Android phones
Out of context: Reply #8
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- ninjasavant0
I just got the Sprint HTC Hero on Sunday and its good and bad. From a usability perspective iPhone wins through its limited simplicity. Mastering the iPhone didn't take long because Apple tends to limit access to functionality to improve the user experience. The Hero by contrast has a ton of features that I feel like it will take me months to master if I ever do. Plus since its not entirely screen based there are things that feel hidden because you have to use the buttons to access them. Weirder still is the fact that some things you have to tap and hold to get yet another menu for options. So figuring out the trick isn't entirely elegant.
Other little things like the wifi connection is a little wonky and if you set a lock passcode you have to unlock the phone before you can put it on silent or turn it off. Seems like an oversight to me.
Another thing that seems to have come up is battery life. I'm not sure what the reason is but my battery died at 3pm yesterday after a full night's charge. Today I turned off the wifi, bluetooth, and gps and here at 3:21 I have 3/4 battery left so that may have been the cause. Whatever it is the thing seems to be a battery hog.
Those things said I would say based on the phones I tried looking for an iPhone (read: AT&T) replacement the Hero is a close second to the iPhone. Sense is for the most part pretty well thought out. The multiple home screens with the HTC widgets and options to customize are great. Having the ability to create several "scenes" or home page configurations is another great feature. You can set up your screens how you like for work, save it, then set it up for the weekend, save it, and call them back whenever you want. Probably my favorite feature.
If you use your Google account heavily like I do you'll also like the Google integration to populate your contacts and to access the Google widgets you can get in the market. Plus you can sign into Facebook from your contacts and link the contacts with your friend's accounts to populate some information.
The camera from what I've seen is better than the iPhone's camera, and the speaker is loud as hell but switching to speakerphone isn't obvious since I haven't found it yet. But you do get visual voicemail and the speaker button is right on that screen for VM.
As for the app store (Market), you'll find yourself wishing you could find an app for this or that the way you could with the iPhone and there seems to be less free options out there but in hindsight the free options were always just previews on the iPhone app market. What I've found is that I'm not as much a slave to the apps as I was on the iPhone. I don't feel the need to constantly take out my phone and fiddle with it since I don't have all the mindless diversion apps like I did on my iPhone. So its a mixed blessing.
But the thing that really makes it a must have for me is the fact that I'm paying the same amount I was paying for my iPhone by myself for a family plan on Sprint that covers me and my girlfriend with 1500 minutes, unlimited data and messaging, and a navigator built in. By contrast I had 450 minutes, no messaging, and no navigator with my iPhone. Plus the network is better in the Bay Area.
My advice is run, don't walk, to the Sprint store to pick it up and get rid of AT&T. And if you want to list me as a referral I'd take that too :D.
- did you write that whole thing?scarabin
- Sure did, just now.ninjasavant
- Sprint has horrible batteries. I charged correctly and after 6 months the battery got all wonkyFredMcWoozy