Clove Technology’s Blog

Staff Member: Chris Ward – Sales Adviser and Website Coordinator

The purpose of these reviews is to give you a real user guide and feedback on using the device. It is not a technical review as there are plenty of these already available from review sites, rather a general user review of the smartphone.

I’ve now been using the HTC Hero for just under a month and I must say I’ve been impressed with every aspect of its design, even the packaging. When taking the Hero out of its box, it created a great first impression, and that was before I’d come across the glowing trackball! Since then I’ve had nothing but praise for the first device, in my opinion, to truly rival the iPhone.

Before the Hero, I was using a Samsung Tocco Ultra S8300. I chose this device as I wanted a phone with a touchscreen, but also a keypad, as well as a good camera. I had been tempted by Windows Mobile devices such as the Diamond2 and the Touch HD, but did not want to make the transition to a touch screen only device. The Touch Pro2 would therefore seem like the obvious solution, but it wasn’t enough to tempt me into changing devices. Having tested the Hero for 24 Hours upon its release, I knew it would be perfect to help me to make the transition to a touch screen only device.

Since the release of the iPhone, it has been the benchmark for comparison with all new smartphone devices. Although other devices have been on a par with the iPhone in terms of hardware specification, few have rivalled its user interface and one particular feature has not been tested, the Apps Store. The HTC Hero runs on the Google Android operating system, giving it access to the ever-expanding Android Marketplace. The range of games and applications that can be downloaded is vast and, as the OS is open source, anyone can develop software for the marketplace.

Admittedly, the iPhone has better games and gimmick applications, but these come with a price tag and quickly drain the battery. The majority of applications on the Android Marketplace are free of charge and are a lot stronger on the productivity side of things, but this does not mean to say there are not some great games available for Android. The applications give you the opportunity to customise your device to a high level; change the theme, wallpaper, widgets and anything else you have access to. Applications are constantly being released to improve user experience and make full use of the technology available.

Initially, the user interface on the Hero took me a while to get used to, especially having used an interface a lot more basic on the Samsung Tocco Ultra. Some features I became accustomed to very quickly, such as the slide down notification bar at the top of the screen and the ‘Home’ key navigation button. The other navigation buttons, which include back, search and menu keys, took me slightly longer to adjust to, but are now very convenient having done so. I tend to use my finger to slide between the seven screen panels rather than using the trackball, but this is more as a result of habit than for convenience. As mentioned earlier, I was more than impressed by the trackball glowing and flashing to inform you of notifications and incoming calls. A very nice touch.

The HTC ‘Sense’ User Interface has been marketed quite strongly in the promotion for the Hero. HTC Sense allows you to switch between different ‘scenes’, such as ‘work’, ‘social’ and ‘HTC’. Each scene is customized to suit specific needs. For example, the social scene displays features such as calendar, twitter, Facebook and messages, whereas the work scene displays features such as world time, email and stock market report. After using the Hero for about a week, I found it more useful to stick to just one scene, which I have specifically customised. There are seven screen panels to a scene, which gives you plenty of space to add shortcuts and widgets. Rather than switching between scenes, which takes about 30 seconds, I find it easier to dedicate different panels to different widget types.

My main concern about switching to a touchscreen only device was not having a keypad for text messaging. The Hero compensates for this very well. When typing, a virtual QWERTY keyboard is displayed. If you turn the Hero to a horizontal position, the accelerometer then adjusts the keyboard so that it is also displayed horizontally, making the keys larger. This is accompanied by the best predictive texting that I’ve experienced on any phone, making typing almost as fast as on a physical keyboard. If you tap the wrong letter when writing a word, i.e. one of the letters adjacent to the intended letter, and therefore misspell the word, nine times out of ten the Hero will correctly guess the word that you intended to type. This means there is no need to stop and correct yourself as you type.

The Hero is the first smartphone that I have owned, meaning it’s the first time I’ve had access to a strong set of internet connectivity features. I’ve taken full advantage of this, making the most of the WiFi and 3G for functions such as web browsing, email and the apps market place. I mainly connect to the web via WiFi, which I haven’t had problems with at all so far. The Hero remembers multiple access points and then connects automatically to the nearest one. It can also be set to ‘sleep’ the WiFi connection when the device is on standby, saving battery. When I have used the 3G I’ve found the connection to be of a good speed for both browsing and social-networking access. It’s the first time I’ve had email forwarded to my phone, something I never deemed to be necessary before, but wouldn’t do without now. My contacts, calendar and email sync to my googlemail account, making it convenient to backup contacts and alike.

The camera built into the Hero is 5 Megapixels, but due to the small lens it doesn’t take the highest quality pictures. I’ve moved to the Hero from an 8 Megapixel device, but even the picture quality in that was disappointing considering its high spec. Personally, I’d rather sacrifice camera quality than phone specification, and the Hero’s camera still does a good enough job in situations when I don’t have a digital camera to hand. The Hero does have video capability as well, although I’m yet to use it to make my own Hero viral video. The music player has impressed me, its easy to use and uploading files is simple. Having the 3.5mm audio connection also helps to make listening to music on the Hero a hassle-free experience.

As with any device, there are a few minor niggles that I have come across when using the Hero. The biggest problem is Bluetooth. The Hero does have Bluetooth, but cannot use it to send or receive files. For me, this hasn’t been a problem as I rarely need to send files via Bluetooth, especially with constant internet access. It is possible to enable Bluetooth sharing if you gain root access to the device (not recommended as this voids the warranty), which allows you to install a Bluetooth application from the marketplace. The other difficulties I have experienced have been with features such as the alarm clock and address book, but these again have been resolved by downloading third party applications from the marketplace. The Hero’s battery life can sometimes be frustrating, but it will usually get you through the day, unless usage is really heavy. However, it won’t last for longer than 24 Hours without a charge, even under moderate usage.

Overall, the HTC Hero comes highly recommended for a number of reasons. The Android Operating System is great to use and is definitely worth getting to know as its here to stay. The high level of customisation has kept me tweaking my Hero since the day I started using it, constantly finding ways to make it more efficient and enjoyable to use. Whilst entertaining, it remains a professional look and feel, separating itself from any other device in the market with its white finish, ‘lip’ design and of course, the glowing trackball.