HTC Hero (CDMA)
Average Ratings
From Hero to Zero
Sorry, but the phone gets a major deduction for build quality. I don't have time to write a huge review, but I can tell you a brief statement about my experience.
Sprint has either allowed numerous phones recently out on the market to be produced with sub par build quality. I've had the Instinct and now this Hero. My biggest complaint is the leaking of dust underneath the glass of the capacitive screen. Someone insisted in that stupid button pad design instead of what the similar models had (ie Euro Hero, Droid Eris, etc) and this is the main source for allowing dust to enter. Combine that with a defective seal between the LCD and glass and you got a dust magnet. I carried mine around in a holster (which I hate) to try and prevent this from happening but on occasion I had to put holster and all in my pocket this winter. I still ended up with dust. At this point, I figure it is absolutely ridiculous to have a phone which cannot be carrried around in my pocket so I just said screw it and ditched the holster awhile back. I have a ton of dust spray from bottom left of screen (where the LCD plug in cable creates an even greater compromise on the seal) and it looks awful. I am hesistant on theEVO because of my experience with this HTC. I will likely get the Samsung Epic this October when I'm eligible because at least Sammy knows how to make a phone work well as a phone. This is something the Hero is not so good at either. The Sense UI overwhelms the puny processor and bogs the phone down. When you want to go to your phone book, the phone tries to update all the facebook and google info on each contact so it just gets really laggy. It was a good concept, but when I'm on the road and need to call someone I don't need to be fumbling and staring at the phone trying to scroll down and select the person I need to dial due to lag.
Cons:
Build Quality
Slow processor to keep up with ever growing Android
dust under screen (was very common issue--check the forums on websites)
NOT GOOD!!
not good!!
pro: nice sleek style
love the andriod apps
cons EVERYTHING else
battery sucks
touch is HORRIBLE
LAG LAG LAG takes me 2 minutes to make a call
i am a texter & this phone is not for you if your a texter as well
really do not like this phone thank goodness sprint is working with me i am getting a pink samsung intercept tomorrow.. i truly hope it is better i want to stick with android services otherwise going back to BB have not had any issues with that phone what so ever..
on the other hand my daughter has a hero & her's is GREAT besides the battery life works great for her but she doesn't do much on hers .. my recommends would be don't get this phone
Lovin' my Hero
Ive had this phone for about 2 weeks and I have to say Im lovin' it! I had the palm centro from 2008-2009 and then decided I wanted to try HTC, and had the HTC TOUCH PRO AND THEN THE DIAMOND. I LOVED the 3D flow on those phones! The Diamond was getting a lil outdated so then I went to the pixi and then a blackberry then back to the pixi, but then Ive noticed my pixi was being a p.O.S and had to junk it. So I was going to get the blackberry 9650, but then decided Ive already tried blackberry OS and didnt like it that much so decided to try android. I never thought I would like Android, but I decided on the HTC HERO, and Im so glad I did, because Its like my new best friend. I love htc sense and i love the widgets selection. I love the 7 scenes to chose from and customize them however you like. The screen is so smooth and my phone is fast, My battery lasts me about 8-10 hours a day, not complaininq since Im a stay at home mom till september then Ill be going to get my BA in Psychology. The only thing I dont like about this phone is how the phonebook and and call logs look. Ive never liked how HTC organized that. But other than that the Evo is almost the same except---bigger screen, live wallpaper, hdmi and faster processor. My mom has the Evo and its soo big, id be afraid to drop it while texting on it. I love my hero, and wont be upgrading prolly till the hero 2 comes out , or maybe ill change my mind and get the evo...Idk yet. It should get the new android update before the samsung intercept because that phone is garbage! I had that phone for a week and couldnt stand the low resolution screen. The camera is nice for a being a camera on a phone. My only complaint is there is no flash. I have no complaints about the phone. My phone never drops calls, doesnt lag. battery life lasts. For those of you that complain, the phone is not a mini computer where you can download TONS AND TONS OF APPS and then you wonder why your phone is slow!
What a disappointment
Would definitely make a better paperweight than a phone. This thing is HORRIBLE. I don't know how it got 4 star average - my hunch is people are reviewing this phone after 2 days with it.
HUGE problems:
1) Drops calls like crazy - part Sprint, but mostly the phone.
2) Almost impossible to hang up the phone after talking - takes a couple maneuvers to do it, so don't badmouth the person you were on the phone with right after hanging up - chances are you are not hung up!
3) LAG LAG LAG - can you say LAG. Once you do get the phone to hang up it lags so bad it thinks you hit the end call button more than once and redials the person back half the time.
4) Today - my THIRD Hero - Sprint refuses to give me a different phone. Hung up on 4 calls in a row in a matter of 15 minutes.
I like to say good things about products, I love to endorse something. But this phone is so God awful I could no with clear conscience recommend it to anyone.
This is how bad it is: I am going to T-Mobile after Sprint REFUSES to replace this phone with another kind. I am willing to pay the $200 early termination fee to RUN RUN away from this phone and all the mess.
Advice - IF you choose to get this phone with Sprint keep in mind you have only 30 days to exchange the phone for a different kind of phone. After 30 days, even with the extended warranty they will ONLY repair or replace the Hero. If you hate it after 31 days you are out of luck. Sprint actually told me today that they would take it in on trade, give me $80 credit toward the Samsung Moment which I can buy for an additional $320. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. Customer service with Sprint and customer appreciation is NONEXISTENT.
They can have my $200 - I will sell the junk phone on Ebay for $275 and use the $75 leftover toward the 3G Slide at T-Mobile.
SPRINT - yes do - Sprint on over to T-Mobile, Verizon or AT&T.
Great features, horrible performance
I was very excited to get this phone and after having it for 5 months I am on the fence.
It has great features but the performance is horrible. Flipping form portrait to landscape is slow 3 - 5 seconds. If you are on the web or texting and you get a phone call there is almost no chance of answering it because it will not pick you your answer command fast enough to process.
It does have great features and apps. Yelp, ALOQA, Assistance (Pageonce.com), Shop Savy are some of my favorite.
I do have a task killer and it works fine but even with all the "tweaks" out there, the battery is horrible. Mine is normally dead by about 7 or 8 at night without streaming any data (Pandora...). If you get this phone make sure you have access to charge it half way though the day.
Pros:
Applications
Easy interface
Form Factor
Android
Sprint Plan
Overall Functionality
Cons:
Performance
Battery Life
Summary -
If you need performance and applications and don't mind the price, get an iPhone. If you hate ATT - wait for this summer and get the EVO (has it all).
If you can deal with slow performance this phone is awesome and has great features.
Solid Android PHone
Purchased the phone on 1/1/10. Have used many of the apps in the Market. Phone call quality is excellent. Phone customization is excellent - easy to sync Exchange, Google, and other e-mail accounts. Google calendar is great to sync - many third party apps. available to customize quick views for calendars. Google search works great. Slight delay on response time, but still great for app. HTC Sense works great. I use the app. killer software to maximize the battery. I also purchased a Seidio extended battery - have two-three days between charges. It does make the phone bigger, but battery life is now great. Looking forward to Android 2.1 in late March/early April.
Missin' my Instinct
The Hero is a good phone with lots of perks and apps that'll keep most it's owners happy. But It's two flaws are big enough to make me regret buying it. I re-upped from the original Samsung Instinct, which I took a liking to mainly because of how intuitive it was. The HTC Hero in contrast is not intuitive at all. Everything seems backwards in comparison to other smart/multimedia phones. Seriously how many menus does one screen need? So my first issue is; there's a huge learning curve. Not that I think I'll never get used to it, I just don't see the point when other phones, like the Palm Pre, are so easy to use out of the box.
The second problem I have is actually the BIG problem. It's battery lasts maybe nine hours. Try taking that on a road trip! I used my Instinct as my mp3 player after I lost my Zune. I can't even play an albums worth of music on the Hero without cutting it's battery life by tons. Did you know that most cellphone batteries lose half their capacity to hold a charge in between tweleve to sixteen months? So if this battery lasts nine hours now I am looking at five hours this time next year!
Hero saved me!
I left the cell industry 2 yrs ago and have been somewhat out of touch and as my contract was up for renew, I needed to do some research. My friends still work for The Shack so I polled all of them for info. I was leaning to the PRE as I'm a Palm loyalist, and I have never been without a physical keyboard, but everyone said Hero or Moment....So I search the net for 2 months reading reviews, testing my friends.
I settled on the Hero, after seeing the Oreo effect of the Pre first hand, and no customization, and the keyboard on the Moment bothered me.
OMG the HERO IS the BEST phone on SprintPCS right now! The phone always makes the service and this phone is a winner.
I will not list Pro's and Con's as so many people have, but in real world use....It exceeds all my expectations and I can't wait for the 2.1 update. Yes the hardware is outdated compared to newer devices, but it doesn't feel that way. the build is good, the screen is bright and responsive, (as long as your not in sunlight)the onscreen keyboard is very responsive compared to other touchscreens, after draining the battery a couple times and doing a full charge I have a hard time killing it after a day of use, including Meebo IM on all day, Twitter and facebook going, Wireless network always on, Pandora going and texting all day long.
Overall, the cons i think will start to disappear as 2.1 rolls out.
Thank you HTC for finally delivering a GREAT product. And to APPLE....the reason technology advances is because companies like HTC come along and IMPROVE on existing products, not stifle them in court cases so they can release minor updates to milk all the money they can out of consumers, rapid growth is good, and you were not the fist smartphone with a touch screen on the market, you would do well to remember that otherwise you wouldn't be where you are today.
Awesome Phone!!!
I am going to give a detailed review about this phone because I just think its wonderful although I will mention the numbered flaws/cons it has.
The HTC Hero was my first phone with no physical keyboard, my first all touch screen phone. It took some getting use to. But I love it, granted I text less bc I think twice before texting a story to someone vs just calling them and telling them which is much faster. The Battery is AMAZING! Many people say it's not! THEY ARE WRONG. Heres what you do to mantain the type of battery life I have. The kind that I charge for ONLY 4 hours at night MAX. Example, I plug in by 9pm and by midnight I unplug with full charge. I go to sleep and in the morning I still have full charge, I resume my normal day listening to Pandora Radio, using the web, texting and talking, by 5pm I still have about 50% battery (and this is on my heavy day of use) and by 8ish I have about 20% this is when I get out of work and im non stop on the phone. I have my brightness screen at 54%. I turn off the Data Sync. I have my hotmail alerting me every 15 min. I have the Advanced Task Killer APP where every other hour I kill Apps BECAUSE the CON to this phone is it decides to run applications in the background, even if your phone is standing still w/out use. I DONT KNOW WHY! But it doesnt bother me, as my battery doesnt get affected.
I have let the battery drained three times completely til it shut down on its own in order to get the battery to last the way it does now, and even every now and then I let it drain to re-charge fully and its good for the battery meter as well.
This is the phone to have!!!
I miss my keyboard, but when you have a phone like this with the internet speed extremely fast, i am fine with what I have! Its not perfect, as nothing really is, but if perfect existed, this would be a prime example of what perfection is.
Take my word for it, GET THIS PHONE WORTH IT, you will thank me!
