Hero Potential Unmet

[zeux6]

I find it amazing and somewhat confused as to why HTC and Sprint never met up to the full potential of the Sprint HTC Hero.

When I finally rooted and installed custom firmware Fresh 2.0D, my phone became this totally new phone to love all over again. I feel as if I have the phone of my dreams. It's much faster and everything on it just simply works. I was also amazed that I could be my own little wifi hotspot. I have to ask the question. Why, if we could do these amazing things, did the companies not allow such power to begin with? It's like putting out a calculator and find out we could use it for internet access after looking at it more.

The other thing that baffles my mind is that the custom firmwares work on the phones. Even the leaked 2.1 update seems to work as well. Why are they taking their sweet time putting out an update? They have to know that these phones are getting rooted and custom firmwares are being installed on these phones. If they don't know it then they must not go on the internet much.

Don't get me wrong. Before I rooted and updated it myself, my HTC Hero worked well. I rarely had a problem with it. Being the geek that I am, I just had to see for myself how good these firmwares were and I am very happy I did it. I just don't understand why one would hold such technology back if it's capable of being an almost perfect phone.

 

[NYCHitman1]

I think it's more about Sprint wanting to release a finished product which I agree with.

 

[tatonka_Hero]

I think it's more about Sprint wanting to release a finished product which I agree with.

+1

 

[Kelmar]

+2!

 

[eolson]

Have you tried a new 2.1 ROM?

Just installed damagecontrol on my phone yesterday. The difference is night and day. The phone is blazingly fast and responsive with not one quirk or problem. If the ROM makers can do this sprint has no excuse.

It has nothing to do with releasing a finished product. It's just pure incompetence on sprint's part.

When they do release their version of 2.1 it will probably be just as buggy and bloated as 1.6.

 

[330D]

Have you tried a new 2.1 ROM?

Just installed damagecontrol on my phone yesterday. The difference is night and day. The phone is blazingly fast and responsive with not one quirk or problem. If the ROM makers can do this sprint has no excuse.

It has nothing to do with releasing a finished product. It's just pure incompetence on sprint's part.

When they do release their version of 2.1 it will probably be just as buggy and bloated as 1.6.

1.5, you mean?

 

[mcapozzi]

+3, I guess.

I can't say with any honesty that Fresh 2.0d (which is really good) is any faster than the stock 1.5.

HTC Sense does slow this phone down significantly (Homerun Battle 3D has a noticeable frame rate drop on Sense enabled ROMs vs AOSP ROMs) regardless of whether it is on a 1.5 OS or a 2.1 OS.

As far as the wireless tether is concerned, I highly doubt they want to offer that to everybody, for free.

Sprint has little control over whether or not Android 2.1 upgrades arrive for their handsets. The handset manufacturers have to get everything working on their end, then Sprint has to make sure all their software works and the phone doesn't do anything it shouldn't do to the network. Finally, they have to figure out a way to update the handsets and support the updating procedure plus all the Android 2.1 related technical questions.

To make the situation even worse, they have to prioritize the other business aspects which I assume would be prioritized as such:

1) Maintain the network.
2) Release new products on schedule (new products = new customers).
3) Upgrade the network to support new products and customers.
4) If there is any time/money left over, upgrade existing customers.

Truth is that they have most of us in a contract, and their plan prices can't be beat. So it isn't like many of us are going to pay an ETF to jump carriers to protest a lack of software updates (unless you have a Samsung Moment, ugh).

-Mike

PS - I personally recommend IC3Rom, it is the most feature complete and does not contain the HTC bloat.

 

[mcapozzi]

Have you tried a new 2.1 ROM?

Just installed damagecontrol on my phone yesterday. The difference is night and day. The phone is blazingly fast and responsive with not one quirk or problem. If the ROM makers can do this sprint has no excuse.

It has nothing to do with releasing a finished product. It's just pure incompetence on sprint's part.

When they do release their version of 2.1 it will probably be just as buggy and bloated as 1.6.

Don't think for one second that Sprint is incompetent. You are confusing YOUR priorities, with Sprint's priorities.

Just cause they don't care enough to do something doesn't mean they aren't capable of doing something.

Moment users need 2.1 way more than we do. Our Heros do not have any show-stopping bugs unlike the Moment (UAM, random radio lockouts, etc.).

-Mike

 

[330D]

Don't think for one second that Sprint is incompetent. You are confusing YOUR priorities, with Sprint's priorities.

Just cause they don't care enough to do something doesn't mean they aren't capable of doing something.

Moment users need 2.1 way more than we do. Our Heros do not have any show-stopping bugs unlike the Moment (UAM, random radio lockouts, etc.).

-Mike

+1

 

[top magoo]

sprint may not be incompetant, but the staff (developers, qa, networking) are overwhelmed by the past 7+ years of staff cuts...

 

[eolson]

I don't really get why people are defending these cell phone companies. They really do release buggy slow versions of a normally fast and stable OS.

At least iphone users get regular updates and fixes for bugs.

I understand the lack of tethering... If they don't want their network slowed down by people rooting their phone and installing ROM's they should give us a product that is useable in the first place.

And there really is a HUGE performance gain from not using sprint's version of android.

Anyway I don't really disagree with anyone here. And I don't really care what sprint does anymore with OS releases because now I have a rooted phone that works well, so I'm happy.

 

[dominicanyor]

I think it's more about Sprint wanting to release a finished product which I agree with.

I agree.