we can review this comparison and see where were at. Right now for me it's the Pre.

Thanks for watching! I'll have some more in depth stuff like ap stores, widgets and what not on week 2.

I agree, unified inbox and universal search are the 2 things I wish the Hero had. Hopefully 2.0 will resolve those for me though.

 

[gbp]

I have both on my account.
After weighing the pros and cons , I still prefer Pre over Hero.

I miss the following things in Hero which are in Pre or better implemented in Pre than Hero.

Browser is fast, and renders full before zooming out. Hero's browser is a year behind. (IMO)

Switching between apps is not intuitive on Hero , with pre its either card view or advanced swipes in Hero you touch and hold the "home" button then jump between any of the six apps.


On Pre , searching apps , or browsing sites or finding phone number is as simple as sliding the keyboard and start typing . You have to open the app to before doing the search and browse things.


The email client is better implemented in Pre , all inboxes show up in a single client. Which gives you a better perspective.

Camera is much better in terms of responsiveness.

Keyboard is thousand times better than the slow Hero's onscreen keyboard.

But I miss the following in Pre .

Voice activated dialing.

Google voice search.

Video recording.

Bigger screen

Hero's battery though bigger than the Pre gives the same 8 hour use which the Pre does too (barely).