HTC Hero Review
A couple weeks ago I picked up a HTC Hero for my wife and myself.
I've never used a smart phone before but was looking forward to the
idea of getting to my Google apps from my phone. Since I was never
going to go back to AT&T wireless after the way they over billed me
at the end of our relationship, I've been looking forward to getting a
Google phone from Sprint.
The nicest feature I've used a lot is the easy access to Facebook and Twitter. The 5 mega pixel camera built into the phone allows me to take a picture and immediately upload pictures to Facebook or Flickr. I also just find myself using Facebook and Twitter more now that I can access them easily from my phone. The phone has become a hand held computer that I can check my email, IM, check my account balances, look for resaraunts, get directions and all kinds of other things. It a brave new world to explore and so far I like it.
I was immediately taken back by how crisp the screen was on the
Hero. The browser is excellent, the UI is easy to maneuver around and
the ease of use with GMail, GTalk and Google Calender are excellent.
The Hero has seven panels you can move though which you can place short
cuts to apps running on your phone. For the most part I'm happy with
the number of apps I've been able to find on the Google Marketplace.
I've gotten a few free games, some oddball applications and utilities.
As I find something neat, I've been adding apps.
I did notice that the battery life on the phone was poor during
moderate use. This lead me to looking for several ways to improve the
battery life by turning off features. I ended first turning off wifi
and back light which helped slightly. I then downloaded a tool to
monitor my battery life and suggest setting change to improve battery
performance. What ended up making a huge improvement was turning off
the "Enable always-on mobile" setting under Mobile Network Settings.
By turning this off my battery life doubled which allowed me to not
have to charge my phone every night.
The nicest feature I've used a lot is the easy access to Facebook and Twitter. The 5 mega pixel camera built into the phone allows me to take a picture and immediately upload pictures to Facebook or Flickr. I also just find myself using Facebook and Twitter more now that I can access them easily from my phone. The phone has become a hand held computer that I can check my email, IM, check my account balances, look for resaraunts, get directions and all kinds of other things. It a brave new world to explore and so far I like it.
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