Sprint HTC Hero
Well, I broke down and trying out the new Sprint HTC Hero. It’s replacing my Samsung Instinct phone which I really enjoyed and was debating over getting the new Samsung Instinct HD or the HTC Hero.
Instinct HD advantages over the HTC Hero included: HD video and Flash.
The HTC Hero sold me on the fact there are more applications being developed. The Samsung Instinct aps were usable, but if you wanted additional aps, the selections were sparse.
Initial impressions of the HTC Hero:
The bad:
Battery life is terrible, I’m lucky if it lasts half a day before having to charge it
Why they don’t use a normal USB connector takes me back to Sony and their power adapters.
Wish they did what Samsung had done with the first roll out of Instinct, supply 2 batteries and an External Charger so you could charge the spare battery without the phone. What good is a phone if it has no power?
Did not come with a car charger or case. Luckly, it fits in the Samsung Instinct Case.
All the reviewers seem to be estatic that it has a headphone jack. What I wish it had was a cover for the jack so the internals are not exposed. Personally I use a bluetooth headphones, so the jack isn’t used.
The HTC Sync and drivers did not install on Windows 7, so I don’t have this option.
Sprint I thought was suppose to be able to download all my existing contacts that were on my old phone to the new phone. Haven’t seen this done yet.
Still haven’t figured out how to download / install additional aps. i.e. meebo.
No improvements with Sprint TV or the GPS, It’s not a phone issue, it appears to be Sprint.
Can’t set up a OWA email type account. (Instinct had this in a very user friendly interface)
Somehow, it downloaded all my outlook contacts (Actually I think it came from my gmail contact list, didn’t think I had all these in my gmail account, something I have to look into), but there’s no way to do a search that I can see and scrolling thru hundreds of contacts is not practical. The instinct at least gave you a way to scroll by alphabet. I know you can create favorites, but a more flexible way to search for contacts would be helpful.
The display keeps fading from bright to dim, very very annoying. I think I read there is a light sensor, but I haven’t figured out how to disable this. Didn’t see it as a choice under the settings options.
Wish there was actually a driver disk that included a modem driver similar to the instinct. (note: The sync software is on the included micro SD card).
Pros:
Customizable looks for different environments: ie. home, work, play, etc.
Like the built in Wi-Fi support
The coating on the phone doesn’t show finger prints like alot of the phones. Wish notebooks had a similar coating on their screens, keyboards and casing.
Alot I’m sure is my lack of knowledge on this phone, but these are my first initial impressions.