HTC strikes again with another smarpthone featuring the much acclaimed Android operating system. Sporting a fresh and stylish design, as well as a new innovative GUI, HTC Hero shakes the world of smartphones through its performances. Even though its specs are not well over anything on the market, the way it works makes Hero the best Android device and perhaps one of the best smartphones on the market. As I see it, this is the main rival of Apple's iPhone. I will avoid making too many comparisons between the flagship devices from the three main manufacturers that pretend to own the best smartphone on the market: Nokia N97, iPhone and HTC Hero, as people tastes and needs are very different. Instead, I'll try to point out some of the qualities and downsides of Hero, as well as the traits that make it better than its main rivals.
HTC Hero was announced in June 2009 and launched on the market one month later, in July 2009. The smartphone is available in a plethora of colors: Brown, White, Graphite, Black and Pink. The unlocked version of HTC Hero can be bought for around 650USD, but the price may vary depending on the location.
Design
Following the design of the first two Android devices, Hero features the same curved form factor. Hero's curved shape is more obvious now, which also has a technical advantage as the mic will be closer to your mouth during phone calls. The phone is made from a special plastic that looks like teflon. Unfortunately, this is a fingerprint magnet, and together with the large touchscreen, which will be full of grease in no time, are some of the downsides of the gadget, in case you hate to dirt your phone. Of course, a small cloth for wiping will probably solve this, but the problem remains, as the fingerprints will reappear the moment you put your hands on it. The same goes for the touchscreen, which can only be controlled by finger.
Nevertheless, the phone's design should make users forget about this downside. There are no external keys around the phone, except the long volume key, which has been hidden in the phone's case, on the upper left side. On the top side of the phone, HTC placed a 3.5mm jack port, while on the bottom side, there's a miniUSB port. Under the 3.2-inch display, there are four keys, symmetrically arranged, starting from left to right, these are: Accept calls, Home, Menu and Reject calls (Power on/off). Right under these keys, in the middle, you'll notice the excellent trackball. To the right of it, there's a dual key that features a Search key and a Back key.
The Search key will open a Google window, which will enable users to quickly search for whatever they need. The 5-megapixel camera on the back of the phone doesn't have any protective lens, instead it has been placed a little bit inside the back cover for minimal protection. As the camera doesn't feature any flash capabilities, you will notice to the left of the camera a very small loudspeaker. Under the hood of the device, you'll find the SIM slot card and the microSD slot for memory card. The latter is a little bit harder to find on the upper left corner of the phone, but it's hot-swappable, as you won't need to pull out the battery to insert the memory card.
HTC Hero measures 112 x 56.2 x 14.4 mm and weighs 135g (including battery), which makes it a very well balanced device. You may be wondering how it will fit in your pocket with its curved shape, but I didn't have any problems with it. It feels great in hand, thanks to the exquisite compound that covers it, and because the controls have been placed on the base curved part, it will be much easier to access it. I think the curve form is the main attraction of the smartphone at first glance. Overall, HTC Hero's design is very stylish and ergonomically thought.
Display and Camera
HTC Hero features a 3.2-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen that supports 65K colors and a 320x480-pixel resolution. Even though it seems to be the same display that HTC Magic has, this one is perfectly visible under strong sunlight. Another new feature introduced is the multi-touch input method, which makes it even easier to control. Otherwise, thanks to the technology embedded, it eliminates the need for a stylus and makes your own finger the only way you can control your device on the screen.
The accelerometer works with a low number of applications (Gallery included). Anyway, the image quality is flawless, and the change between landscape and portrait mode is smooth and includes animation. Everything you do seems effortlessly natural when using the touchscreen: touching, dragging, or moving. This proves again that the technology that stands behind these capacitive touchscreens is superior to that of resistive displays. The scrolling process is even better than that of the iPhone, while the virtual on-screen keyboard is very easy to control. In fact, I think all these are superior to iPhone, as it also benefits from the haptic feedback feature.
The 5-megapixel camera on the back of the phone doesn't feature advanced functions, instead you only get autofocus. The maximum resolution that can be used to take pictures is 2592 x 1944 pixels. While night pictures are out of the question, users will still be able to take more than decent day snapshots. Even though you don't have functions like smile detection or blink detection, I'd say that the camera is almost on par with that of Nokia N97, which is also obsolete.
I cannot compare it with the iPhone's as we all know that Apple's smartphone is no better than average. The user interface is pretty simple without any complex settings and can be browsed by touch. The shutter of the phone is the white trackball. The latter is a little bit weird to use instead of a dedicated camera key, as it doesn't feature the half-press function for autofocus.
Instead, you will simply need to point the camera to the object of your shooting and press the trackball. The camera will automatically autofocus in about 1-2 seconds, while the saving process will take another 1-2 seconds. It may feel weird, but it's definitely much easier to take pictures.
The camera of the smartphone can also record clips, but to my disappointment, it only records CIF clips at 15fps. There's not much to discuss about quality, just that the feature is there and you can use it to some degree. Overall, I think the 5-megapixel camera takes above average pictures, but it might be a good idea to upgrade the module with new advanced features like Samsung and LG are already doing.
HTC Hero was announced in June 2009 and launched on the market one month later, in July 2009. The smartphone is available in a plethora of colors: Brown, White, Graphite, Black and Pink. The unlocked version of HTC Hero can be bought for around 650USD, but the price may vary depending on the location.
Design
Following the design of the first two Android devices, Hero features the same curved form factor. Hero's curved shape is more obvious now, which also has a technical advantage as the mic will be closer to your mouth during phone calls. The phone is made from a special plastic that looks like teflon. Unfortunately, this is a fingerprint magnet, and together with the large touchscreen, which will be full of grease in no time, are some of the downsides of the gadget, in case you hate to dirt your phone. Of course, a small cloth for wiping will probably solve this, but the problem remains, as the fingerprints will reappear the moment you put your hands on it. The same goes for the touchscreen, which can only be controlled by finger.
Nevertheless, the phone's design should make users forget about this downside. There are no external keys around the phone, except the long volume key, which has been hidden in the phone's case, on the upper left side. On the top side of the phone, HTC placed a 3.5mm jack port, while on the bottom side, there's a miniUSB port. Under the 3.2-inch display, there are four keys, symmetrically arranged, starting from left to right, these are: Accept calls, Home, Menu and Reject calls (Power on/off). Right under these keys, in the middle, you'll notice the excellent trackball. To the right of it, there's a dual key that features a Search key and a Back key.
The Search key will open a Google window, which will enable users to quickly search for whatever they need. The 5-megapixel camera on the back of the phone doesn't have any protective lens, instead it has been placed a little bit inside the back cover for minimal protection. As the camera doesn't feature any flash capabilities, you will notice to the left of the camera a very small loudspeaker. Under the hood of the device, you'll find the SIM slot card and the microSD slot for memory card. The latter is a little bit harder to find on the upper left corner of the phone, but it's hot-swappable, as you won't need to pull out the battery to insert the memory card.
HTC Hero measures 112 x 56.2 x 14.4 mm and weighs 135g (including battery), which makes it a very well balanced device. You may be wondering how it will fit in your pocket with its curved shape, but I didn't have any problems with it. It feels great in hand, thanks to the exquisite compound that covers it, and because the controls have been placed on the base curved part, it will be much easier to access it. I think the curve form is the main attraction of the smartphone at first glance. Overall, HTC Hero's design is very stylish and ergonomically thought.
Display and Camera
HTC Hero features a 3.2-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen that supports 65K colors and a 320x480-pixel resolution. Even though it seems to be the same display that HTC Magic has, this one is perfectly visible under strong sunlight. Another new feature introduced is the multi-touch input method, which makes it even easier to control. Otherwise, thanks to the technology embedded, it eliminates the need for a stylus and makes your own finger the only way you can control your device on the screen.
The accelerometer works with a low number of applications (Gallery included). Anyway, the image quality is flawless, and the change between landscape and portrait mode is smooth and includes animation. Everything you do seems effortlessly natural when using the touchscreen: touching, dragging, or moving. This proves again that the technology that stands behind these capacitive touchscreens is superior to that of resistive displays. The scrolling process is even better than that of the iPhone, while the virtual on-screen keyboard is very easy to control. In fact, I think all these are superior to iPhone, as it also benefits from the haptic feedback feature.
The 5-megapixel camera on the back of the phone doesn't feature advanced functions, instead you only get autofocus. The maximum resolution that can be used to take pictures is 2592 x 1944 pixels. While night pictures are out of the question, users will still be able to take more than decent day snapshots. Even though you don't have functions like smile detection or blink detection, I'd say that the camera is almost on par with that of Nokia N97, which is also obsolete.
I cannot compare it with the iPhone's as we all know that Apple's smartphone is no better than average. The user interface is pretty simple without any complex settings and can be browsed by touch. The shutter of the phone is the white trackball. The latter is a little bit weird to use instead of a dedicated camera key, as it doesn't feature the half-press function for autofocus.
Instead, you will simply need to point the camera to the object of your shooting and press the trackball. The camera will automatically autofocus in about 1-2 seconds, while the saving process will take another 1-2 seconds. It may feel weird, but it's definitely much easier to take pictures.
The camera of the smartphone can also record clips, but to my disappointment, it only records CIF clips at 15fps. There's not much to discuss about quality, just that the feature is there and you can use it to some degree. Overall, I think the 5-megapixel camera takes above average pictures, but it might be a good idea to upgrade the module with new advanced features like Samsung and LG are already doing.
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