July 28, 2009 at 16:12HTC Hero User Review
Hello!
About a month ago, through a friend, I got the opportunity to take the HTC Hero phone for a week test. As a result, the review turned out to be not quite ordinary, this is not a general familiarization with the phone in terms of software and hardware, it is a more or less in-depth study of the device in terms of everyday use.
I must say right away that I didn’t have time to try everything, but I tried it all, and at least for me, and made up my mind about it in the form of a fairly large review. And one more thing, unfortunately, the situation so happened that I could not find a normal camera for video, and could not use the SDK to take screenshots from the phone, because I will actively use photos and videos of foreign production, with which I agree and which are relevant . And I will also use pictures from the instructions that you will read in paper form.
I want to clarify one more thing right away , I don’t work for HTC, they didn’t pay me anything and in general - I’m a simple blogger - Dmitry Volotko , and I write what I think is necessary to write, no one affects me :)
I especially want to emphasize the help of two HTC employees who helped me and whom I got with my phone calls and letters, probably to a white knee. This is Anna Karaulova and Evgeny Pavlov. I also want to thank HTC for providing me with a phone for trial.
Of course, before I picked up HTC Hero I looked at a bunch of photos, videos and various renders. However, he did not expect the device to be so pleasant to the touch. I can’t even convey it in words, to all whom I told about it, at a personal meeting, after several attempts to explain something, I just gave the phone in hand, for testing.
from patefon
What is important, it’s difficult to slap the case itself, for example, I only got it at the end of the day, during which I actively used it, and, in fact, did not let it go. It is wiped cleanly.
I want to clarify right away, and they asked me to clarify - in Russia phones will be sold exclusively in black, when I tested in brown. It is unfortunate that HTC did not dare to provide the entire line for some reason, it’s really a pity.
And the thing is that the partner chooses the color, so all questions and suggestions to the MTS company.
Another question is the screen, of course, it blurts out very quickly, but this does not interfere with the phone. I wiped the screen on average once an hour, but now it’s hot enough, so I need to make an amendment for this.
Hero's screen turned out to be very successful. The information on it is distinguishable even in direct sunlight. Of course, this is not very comfortable, but you can still work with the phone. The responsiveness of the screen is also beyond praise, and never, in a week of heavy use, have I ignored my click. Color reproduction was at a height, for example in a photograph, I saw all the colors exactly the same as they really are.
Here is a video clip, don’t swear at the quality, but the screen’s work is clearly visible on it.
from Dimitry Wolotko
I also read and heard a lot of doubts about the protrusion on the phone case, and there were a lot of questions about this. However, this is an excellent ergonomic solution, you can’t even imagine how convenient the phone is in your hand until you try it yourself. It is comfortable to carry in your pocket, it does not interfere, and there is no feeling that the device will fall apart into two unequal parts from the slightest push, for example, in the subway. And immediately I will answer another question - I wore the screen to my foot - so for some reason it’s more convenient.
I got the device discharged, so I could turn it on and start using it only an hour later, after it was transferred to me. What caught my eye was that it turned on for a long time, more than a minute.
Of course, it’s worth making an amendment to the fact that I tested the device with firmware, which cannot be called final, because there is a big suspicion that by the time sales start, the launch time will be reduced.
But I can’t call it a problem at all, because I don’t turn off my phones for weeks and months. There is simply no need.
This was the only time I held the device discharged in my hands, alas, a bad tester from me, because I immediately inserted my SIM card into the phone and specially went only with it, because I never discharged it completely to zero, however for I deduced a few numbers myself.
With ~ 50 messages on Twitter, half of which with photos, with 20 SMS, about a hundred pages viewed in the browser and about half an hour of calls per day - the battery lasts for a day and a half. If you slightly reduce the number of minutes of calls and more than cut off everything else, the phone is quite capable of living 2.5-3 days. But for three days - if you use the phone at all - this is the limit of the battery, as it seems to me, although the specification contains several other numbers. With continuous use of GPS, the charge will last about five and a half hours, which is not enough of course. I can summarize this way, I will not be scared to leave for a night with a friend, having forgotten charging, because in the end, he knows how to charge from miniUSB. And the last thing about the battery - the device is fully charged in about three to four hours.
After switching on, and it was the first at the phone (the phone was rolled back to the factory settings), I was greeted by the setup wizard, which literally in a couple of clicks prepares the phone for full use. There are only a few steps, among them - choose the language (in the phones that will be delivered to Russia there will be two languages, Russian - by default, and English), set the time, try the keyboard, etc. pleasant and useful little things. It was with this greeting wizard that my finger control of the phone began. However, the phone, in terms of management, has a serious competitor, and sometimes the assistant also has a trackball, or as the phone told me, and a little later, an instruction, a “trackball”.
Using your fingers to control the phone is very convenient, the feeling that you know how to do this from childhood comes around the next day.
You even get used to the unusual, at first glance, trackball, surprisingly quickly. After a while, leafing through a page of, for example, a site or scrolling through a list of installed programs, it’s sometimes even more convenient than using your fingers. And sometimes faster.
The desktop, or as you later read in the instructions - the "Home screen" is divided into seven parts, most often you will see the central part of this large table, where by default are the clock, shortcuts for switching to SMS, mail, calendar and shortcut to launch the built-in browser.
With a completely simple movement of your hand, you can remove the widget (click on it with your finger, hold it for a second or two, and drag it to the "delete" button) and add it, simply by choosing from the list of available widgets and installed programs what you need.
The desktop, as is already customary in phones, is the concentration of all the service information of the phone itself. Missed calls, SMS, new messages on Twitter or in the mail. Everything is very convenient and thought out. And most importantly, messages do not disappear exactly until you delete them. It is convenient to have such a log-tape, especially in terms of mail, because not all mail you have the opportunity to view at any time.
Having launched the Network, of course, the first thing I did was get on Twitter. The first time I pressed the keyboard, I was pleasantly surprised that the device pleasantly and briefly vibrated in my hand. Literally for a split second.
What for me is such a convenient way of user feedback that you probably can’t imagine a better way. Sometimes you don’t get the letter, because you hit the screen with a fingernail, and you immediately understand whether there was a press or not, without distracting your eyes from the keyboard, and not switching to the “What are you doing now?” Field in the twitter client.
“To speed up and increase the accuracy of text input, the on-screen keyboard allows you to use the functions of word prediction and spell checking,” the manual says. I can only agree with her, because even if you make a mistake in a few letters of a frequently used word, the keyboard will tell you the correct spelling of this word, which terribly saves time.
You can train the spelling, the main thing is to spell words correctly, and when saving a new word, avoid typos, otherwise the keyboard will begin to advise any heresy that is incorrectly written. However, you should not be afraid of this, since the spelling turned out to be smart, and he looks at the number of repetitions of the word, and if you write it two or three times correctly - it will be offered next time.
Copy, paste, cut, delete functions in all text fields of the phone. To call the context menu, you must click on the text field and not let go for some time, about a half seconds. This is a useful thing, so I transferred the phones from Twitter to the notebook, because, and it’s insulting, but in the Twitter client out of the box, the phone number is not clickable. And it would be useful.
Immediately after turning on, and the necessary manipulations with APN (in the devices that will sell, the network settings will be automatic, like in any other phone), I climbed into the Network, simultaneously shocking the Beeline operator-girl on the machine with the answer to the question “What kind of phone do you have?” ? "
It was striking that the device surprisingly quickly updates the state of the signal, unlike much faster than my old HTC Touch. Yes, and the work with the Network itself has become faster, I don’t even know what this plus belongs to, hardware, software or their tandem.
And what else surprised me, all week, it turned out that I traveled around Moscow and often chose ground transportation. Only once I used GPRS'om, the rest of the time - only EDGE. Is Moscow progressing? Or did he go there?
Even when you turn on the phone for the first time, the setup wizard will offer to enter your login passwords for several services, including Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. And after that, when photographing, you can save the photo on Flickr with the click of a button.
To my surprise, HTC did not equip its phones with good cameras, only megapixels are growing. The picture quality on the screen of a mobile phone is beyond praise, however, at the output we get a picture a little more than average quality. This is especially noticeable when shooting movies. More than this is noticeable when automatically posting photos, for example, on Twitter.
In general, the progress in the quality of cameras has not left the state of three years ago, and I can’t call HTC Hero a camera with the ability to call. In fact, I would not be willing to pay more if the quality of the pictures was better. For me, the quality of photographs does not matter at all, I do not expect results like from a DSLR, but a little annoying.
The Hero camera has several settings, such as brightness, saturation and lighting. As well as adjusting the quality of the photo, but the place to save it cannot be changed, due to the architecture of Android OS itself.
What I especially liked about this phone is that it has 2 options for connecting to a computer. The first is synchronization using proprietary HTC software. And the second is a flash drive connection. Using the second type of connection, you can download and upload various types of multimedia and documents to the memory card. Not to mention the fact that using a flash drive for its intended purpose - to transfer any information.
The built-in Albums program is a gallery that helps you view your photos and video materials. Gallery navigation is done either with fingers or a trackball. Photos can be enlarged including using your fingers. In general, the built-in gallery is enough to view the pictures on the way home, and there they merge them to your computer.
There is built-in software for playing audio and video, and if it is enough for audio, then I would recommend downloading one of dozens of video players for video, you can download them in the Android Market.
The built-in audio player copes with the tasks, breaks it into albums, performers and allows you to quickly create a playlist. Plus, it can be controlled even if the screen itself is locked, when the player is on, it appears on the screen saver of the locked screen, where usually only a clock hangs and offers to unlock the screen by moving your finger up and down.
Excerpt from specification:
Supported audio formats: MP3, AAC (AAC, AAC +, AAC-LC), AMR-NB, WAV, MIDI and Windows Media Audio 9
Supported video formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 and Windows Media Video 9
The video is shot on a phone in quite acceptable quality, under several conditions, your hands should not shake (well, the shot should also not make chaotic movements), there should be enough lighting, and oops, one problem. The microphone is located on the side of the end, next to the miniUSB connector. Therefore, keep this in mind, otherwise you will be heard better than the interlocutor being removed, for example, which is not always great.
Below are a couple of videos shot on the HTC Hero camera. The first in the daylight, a little about Segway, the second already late in the evening, about HTC Hero.
from Dimitry Wolotko
from Dimitry Wolotko In a
separate paragraph, it is worth noting where they come from and how programs are installed on HTC Hero.
The Android Market is presented in the form of a repository where you can find the program by name or by its type (for example, -> Games -> Arcade). Everything is so conveniently done that it is a pleasure to put programs. It is pumped out, shows what control functions it takes over (for example, the program will use the Internet and GPS) and installs it. With a stable connection - the whole process rarely takes more than a minute. The only thing that is very sorry, I did not find how to do this in batches, it would be very useful.
And yes, nothing prevents setting the checkbox “Install not only from AM” in the settings, uploading all the necessary software to a USB flash drive and installing everything that is necessary on the way to work in the subway. The only thing is, download the latest releases, so as not to be updated once again.
Speaking of updating, I won’t go into technical details, but what to update the phone’s firmware, what to update software - everything is done very simply and intelligibly. In particular, instructions, and tips on the phone itself.
I would also like to touch on the topic of browsers. I must say right away that there are several browsers in the Android Market, but you can limit yourself to only two, standard - out of the box, and Opera Mini. Multi-touch works, JS and flash show. If we talk about a standard browser, it renders the page quickly and correctly. There are no curve layouts. Outwardly, for some reason, it looks like Safari, which is installed on the iPhone and iPod. Has history, favorites and bookmarks. In general, using it is comfortable and pleasant.
And if you click on the link in the same client of the Twitter service, Hero will offer you a choice of all the browsers installed in the system, so that you choose the one in which this link should be opened.
Using the phone itself is pleasant and convenient. The search goes through all contact fields, you can drive in the phone, or, for example, the name of the subscriber. During an incoming call, and provided that the caller’s number is in the notebook together with the photo, you will see his photo in full screen. And if there is no photo or the contact is not known, then the image of the green Android is hanging. By the way, during the conversation the screen turns off using the built-in light sensor.
SMS and MMS are grouped by subscribers, i.e. SMS does not go all in a row, but the names of the subscribers go, when you click on them, all incoming and outgoing messages are immediately visible. The only thing is that my messages, for some reason, did not appear in the form of a chat (I specified for HTC employees - it should be in the form of a chat), most likely, I did not understand the display settings somewhere. But even despite this, using text messages is convenient.
I can not mention the fact that some readers can adjust the volume control key, for example, for turning pages. And judging by the fact that the ideology of Android OS itself provides that the developer has access to all the charms of the system through the open API, it is likely that in the future we will have a whole galaxy of programs that configure this key to your needs.
Now a little about the configuration, which seems to have settled down and will not change anymore, though I will not vouch for it. So, in the box, you take the following:
Of the configuration in my hands, I did not hold only a brief guide, I read it in PDF. Everything is very cool, only the headset upset me very much - again I can’t use it. It seems that it is supplied only so that at purchase it would be possible to check whether jack 3.5 is working or not. Using headphones is very difficult and unpleasant, my not quite standard ears, after two hours of listening to music, were sick and wanted to fall off. But in this case there is no single solution, because the choice of headphones is almost an intimate matter.
I also read the instructions, which for some reason are not noted in the quick start guide, but I dare to assure you, the instructions are extremely detailed, and I gladly borrowed part of the pictures that you see above. For which I thank her and those who wrote and composed it.
While I was actively flooding on Twitter with Hero, I read a huge number of reviews from it, which said that the device was slowing down. I can only say that if you use the device in everyday life, it will never slow down, and if you open dozens of programs at the same time, large documents and something else to download from the network - get ready for the brakes. I believe that America has not been revealed to anyone - the more processes are launched, the more brakes in the system, this is an offensive, but it is an indisputable fact. Twitter, an audio player, a browser and a PDF weighing ~ 150MB - and the device does not slow down. Yes, at some points he thought for a short time, for example, when I switched back to PDF or edited the playlist with all of Tatu's work (or, as it is now, tatu).
It is worth mentioning another reason for the brakes - crookedly written software. There is one in the Android Market, unfortunately. Such programs can not only slow down, but also turn off with errors. And the title of these errors, the OS writes them (they say such a process ordered to live long) - "Oh!" - I'm not joking, it looks ridiculous, because such errors rarely pop up, and this Oikan does not have time to get bored.
Frankly, I used the search key very little. However, searching by SMS with it becomes a really simple task, especially if you have a bunch of messages from numbers not driven into the notebook. It’s also convenient to go directly to Google’s search results with it. Plus, it will help you find text, for example, in a cheat sheet on history. However, to be honest, I think that this button is more a tribute to the fact that the OS from Google.
I can’t help but focus, so to speak, in one line that:
Last of all, I want to answer the question, would I leave the device to myself as the only and favorite.
In the week that I tested this unit, people in the metro pestered me three times with questions asking if I was holding Hero in my hands. Of course him. The device really came out of HTC’s bakery very successful, convenient and thought out in thousands of little things that are simply very difficult to describe with text, and you don’t need to, just touch and use them faster.
Thousands of characters are not described above and a tenth of my emotions and observations of the device. You will fill up some of them with the reviews that are still written by magazines and online publications, you will draw some from the instructions, and most of them when working directly with the phone.
A little bit of my emotions (don’t listen about the network setup - everything will be automated), I don’t know how to shoot the camera:
from Dimitry Wolotko
I really would love to leave him as my favorite, and I would add my HTC Touch to the home museum of my cell phones.
Ready to answer your questions.
PS. Short specification: Qualcomm® MSM7200A ™
processor
, 528 MHz Android ™
operating system Memory ROM: 512 MB RAM: 288 MB Dimensions (LxHxW) 112 x 56.2 x 14.35 mm Weight 135 grams with battery 3.2-inch TFT screen 320x480 capacitive touchscreen (HVGA) HSDPA / WCDMA network : 900/2100 MHz Download speed up to 2 Mbps; download speed up to 7.2 Mbps
GSM / GPRS / EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
(The data transfer rate depends on the network operator)
Device Control
Trackball with the function "Enter»
the GPS
Integrated GPS-receiver
Connections
Bluetooth® 2.0 with EDR and A2DP technology for wireless stereo
Wi-Fi® headsets : 802.11 b / g
HTC ExtUSB ™ (mini USB 2.0 combined with audio output)
3.5 mm headphone jack
Camera
5 megapixel camera with autofocus and video recording
Supported audio formats
MP3, AAC (AAC, AAC +, AAC-LC), AMR-NB, WAV, MIDI, and Windows Media® Audio 9
Supported
MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, and Windows Media® Video 9 video formats
Battery
Rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Capacity: 1350 mAh
Talk time: Up to 470 minutes for GSM
Standby time: Up to 440 hours for GSM
(depends on the conditions of use of the phone and network)
Expansion slot
microSD ™ memory card (compatible with SDHC)
Power supply
Input: mains voltage / frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz
Output: 5V and 1A
Optional
Space sensor (G-sensor)
Automatically adjust the brightness of the screen
Digital compass
2GB card included
PPS - Insert SIM card and card mSD to HTC Hero phone
About a month ago, through a friend, I got the opportunity to take the HTC Hero phone for a week test. As a result, the review turned out to be not quite ordinary, this is not a general familiarization with the phone in terms of software and hardware, it is a more or less in-depth study of the device in terms of everyday use.
I must say right away that I didn’t have time to try everything, but I tried it all, and at least for me, and made up my mind about it in the form of a fairly large review. And one more thing, unfortunately, the situation so happened that I could not find a normal camera for video, and could not use the SDK to take screenshots from the phone, because I will actively use photos and videos of foreign production, with which I agree and which are relevant . And I will also use pictures from the instructions that you will read in paper form.
I want to clarify one more thing right away , I don’t work for HTC, they didn’t pay me anything and in general - I’m a simple blogger - Dmitry Volotko , and I write what I think is necessary to write, no one affects me :)
I especially want to emphasize the help of two HTC employees who helped me and whom I got with my phone calls and letters, probably to a white knee. This is Anna Karaulova and Evgeny Pavlov. I also want to thank HTC for providing me with a phone for trial.
Of course, before I picked up HTC Hero I looked at a bunch of photos, videos and various renders. However, he did not expect the device to be so pleasant to the touch. I can’t even convey it in words, to all whom I told about it, at a personal meeting, after several attempts to explain something, I just gave the phone in hand, for testing.
from patefon
What is important, it’s difficult to slap the case itself, for example, I only got it at the end of the day, during which I actively used it, and, in fact, did not let it go. It is wiped cleanly.
I want to clarify right away, and they asked me to clarify - in Russia phones will be sold exclusively in black, when I tested in brown. It is unfortunate that HTC did not dare to provide the entire line for some reason, it’s really a pity.
And the thing is that the partner chooses the color, so all questions and suggestions to the MTS company.
Another question is the screen, of course, it blurts out very quickly, but this does not interfere with the phone. I wiped the screen on average once an hour, but now it’s hot enough, so I need to make an amendment for this.
Hero's screen turned out to be very successful. The information on it is distinguishable even in direct sunlight. Of course, this is not very comfortable, but you can still work with the phone. The responsiveness of the screen is also beyond praise, and never, in a week of heavy use, have I ignored my click. Color reproduction was at a height, for example in a photograph, I saw all the colors exactly the same as they really are.
Here is a video clip, don’t swear at the quality, but the screen’s work is clearly visible on it.
from Dimitry Wolotko
I also read and heard a lot of doubts about the protrusion on the phone case, and there were a lot of questions about this. However, this is an excellent ergonomic solution, you can’t even imagine how convenient the phone is in your hand until you try it yourself. It is comfortable to carry in your pocket, it does not interfere, and there is no feeling that the device will fall apart into two unequal parts from the slightest push, for example, in the subway. And immediately I will answer another question - I wore the screen to my foot - so for some reason it’s more convenient.
I got the device discharged, so I could turn it on and start using it only an hour later, after it was transferred to me. What caught my eye was that it turned on for a long time, more than a minute.
Of course, it’s worth making an amendment to the fact that I tested the device with firmware, which cannot be called final, because there is a big suspicion that by the time sales start, the launch time will be reduced.
But I can’t call it a problem at all, because I don’t turn off my phones for weeks and months. There is simply no need.
This was the only time I held the device discharged in my hands, alas, a bad tester from me, because I immediately inserted my SIM card into the phone and specially went only with it, because I never discharged it completely to zero, however for I deduced a few numbers myself.
With ~ 50 messages on Twitter, half of which with photos, with 20 SMS, about a hundred pages viewed in the browser and about half an hour of calls per day - the battery lasts for a day and a half. If you slightly reduce the number of minutes of calls and more than cut off everything else, the phone is quite capable of living 2.5-3 days. But for three days - if you use the phone at all - this is the limit of the battery, as it seems to me, although the specification contains several other numbers. With continuous use of GPS, the charge will last about five and a half hours, which is not enough of course. I can summarize this way, I will not be scared to leave for a night with a friend, having forgotten charging, because in the end, he knows how to charge from miniUSB. And the last thing about the battery - the device is fully charged in about three to four hours.
After switching on, and it was the first at the phone (the phone was rolled back to the factory settings), I was greeted by the setup wizard, which literally in a couple of clicks prepares the phone for full use. There are only a few steps, among them - choose the language (in the phones that will be delivered to Russia there will be two languages, Russian - by default, and English), set the time, try the keyboard, etc. pleasant and useful little things. It was with this greeting wizard that my finger control of the phone began. However, the phone, in terms of management, has a serious competitor, and sometimes the assistant also has a trackball, or as the phone told me, and a little later, an instruction, a “trackball”.
Using your fingers to control the phone is very convenient, the feeling that you know how to do this from childhood comes around the next day.
You even get used to the unusual, at first glance, trackball, surprisingly quickly. After a while, leafing through a page of, for example, a site or scrolling through a list of installed programs, it’s sometimes even more convenient than using your fingers. And sometimes faster.
The desktop, or as you later read in the instructions - the "Home screen" is divided into seven parts, most often you will see the central part of this large table, where by default are the clock, shortcuts for switching to SMS, mail, calendar and shortcut to launch the built-in browser.
With a completely simple movement of your hand, you can remove the widget (click on it with your finger, hold it for a second or two, and drag it to the "delete" button) and add it, simply by choosing from the list of available widgets and installed programs what you need.
The desktop, as is already customary in phones, is the concentration of all the service information of the phone itself. Missed calls, SMS, new messages on Twitter or in the mail. Everything is very convenient and thought out. And most importantly, messages do not disappear exactly until you delete them. It is convenient to have such a log-tape, especially in terms of mail, because not all mail you have the opportunity to view at any time.
Having launched the Network, of course, the first thing I did was get on Twitter. The first time I pressed the keyboard, I was pleasantly surprised that the device pleasantly and briefly vibrated in my hand. Literally for a split second.
What for me is such a convenient way of user feedback that you probably can’t imagine a better way. Sometimes you don’t get the letter, because you hit the screen with a fingernail, and you immediately understand whether there was a press or not, without distracting your eyes from the keyboard, and not switching to the “What are you doing now?” Field in the twitter client.
“To speed up and increase the accuracy of text input, the on-screen keyboard allows you to use the functions of word prediction and spell checking,” the manual says. I can only agree with her, because even if you make a mistake in a few letters of a frequently used word, the keyboard will tell you the correct spelling of this word, which terribly saves time.
You can train the spelling, the main thing is to spell words correctly, and when saving a new word, avoid typos, otherwise the keyboard will begin to advise any heresy that is incorrectly written. However, you should not be afraid of this, since the spelling turned out to be smart, and he looks at the number of repetitions of the word, and if you write it two or three times correctly - it will be offered next time.
Copy, paste, cut, delete functions in all text fields of the phone. To call the context menu, you must click on the text field and not let go for some time, about a half seconds. This is a useful thing, so I transferred the phones from Twitter to the notebook, because, and it’s insulting, but in the Twitter client out of the box, the phone number is not clickable. And it would be useful.
Immediately after turning on, and the necessary manipulations with APN (in the devices that will sell, the network settings will be automatic, like in any other phone), I climbed into the Network, simultaneously shocking the Beeline operator-girl on the machine with the answer to the question “What kind of phone do you have?” ? "
It was striking that the device surprisingly quickly updates the state of the signal, unlike much faster than my old HTC Touch. Yes, and the work with the Network itself has become faster, I don’t even know what this plus belongs to, hardware, software or their tandem.
And what else surprised me, all week, it turned out that I traveled around Moscow and often chose ground transportation. Only once I used GPRS'om, the rest of the time - only EDGE. Is Moscow progressing? Or did he go there?
Even when you turn on the phone for the first time, the setup wizard will offer to enter your login passwords for several services, including Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. And after that, when photographing, you can save the photo on Flickr with the click of a button.
To my surprise, HTC did not equip its phones with good cameras, only megapixels are growing. The picture quality on the screen of a mobile phone is beyond praise, however, at the output we get a picture a little more than average quality. This is especially noticeable when shooting movies. More than this is noticeable when automatically posting photos, for example, on Twitter.
In general, the progress in the quality of cameras has not left the state of three years ago, and I can’t call HTC Hero a camera with the ability to call. In fact, I would not be willing to pay more if the quality of the pictures was better. For me, the quality of photographs does not matter at all, I do not expect results like from a DSLR, but a little annoying.
The Hero camera has several settings, such as brightness, saturation and lighting. As well as adjusting the quality of the photo, but the place to save it cannot be changed, due to the architecture of Android OS itself.
What I especially liked about this phone is that it has 2 options for connecting to a computer. The first is synchronization using proprietary HTC software. And the second is a flash drive connection. Using the second type of connection, you can download and upload various types of multimedia and documents to the memory card. Not to mention the fact that using a flash drive for its intended purpose - to transfer any information.
The built-in Albums program is a gallery that helps you view your photos and video materials. Gallery navigation is done either with fingers or a trackball. Photos can be enlarged including using your fingers. In general, the built-in gallery is enough to view the pictures on the way home, and there they merge them to your computer.
There is built-in software for playing audio and video, and if it is enough for audio, then I would recommend downloading one of dozens of video players for video, you can download them in the Android Market.
The built-in audio player copes with the tasks, breaks it into albums, performers and allows you to quickly create a playlist. Plus, it can be controlled even if the screen itself is locked, when the player is on, it appears on the screen saver of the locked screen, where usually only a clock hangs and offers to unlock the screen by moving your finger up and down.
Excerpt from specification:
Supported audio formats: MP3, AAC (AAC, AAC +, AAC-LC), AMR-NB, WAV, MIDI and Windows Media Audio 9
Supported video formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 and Windows Media Video 9
The video is shot on a phone in quite acceptable quality, under several conditions, your hands should not shake (well, the shot should also not make chaotic movements), there should be enough lighting, and oops, one problem. The microphone is located on the side of the end, next to the miniUSB connector. Therefore, keep this in mind, otherwise you will be heard better than the interlocutor being removed, for example, which is not always great.
Below are a couple of videos shot on the HTC Hero camera. The first in the daylight, a little about Segway, the second already late in the evening, about HTC Hero.
from Dimitry Wolotko
from Dimitry Wolotko In a
separate paragraph, it is worth noting where they come from and how programs are installed on HTC Hero.
The Android Market is presented in the form of a repository where you can find the program by name or by its type (for example, -> Games -> Arcade). Everything is so conveniently done that it is a pleasure to put programs. It is pumped out, shows what control functions it takes over (for example, the program will use the Internet and GPS) and installs it. With a stable connection - the whole process rarely takes more than a minute. The only thing that is very sorry, I did not find how to do this in batches, it would be very useful.
And yes, nothing prevents setting the checkbox “Install not only from AM” in the settings, uploading all the necessary software to a USB flash drive and installing everything that is necessary on the way to work in the subway. The only thing is, download the latest releases, so as not to be updated once again.
Speaking of updating, I won’t go into technical details, but what to update the phone’s firmware, what to update software - everything is done very simply and intelligibly. In particular, instructions, and tips on the phone itself.
I would also like to touch on the topic of browsers. I must say right away that there are several browsers in the Android Market, but you can limit yourself to only two, standard - out of the box, and Opera Mini. Multi-touch works, JS and flash show. If we talk about a standard browser, it renders the page quickly and correctly. There are no curve layouts. Outwardly, for some reason, it looks like Safari, which is installed on the iPhone and iPod. Has history, favorites and bookmarks. In general, using it is comfortable and pleasant.
And if you click on the link in the same client of the Twitter service, Hero will offer you a choice of all the browsers installed in the system, so that you choose the one in which this link should be opened.
Using the phone itself is pleasant and convenient. The search goes through all contact fields, you can drive in the phone, or, for example, the name of the subscriber. During an incoming call, and provided that the caller’s number is in the notebook together with the photo, you will see his photo in full screen. And if there is no photo or the contact is not known, then the image of the green Android is hanging. By the way, during the conversation the screen turns off using the built-in light sensor.
SMS and MMS are grouped by subscribers, i.e. SMS does not go all in a row, but the names of the subscribers go, when you click on them, all incoming and outgoing messages are immediately visible. The only thing is that my messages, for some reason, did not appear in the form of a chat (I specified for HTC employees - it should be in the form of a chat), most likely, I did not understand the display settings somewhere. But even despite this, using text messages is convenient.
I can not mention the fact that some readers can adjust the volume control key, for example, for turning pages. And judging by the fact that the ideology of Android OS itself provides that the developer has access to all the charms of the system through the open API, it is likely that in the future we will have a whole galaxy of programs that configure this key to your needs.
Now a little about the configuration, which seems to have settled down and will not change anymore, though I will not vouch for it. So, in the box, you take the following:
- HTC Hero Phone
- 1350 mAh battery
- USB cable
- AC adapter
- Wired stereo headset with 3.5mm plug
- Quick guide
- MicroSDTM 2GB memory card
Of the configuration in my hands, I did not hold only a brief guide, I read it in PDF. Everything is very cool, only the headset upset me very much - again I can’t use it. It seems that it is supplied only so that at purchase it would be possible to check whether jack 3.5 is working or not. Using headphones is very difficult and unpleasant, my not quite standard ears, after two hours of listening to music, were sick and wanted to fall off. But in this case there is no single solution, because the choice of headphones is almost an intimate matter.
I also read the instructions, which for some reason are not noted in the quick start guide, but I dare to assure you, the instructions are extremely detailed, and I gladly borrowed part of the pictures that you see above. For which I thank her and those who wrote and composed it.
While I was actively flooding on Twitter with Hero, I read a huge number of reviews from it, which said that the device was slowing down. I can only say that if you use the device in everyday life, it will never slow down, and if you open dozens of programs at the same time, large documents and something else to download from the network - get ready for the brakes. I believe that America has not been revealed to anyone - the more processes are launched, the more brakes in the system, this is an offensive, but it is an indisputable fact. Twitter, an audio player, a browser and a PDF weighing ~ 150MB - and the device does not slow down. Yes, at some points he thought for a short time, for example, when I switched back to PDF or edited the playlist with all of Tatu's work (or, as it is now, tatu).
It is worth mentioning another reason for the brakes - crookedly written software. There is one in the Android Market, unfortunately. Such programs can not only slow down, but also turn off with errors. And the title of these errors, the OS writes them (they say such a process ordered to live long) - "Oh!" - I'm not joking, it looks ridiculous, because such errors rarely pop up, and this Oikan does not have time to get bored.
Frankly, I used the search key very little. However, searching by SMS with it becomes a really simple task, especially if you have a bunch of messages from numbers not driven into the notebook. It’s also convenient to go directly to Google’s search results with it. Plus, it will help you find text, for example, in a cheat sheet on history. However, to be honest, I think that this button is more a tribute to the fact that the OS from Google.
I can’t help but focus, so to speak, in one line that:
- my Sennheiser HD 201 HTC Hero pulls quite a bit, I’m not complaining about the sound quality;
- after wearing the phone in your pocket with an impressive bunch of keys, for about three hours, there are no scratches or scuffs on the case or on the screen, everything is in order;
- in the Android Market, which is presented on Hero, I did not find a single paid program, apparently there are still few, because sales in AM began only a couple of months ago;
- asked a question about IM, there is software, a lot, it works and is quite convenient. What else to say, I don’t know;
- You can set at least ten, at least fifteen alarms. Nicely. It is possible to adjust the type of signal, the presence of vibration and, well, time, of course;
Last of all, I want to answer the question, would I leave the device to myself as the only and favorite.
In the week that I tested this unit, people in the metro pestered me three times with questions asking if I was holding Hero in my hands. Of course him. The device really came out of HTC’s bakery very successful, convenient and thought out in thousands of little things that are simply very difficult to describe with text, and you don’t need to, just touch and use them faster.
Thousands of characters are not described above and a tenth of my emotions and observations of the device. You will fill up some of them with the reviews that are still written by magazines and online publications, you will draw some from the instructions, and most of them when working directly with the phone.
A little bit of my emotions (don’t listen about the network setup - everything will be automated), I don’t know how to shoot the camera:
from Dimitry Wolotko
I really would love to leave him as my favorite, and I would add my HTC Touch to the home museum of my cell phones.
Ready to answer your questions.
PS. Short specification: Qualcomm® MSM7200A ™
processor
, 528 MHz Android ™
operating system Memory ROM: 512 MB RAM: 288 MB Dimensions (LxHxW) 112 x 56.2 x 14.35 mm Weight 135 grams with battery 3.2-inch TFT screen 320x480 capacitive touchscreen (HVGA) HSDPA / WCDMA network : 900/2100 MHz Download speed up to 2 Mbps; download speed up to 7.2 Mbps
GSM / GPRS / EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
(The data transfer rate depends on the network operator)
Device Control
Trackball with the function "Enter»
the GPS
Integrated GPS-receiver
Connections
Bluetooth® 2.0 with EDR and A2DP technology for wireless stereo
Wi-Fi® headsets : 802.11 b / g
HTC ExtUSB ™ (mini USB 2.0 combined with audio output)
3.5 mm headphone jack
Camera
5 megapixel camera with autofocus and video recording
Supported audio formats
MP3, AAC (AAC, AAC +, AAC-LC), AMR-NB, WAV, MIDI, and Windows Media® Audio 9
Supported
MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, and Windows Media® Video 9 video formats
Battery
Rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Capacity: 1350 mAh
Talk time: Up to 470 minutes for GSM
Standby time: Up to 440 hours for GSM
(depends on the conditions of use of the phone and network)
Expansion slot
microSD ™ memory card (compatible with SDHC)
Power supply
Input: mains voltage / frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz
Output: 5V and 1A
Optional
Space sensor (G-sensor)
Automatically adjust the brightness of the screen
Digital compass
2GB card included
PPS - Insert SIM card and card mSD to HTC Hero phone