HTC Hero Review

The HTC Hero is one of the biggest milestones in Android’s expansive selection of phones. It introduced the ever popular HTC Sense skin for android as well as the flip clock. With a five megapixel camera and five hundred mhz processer it may not be the most speced up device, but it is sure to please fans of HTC and the best custom skin to ever hit Android.

First let’s talk about the body of the phone. It is made of a soft touch plastic similar to the Evo and the Nexus One. It also has 3.2 inch screen with a resolution of 320×480 so screen junkies should stay away. Other features included on the front are six physical buttons that consist of an end key, a send key, home button, back button, menu button, and a search one as well. On the sides of the device we find a MiniUSB port as well as a volume rocker and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. And lastly on the back it says “with GOOGLE” and also features a five megapixel camera.

Why the Hero?

When you are choosing between different phones you probably want to find what a phone can provide you with that others can’t. The best thing about the Hero (when it was released) is that it was the only phone with Sense UI. What was great about it was the custom widgets, the ability to run Flash content right on the phone, and beautiful interface. When it came to the marvelous interface HTC took a stylized yet functional approach. When you turn on the phone you will find missed calls, the time, and the date. To unlock the phone you just swipe down to unlock and up comes the famous flip clock. This thing is famous for a reason, it works and it looks cool. It tells your location, time, date, and weather. On the bottom of the screen you will find a phone button, a plus button that is used for adding widgets, and the app droor. You are given 7 home screens that can be filled up with icons and widgets. And because this is Android you can also change the launcher (home screen styles) to be stock Android or even Windows Phone 7.  All in all this is a very functional phone when it comes to interface and style.

Browsing

If you are like me you probably like to browse the web on your phone A LOT. The Hero also has you covered with a full-featured browser complete with Adobe Flash. This means you can visit sites like ESPN that require Flash to run without a need for a mobile version. Though the video is choppy at least you have the option to use it. The phone was also the first Android phone to have pinch to zoom in the browser. Like the Flash though, it does stutter when used so it is probably best not to use it. My favorite feature in the browser is that when you double tap a piece of text it forms to fit the screen. So unlike the iPhone you can scroll straight down without having to go side to side. The browser has Flash and pinch to zoom, though choppy, like I said, at least it has these things.

Probably the worst thing about the phone is the severe LAG. When I first got the Hero it was a BEAST of a phone because it was running Android 1.5 so the system didn’t take as much of a toll on the speed. But then the dreadful day came when Sprint released the Android 2.1 update into the wild. Once I installed the update the phone just chugged when switching homes screens and opening apps. Though the browser was improved it still wasn’t enough to justify the HOME SCREEN LAG. As soon as a third party software rom (think switching out the OS on the phone) called CyanogenMod 6 was released which used Android 2.2 as the base of the system, I decided to root (jailbreak for you iPhone users) and I have loved this phone as much as the first day I got it.

   The bottom line is that you should not get this phone unless you have the intention to root it or else you will be stuck with the aging Android 1.6.

Ratings

By: Matthew Hamil