HTC Hero review
Expert Rating:
FREE Phone from orangeRacoon 35
HTC Hero Video Review HTC Hero Deals (3458)We were present at the lunch event of HTC Hero and what we have seen was quite impressive. When everyone is talking about the iPhone and 3GS, it’s interesting to see HTC Hero can take Google phones to that level. HTC Hero is an Android phones and it seems like a combination of HTC's Magic and G1. Hero at 14.3mm depth is slightly thicker than Magic, feature larger chassis and improved hardware.
HTC Hero - Package
The package of HTC Hero seems quite attractive. A 5 mega pixel camera, improved accuracy of touch screen, no Qwerty keyboard, a 3.5mm jack, better recognition and screen accuracy are all bundled in the device. The hardware is definitely renovated without being bulky. HTC Hero is sleek and strong. Home screen of the phone comes with complete customizable option. You can avail up to seven home screens and can customize according to your wish. Thus, you have an option to put images on one screen, whether on another, Twitter feed on another, etc.
In HTC Hero, you can scroll right and left on the home screen and enjoy immaculate accessibility of diverse customizable profiles. This gives an experience of customizing home screens like never before. Not only have the built-in widgets, HTC Hero also facilitated the user to download varied widgets to enjoy even better customizing experience.
HTC Hero - The Skin
Though HTC is claiming that Hero is innovative and ground-breaking, but in core it gives complete experience of Android through its Windows Mobile TouchFLO 3D skin. There are already several scrollable widgets on the bottom of the phone, even though the offerings of HTC Hero are much bigger than what is actually expected.
You do no have to just remain satisfied with the accessibility or Twitter, but at the same time you can access Flickr, Facebook, numerous clocks and much more. HTC Hero also provides you opportunity to manage widgets. You can set different widgets at one time and can also turn off certain widget whenever you want. For example: at the weekends, when you are not working, you can put off the work widgets of the phone. Thus, HTC has taken Android phones to another level with Hero and its centralized accessibility.
Do you need to post a reply or send direct messages on Twitter and you are accessing another application or widget? No you do not require finding the way among the bulky menus; you can directly swipe and access the required application, at the bottom of each widget.
The entire User Interface of the phone is very impressive and it will be specially liked by the lovers of TouchFLO 3D interface. Even though the new skin is very closely linked, it is amazing that HTC didn't decide to make a bigger deal out of it. On the whole, the strength of the hardware of HTC Hero is quite good, rather impressive. In addition, the improved skins from the Magic, with by and large Android experience, are already reasonably wide-ranging and much more innate.
HTC Hero - Music
If you have heard the music players of the first two Android versions of HTC, then you will find that Hero’s music player is much better. The cover flow-style interface of the music player and the other features like play lists, songs, artists and searching between artists are all immaculate. Talking about sound and alerts, HTC Hero includes speaker phone, vibration and MP3, WAV and downloadable polyphonic ring tones.
HTC Hero Review - Camera
HTC Hero presents 5 mega pixel auto focus camera. The snaps taken are nice but the quality is not that exceptional. Due to lack flash feature, the shots taken during darker period is not that clear. However, there are several settings that facilitate the users to take some good quality snaps.
You can use the full screen of HTC Hero to view the Flash videos. Checkout whatever site you wish to navigate and then switch to video mode on the 3.2-inch screen, real fast. However, the display might appear small to some people, considering the class of the device. Managing contacts of HTC Hero is really upgraded and enjoyable. Whenever you update your Facebook contacts or add photos, it gets updated in the contact information of the phone.
HTC Hero Review - Messaging
The messaging accuracy is really upgraded. When we compare the same feature of HTC Magic, the difference is evident and Hero stands out tall. Both the portrait and landscape modes of HTC Hero are better than the earlier versions of the phones. Not only that, the accuracy is almost similar to that of iPhone, which itself is no less than a milestone. HTC Hero comes with Li-Ion 1350 mAh standard battery that can allow talk time up to 7-8 hours. The stand-by time is between 440 hours to 750 hours for 2G and 3G models respectively. HTC Hero doesn't come with Infrared. It features Bluetooth® v2.0 with A2DP and mini USB.
HTC Hero Review - Internet
Accessibility of internet on HTC Hero is immaculate. It might not be as polished as Safari but it has done a brilliant job by incorporating the multi touch facility from Apple along with Flash compatibility. Moreover, the smart text used can be extended or contracted to any size according to your requirement. This is a complete solution of internet that gels brilliantly with touch screen device like HTC Hero.
With the entire above plus features, HTC Hero comes with certain limitations as well. Using a trackball or fingers, the scrolling feature of the device is quite slow. It takes quite a lot of time to load each category.
Another factor is that, when the counterparts are 600MHz+, we don’t know why HTC is still using 528MHz processor. The system thus lacks that edge what other mobiles are overcoming. It’s not that HTC Hero is not a quality phone, it definitely is and hence it should check out the matter and get rid of its slow speed. With just a bit of more power HTC Hero can rule this category of devices.
HTC Hero specification
- 5 Mega-pixel camera with Autofocus Photo Album & Camera Settings
- Video Recorder
- Video Player with Windows Media® 9, H263, H264 & MPEG4 Formats
- 3.2 inch TFT LCD touch screen display with 65k colours & 320 x 480 pixels
- Music Player supports Windows Media® 9, WAV, MP3, AMR, MIDI, & AAC Formats
- MP3 Ringtones
- SMS, MMS & Email Messaging
- Instant Messenger
- Downloadable Games
- Personal organiser with Phonebook, Clock, Alarm clock & Calendar
- GPS Navigator
- Qualcomm® Processor
- Multi touch input
- Document Viewer
- Operating System using Android®
- HTC Sense&trade User interface
- 512 Megabytes of ROM, 288 MB of RAM with MicroSD™ Memory card support
- Bluetooth®, HSCSD, WiFi®, 3G HSDPA & USB Connectivity
- EDGE & GPRS Technology
- Quad band 1900 GSM, 1800 GSM, 900 GSM, 850 GSM & HSDPA 2100, 900 Networks
- HTML Web Browser
- GSM Talk Time 8hrs
- 3G Talk Time 7hrs
- GSM Standby Time 440hrs
- 3G Standby Time 750hrs
- Size 14.3 x 56.2 x 112mm
- Weight 135g
HTC Hero consumer reviews
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Below is a small selection of our HTC Hero deals. To see more HTC Hero deals click on the red button to the right.| Phone | Price plan | Minutes | Texts | Line rental | APM average per month | Go To Deal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 18 mth contract |  HTC Hero on Orange Dolphin 35 (18)  | 600 | Unlimited | £35 | £27.22 | FREE PHONE  |
12 mth contract |  HTC Hero on Your Plan 300 | 300 | Unlimited | £35 | £29.17 | FREE PHONE |
12 mth contract | HTC Hero on Your Plan 900 | 900 | Unlimited | £45 | £31.88 | FREE PHONE |
18 mth contract | HTC Hero on Orange Dolphin 35 (18)  | 600 | Unlimited | £35 | £32.22 | FREE PHONE |
12 mth contract | HTC Hero on Your Plan 300 | 300 | Unlimited | £35 | £34.17 | FREE PHONE |
18 mth contract | HTC Hero on Orange Dolphin 35 (18) | 600 | Unlimited | £35 | £35 | FREE PHONE |
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