HTC Hero was officially announced in June 2009 and was launched a month later, in July 2009. The HTC smartphone is available in a wide range of colors: brown, white, graphite, black and pink.
HTC Hero is running the Android operating system, Cupcake 1.5 version. The innovation comes with the new graphic interface Sense IU, which was made over the operating system that can be installed on earlier unlocked models of HTC Magic. HTC said that those who bought the Magic smartphone encoded on a given network will not be able to benefit from this upgrade.
However, there seems to be a solution found by 'hackers' that allows users to install Sense IU even on G1 devices. However, the new Sense interface looks a bit like TouchFLO, which was made especially for devices that are running Windows Mobile. It seems that HTC has changed a great piece of the TouchFLO interface to provide a new look, more attractive to the eyes, but also much easier to use. And what a good job they did. First of all, the advantage of including seven HomeScreens, which can be populated with two types of widgets. The common ones included in the Android interface and a wide range offered by the new Sense interface. You will be able to bring on one of the seven main screen shortcuts for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Favorite Contacts, Music Player, Camera, Android Market, Google Maps and more.
The transition between the main screens is fast and continuous, much more sensitive than the TouchFLO interface. The standard main screen includes a weather widget, which updates at regular intervals if you have a data connection available. Right under the weather widget (which includes a clock), you will see four shortcuts: Messages, Mail, Browser and Calendar. There is even a HomeScreen including previews of web pages: Google, eBay, Facebook, MySpace, Amazon, Wikipedia, BBC and CNN.
While holding down the Home button for several seconds you can access a standard task manager that will display the last six applications you have open. They remain active in the memory of the HTC smartphone, so if you open the seventh, the first you have previously accessed will be automatically closed. There is also a dedicated video player for YouTube, which gives you quick access to videos hosted on Youtube. Other pre-installed applications include Quickoffice, PDF Viewer, Footprints, Stocks, VoiceRecorder and the Teeter game.
The new Sense graphical interface radically changes the menu of the phone in a positive mode, making HTC Hero one of the most easy and fun to use smartphones on the market.
HTC Hero has all the possible connectivity tools that would be included in a high-end device: GPRS and EDGE class 10, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and 2 Mbps HSUPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, miniUSB 2.0. Following the tests, the device has reached speeds up to 2350.4 Kbit / s download and 621.2 Kbit / s upload while using the Wi-Fi connection and 1115.2 Kbit / s download and 336.1 Kbit / s upload using the Orange 3G+ network. These performances are more than welcome for a device that depends most of the time on the data transfer to update the widgets or for a more efficient Internet navigation.
The integrated WebKit browser can not be closed, but apparently was updated compared with the last two Android devices: Magic and G1. Regarding its control, it can be compared with the iPhone. The phone receives now the multi-touch function and makes zooming in / out easily. The browsing experience is one of the best I encountered on a HTC smartphone. HTC Hero is the first device with Android, which has included the Flash support. Version 10 has been included on this HTC smartphone, and Adobe has provided a compatibility of about 90%, future updates will be able to fix some bugs or incompatibilities. Personally, I found one website where the animated pages were not fully loaded , and I accessed many pages.
The Bluetooth connection has not been upgraded yet and is mainly used for wireless headphones. You will not be able to transfer files via the Bluetooth connection, since the platform lacks the OBEX protocol.
HTC Hero is compatible with all email clients, as well as POP3, IMAP, and it can be synchronized with Microsoft Exchange. The remaining e-mail accounts can be set to be checked at different intervals (5, 10, 30 minutes). The device is also compatible with all types of text messaging: SMS, EMS and MMS. The phone also includes Google Talk, as Instant Messaging application, but you can install others such as Yahoo! Messenger. The interface is quite simple and easy to use. The Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g connectivity is another option that will certainly reduce the costs for those who often use browsing or data transfer. The built-in GPS receiver and the digital compass work with Google Maps, for guidance. Unfortunately, there is no voice guidance software compatible with the Android operating system.
HTC Hero is a fancy quad-band GSM (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900), compatible with the HSDPA 900/2100 networks. The sound quality during calls is excellent, and this is one of the best HTC phones in this regard. The GSM signal is also good, but avoid holding the device set to the 3G band because the reception is poor.
HTC Hero includes a Qualcomm MSM7200 processor from the ARM11 family, which reaches speeds of 528 MHz. Moreover, the phone responds very quickly to any command, even when multiple applications are running in the background. Even if it has been added a new graphical interface, the phone works reliable.
Hero benefits from 288 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM memory. The storage space can be extended up to 32GB with the hot-swappable microSD card slot, which was placed under the back cover in the upper left corner of the phone. The sales package includes a 2GB microSD card.
HTC Hero includes a music player that can also be used as a widget directly from the Homescreen. Unfortunately, there are no visible upgrades from the last Android device. This may be one of the few drawbacks of the phone. However, HTC is not known for its phones that have a quality sound, so I expected this. Even if the MP3 player looks nice, you will not be able to use the equalizer or any visual effects. The only thing worth noting is the addition of a 3.5 mm audio jack port on top of the phone. Thus, you can add your own headphones for a better multimedia experience.
The music player supports audio files in MP3, AAC, AAC +, WMA, MPEG4, WAV, MIDI, Real Audio and Ogg format. Its sound quality is somewhat average. The video player that had appeared for the first time in the firmware of the Magic model is also present in this model, but do not look in the menu because you will not find. It will open by itself every time you click on a video file. HTC Hero was not made for playing music, that is for sure, but at least the features they offer are decent for those who want to occasionally listen to music or watch a short video.
The latest Android smartphone from HTC, and the first to receive the new Sense interface, gets your attention with each aspect. The design, the graphic interface, the usability, the performance, these make from HTC Hero to be one of the best choices for those looking for a strong and good-looking smartphone. I was very happy that I had the opportunity to use the phone and I can say that HTC has made an almost perfect job in trying to provide an alternative to the iPhone.
