It's time to just be straight up about it: music sucks on Hero.

[dvdqnoc]

I recently purchased the Sprint HTC Hero and for the most part I like it.

But one of the BIGGEST dissapointments for me is the fact that the music is bad. Navigating within the music app itself can get very laggy and slow. Sometimes the play button shows the play button when its supposed to show the pause button. On the now-playing screen, you can't hold the "next" button to fast forward within the song (though you can drag the marker to fast forward/rewind). The HTC music apps are very slow - when I flick to a homescreen with the music widget on it, takes about 4-5 seconds to switch from what it currently shows to what is actually being played (until then it shows what it was last playing when you viewed the widget). Music options on the lockscreen are supposed to only show while music is playing, but seem to show sometimes even when music is not playing (only sometimes, though). Music quality itself is horrible - no EQ, and in fact, I dont even think EQ would improve the sound quality (though it would help a little). And believe it or not (at least for me) the music skips! Im listening to music like normal and it would start skipping! Then it would play normally and skip some more later. Like some old portable CD player when you shake it or bumb it. Anyone experience this?

And the WORST of all: listening to music makes the rest of the Sense UI experience slow and laggy. When music is not playing, I can scroll between homescreens pretty fast, navigate in/out/through apps quickly for the most part. But while music is playing, homescreen flicking gets very jerky and laggy. It takes longer for an app to open after you tap it. Just slows down the phone. Then it does some of the skipping again.

Coming from a heavy iPod user, I am very music-oriented and was really hoping that I could use this Hero as my main music device so that I don't have to carry around both a phone and an iPod. Very very dissapointed.

 

[esanger02]

Just remember that they release OS updates for the phone, just give it some time to shine before you just give up completely on it.

 

[dvdqnoc]

Good point. Hopefully there will be an update in the future to fix some of the problems we are facing and up the performance a little more

 

[doublebullout]

There are other music apps in the Market, though I haven't tried any of them yet. The stock Hero music app isn't as good as the Pre's.

 

[anon(697)]

I agree but don't find it quite as bad as you.

The update from 1.x firmware to the 2.73 firmware (which US Sprint phones have already) helped a lot, but I still get stuttering occasionally at the start of a track and there is a definite hiss in the background.

I can live with it though by restarting the phone once every day or two, which seems to fix the stuttering. I just remember that this is a phone with a music player built in, not a music player with a phone built in like the (much more expensive) iPhone.

There are other apps available, but some of the ones I have tried (like TuneWiki) very often seem to get stuck between tracks and a button needs to be pressed on the handset to wake it up to start the next track. Happens to me in Google Listen too so I think it's a problem with the firmware. The other apps also don't have lock screen controls, so I stick with the built in player.

Dave

 

[mabmarc#WP]

I noticed mine was getting laggy also. I had task panel and a few other task managers loaded that were causing some stuttering. I also removed some of the data oriented widgets off my home screen (like weather). I have one task manager and it is TaskKiller Free (red android guy). It seems to be smoother now.

 

[Networx2002]

Works fine for me so far

 

[anon(697)]

Also remember that every app/widget you have that sync at regular intervals can cause a bit of a lag for a couple of seconds - try to reduce the number of syncing apps/widgets you have and turn down the sync frequency for those you keep.

Dave

 

[robber]

I recently purchased the Sprint HTC Hero and for the most part I like it.

But one of the BIGGEST dissapointments for me is the fact that the music is bad. Navigating within the music app itself can get very laggy and slow. Sometimes the play button shows the play button when its supposed to show the pause button. On the now-playing screen, you can't hold the "next" button to fast forward within the song (though you can drag the marker to fast forward/rewind). The HTC music apps are very slow - when I flick to a homescreen with the music widget on it, takes about 4-5 seconds to switch from what it currently shows to what is actually being played (until then it shows what it was last playing when you viewed the widget). Music options on the lockscreen are supposed to only show while music is playing, but seem to show sometimes even when music is not playing (only sometimes, though). Music quality itself is horrible - no EQ, and in fact, I dont even think EQ would improve the sound quality (though it would help a little). And believe it or not (at least for me) the music skips! Im listening to music like normal and it would start skipping! Then it would play normally and skip some more later. Like some old portable CD player when you shake it or bumb it. Anyone experience this?

And the WORST of all: listening to music makes the rest of the Sense UI experience slow and laggy. When music is not playing, I can scroll between homescreens pretty fast, navigate in/out/through apps quickly for the most part. But while music is playing, homescreen flicking gets very jerky and laggy. It takes longer for an app to open after you tap it. Just slows down the phone. Then it does some of the skipping again.

Coming from a heavy iPod user, I am very music-oriented and was really hoping that I could use this Hero as my main music device so that I don't have to carry around both a phone and an iPod. Very very dissapointed.

What bitrate is your music encoded at?

 

[dvdqnoc]

I don't know wha bitrate my music is encoded at. I'm speaking in perspective an average, everyday cellphone user who wants to use their phone to listen to music. I'm sure most people dont know what bitrate their mic is endoded at.

And get wrong guys, I love the hero. I'm just pointing out one thing I don't about it.

 

[thither]

Yeah, the music app could certainly be better - though for me the main issue is the headphone jack bug (see the toggleheadset site for some background on the headphone jack bug and a widget which works around it). I have noticed some background noise (hiss/static) when playing back podcasts, though I'm not entirely sure it comes from the player and not the file at the moment. I'm not getting jitter or skipping as dvdqnoc indicates, for what it's worth.

 

[infenit101]

No problems here.

Also where are these better music apps you guys refer to?

 

[themyst]

What speed is your MicroSD card? Get a Class 6 card for faster read/write.
Class 2 and 4 cards are on the slower side, and could possibly be the cause for audio stuttering.

 

[cybrspidey]

That is exactly right

What speed is your MicroSD card? Get a Class 6 card for faster read/write.
Class 2 and 4 cards are on the slower side, and could possibly be the cause for audio stuttering.

You definitely want a class 6 card. Class 2 and even 4 will cause lags. Class 6 solves all those problems! Or, at least for me it did.

 

[Wiseguy158]

I switched out the default HTC music widget for the Android music widget (both included w/ the phone). It has a smaller footprint (1x4 vs. full screen - although doesn't show cover art, just title, play and next track). I can only assume this would help some of the lag on the phone when running music w/ the HTC widget.

 

[dvdqnoc]

You definitely want a class 6 card. Class 2 and even 4 will cause lags. Class 6 solves all those problems! Or, at least for me it did.

I was under the impression that Sprint Hero only supports class 2? Maybe I am wrong. Have you personally tried class 6 to find that it works normally on the Sprint hero? If so, is there a significant different in the music lag after switching from class 2 to class 6 (i.e. class 2 caused music app to be slow and laggy, but class 6 made it fast and snappy)?

 

[grdaven]

Are you using the supplied micro sd card or another? I am using a high speed 8 gb card and have no problems surfing or with widgets running no lag at all. I am also not having any cracking noises you are speaking of. Maybe your phone is defective or has a bad micro sd card.

 

[Wiseguy158]

im using the supplied sd card and not getting lag...

 

[techgeek32#WN]

I totally disagree

I have used a Pre since June and the Hero music and Pandora app are actually better. Is it perfect or as good as an iPhone or iPod Touch? of course not, but I have compared the Sprint Hero and Pre next to each other and the music quality and sound level are equivilent. There are even extra features in the Hero music app that the Pre doesn't have. You need to remember that since the HTC Sense UI keeps programs running in the background that you need to have many of them shut down to achieve a great music experience. I would guess that most of you are noticing problems because you have alot of programs running in the background which eats up all of the availalbe memory.

If you are on Sprint the Hero and Pre are your 2 best options for a smartphone that plays acceptible music.