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Sprint's Hero or Moment phone?

This is my first onscreen keyboard. I am coming from the HTC Touch Pro and BB Tour. I like the Hero better.

It all depends on your wants and needs and comfort level. I like the thinness of the Hero.

If they ported the Sense UI over to Moment...hmmm...that's a tough one.

You can get that thought out of your head. No way the Moment will get Sense UI. Besides, there are a lot of themes out there you can use, and some of them look pretty darn good.

That said, the biggest difference is the the Moment has a physical keyboard. Already been mentioned it doesnt run Sense. So its going to be a stock Android device.

So do you want or need a real keyboard, or do you want pretty out of the box (Sense)?
 
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You can get that thought out of your head. No way the Moment will get Sense UI. Besides, there are a lot of themes out there you can use, and some of them look pretty darn good.

That said, the biggest difference is the the Moment has a physical keyboard. Already been mentioned it doesnt run Sense. So its going to be a stock Android device.

So do you want or need a real keyboard, or do you want pretty out of the box (Sense)?

pretty out of the box :D

and i dont like the way the moment looks at all =/
 
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the Moment is still using the archaic arm11 processor, so that 800 mhz could mean less battery life. Although, I probably wouldn't mind it since I charge my Hero every night but I could probably go 2-3 days with moderate usage.

does anyone know if the hero has two processors (modem + general cpu) like the Moment? I noticed that my hero tends to really lag when receiving text messages or incoming phone calls, so i assume the qualcomm chipset doesn't have two processors like the samsung chipset.

btw, i'm having a quality control issue with my current Hero device. Dust seems to be entering under the glass in the lower left corner, which means that it's either a design flaw or it just wasn't sealed correctly.

The moment is only slightly larger than the hero. Here's a comparison of what I can think of on-hand...i'm sure there are more info though.

Pros...

Hero: sense UI (big plus since it introduces a lot of features), solid build quality, trackball, slightly larger battery, good battery life after tweaks and avoiding some UI bugs.

Moment: amoled display (MUCH higher color range, extremely high contrast ratio, and lower power consumption), quality optics, hardware keyboard, faster processor, dedicated modem processor, led flash, optical track pad, faster bootup, possible faster android updates due to no proprietary UI.

Cons...

Hero: LOW color range twisted nematic lcd (should have used in-plan switching lcd panels), no proximity sensor, lower quality optics (soft focus and noisy images), no hardware keyboard, trackball is subject to wear and dust buildup (probably easy to replace like in blackberries).

Moment: lower build quality (cheap plastic feel), moving parts (usage wear and higher possibility of breaking), general android UI.
 
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I just got the Hero yesterday via phone so it should be coming in a few days, but the reason why i choose the hero then the Moment is really because of Sense UI, simply because theres 7 menus not 3, and also the 5 MP rather then the 3.2 on the moment. Also the i spoke with the Sprint Agent and he told me HTC confirmed that the 1.6 update will be coming any time soon for the Hero and the 2.0 update will be here by the month of December:D. Cant wait
ps:The Moment has 1.5 Android like the Hero at this moment(laugh, i said moment twice)
 
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I just got the Hero yesterday via phone so it should be coming in a few days, but the reason why i choose the hero then the Moment is really because of Sense UI, simply because theres 7 menus not 3, and also the 5 MP rather then the 3.2 on the moment. Also the i spoke with the Sprint Agent and he told me HTC confirmed that the 1.6 update will be coming any time soon for the Hero and the 2.0 update will be here by the month of December:D. Cant wait
ps:The Moment has 1.5 Android like the Hero at this moment(laugh, i said moment twice)
Im seriously going to scream.

You DONT NEED SENSE UI for 7 home screens. UGH!

The camera on the Hero isnt all that much better, and it lacks a flash.

Further proof that Sprint reps lie out their butts. HTC has already confirmed, get this, SKIPPING 1.6 and going straight to 2.0. So you'll be waiting on that 1.6 update for awhile.
 
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Im seriously going to scream.

You DONT NEED SENSE UI for 7 home screens. UGH!

The camera on the Hero isnt all that much better, and it lacks a flash.

Further proof that Sprint reps lie out their butts. HTC has already confirmed, get this, SKIPPING 1.6 and going straight to 2.0. So you'll be waiting on that 1.6 update for awhile.


you calling me a liar?

but yes HTC has said themselves they are going straight to 2.0

i like the slide out keyboard and the AMOLED screen on the moment but things i do not like is the weight and size of it.. its very heavy (compared to tot he hero) it just feels like a brick. And the Moments that i have played with the screen wasnt as responsive as the hero a big minus in my book but overall theyre both good phones!
 
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you calling me a liar?

but yes HTC has said themselves they are going straight to 2.0

i like the slide out keyboard and the AMOLED screen on the moment but things i do not like is the weight and size of it.. its very heavy (compared to tot he hero) it just feels like a brick. And the Moments that i have played with the screen wasnt as responsive as the hero a big minus in my book but overall theyre both good phones!
Not you Chris, but you already knew that. Ive told you before, you seem to be the exception to the Sprint Rep Rule.

I'll admit that its a good deal heavier than the Hero, but after a week, I really dont notice the weight that much.

Im shocked you dont find the Moment more responsive though. I thing its tons better than the Hero. As I said in another thread somewhere around here. I have not once accidentally lag dialed someone when trying to call someone else.

Also, if you dig around in the Moment forums. You'll see my homescreen. Its pure win! Okay, maybe not all that, but its nice.
 
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I'm surprised as the response comment on the Moment too, but that is subjective somewhat for the user. I don't find it too heavy at all, but I understand the comment.

I had the hero, love the moment, but am not opposed to going back to the hero if we don't get some info from samsung on 2.0 with the next month.
 
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Not you Chris, but you already knew that. Ive told you before, you seem to be the exception to the Sprint Rep Rule.

I'll admit that its a good deal heavier than the Hero, but after a week, I really dont notice the weight that much.

Im shocked you dont find the Moment more responsive though. I thing its tons better than the Hero. As I said in another thread somewhere around here. I have not once accidentally lag dialed someone when trying to call someone else.

Also, if you dig around in the Moment forums. You'll see my homescreen. Its pure win! Okay, maybe not all that, but its nice.


thats why they make more than 1 phone.. people like different things are pickier about other things but yeah i saw your screenshots is that using ahome?
 
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To be honest, neither have me completely in love. I've had my Hero for almost two weeks and it is laggy. Last week's software update took care of my other main complaints. I'd like to find a way to search my contacts more quickly and a universal search would be good, too. I'm waiting for the 2.0 update. I imagine that it will optimize the processor better. I love the on-screen keyboard and don't like the Moment's physical keyboard at all. The layout is odd and throws me off. It really feels like Samsung slapped an Instinct body with a full keyboard. Processor size aside, it feels like a throw-away move on Samsung's part to get in on the Android game. For either phone, though, it really seems like a waiting game for the software to be optimized. I'm keeping my Hero and enjoy what it already affords me, but it's not as smooth as I expected.
 
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I posted here on this issue:

http://androidforums.com/samsung-moment/15931-gps-has-failed-2.html#post129493

But I will summarize. I started with the moment and took it back and got the Hero. #1 reason, the GPS doesn't work at all on the moment. Okay maybe it was working 15% of the time- not good enough. Plus battery felt like it was far less efficient. The physical keyboard didn't feel right but I could live and get used to it. Big thing was GPS. You have to be almost outside all the time to get a signal. Locking takes a long time. I tested the hero at the sprint store and it locked on with pinpoint accuracy within 1 sec, inside the store.

So it's up to you, if you don't care about GPS, the moment is blazingly fast, a lot of promise, but GPS I found broke the deal (I was gonna wait, but it was to uneasy waiting for samsung to make a statement on this). Got the hero, updated it, and am very very happy. Yes lags a bit when say playing a movie and switching back and forth. Or switch from landscape to portrait. But it's okay doesn't last more than a few seconds.

If gps had worked on samsung I would have kept it, but for now I will stick with HTC, they seem to be a little more on top of the updates than samsung at the moment (no pun intended).
 
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both phones are awesome

After owning the Moment and participating in Moment reviews and forums, I found that Moment owners are constantly preaching how it is the underrated phone (I was one of them), but after owning the Hero now I actually feel like it is the underrated phone to Moment owners. I hope that makes sense

I have very few complaints about each phone, they are absolutely amazing in their own right. I personally like the Hero for its stock features, including widgets, personalized contact list (facebook integration), usability (soft phone button)...I found myself adding a lot of apps to the Moment to make it look like the Hero (Open Home - beautiful widgets etc), so I figured why not just own the phone I'm trying to copy.

One of my favorite things about the Hero compared to the Moment is the fact that the buttons and trackball do not turn off when the phone is low on battery. On the Moment the back lights would turn off and it would bother me, especially if you were using the phone in the dark, which was not often, but often enough to be noticeable.

I've been able to sustain the same amount of battery life on both phones and if there is any difference it is too small to notice.

As for lag issues on the Hero, I don't seem to notice them any more than the small bits of lag I had on the Moment, so that is another difference that is too small to notice.

One of the biggest selling points for me when I purchased the Moment was the "beautiful" screen, well I finally sat down and compared the two phones side by side and if you simply switch youtube to high quality both phones look just about the same. Coming from an iphone where youtube videos were choppy and pixelated, both the Moment and Hero are a breath of fresh air. I realize that the AMOLED screen doesn't just apply to videos, but that is honestly the only thing I was concerned about.

As for design, the Moment looks cool imo, especially for a phone with a slide out keyboard, so that should be an obvious plus for the Hero. However, there are some things I dislike about the Moment such as the covers they put on the headphone jack, usb and the holder for the laynard is a lol point for me, really, laynards? I also prefer the track ball, which is not the most popular hardware feature from what I have read, but I do prefer it because I think it is slightly more accurate and the fact that it lights up. Also, even though the Hero isn't that much thinner or that much lower in weight, I still feel like it is much smaller when I hold it, I consider it to be much more efficient for those of us that like to use a phone with one hand, whereas with the Moment I feel like I have to use both hands. That is a very general statement and I can only offer you to try and hold both phones out of the box to understand my reasoning.

gps worked on the Moment, so I'm not too sure about that complaint. I read somewhere that if you turnf off wifi, gps should work and that seemed to be the solution for my Moment.

The qwerty keyboard was nice to have, but I actually prefer to just type on the screen quickly instead of opening and closing a keyboard. The only issue is the typos obviously, but that doesn't bother me. Also, I went through two Moments due to loose plastic around the keyboard, neither phone started that way, but after a few days of owning them the plastic keyboard started making a creaky cracking noise. This was probably due to carrying the phone in my pocket, but that should not loosen any parts on the phone (unless I was wearing skinny jeans lol). The defect was extremely minor and was not the reason I returned my second Moment for the Hero.

I probably should've addressed each specification in a neat manner, but oh well I hope this is helpful to anyone still trying to decide between the two phones.
 
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The GPS doesn't work on the moment, even with the tweaks. I do believe it's software and not hardware so that is good news.

I am not downing the moment at all, I originally chose it b/c I wanted the keep board and the 800mhz processor. But GPS doesn't work and I've tested it on 4 devices in two different sprint store locations (Pittsburgh and Charlotte).

Just do this. Go to any sprint store, the Hero and the moment are side by side. Try and pull up google maps on both and then come back and report your findings. Ask the sprint store reps about the GPS issues on the moment.

The other thing for me is that HTC committed to Android 2.0 update on the Hero. Samsung has been silent- doesn't mean know, but I'm going to go with someone that is actively working on it and seems to have done a better job in fitness and resolving issues quickly.
 
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The GPS doesn't work on the moment, even with the tweaks. I do believe it's software and not hardware so that is good news.

But GPS doesn't work and I've tested it on 4 devices in two different sprint store locations (Pittsburgh and Charlotte).

Mind didn't work originally until I made sure to have wifi turned off...same with my wife's Moment. Both had working GPS for google maps and sprint navigation. So, maybe it was dumb luck, I don't know, but there are other people in the Samsung Moment forum who also have working GPS. I'm not doubting your evidence, but to flat out say GPS doesn't work on the Moment is 100% incorrect.
 
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Mind didn't work originally until I made sure to have wifi turned off...same with my wife's Moment. Both had working GPS for google maps and sprint navigation. So, maybe it was dumb luck, I don't know, but there are other people in the Samsung Moment forum who also have working GPS. I'm not doubting your evidence, but to flat out say GPS doesn't work on the Moment is 100% incorrect.

I'm glad it's working consistently for you (really). I tried 4 devices with all the tweaks and tips (wi-fi off, location off, etc.). I tried it at the sprint store. It was inconsistent at best. I tried the units at the sprint store w/ the personell with the same results. I got mine the first weekend in Nov and took it back this past weekend. I didn't feel like a series of returns to maybe get a unit that worked right. With the tweaks it worked inconsistently and almost always didn't work indoors whereas my previous HTC Mogul always worked indoors except going through a tunnel.

Like I said, simply go to the sprint store, the Hero and the Moment are side by side, try and get a gps lock in google maps. Download the free compass app and see the results for yourself. I am not trying to promote the Hero, I am only sharing that I've tried the display unit and it worked, my new Hero worked immediately right inside the store. I went through 4 units of the Moment with the same quirky GPS results.

So it's up to you, just test drive it before you leave the retail outlet you buy it from.
 
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if you read this thread you would see I've already switched to a Hero ;)

I have tested both devices and I have consistently seen the GPS work on the Moment, based on both of our sample size (4 phones vs 4 phones) maybe the ratio of bad to good is 50/50 <----this is just a joke I really have no idea
 
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