00:01
htc
If you can stand the Hero's occasional sluggishness, it's a fantastic smart phone packed with great features. We like its distinctive looks, and the innovative user interface brings Android much closer to being as fun and good-looking as the iPhone OS, while being far more customisable. Occasional lag and Android's rough edges mean it's not quite an iPhone killer, but it's definitely fighting in the same class
Good
Epic customisability
Well-designed home screen widgets with live updates
Easy-to-use keyboard
Convenient Android Market for apps
Multitouch capability
Flash support
3.5mm headphone jack
Facebook integration
Bad
Sluggish at times
Flash video is dodgy
No easy way to back up and restore
Button and menu overkill
The HTC Hero (also known as the T-Mobile G2 Touch) is a fantastic touchscreen smart phone with enough style and power to take on Apple's iPhone 3GS and come out alive. It's got zillions of useful features that make it a pleasure to use, from an address book that links to Facebook to a Teflon coating that dodges finger grease. We wish it were slightly faster, and its little chin may scare babies, but the Hero could rescue us from our iPhone addiction.
The Hero is available from free on a £34.25-per-month contract with Orange, but be sure you get the £4.89 add-on that gives you 500MB of data each month. It will also be available from T-Mobile, although the company hasn't announced prices yet. You can pick it up SIM-free for around £400.
Chin-tastic good looks
We feared for the Hero when we first saw its publicity snaps. It looked like a trimmed-down version of its ugly older brother, the T-Mobile G1, due to its oddly angled chin. Thankfully, the Hero is much better-looking in person, although we still prefer the looks of its predecessor, the HTC Magic. Rakish bevelled edges, a subtle brushed-metal trim, and a matte surface on the case -- made of fingerprint-fighting Teflon -- all add up to a phone that we'd be proud to wield.
See Sense
The Hero is the first phone to tweak the user interface of the Android operating system. HTC is calling its user experience 'Sense', and we love what it's done.
There are seven home screens that you can swap with the swipe of a finger, and you can add a range of widgets and shortcuts, as well as customising the wallpaper. You can use Android widgets, and download more from the Android Market, but the ones that HTC has built for the Hero deserve special mention. The Twitter widget, for example, shows a live stream of tweets, and the email widget lets you flip through your email right from the home screen with a flick of a finger. The design of some of the widgets reminded of us the Palm Pre's 'deck of cards' UI, and it's a good look.
You can also change your whole configuration, depending on your mood, by creating your own themes, known as 'scenes'. For example, if you don't want to see your work calendar on your home screen on the weekend because those Monday meetings stress you out, you can switch to your 'fun' scene, with your music-player widget and relaxing beach wallpaper, instead.
So many choices could be overwhelming for some people, but the phone is set up well right out of the box, so you don't have to change anything if you don't want to.
Social network in your pants
We loved how the Hero grabbed our Facebook and Gmail contacts and merged them together in the address book. This feature can be a nightmare if your Gmail address book is unorganised, since it will drag in everyone you've ever emailed, so definitely clean up before you sync. But we liked how our friends' Facebook profile pictures and birthdays were merged with their numbers and emails, especially since the Hero ignores friends that aren't in your phonebook.
Good
Epic customisability
Well-designed home screen widgets with live updates
Easy-to-use keyboard
Convenient Android Market for apps
Multitouch capability
Flash support
3.5mm headphone jack
Facebook integration
Bad
Sluggish at times
Flash video is dodgy
No easy way to back up and restore
Button and menu overkill
The HTC Hero (also known as the T-Mobile G2 Touch) is a fantastic touchscreen smart phone with enough style and power to take on Apple's iPhone 3GS and come out alive. It's got zillions of useful features that make it a pleasure to use, from an address book that links to Facebook to a Teflon coating that dodges finger grease. We wish it were slightly faster, and its little chin may scare babies, but the Hero could rescue us from our iPhone addiction.
The Hero is available from free on a £34.25-per-month contract with Orange, but be sure you get the £4.89 add-on that gives you 500MB of data each month. It will also be available from T-Mobile, although the company hasn't announced prices yet. You can pick it up SIM-free for around £400.
Chin-tastic good looks
We feared for the Hero when we first saw its publicity snaps. It looked like a trimmed-down version of its ugly older brother, the T-Mobile G1, due to its oddly angled chin. Thankfully, the Hero is much better-looking in person, although we still prefer the looks of its predecessor, the HTC Magic. Rakish bevelled edges, a subtle brushed-metal trim, and a matte surface on the case -- made of fingerprint-fighting Teflon -- all add up to a phone that we'd be proud to wield.
See Sense
The Hero is the first phone to tweak the user interface of the Android operating system. HTC is calling its user experience 'Sense', and we love what it's done.
There are seven home screens that you can swap with the swipe of a finger, and you can add a range of widgets and shortcuts, as well as customising the wallpaper. You can use Android widgets, and download more from the Android Market, but the ones that HTC has built for the Hero deserve special mention. The Twitter widget, for example, shows a live stream of tweets, and the email widget lets you flip through your email right from the home screen with a flick of a finger. The design of some of the widgets reminded of us the Palm Pre's 'deck of cards' UI, and it's a good look.
You can also change your whole configuration, depending on your mood, by creating your own themes, known as 'scenes'. For example, if you don't want to see your work calendar on your home screen on the weekend because those Monday meetings stress you out, you can switch to your 'fun' scene, with your music-player widget and relaxing beach wallpaper, instead.
So many choices could be overwhelming for some people, but the phone is set up well right out of the box, so you don't have to change anything if you don't want to.
Social network in your pants
We loved how the Hero grabbed our Facebook and Gmail contacts and merged them together in the address book. This feature can be a nightmare if your Gmail address book is unorganised, since it will drag in everyone you've ever emailed, so definitely clean up before you sync. But we liked how our friends' Facebook profile pictures and birthdays were merged with their numbers and emails, especially since the Hero ignores friends that aren't in your phonebook.
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